West Side Story (1961)

Susan Kohner but she would have had to be dubbed like Natalie was.

Speaking of dubbing, the movie would have been much improved if they’d had a better match to Natalie Wood’s voice. Marni Nixon was a terrible choice.

Was Lesley Ann Warren considered? She could sing

Julie Andrews.

I don't want to be in America.

Imogene Coca did a great imitation of a crazy Puerto Rican.

Richard Beymer never thought any of his performances were good. He especially thought he sucked in West Side Story. He was getting the big buildup but his career basically went nowhere due to his insecurity about his talent.

Most of the male actors were gay. Jerry Robbins must had a worn casting couch.

Beymer in the shower...

[quote]The movie would have been much improved if they’d had a better match to Natalie Wood’s voice. Marni Nixon was a terrible choice.

I have to disagree strongly. If you listen to Natalie's pre-recordings of the songs, the basic timbre of her voice is quite similar to Marni's, except of course the technique and the quality of the sound are nowhere near as good and were frankly unacceptable to the creatives.

A Latina unknown. I have always found Natalie Wood overrated. I love Richard Beymar.

[quote]A Latina unknown. I have always found Natalie Wood overrated. I love Richard Beymar.

And the vast majority of opinion on the casting of those two roles in that movie is exactly the opposite of yours.

And, since you love him so much, you should spell his name right: It's Beymer.

None of the Jets looked like gang members. They looked like the 6 pm crowd at the Stonewall. Not all of West Side Story has aged gracefully, but its spectacular dancing sure has.

Rita as Maria Chita as Anita

When Tony dies I still well up.

It’s a musical. We forgive a ton when we have to pretend people just burst out into song and dance

[Quote] When Tony dies I still well up.

Me too. Very effectively done in the movie

Audrey Hepburn was chosen but was pregnant.

I love Audrey but just no.

Audrey Hepburn was not "chosen" for the movie of WEST SIDE STORY, though I think her name was actually brought up, incredible as that may seem to us today. Aside from everything else, she would have been 31 at the time of the filming but already looked considerably older.

Rita was also up for the Broadway cast as Maria but she got cold feet. She said she was afraid of Jerry Robbins. I guess she got over it.

Julie Andrews would have been the ideal Maria. She could have really sung the high notes, even for "A Boy Like That." Plus, no one could have enunciated "I Feel Pretty " quite like she could have.

Susan Watson

The 2021 version was far superior to the 1961 version.

Eydie Gorme. Thread closed....

R12 No way. Rita looked 40 in WSS and would have never been believable as a quasi teenager. In fact, she even looks old for Anita. Same for Chita, they were both burdened with the Celeste Holm curse.

A question for those in the know. Is Beymer gay? Who else was gay in the cast, besides George Chakiris?

Spielberg totally botched the ending. The visuals sucked.

Elizabeth Taylor

The question R25 is, "Who wasn't?"

I haven't seen so much gay ass since Jane Russell did her pool number.

I'm with R9. A complete unknown would have been good. Anyone besides Natalie Wood and her rolling R's. But in those days "unknowns" weren't given starring roles in big Hollywood pictures, at least none that I can think of.

Natalie wood was fantastic in the movie. STFU

Natalie was the star name. Unless they got a star name for Tony, there's no way they could cast an unknown. Maybe they could have cast Nancy Kwan. She was foreign, that usually sufficed...

UA and Mirisch wouldn't have gitten behind the film if they hadn't had a star name for box office purposes.

[quote] Maybe they could have cast Nancy Kwan.

Fuck that shit!

Because I'm a NYC history nerd, the background in the great film still R11 posted got me googling.

RC Church of St Matthew - 215 West 67th Street New York, N.Y. 10023 The parish of St. Matthew was established on September 21, 1902, and on that same day Mass was said for about 50 people in the temporary rectory at 166 West 65th Street, by Rev. Patrick F. Maughan, the priest appointed to organize the new parish. A basement hall served as a chapel until November 29, 1903, when the first Mass was said in the new church on West 67th Street, between Amsterdam and West End Avenues. As designed by John J. Deery, the very plain, Gothic-style church seated between 600 and 700 persons. The cost of the building was less than $10,000 and the site cost $16,500.

In October 1906, lots behind the church were purchased so that a rectory could be built, and the house was completed on May 1, 1907. On September 15, 1911, a neighboring Baptist church was purchased as the nucleus of a parochial school. It was instead turned into a hall for the various societies and also served as a Sunday-school. By the 1910s, the parish had about 6000 members, about half of whom were Italians.

