Movies: West Side Story: One Big Iconic Moment for Me:

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

 

There are so many seemingly smaller iconomic moments in my alltime favorite movie, West Side Story, which I’ve written about mucho times on here, as well as on a number of other forum/message boards, that they’re all combined together in one dynamite package to make this great golden oldie but keeper of a film classic what it is;  one big iconic moment, for me and probably many, many other average moviegoers as well.     Due to my intense love for this great, golden oldie but keeper of a movie-musical classic, I have a really tough time naming any favorite scenes/songs/characters from West Side Story, but I will say this:

There were many exuberant scenes, such as Dance at the Gym, America and Cool, as well as the beginning Overture, the aerial shots of NYC’s West Side and the gradual zeroing in on the Jets while they were snapping their fingers on the playground, and Officer Krupke, too was exuberant and made me smile, despite what they would all  eventually lead up to.  The tenser scenes, such as the playground fights, the pre-Rumble War-Council between the Jets and Sharks at Doc’s Candy Store, the Quintet, and the Rumble itself were very tense scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat.  The Something’s Comin’ scene, where Tony’s predicting something good and great was coming meant that something good, and yet very bad was about to go his way, but he didn’t know what it was.  

The I Feel Pretty scene, where Maria was happily preparing for her meeting with Tony at the Bridal Shop was a sign of Maria’s happiness and unawareness of what was to come later, and it’s  not really clear whether or not Maria’s friends/co-workers in the Bridal Shop where she worked were acting happy for Maria due to her being in love, or if they were making fun of Maria for acting somewhat vain.  The One Hand, One Heart scene, where Tony and Maria stage a mock wedding in the Bridal Shop to pledge their love using the various mannequins at hand was tender and sentimental, but it, too, was part of the story, as was I Feel pretty.

At the beginning, when Riff was planning on getting Tony to be his lieutenant at the rumble, he said   He (meaning Tony) always come through for us and always will”,  little does anybody know that there’d be a certain amount of irony after the rumble, when Baby John said  “He(meaning Tony, again) really come through for the Jets” after Tony had stabbed the Sharks gang leader, Bernardo to death, in retaliation for his old friend Riff’s death at the hands of Bernardo.  There was a certain amount of irony to it.  

One scene in West Side Story which was particularly funny goes kind of like this, in the wake of a conversation between Tony (who’s quit the Jets in search of another life) and his old buddy, Riff, who’d come to visit him at Doc’s, to persuade him to help out at the rumble, but manages to get him to come to the dance that night instead.:

Riff:  Four and a half years I live with a buddy and his family.  I think I’m diggin’ a guy’s character.   Boy, am I a victim of disappointment in you.

Tony:  End your sufferin’, little man!  Why don’t you pack up your gear and move out?

Riff:  ‘Cause your Ma’s hot for me!

At this exchange, Tony moves in quickly and twists Riff’s arm, until Riff cries out:

No..Cause I hate livin’ with my buggin’ uncle…uncle….UNCLE!  

That scene was funny, and it made me laugh out loud.

There was yet another scene, when Anita is busy altering an old white communion dress for Maria to wear to the dance that night, and Maria is pestering Anita to lower the neck just slightly, which Anita refuses to do.  Maria tries to convince Anita that the dress is now to be worn for dancing and not for praying, whereas Anita says  

“Listen, with those boys, you can start in dancing and end up praying.”

That also made me laugh out loud, as did the scene when Maria tries to distract Anita with questions about what h

“It’s when I don’t look that it happens”

West Side Story has all sorts of funny, sad, tense and exuberant and gentle scenes at the same time, and what’s so iconic about it is that it’s always fresh, at least to me, every time I watch this great classic.  The fact that so many different emotions can be expressed through dance, the beautiful cinematography by Daniel Fapp, the richly-colored costumes, the brilliant Bernstein musical score, the very story behind it, and the wonderful cast seem to all bind together to make West Side Story, with all the tensions, sad events, and exuberance,  the great, dynamic movie/musical classic that it is:  One very big iconic moment.  

Please note:  This thread is cross-posted at imdb.com, firefly-dreaming.com, and at writingintheraw.com