A City Song
A City Song
To Your Last Dyin’ Day
August 26, 2019
Let's Dance, Let's Fight, Let's Love
West Side Story (1961)
Young people getting murdered in street fights is far more tolerable when there is singing and dancing involved.
That's the message of West Side Story, a film which took the tale of Romeo and Juliet and set it in New York city circa 1960 featuring lots of jumpin', stompin', sluggin' and huggin' and kissin'.
Tony replaces Romeo and Maria stands in for Juliet and they come from rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, brawling for turf on Manhattan's mean streets and man, are they all sharp dressers.
When you look at photos from that era everyone looks good because they didn't wear t-shirts. The fellas sported collared shirts, the gals wore dresses and the cars were big and round and it was a beautiful time.
But people still hated each other.
West Side Story is an irresistible romp as the white punks and Puerto Rican misfits learn early on they have more in common than in dispute but don't care much because it's about being cool, being bad and dancing flawlessly.
Musicals are so dang silly on the big screen. People, um, just don't break into song and dance, especially when they are about to whip someone's hide. On the stage it seems natural. But on screen it's a bit of an adjustment for the viewer, at least this viewer, because live singing and dancing is impressive. It's gutsy, it's grand.
On screen it's all so rehearsed.
Practice makes perfect, though. And West Side Story is, if not a perfect film, certainly one of the truly exceptional efforts ever turned out by Hollywood. The color, the passion, the energy, the pathos....
...the innocence....
...the overwhelming not bargained for feeling that you're about to cry because it's a hot summer night and the girl....
...she loves you....
...she loves you....
But it's a hot summer night and nothing neutral happens when the sun goes down but the temperature doesn't.
It's the fury of love and hormones and anger and it bursts in silly songs sprung from drugs, neglect, poverty, bigotry and the madness of a city that leaves far too many people behind.
We won't tell you, or perhaps we won't remind you, of West Side Story's final images. But let us contemplate some graffiti scratched on a wall, a street sign, a subway car that speeds to nowhere.
West Side Story is not a musical. It's a heartbeat. It's the movie your Mom loved. It's the story that looks old but speaks young. It's a snap of the fingers in the dark of a city night.
Do you hear that? Is it time? --TK
Monday, August 26, 2019