“West Side Story” (1961) will air on PBS 13 (NY) tonight at 9pm!

Thanks, I'll watch.

People still watch live TV? Are you posting from an assisted living facility?

R2 yes. People still do.

It’s about to start!

This film is so beautiful. I am moved every time I watch it

So much great dancing and music. The helicopter shots at the start are stunning. Carole D'Andrea as Velma is really striking; she married Robert Morse the year the movie came out.

RIchard Beymer and Ned Glass should have been replaced.

Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer didn’t get along. They cast Beymer because he fit exactly what they were looking for and they liked that he was mostly unknown vs cast a movie star in the male role. Natalie Wood was famous.

All the shots in the film are beautiful. It’s beautifully shot from start to end. The remake lacked the beauty, sophistication and charm of the original. It did have a much better Bick with Mike Faist though. He should have been nominated for an Oscar.

Those pants on the male dancers look like they were painted on, they are so tight. I don't know how they moved in them. I'm assuming stretch fabric, but there weren't so many varieties of that in 1960

Natalie Wood is shit in this film, and never should have been cast.

I mean, Moreno isn’t 100% wrong. Wood was great at moments but not so much at others, and honestly was the weak link despite people loving to shit on Richard Beymer

Fun fact: Patrick Swayze joined Eliot (Baby John) Feld's ballet company in 1975 and was briefly a principal dancer until a knee injury form high school football caused him to abandon his ballet career.

R2 is the DL asshole

Back in the 1970s when there was a network television broadcast of West Side Story almost everybody in my class watched it. While the film is perhaps somewhat dated now, it still holds up remarkably well 60 years later. I recall being reluctant to see the updated 2021 version because it did not make sense to redo one of the best film musicals. And yet Spielberg and the cast really did a remarkable job. I'm torn between which one I like better. I have them both on Blueray now so I can enjoy them both.