In the mid-1950s, the neighborhood was chosen as the future site of what is known today as the Lincoln center for the Performing Arts. Robert Moses, chairman of the Mayor's Committee on Slum Clearance, drew up plans for a proposed "City within a city" that would include the music and arts center, a hotel, an office center, a shopping zone, five commercial theatres, a Manhattan campus for Fordham University, and 4,120 modern apartments to rent at an average of $47.50 a room. The project called for the demolition of all but a half dozen buildings in an area of eighteen blocks north and west of the Coliseum at Columbus Circle. St. Michael's Church would be relocated to the northwest corner of Sixty-sixth Street and Amsterdam Avenue, where a 600-seat church, rectory, school and convent would be built. On November 26, 1957, the $205,000,000 Lincoln Square Slum Clearance and Redevelopment Project was unanimously approved by the Board of Estimates and efforts began to relocate 6,500 families and several hundred businesses within the area. St. Matthew's Church withdrew from the project and in its place was built a new headquarters building of the American Red Cross. In 1959, the old St. Michael's Church was razed to make way for the Lincoln Towers superblock.

All common knowledge. Yet you had to look it up? Didn’t you ever read The Power Broker?!

Thank you so much, r34, for the history lesson. Were the Puerto Ricans I'd always thought were the most displaced group from the creation of Lincoln Center part of the St. Michael's Parish.

Thank you, too, r35, in spite of the snidetude. I'm going to read The Power Brokers.

I was curious about the actual building in the photo - not the general redevelopment story asswipe.

Yet you prattled on, well past the church.

R11 = "Accidental Renaissance."

R39 here. Goya's "Witches' Flight":

Desilu almost bought the rights for Lucy’s return to the big screen, but she refused to let her hair go natural and Robert Wise threatened to out her as a Commie.

Lucy was under serious consideration to play Maria but I put a stop to that!

Shirley Jones

Shirley MacLaine

Judy Garland

Anna Magnani

Etc…

Watch the documentary The Opera House about the building of Lincoln Center and Met Opera. There’s a section with lots of video about what the UWS looked like prior and who was displaced

Carol Lawrence would have been a novel choice.

Connie Francis or Brenda Lee probably would have brought in the teen record buying crowd of the period.

A young Suzanne Pleshette could have croaked out smoky renditions of the score. Connie Stevens had the vocal chops if “Sixteen Reasons” and “Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” were any indication.

Shirley Temple or Margaret O'Brien

Anna Magnani, now that's a good one.

[quote]The 2021 version was far superior to the 1961 version.

...said no one ever.

The only conclusion I derived from the 2021 version is that Tony is an impossible role to cast.

Tony IS a very difficult role to cast, but not impossible. Richard Beymer was a poor choice. He couldn't sing the role, and he didn't act the role. And he wasn't the cutest guy in the gang. Natalie Wood was about as good a choice as any amongst the "names" that were available at the time.

The 2021 remake was actually superior in most respects. It had a better cast, and the changes to the story were well-thought-out. I just wish they hadn't sucked the life out of every song with the autotune...

The Tony in the 2021 version was worse than Beymer, and that was a lot of bad. For one, Natalie Wood had difficulty playing against him because there was zero sexual or romantic chemistry between them.

Natalie was terrific and NOBODY would have gone to see that movie without her in it.

OP - Rita Moreno

Rita's still hoping that someone will remember that shitty, forgotten remake from a couple of years back.

Richard Beymer is a retired artist now. Very interesting man, but very private. He actually went down south in 1964 and participated in the Freedom Summer program assisting in voter registration. He also shot about the efforts of the other participants. When he came back, he appeared in episodic TV for the most part, ending with Twin Peaks. Although, retired, he still shoots documentaries, sculpts and practices TM.

Little known fact: he dated and was once engaged to Sharon Tate in the early 60's.

'...shot a documentary...'

I read somewhere years ago that because Natalie was dating him at the time, the studios wanted Warren Beatty for Tony.

Well, Natalie herself wanted Beatty as Tony. Apparently, the studio and/or Robert Wise did not. He almost certainly would have been better casting than Beymer, and another candidate who probably would have been better was Tab Hunter.

Tab would have been great. The original character profile for Tony was a "tall, blonde, Polish tenor."

R7, wow, he was hot

I feel shtunning

And entranshing

Feel like running and danshing for joy

[quote]The only conclusion I derived from the 2021 version is that Tony is an impossible role to cast.

Ahem.

Natalie wanted Warren to be in the movie. That’s why she was so rude and cold to Richard Beymer. Years later, they met up for some event, and Natalie was charming, warm and friendly. She’d totally forgotten that she’d been a cunt to him

CHER does WEST SIDE STORY (yikes)

"and another candidate who probably would have been better was Tab Hunter."

Nah. Wouldn't have worked. Too wholesome looking. White bread, corn fed flyoverland look, not urban street trashy enough.

Not EE ethnic is what you meant.

I know it’s a musical and everything, but my gay heart does sink when the Jets cross the road in Sc.1. like they’ve just had their nails done…

[quote] Natalie Wood was miscast and practically ruined the movie. She wasn't believable.

And now you'll never see her again!!!

R25 Tucker Smith who played "Ice" and performed the memorable song "Cool" was openly gay - said to be the reason why he didn't pursue an acting career in Hollywood. In 1974, he opened a gay bar in North Hollywood called "Tucker's Turf." He died in 1988 of cancer.

