Spielberg isn't the one to remake it.

I don't think there's any reason to remake it either, but if they are going to do it, I don't think Spielberg is the choice.

THANK YOU! I do not understand the obsession with remaking iconic performances with efforts that look amateurish in comparison.

Note: it might seem like I contradicted myself with my second point, so lemme clarify by saying "general movie audiences", because obviously WSS is still popular with Broadway audiences

Hi, Krishthegod!

Thank you for some great points that are well taken. West Side Story, however, isn't something that I'd go so far as to call a modern-day or "hip" version of Romeo and Juliet that's set in NYC's west Side. The themes are basically the same, but the following differences between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are far too striking to consider WSS a modern-day Romeo & Juliet.

A) Maria, unlike Juliet, doesn't die.

B) Unlike Romeo & Juliet, West Side Story is a musical

C) West Side Story has more modern speech than Romeo and Juliet.


Yet, one could agree that the following similarities between WSS and Romeo & Juliet exist, as well:

A) They both take place in urban areas.

B) People from two different cultures/factions/families meet and fall in love.

C) Hatred between the two sides result in tragedy and death, but reconciliation in the end, in the wake of tragedy.

West Side Story remains timeless due to the subject matter, as well as the beautifully choreographed dancing by Jerome Robbins, the cinematography, the intensely brilliant Leonard Bernstein musical score, and the very story behind it, plus these qualities are what make West Side Story successful both on stage and on screen. Here's another quality about West Side Story that I've pointed out on other posts, but bears repeating here: WSS is a fantastic work of art, which was also kept as a larger-than-life-sized piece of theatre when it was transferred from stage to screen, which is another thing that gives this film its strength. Some of the settings of the film version of WSS, which were designed by the late Boris Leven, look uncannily like parts of a rough-and-run-down area of a huge city, and the costumes were terrific.

Having written the above paragraph, I believe that these are the reasons that many, many people (myself included.) tend to overlook Natalie Wood's shaky accent, the dubbing of the two leads by Marnie Nixon (for Natalie Wood's Maria) and Jimmy Bryant (for Richard Beymer's Tony), as well as the outdated dialogue and slang.