| Academy Awards, USA | |||
| Year | Result | Award | Category/Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Won | Oscar | Best Actor in a Supporting Role George Chakiris |
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role Rita Moreno | |||
| Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Boris Leven Victor A. Gangelin | |||
| Best Cinematography, Color Daniel L. Fapp | |||
| Best Costume Design, Color Irene Sharaff | |||
| Best Director Robert Wise Jerome Robbins | |||
| Best Film Editing Thomas Stanford | |||
| Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Saul Chaplin Johnny Green Sid Ramin Irwin Kostal | |||
| Best Picture Robert Wise | |||
| Best Sound Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD) | |||
| Nominated | Oscar | Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Ernest Lehman | |
Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)
The Romeo and Juliet story is given a New York City gang setting, Broadway-style music and intense choreography with ballet influences. Richard Beymer is Tony, retired leader of the Jets, who falls in love at first sight with Maria, played by Natalie Wood, the sister of the leader of the rival Sharks gang. Beymer and Wood lack charisma, a nearly fatal flaw given the pivotal nature of their relationship to the plot, though it must be admitted the plot is secondary to just about everything else. The songs are timeless, "Maria" and "America" in particular are Sondheim and Bernstein gems. The stylized choreography influenced countless films. However, the dialogue is frequently punctuated with popular slang and feels dated. Characters are poorly developed stereotypes more than anything else and the ending melodramatic. As a Broadway play, this is nearly perfect, however, as is so often the case, suffers in the translation to the big screen.
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