Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY - News & Discussion Thread — Page 37

I rewatched the classic film last night and I realized what's so exciting is to see this material not inhibited by the Hayes code.

This is such a story about violence and real racism and even though there's a poetry to it all there's a grounded reality in what it's showing and there always has been.

The movie is the broadway show and I just can't wait to see what this is when it's not stagey. I mean the whole sequence at Doc's before I Feel Pretty is just very stagey and slow. There is such high stakes here and interesting camera angles can really bring that out.

I think I used to be adverse to remaking old musical movies but I feel like if the case is made that a film could bring a less stagey approach and better emotional center than the original adaptation than I say go for it!

Musical Master said: "rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I think I used to be adverse to remaking old musical movies but I feel like if the case is made that a film could bring a less stagey approach and better emotional center than the original adaptation than I say go for it!"

I agree. I think new film adaptations of the likes of South Pacific, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, Hello, Dolly!, Mameetc. Are ones I would love to see tackled again for their originals are ones I consider film adaptations with room for improvement and deserve new versions bynew filmmakers who can be more creative and not feel the need to be stagey or badly handled because Hollywood is following "trends".

We are getting new film versions of The King and I, Guys and Dolls, and A Chorus Line(in the latter's case a Netflix miniseries) so there's nothing wrong with following this sort of path."

The King and I is the only one that seems unnecessary. The others are pretty dire adaptations. As are the originals on Rattle's list, though I seem to be the only one with a soft spot for the film of South Pacific. It isn't great, but it's often (for me) entertaining. And far better than that dreadful made-for-t.v. reinvention.

Camelot is such a clunker of a movie musical adaptation.

But I also don't know if it could be that interesting remade or for that matter if the want is there by people with money to remake it.

Even in its timeless story-there's something specifically dated about Camelot and I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

So, any word on a possible release date for the soundtrack? Or is it still up in the air?

It was right after Anita and the girls did “America” and before Tony and Maria’s “One Hand, One Heart.”

In the 1961 film adaptation, its right after the rumble and before “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love.”

America was originally supposed to have the male sharks as part of the number, but Robbins wanted to stage an all-female number, so the male sharks got scrapped. Cool and Gee Officer Krupke were going to be switched to their film places, but the creative team realized it would've been too difficult to switch the sets for each song, so they left Cool before the rumble and Krupke after the rumble.

degrassifan said: "America was originally supposed to have the male sharks as part of the number, but Robbins wanted to stage an all-female number, so the male sharks got scrapped. Cool and Gee Officer Krupke were going to be switched to their film places, but the creative teamrealized it would've been too difficult to switch the sets for each song, so they left Cool before the rumble and Krupke after the rumble."

I'm curious where you get your info from. I'm not challenging you, but I mostly know the story of the show's construction from Sondheim and Co., where Laurents says Krupke was put after the rumble because Robbins and Bernstien hadn't wanted any comedy in the show to begin with and could only be persuaded to do it by Laurents referencing Shakespeare's clowns. Even then, they insisted it be inserted as an emotional release following the death of Riff--and Laurents even says ultimately he thought they were right because, coming early in the movie, the song only came across as a silly number.

I certainly don't think Laurents was the soul of trustworthy info, but I'm interested in who gave an alternative version of the song's placement, as well as the striking of the Sharks from "America."

Even though the 1961 film's placement of these two songs are a neat change, I kind of like their placements in the original stage show better. One, because in the show, "Cool" is a neat bit of tonal foreshadowing of things to come when the Rumble begins. And two, "Gee Officer Krupke" is a nice bit of relief after how heavy things were before and what makes the next scenes of the musical hit that much harder.

I'm glad that from the looks of things, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner has restored these two songs back to where they were before.

I think I Feel Pretty will be in its original slot after the Rumble. Since we see Maria fainting in her boss's arms, it must be after hours at Gimbels.