Season 6: Episode 281 - MAKE/REMAKE: West Side Story (1961/2021)

West Side Story (1961)

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West Side Story is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. With a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp in Super Panavision 70. The music was composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and viewers, and became the highest-grossing film of 1961. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture (in addition to a special award for Robbins), becoming the record holder for the most wins for a musical.

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West Side Story (2021)

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West Side Story is a 2021 American musical romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner. It is the second feature-length adaptation of the 1957 stage musical of the same name.It stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in her film debut with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno in supporting roles. Moreno, who starred in the 1961 film adaptation, also served as an executive producer alongside Kushner.[3] The film features music composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  The film entered development in 2014 at 20th Century Fox; Kushner began writing the screenplay in 2017. In January 2018, Spielberg was hired and casting began that September. Justin Peck choreographed the dance sequences. Principal photography occurred in New York and New Jersey; filming began in July 2019 and ran for two months.  The film was a box office bomb losing over $100million dollars at the box office.

 

Opening Credits; Introduction (.37); Background History (28.20); West Side Story (1961) Film Trailer (30.07); The Original (34.04); Let's Rate (1:55.39); Amazing Design Advertisement (2:06.54); Introducing a Remake (2:08.06); West Side Story (2021) Film Trailer (2:10.10); The Remake (2:12.25); How Many Stars (3:2128); End Credits (3:48.15); Closing Credits (3:50.01)

 

Opening Credits– Epidemic Sound – copyright 2021. All rights reserved

 

Closing Credits:  Welcome Christmas – performed by the MGM Chorus.  Taken from the 1966 How The Grinch Stole Christmas Television Soundtrack.  Copyright 1966 Leo The Lion Records

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Original Music copyrighted 2020 Dan Hughes Music and the Literary License Podcast. 

 

All rights reserved.

 

All songs available through Amazon Music.