Synopsis

Love at first sight strikes when young Tony spots Maria at a high school dance in 1957 New York City. Their burgeoning romance helps to fuel the fire between the warring Jets and Sharks – two rival gangs vying for control of the streets.

Critics Views

“Heartfelt and heart-breaking, this feels like Spielberg has made an adaptation faithful to its roots but also, always, alive to the modern world.”
Empire

“West Side Story is contrived, certainly, a hothouse flower of musical theatre, and Spielberg quite rightly doesn’t try hiding any of those stage origins. His mastery of technique is thrilling; I gave my heart to this poignant American fairytale of doomed love.”
The Guardian

“There’s no need for Spielberg and Kushner to tease out topicality here. Aspects of West Side Story feel as pertinent today as they must have done on its 1957 Broadway debut. But relevance is easy: timelessness is the real artistic feat. And Spielberg has magnificently pulled it off.”
The Telegraph

“It feels like a rare achievement to even attempt to scale the unscalable and still, after more than half a century, be able to make it sing.”
Entertainment Weekly

Awards

5 BAFTA nominations

Best Supporting Actress – Ariana DeBose – WINNER
Best Supporting Actor – Mike Faist
Best Casting – Cindy Tolan
Best Production Design – Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
Best Sound – Brian Chumney, Tod A. Maitland, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom

7 Academy Awards nominations 2022 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role  – Ariana DeBose
Best Motion Picture of the Year  –  Steven Spielberg (producer) Kristie Macosko Krieger (producer)
Best Achievement in Production Design  – Adam Stockhausen (production design), Rena DeAngelo (set decoration)
Best Sound – Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson, Shawn Murphy
Best Achievement in Costume Design – Paul Tazewell
Best Achievement in Cinematography – Janusz Kaminski
Best Achievement in Directing – Steven Spielberg

Film Rating

IMDb
 Critics: 85%  Audience 75%

Rotten Tomatoes
Critics positive review 83%   Audience Liked It 94%

 Stockbridge Audience Score: 91%

Audience Comments

More hard-hitting than the original film. Superb acting and camera work.
Brilliant, amazing music and dancing, very powerful.
Excellent dancing
Very different from the original film – spectacular.
Fabulous costumes and choreography. Wonderful music. Strong sad story brilliantly acted and songs sung. Very well directed. Hugely enjoyable.
Brilliant
Brilliant: music, casting, acting, singing dancing, cinematography, directing
Interesting to see a grittier and bigger version of the original film, but it was always about the songs and the music, so still seems an unnecessary exercise.
Too much graphic violence and overlong. But wonderful scenes, great choreography and the singing was superb. Quite an experience
How fresh the music and story line after so many years
The quality of sound and picture was particularly important for this film
More violent than I expected so not very suitable for young persons
I was concerned that I would be constantly making comparisons between this film and the old (much loved) 1961 version, but I was soon won over by this much grittier view of New York in the 50’s and thought all the cast were very good indeed – specially Anita. Loved the dynamic dance sequences, and the director’s use of shadows throughout the film – very effective.
A big part of the enjoyment was having the opportunity to see this film version of a well known story, as opposed to seeing and judging the film just for itself.