Per wiki:

[quote] Smith was one of several cast members from the Broadway production that were chosen to appear in the movie version of West Side Story. He was contracted to play Ice, a role newly created for the movie. In the film, Smith was the singer and central performer of the pivotal song "Cool‚" originally sung by the character of Riff in the Broadway musical. Besides performing "Cool‚" Smith dubbed some of Russ Tamblyn's singing in "Jet Song."

Cool ...

From Imdb: In Gilda Radner's autobiography "It's Always Something" she mentions her excitement at having Smith, her heartthrob from when she was a girl, in her cancer support group.

Sounds like fun?

I tried to get through Russ Tamblyn's memoir. It was pretty good, although he's a little stuck on himself. Seems like he's been coasting on West Side Story fumes for a long long time.

Natalie and Rita are the only ones who didn't coast on West Side fumes.

R25 Another gay guy in the 1961 film was actor-dancer-choreographer, Tom 'Tommy' Abbott, who played "Gee-Tar," a member of The Jets. Here Abbott is off-camera with Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood.

Abbott was in a relationship with Jerome Robbins and would go on to work on other projects with him. The candid shot in the next post taken during production shows Abbott sitting on the floor while Robbins (center) conducts business.

WSS has always been new and dear to me in large part because two cast members, Gwen and Jay Norman, were family friends with my parents. They were also both members of Robbin's Ballet USA and were in the original Broadway production. My mom took my brother and I to see it in theatrical release in 1968 and I was hooked after that. As much as I would wanted to m, I never fanned out and asked all the questions I had for them because it would come up in conversation a little bit, but it would quickly go away, and I'd hold back because I'd think to myself who wants to be hit w a laundry list of questions for something they did 20 years ago? And then as time went by it became 30 years ago etc. One thing they told me, and this is not that amazing was that only the opening number was shot in Manhattan, and the rest was shot on Hollywood sound stages. I asked because as a very naive youngster, I wanted to know where exactly that wall was that you see at the very end with the start of the closing credits, and could I go see it?

they were both very cool people. Gwen referred to it as"West Side" My mom had known her since she was around 12 when she was a student at Miriam Lenova's Academy of Dance on Green Street in San Francisco, a private school for kids who were serious about continuing a career in dance. Mom was 10 years older than Gwenn and then Gwen's mom was 10 years older than my mom so they were all tight up until their ends. Gwen's mom was my 'Auntie Fil' who was not really an aunt, and I was her honorary grandson because Gwen and her sister Sara never had children.

I think the WSS art direction is fantastic. Subtle things like the apartments and the way the walls are all pitch black and the panes from the French doors are in a range of colors subtly mimicking stained glass windows at Catholic churches. Who lives like that? No one, but it works in the movie

R60 Beatty as a NYC former gang leader is a hoot!

Beware that you cannot unsee the clip of Cher at R66.

R78, I read DL obsessively and post the same. Your post has got to be one of my all-time favorites. Your family connections made me think of---I know, weird!---another of my major likes, "The World of Henry Orient," with its NYC Coming-of-Age in hybrid "family" relationships.

But it is your final paragraph that I am taken with (Mary!), in your connecting specific movie decoration with the stained glass windows of Catholic (the Sharks) churches. I'm not joking when I tell you that now I'm going to read more analyses of this film (I'll return the favor by suggesting you check out the visual Hitchcock allusions in "Elvis," particularly to "Strangers On a Train").

[quote]Another gay guy in the 1961 film was actor-dancer-choreographer, Tom 'Tommy' Abbott, who played "Gee-Tar," a member of The Jets.

And yet another openly gay performer in the movie was Harvey Evans, then billed as Harvey Hohnecker (sp?).

P.S. Tucker Smith dubbed all of Russ Tamblyn's singing in "The Jet Song," not "some" of it. But Russ did his own singing in "Gee, Officer Krupke" and in his few solo lines in the "Tonight" quintet.

Warren Beatty as "Tony" would have Chita Rivera as "Maria".

Latina choices were rare, and after this would be Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews, Liz Taylor and Jane Fonda.

He was a beautiful man.

Jane Fonda would have been fun.

[quote]she would have been 31 at the time of the filming but already looked considerably older

You say that like it's a bad thing.

... and had they consulted La Corona (Latino gays) at the time, the fabulous homosexuals who brought this enchanting story to us would have had even more rrrrrit-T-mosss...

George Chakiris is 92 Wow.! Famous for background dancing w/ Rosey Clooney ( Wht Xmas 1954)

Jane Fonda, 1960

Jane Fonda, 1960

Had he lived and been able to sing, James Dean would have been perfect for Tony.

Even dead he'd be an improvement over Richard Beymer.

They should have cast an actual Latina.

Are you joking, R90? James Dean would have given far too inward and quirky a performance as Tony, to put it mildly. Apparently, Dean was considered for OKLAHOMA!

Tab Hunter was much better than he got credit for at the time. But he might have looked a little old in 1961, when he was 30, for the part.

Re the remake (which I didn't love)...I had never seen Ansel Elgort in anything and I thought he was pretty good, and sang really well. I liked him a lot. The Maria didn't do it for me.

