Or not?
Just wondering what other people may think. As much as I'm against the remake of West Side Story (the film version), I'm curious to find out other people's opinions on this question. Would love some feed back here.
A GOOD REMAKE DRAWS ATTENTION TO ITS ORIGINAL...A BAD REMAKE DRAWS MORE...ITS WIN/WIN FOR THE ORIGINAL.
shareWhat does a win-win mean, exactly?
shareIT MEANS THE ORIGINAL WINS,ATTENTION DIRECTED TO IT WISE,NO MATTER WHAT THE QUALITY OF THE REMAKE IS.
shareThanks for your feedback, Kowalski. It would also be good if the search engines not only gave more weight to the original 1961 film version of West Side Story, but also provided fans of the film West Side Story with a choice as to whether to see the remake or/and the original 1961 film version of West Side Story in movie theatres, as well.
shareWhen remakes are bad, they are quickly forgotten. When they're good, they get a lot of attention for awhile, then things settle back to normal and the original classic once again is better remembered.
shareThanks for the great post, liscarkat. Your points make lots of sense and they're well taken. er we Let's hope that happens with West Side Story.
shareYes, exactly! No matter how good a remake is, it will almost always stand in the shadow of the original. It's only when the remake completely dwarfs the original, in which case the latter probably wasn't even that big of a classic to begin with, will the new version begin to stand on its own (The Thing, The Fly, True Grit etc). Remember how surprised people were by how not terrible the Evil Dead remake was? It wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible either. Has anyone gone back to watch that film since?
In that sense, why bother remaking a masterpiece like West Side Story at all? Even if it turns out okay, it'll still just be seen as the inferior version of a superior film. Is Spielberg really this uninspired now?
Your post is exactly spot-on, filmgeek99, especially the last part of it! Very few remakes of older films, if any, really do dwarf the original versions, or turn out well. I have to admit that I'm an ultra-conservative when it comes to the remakes of great older classic films, especially something such as West Side Story.
share"It's only when the remake completely dwarfs the original, in which case the latter probably wasn't even that big of a classic to begin with, will the new version begin to stand on its own"
Um. Then you mention The Fly and True Grit???
Puzzling.
What's puzzling about that? Those really aren't that big of classics. They're classics for fans of the respective genres they're in, but neither of which were heralded as some of the greatest films of all time or anything. Movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Searchers are held in much higher regard than those.
shareOpinions vary. . .
shareI think the opposite. The popularity of the original will probably draw people to this version so they can see if it lives up to its legacy.
shareInotherwords, many people are curious. I just saw the official trailer to Spielberg's reboot/remake of the film version of West Side Story. It has much too sudden a beginning, and it seems way too loud and fast-moving. The score seems way too brassy, loud, and out of control. Moreover, it doesn't seem to have the charm and charisma and personality of the original 1961 film version. I'm sure that the romance scenes between Elgort's Tony and Zegler's Maria, especially the bedroom scenes, will be far steamier and more explicitly sexual, the script will be laced with a lot of "blue" language, and that the fighting scenes, especially the Rumble itself, as well as the three killings in West Side Story, will be a lot bloodier.
Ansel Elgort, the guy who's playing the part of Tony, sounds like a dangerous, disgusting and gross human being, as well.
Having said all of the above, I will more than likely NOT go to see Spielberg's version of this classic movie-musical when it comes into the movie theatres in December.
Not sure if Spielberg is using the original play or the 1961 film as the basis for this. If it's the play, I almost certainly will like the 1961 movie better, as it made changes to the play that I feel were mostly improvements. If he's actually remaking the 1961 film, it could be different. But the 1961 film is a classic for me, so it will be hard to top.
shareSpielberg agreed to ignore and bypass the original 1961 film version of West Side Story entirely, and base his reboot/remake of West Side Story on the original Broadway stage play only. So did Tony Kushner, who's the script-writer for the upcoming reboot/remake of the film West Side Story.
The old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story is not only a classic for me, but it's my all time favorite movie, hands down! I never get tired of seeing it, especially on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low and sharing the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether I know them or not.
Yeah, plus I read that Spielberg is using the revival version of the play from the mid-2000s as a basis, rather than the original. I saw that version when it was touring, and I didn't like it. I get that having the Hispanic characters use more Spanish dialogue is more authentic, but changing the lyrics of classic songs to Spanish throws them off. The original songs weren't meant to be sung that way.
Plus, the placement of the songs "America," "Officer Krupke," and "Cool" work so much better the way they were ordered in the 1961 film. And the heavenly dream version of "Somewhere" from the play sucks.
Hi, janelsenor. Thanks for the heads up. The fact that people are claiming that he's using the original late 1950's Broadway Stage production of West Side Story doesn't seem true, at all. I, too, saw the mid-2000's Broadway revival, and, with West Side Story being West Side Story, I largely enjoyed it, but I looked at the whole thing with a more jaundiced and critical eye. I don't think that the Spanish dialogue worked very well either, though it was an interesting idea on the face of that.
Having said all of the above, I, too, prefer the old original 1961 film version of West Side Story, and I plan on going to see it when it comes to the movies theatres on Sunday, November 28th, and Wednesday, December 1st. I've already got tickets for myself and a friend of mine, and I'm excited. So what if we have to wear masks. we're there for the enjoyment, and it'll feel great to see a movie again.
Thank you for you good points. I, too, like the placement of "America", "Officer Krupke" and "Cool" in the original 1961 film version of WSS, as well as the order of "I Feel Pretty" being prior to the Rumble in the original 1961 movie.
Take care, stay safe, and all the best. Thanks again for your good points.