I watched a film called West Side Story. The film takes place in West Side Lincoln Square in Manhattan, New York. Two rivaling gangs decide to go head to head: The Jets, who are led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and a Puerto Rican-American gang, The Sharks, who are led by Bernardo (George Chakiris). They attempt to challenge each other for full control of the neighborhood. This film also stars Natalie Wood as Maria, Richard Beymer as Tony, and Rita Moreno as Anita.
I liked this movie because it was a musical. I love to dance, and I honestly couldn’t get enough of the dancing and the singing. In the first semester of my junior year of high school, we did a suite of West Side Story pieces. We did Cool, which eventually faded into Gym Mambo, and closed off with America. Watching the film caused the memory to spark in my brain and completely brought it to life. Of course, even if we were the best dancers in the world, we couldn’t compare to the amazing dancers on the screen. I find watching people dancing and singing to be very entertaining, so I loved this film a lot. I also loved the acting. Natalie Wood as Maria I especially loved. Her accent has my heart. She was beautiful and sweet yet absolutely dynamic in this film. I think the whole movie was beautifully acted. In most films I watch, I find at least a small portion of the acting quite cringeworthy, but I never felt that with this film. Cool, in terms of acting, was my absolute favorite part of this film. I love the feel of it. I think I loved watching it be performed as much as I loved performing it. And America is just too amazing. I honestly have no words for how amazing that is. What I didn’t like about this film was its length. I am a person who gets bored easily, and the film got off to a slow start. I won’t lie, I considered switching it. I get squirmy watching slow, boring films. But I ended up loving this film a lot.
I would definitely recommend this film to anyone. It was phenomenal. The dancing and singing was incredible. Nothing can compare to how exceptionally talented these people were. And I definitely wouldn’t just recommend it to people who like musicals or performing arts, such as myself. I would recommend it to any person. Because even if musicals aren’t one’s thing, there’s a little bit of something for everyone in this film. Once again, I was met with a brilliant lineup of talented actors, dancers, and singers. I felt like I was in a hot New York City summer in 1957. Gym Mambo is an absolute gem. I feel that a lot of people who aren’t really interested in musicals will be after seeing this film, because the film itself has so much to offer. So when you get the chance, go watch it. Keep it cool, boy.