[quote]Natalie Wood was miscast and practically ruined the movie. She wasn't believable.

She wasn't miscast as to type, she gave a very good performance, she just wasn't Puerto Rican. This is a modern viewpoint. Today you could cast a black girl as Maria in The Sound of Music and no one would say she was miscast, but cast a white Russian-American as Maria in The Sound of Music and it's bad casting.

Susan Kohner is an interesting choice. She wasn't really a star and she never made it. There was probably a reason. I think Kohner was only 1/4 Mexican. Her mother, Lupita Tovar's, real name was Sullivan.

Tab's age might have worked for him, as Tony says he has outgrown the gang.

R96 Maybe.

Tab in 1961 singing on TV.

I also thought Ansel Elgort was an improvement on Beymer. Actually, I didn't mind either of the two leads. Most of my problems with the remake was the script, especially sticking Rita into practically every scene. The last moment of the damn picture had her leading Chico away. I wanted to have her look into the camera at that point and say, "well, I am Executive Producer on this film, you know!"

R87, What? George Chakiris is FAMOUS for "West Side Story"!

Chico?! Wow, they really did mess up the ending.

SHould have been Harpo!

Did George hook up with Dirk during the filming of "The High Bright Sun" (1965)?

r90 What about another James, as in the recently-late James Darren? At least he could sing.

I thought NW blended in very well with the rest of the cast, I'm talking visually here. A few more weeks with the vocal coach would've been a good idea. She did effectively play the wide-eyed, timid innocent the role called for.

She played the final scene perfectly.

Darren would have been a good choice as well.

[quote]I thought NW blended in very well with the rest of the cast, I'm talking visually here. A few more weeks with the vocal coach would've been a good idea.

"A few more weeks with a vocal coach" would have made no difference, as Natalie Wood just didn't have the voice for the extremely challenging vocal role of Maria in WSS. Whereas many people would say her singing was just fine for the film of GYPSY.

Whether or not they had the talent or looks to play Tony, Tab Hunter and James Darren were strictly C List movie stars in 1961. It would have been like casting Frankie Avalon as Tony. Though Beymer wasn't an A list star, he at least didn't have the stain of all those mediocre and worse films on his resume the others did.

Tab did just fine in Damn Yankees three years before WSS. He was at least as much a star as Beymer. More the point, he was more right for the role.

Thank you, R108. It's clear that R107 doesn't know what he's talking about.

r107 and r108, check Tab's film credits after Damn Yankees and tell me why he would have been a promising choice for West Side Story. I love Tab but sadly he was considered a has-been by 1960 when WSS was being cast. And James Darren was a never-was.

[R68] Marlon Brando as Tony and Rita as Maria. Chita as Anita with Tony Mordente as Bernardo.

R107 Sorry, not true about tab Hunter. His carreer dropped off *after* 1961. In '61 he was in The Pleasure of His Company with Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds, just before that he was in The Came To Cordura with Gary Cooper, and That Kind of Woman with Sophia Loren, directed by Sidney Lumet. Also he and Natalie had been a famous co-starring couple only a few years earlier. But I don't think Tab was anyone's idea of a NYC gang boy. (Though neither was Richard Beymer.)

Tab was also in the all-star TV version of Meet Me In St. Louis in 1960. And he got top billing.

[quote]Tab was also in the all-star TV version of Meet Me In St. Louis in 1960. And he got top billing.

Of course. He was the definitive Tootie.

Tab is dead so you can't hurt his feelings.

Beymer and Wood didn't have any chemistry, so Beatty might have been the better choice. I think it's just a hard part to play. I guess it's the writing. I thought Ansel Elgort acquitted himself better because there did seem to be some sparks between him and Rachel.

So, do you get a singer, an actor, or a star to play Tony? I like Tab Hunter but I agree that he's too white bread, but he would have fulfilled the "star" part. James Darren was a pretty serious actor and could sing, but he looked too ethnic. Not enough contrast between him and Maria. James Caan? Wasn't yet a star but was a good actor and had that air of danger about him. Too bad Nick Nolte was an actual criminal at the time. He was hot and could have pulled off being a gang member.

I think being able to be a believable gang member is really the key to casting Tony.

Well in that case Ansel Elgort was not a believable gang member either.

I didn't like the remake (I did like him) because you don't have to state the obvious, fill in all the blanks, etc. You don't need to hit people over the head with details about racism, or whatever, that everyone gets. The script was tedious. It's a musical. The music shouldn't have to script with the book for attention. What an embarrassment for Spielberg.

*have to compete with the book

Was I a believable gang member?

I wish Rita would go back to San Juan and I know a boat she can get on. Bye bye!

“The music shouldn't have to script with the book for attention. What an embarrassment for Spielberg...”

Si, si.

Pier Angeli

Tab Hunter wrote in his autobiography that he desperately wanted the role of Tony and thought he had a good shot at it due to his frequent pairing with Natalie Wood earlier in their careers. He passed up several job offers to clear his schedule, but failed to land the part, and ended up doing television with "The Tab Hunter Show" since he had nothing else on his plate.

Rita looked 10 years too old for this movie.

[R126] the entire cast was adults playing teenagers. Have you seen Grease?

r94

Re the remake (which I didn't love)...I had never seen Ansel Elgort in anything and I thought he was pretty good, and sang really well. I liked him a lot. The Maria didn't do it for me.

Natalie Wood was miscast and practically ruined the movie. She wasn't believable. She wasn't miscast as to type, she gave a very good performance, she just wasn't Puerto Rican.

Rachel Zegler gave an awesome performance. I loved the scene where they sing “One Love” by a stained chapel window in Fort Tryon Park (Washington Heights). Natalie was the actress... the "name". The PR ones who were around didn't fit the bill and the rest probably weren't into acting. They would have had to have gone into the actual places where they lived in order to find one and train them to act. They tried it with an adorable little boy in "Gloria", but couldn't get his acting quite up to speed in time for production. The point was to sell the film, so Natalie Wood is the "Maria" everyone loves and remembers. At the same time, there is now Rachel- who stepped in and soared with the actual vocals that the "Maria" role required.

The name of the song is "One Hand, One Heart".

Natalie didn’t need the vocals, she needed to act! Which she did quite well. Dubbing is not a crime. Hell, Rachel didn’t sing live on film did she?—no, it was a playback from in-studio. And she couldn’t act….

Opinions are opinions, but I think it's outrageous for anyone to say that Rachel Zegler "couldn't act" in WSS. So, why would you want to state anything so foolish?

Those complaining that Tab Hunter was too "white bread" for Tony must not realize that the role was written to be white bread. All of the original casting calls for broadway went out with Tony described as a six-foot, blond, Polish-type tenor. Having to sing, dance, and act cut into the pool, and they finally settled on Larry Kert, who didn't match the type at all. And Tony is not a gang member -he's an EX gang member who has grown up a bit and wants to have a life. He's dragged back into the fight by Riff.

The truth hurts—she was a shadow puppet compared to Wood.

But even if you feel that way about Zegler in WSS, R131, it's still ridiculous to say that she "can't act." You devalue your own opinion but overstating and exaggerating it so ridiculously.

Ok— I’ll bite. She’s not a very good actress, at all!

^^^Now, even if I disagree with it, that's a reasonable opinion, rather than a childish one. And FWIW, I hardly think Spielberg would have cast her if he felt her acting ability was wanting, and it's just possible that his opinion is worth just a bit more than yours.

Also FWIW, I'm not fan of Zegler as a person in view of some things she has said, but thankfully I'm able to separate that from my opinion of her talent. Same thing with Cynthia Erivo.

Spielberg made many a casting error—and let’s not talk about his history of lousy endings. Take a breath d get real. Rachel will live on as a minor footnote to classic cinema.

Feel free to list a few of Spielberg's casting errors, and "lousy endings" to his movies. We'll wait.

Take your pick…WSS just for one. SPP…we can talk all day.

You’re boring …

You're latest post is incomprehensible, R137. And you are worse than boring, you're a nasty piece of work who states your opinions in a very childish, reductive way.

Casting error or stroke of genius?

Tony was not just an ex-gang member; he was the co-founder of the Jets. So, a few years later he should still look like a gang member.

Tab Hunter didn't even look like a New Yorker, much less a gang or ex-gang member.

R138 is cracking up! You’ll die on the hill that is Rachel Z and Steven S. at his most maudlin?! Have no self-worth, at all? These are easy call outs…👻

[R140] Tony is supposed to be Polish Tab might have pulled that off. There were a couple of blondes in the Jets.

Believe it or not, Tab's father was Jewish. But Tab didn't look Jewish at all. Nor Polish IMHO.

[quote]SPP

SPR

But you what was meant….

SPQR

Huh?

Huh what?

So what does a gang member look like? It's not in their DNA, it's in their wardrobe and hair. And both of those things could be managed quite nicely by the studio. The very idea that an actor has to look a certain way to portray a gang member is ridiculous. Or, maybe you're just being racist??

No, r149. For example blond, WASPY James Dean could look like a former gang member. Blond, WASPY Tab Hunter could not.

No, R150. You fail to provide any rationale for your statement. You're basing your opinion on image and past roles.

Again, what physical features do gang members have?

I'm with you, R151. Although this other poster doesn't realize it, he's basing his statement that Tab Hunter would be unbelievable as a gang member on Tab's performance and the way he looked in previous roles in previous films and when appearing as himself on TV, which is silly. Plus, as was pointed above, Tony in WSS is a FORMER gang member who has now decided to move away from that lifestyle, "go straight," and get a job. Neither Larry Kert in the original Broadway production nor Richard Beymer in the movie looked like a stereotypical gang member in terms of hairstyle, cleanliness, etc. On the contrary, both of them looked rather clean cut.

Sorry, but I'd maintain that any bright casting director of the 1950s, looking at neutrally posed head shots, would likely bring in even an unknown James Dean to play a gang (or former) gang member for an audition but would pass on an unknown Tab Hunter. Look at early photos of them both before their reputations were solidly established. They're very different types, even though both are young WASPY blondes.

I never said that all gang members look alike.

[quote] Natalie Wood was miscast and practically ruined the movie. She wasn't believable. She wasn't miscast as to type, she gave a very good performance, she just wasn't Puerto Rican.

R126 You're entitled to your opinion, but it's an opinion. George Chakiris isn't Puerto Rican, either.

Jose Ferrer was Puerto Rican, but played mostly or solely white characters who weren't Puerto Rican. Keanu Reeves isn't white, but he's played a lot of white people. Merle Oberon played a lot of white people, she was Anglo-Indian.

Chakiris didn't stick out like Natalie did. I liked her very much, esp in Splendor in the Grass and Gypsy in which she showed she could act a little. She was a Hollywood Star...but an unconvincing actress most of the time. As soon as she appeared as Maria, it was obvious she was miscast and she never recovered until the last scene, where she was finally "there" as Maria and able to elicit an emotional response from the audience.

R153, although you insist otherwise, I still think you're still basing your opinion of Tab Hunter vs. James Dean as Tony in WSS not on their facial features, which would be silly to do, but on other things, including their hair styles (that's a major factor here, I'm sure) and also what your know of their speaking voices and the personalities they projected in their screen roles, in interviews, etc.

R107 I appreciate Eldergays like you who give some context for these older stars we’re discussing. It really helps someone like me who wasn’t alive during that time.

It's funny Natalie and Warren Beatty both did roles with foreign accents and dark complexions in 1961 - Natalie with West Side Story and Warren with The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. Both were totally mismatched and unbelievable in those roles. And the dark makeup made the effect of watching them even worse. They never tried it again, thank gawd.

[quote]Chakiris didn't stick out like Natalie did.

Although I'm sure you don't realize this, I'm guessing the main reason you feel that way is because Bernardo in WSS was, as far as I know, Chakiris's only major role in a hit film, whereas Natalie Wood was already a screen veteran and a star by the time she did WSS, and went on to make lots of popular movies thereafter. So you feel Natalie is miscast as Maria because your impression of her is based largely on her roles in such previous and later films as MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, GYPSY, INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, etc., whereas your impression of Chakiris is probably based on nothing other than WSS.

I understand what you're saying R160 and there's probably some truth in it, but Chakiris "passed" better than Natalie, in nearly every scene.

R158 The "context" is factually incorrect.

R161 For Christ's sake. "Puerto Rican" isn't a race. Most Puerto Ricans are a mix of races, with European dominant. Your fixation on this is bordering on racism. The movie was a huge success so apparently people weren't walking out because Natalie Wood wasn't Puerto Rican.

R161, I understand why you feel that way, and it may have a lot to do with their accents. I think the consensus of opinion is that Chakiris's Puerto Rican accent sounds more organic and more accurate than Wood's, though again, that may be PARTLY because we have heard her speak without an accent in so many other films, whereas we have heard him speak without an accent in basically NO other films :-)

R163 you're a dolt and no one needs a half-baked lesson on race from you.

R164 - Definitely. From the first rolled R out of Woods's mouth, she just kept taking me out of the role. I couldn't get past it. Bless her heart. She tried.

Trivia: Richard Beymer met a young Sharon Tate in Italy when she got a bit on one of his pics in there. They dated a few times and he gave her the name of his slimy agent in L.A. who got her some work.

[quote] you're a dolt and no one needs a half-baked lesson on race from you.

R165 Nor from you. That's my point. Give it a rest.

Sharon and I were in LOVE, ok?

I never got over losing the love of my life.

R163 and white and black are also not "races". There is no such thing as white or black people.

R159

Sorry I got totally distracted... Warren Beatty's tanned ass sumthin sumthin unbelievable sumthin sumthin

OFGS! People are arguing over who would be a credible gang member or not; if NW was miscast or not; what other actors played against their ethnicity; and it's a...

GD MUSICAL!!

Why don't you contrarians argue that REAL gang members wouldn't dance and sing in brilliantly choreographed numbers?!

R171 See MY POST! R69

"the Jets cross the road in Sc.1. like they’ve just had their nails done…"

And they probably just had!

OG Robbins— bad ass compadre!

😎

R173 By Rita Moreno

Tony and Maria are basically dull, and the movie is way too long.

You mean Rita "Let Me Tell You About Brando" Moreno, r175?

I admire a woman who would attempt suicide because of one throbbing cock!

R177 do you mean Marlon "let me tell You about Wally Cox" Brando?

Just for fun, let me throw in that George Chakiris (of Greek ancestry) did West Side Story in the original London production. Playing RIFF.

Raff!

How 'bout the not-so-blind item retelling how Anthony Perkins was certain he'd gotten the role of Tony only to be sabotaged by his ex-lover, Arthur Laurents, who reportedly took great glee in playing Perkins' tirade over this on his answering machine recording.

They had answering machines back then?

Didn't they all use Susanswerphone?

[R182] there were no answering machines back then. I was there.

Payback for Perkins stealing boyfriend Tab Hunter's part in a film, the one about the baseball player.

R183 Yes. The Bell System phone companies offered the Western Electric "Telephone Answering Set" as early as the 1950s. The ad for it (below) is from 1956. .. General Telephone companies offered something called "The Electronic Secretary." In one of my very first jobs in the early 80s, they were actually still using one of those old clunkers in the office I worked in. Hilarious.

btw- The blind item actually made reference to Laurents copying the message to a reel-to-reel tape so he could play Perkins' message for people at parties.

R179, Did Brando speak of Wally Cox in every interview? I was not aware.

Couldn’t Michael Callan have played Tony? He was a rising star, and could sing and dance. I think he played Riff on Broadway

Natalie Wood's fake Mexican accent throughout the film is so grating. she sounds like a braying donkey. PRs don't sound like that. Different accent.

So what. Moreno didn’t use her own accent in the film. Big deal.

Olivia Hussey didn’t speak with a Veronese accent either.

I was checking on Richard Beymer's credits before WSS and surprised to find that his only really impressive one was that of Peter Van Daan in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK which was, of course, considered a huge prestigious and commercial hit back in the day, directed by A list director George Stevens.

I remember his performance as highly effective, that of a shy and modest teenaged boy who grows into a man and unexpectedly finds himself in the throes of a star-crossed romance in the course of the film. A perfect young working-class Romeo, and other than the lack of singing, probably a perfect "audition" for the role of Tony.

Ultimately, he may not have been a successful Tony, but in retrospect, I think it's not so hard to see why his casting would have appealed to Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise and the studio far more than Tab Hunter, James Darren and Michael Callan, among others mentioned upthread.

Why was George Chakiris nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar and not Russ Tamblyn?

America! It is the showcase, or key set piece, for Bernardo and Anita…singing, dancing and acting—triple threat.

r194 Not in the stage version it isn't. (It's only performed by the girls.)

Robert Wise improved on both WSS and TSOM by repositioning and reassigning musical numbers.

And that’s how each won their Oscar. Please pay attention: this is a MOVIE.

R190 Nobody except for Rita and Miss "I know choodo!" sound Puertorican in that movie.

R191 Rachel reminded me of Olivia.

They both had dark hair—yes, agreed. 🙄

R193 Probably because Bernardo is arguably the most interesting male character in the film, and Chakiris' portrayal was both powerful and charismatic. His performance gave him the label of triple threat for his singing, dancing, acting.

But how is Bernardo "interesting" other than in "America" and a few shots in the opening montage dance?

Because Nardo had that presence the film needed. None of the others really had any. He was sexy, dark, and scary.

The camera loved his face for one thing. His looks were unconventional but stunning and "still white enough" for 1961 Hollywood.

Just stop. He was a triple threat and featured in the best musical number. His character is interesting, where Tony is a cipher. George leptboff the screen. It’s a classic supporting role. Moreno won for TB e same reason. He lost in only one category that night…,what don’t you get.

[quote]Couldn’t Michael Callan have played Tony? He was a rising star, and could sing and dance. I think he played Riff on Broadway

Callan could sing but not nearly well enough for Tony, so they would have had to dub him. But yes, he certainly could have played Riff in the movie. I don't remember if that was ever considered, but one reason why it may not have been is Robbins was apparently horrific to Callan during the stage production.

The film* lost in only one category

[Quote] Natalie Wood's fake Mexican accent throughout the film is so grating. she sounds like a braying donkey. PRs don't sound like that. Different accent.

[Quote] So what. Moreno didn’t use her own accent in the film. Big deal.

[Quote] Olivia Hussey didn’t speak with a Veronese accent either.

And virtually none of the actors in Dr. Zhivago (1965) looked or sounded Russian

It’s so ironic that her name was Wood, but she sank like a Stone.

Why do you all of you Chakiris fans think his film career never took off after WSS?

Despite winning Oscars neither Chakiris nor Moreno really had much of a film career. I think it was because they were hard to cast in the 60s. Can you think of any particular roles that they could have been cast in during the 60s?

In the early 1960s most of the biggest male movie stars were still holdovers from the 1950s, like Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Sidney Poitier, Burt & Kirk, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon and then some younger Brits like Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Sean Connery snuck in.

Warren Beatty and Robert Redford are the only two Americans I can think of who were of a younger generation who were A List around 1962. Or was Redford really later in the decade? Of course, around 1967, that all changed.

But in 1962, no one was going to build a feature film around George Chakiris, triple threat or not.

Everyone knew Chakiris was gay -or suspected he was -and that was a kiss of death then in Hollywood (still is...).

R212 Everyone knew Anthony Perkins, Rock Hudson and Roddy MacDowall were gay and they got plenty of work in the 50s& 60s to say nothing of plenty of dick

R205 per Michael Callan’s obit in the Hollywood Reporter, he auditioned for both Tony and Riff but didn’t get either role, perhaps because he was under contract to Columbia.

Earl Holliman, too. It didn't seem to keep him from working, though it might have kept him from true leading man status early on.

Chakiris' Bernardo was a gorgeous thing, a beautiful piece of art. But it was an extremely restrained and controlled performance, even in the movement of dance, no doubt every step, every nod of the head, heavily overseen by Jerry Robbins. Oddly unemotional for such a supposed firebrand of a character, though it works in the context of the film. But in George's follow-ups Flight from Ashiya, Kings of the Sun and Diamond Head, his blandness and lack of talent were totally exposed.

R209, because Chakiris flopped as a leading man.

R213, there is some truth to what you say, but McDowall, Hudson, and Perkins were established before Hollywood learned their secrets, and they were willing to play the game. Hudson and Perkins married. McDowall kept to supporting character roles for the most part, and/or B movies. If Chakiris had had a big moneymaker after WSS they probably would have accepted him and propped him up. But he didn't, so they tossed him.

R171 Well there needs to be a certain believability. Just because it's a GD musical doesn't mean you can cast Tommy Tune as a gang member. Or Fred Astaire as a Pac. NW mountain guy in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.

r78 here. And what good timing! Here's a little more Bernardo trivia. Jay Norman (he played Pepe, and I had to look that up) was considered for the role of Bernardo when they were casting WSS, and one reason he didn't get it was because George Chikaris was considered the prettier of the two. Pepe is seen as the new leader of the Sharks after Bernardo's death. And here is a fun little Jay Norman/Pepe blooper' of sorts. Towards the end of 'America', there's so much spinning and movement and this and that all so fast and furious that when he spins around to meet his partner, he stops in the opposite direction, facing away from her. He quickly corrects himself and it's so fast you'll miss it if you blink. That's probably one reason why they left it in.

And R 83, thank you so much, I'm flattered. When usually I post is ripped to subtle shreds by a fellow dealer you just stood me with the opposite. If you want to learn more about the look of West side story google Google Saul Bass. If you know who Milton Glaset is, Saul came before Milton in terms of "name" graphic designers. He designed the Westside Story logo with the fire escape and WSS type integrated together, which IMO has really held up. And he is credited with creating the original opening/overture with the Fantasia-like blend of colors and vertical lines that eventually form the skyline of lower Manhattan. AND the also iconic overhead shots that draw the viewer closer and closer to the Upper West Side were also his creation.

There is a video on YouTube "Why WSS is a Masterpiece" that I don't fully understand because he approaches it from a complete musical tonality POV and I don't have that kind of background. He is saying that the little three note whistle that the Jets use to summon the other gang members is multi layered and one of the most significant aspects of the film being so highly regarded.

also I kind of go where I hit shots that rather view were closer and closer to the Jets turf on the bus side on West side

I never found Chakiris particularly attractive until he played Chopin in a British Miniseries sometime in the 70s.

I worked on a theater project with George Chakiris about 10 years ago. He was very sweet but impenetrably shy. Virtually inarticulate, but he might have been intimidated by the young cast. He was till dying his hair and beard a very dark brown back then and it looked ridiculous. I'm glad to see that he's finally left it alone in his 90s.

He made it bigger than many.

Even Glenn Close doesn't have an Academy Award...

R210 I think Rita would have been perfectly cast in The Night of the Following Day or Marlowe, and George would have been perfectly cast in Kings of the Sun and The Young Ladies of Rochefort, don't you? Oh wait..,

[quote]When usually I post is ripped to subtle shreds by a fellow dealer you just stood me with the opposite.

[quote]I kind of go where I hit shots that rather view were closer and closer to the Jets turf on the bus side on West side

Are you okay, or should we call for medical assistance?

I'll always have a soft spot for one of George's 1960s films The Big Cube starring Lana Turner. It's a true camp classic.

R223 basically they appeared in B pictures that played in 'neighborhood' theaters for a week or 2 and then disappeared.

r218 "Pac" was a ballet dancer, so Fred Astaire might pass him up on a duet given that he was 2 inches shorter in height. I find it hilarious how some people see this guy as the epitome of gangster. He was in the closet and the whole gangster persona was faked after he was in a movie where he ran around pretending to be tough. He was not.

r218 "Pac" was a ballet dancer, so Fred Astaire might pass him up on a duet given that he was 2 inches shorter in height. I find it hilarious how some people see this guy as the epitome of gangster. He was in the closet and the whole gangster persona was faked after he was in a movie running around pretending to be tough. He was never a gangster and all the things he wrote about were not who he was. r218 might be Kamala.

R228 When I wrote Pac. NW, it was short for "Pacific Northwest". No idea what you're talking about, to be honest.

That time Lana said no to chem highs, lol r225

Have not seen that in ages. Thanks!

R230 In the 90s I went to the Film Forum in New York to see a double bill of The Big Cube and another LSD themed film Otto Preminger's Skidoo (1968) which must be seen to be disbelieved. Timothy Leary is in the trailer.