MovieChat Forums > West Side Story (1961) Discussion > Anybodys' Betrayal of Anita:

Anybodys' Betrayal of Anita:


Anybodys, a tough, straight tomboy, fought hard to be accepted as an equal by the Jets, by proving that she was a girl who could take care of herself. That was admirable, in a good way. There are plenty of straight tough girls in real life who are able to take care of themselves, which she also did by In fact, I've known afew, but that's another subject.

When Anita, albeit reluctantly, at Maria's request, goes to Doc's store to give Tony the message that Chino was gunning for him, the Jets, who wanted to protect Tony from Chino (after Anybodys had found Tony, and he was hiding out in the cellar of Doc's Candy Store), the Jets block her way, and begin to insult, humiliate and to rough her up.

When Anita says please, and Action blows cigarette smoke in her face, and the mockery and the insults directed at Anita for her nationality, ethnicity and culture, Action says "Even a greaseball's got feelings."

Unfortunately, however, Anybodys makes an already bad situation worse when she betrayed Anita by saying, "But she wants to help get Tony!", and Anita loudly says "No!", Anybodys sort of spoiled what she'd worked so hard for, because she then acted way worse than the Jets, in a way, by being the final instigator of the Jets, who then launched an all-out attack, rife with insults, and resulting in the attempted sexual assault on Anita by the Jets, which was only torpedoed by the fact that Doc came in just in time. In exasperation and anger, Doc finally said to the jets "You make this world lousy!" and Action said, "We didn't make it, Doc!". In exasperation and frustration, Doc finally says "Get outta here!"

Had Anybodys not spouted off the phrase, "But she wants to help get Tony", but instead came to Anita's defense and encouraged the Jets to allow Anita to help protect Tony against Chino, the Jets might not have molested Anita, at least not to the extent that they did, Tony would've been alive and together with Maria, and the Jets and Sharks might've formed a truce and become friends.

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Put it this way... people don't become street gang members, or aspire to be street gang members, because they're highly intelligent and possessed of sterling social skills!

Besides, the Jets would have become violent with Anita no matter what, she was a vulnerable enemy in a disadvantageous situation and they were a bunch of nasty little thugs in the grip of groupthink. No thinking with the big heads going on there.

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What you're saying is entirely possible, Otter, but one has to ask why Ice went out the back to supposedly check the alleys again for Tony again, and told the other Jets to remain inside Doc's Candy Store. I also wonder, however, since Ice was more emotionally mature and stable than the rest of the Jets, I wonder if he might've stopped the rest of the Jets from assaulting and nearly raping 'Anita.

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I freely admit that the character of Ice never made enough of an impact on me, to judge how much influence he had on the others. But if he was going "out back" when things got tense, I suspect he didn't have the level of respect given to Riff or Tony, and wouldn't have had the nerve to speak up.

No, the thing about teen gangs is that the people who join actually *like* the testosterone-fueled groupthink that leads to this kind of assault, it makes them feel powerful and gives them a sense of belonging, so the Jets would slide very easily into group violence. And BTW one of the little things I liked about the new version was the scene at the police station, where a couple of the Jets had been hauled in, and were shut in a room with an older gal they didn't know. As things got tenser and the cops ran out for a moment, the older gal calmly picked up the keys to a cell off of the cop's desk and locked herself behind bars, where she'd be safe from the kind of group aggression that was later unleashed on Anita. That gal knew what to expect from stupid young men who were feeling threatened...

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The reason that I mentioned Ice, is because Action, who was always quite explosive and ready to do stuff that was inappropriate and/or to start fights, or got too hyper, was put in check on several occasions by Ice, which makes me wonder if Ice would've put Action in check and not allowed either him or any of the other Jets to assault Anita, but allowed her to go down to the cellar to relay the message to Tony that Chino was gunning for him.

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Nope, can't say the Jets chorus boys ever stuck out as individuals to me, but seriously. If this Ice guy excused himself when shit got real, he probably lacked the nerve to oppose the groupthink and violence, even if he hated it and what it wrought.

That's the thing about group violence, some of the participants don't want to do it, but they participate out of fear. They're afraid that if they don't join in the attack, or oppose it, then they will become the angry group's target, and that is not a baseless fear.

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You've made a good point that's well taken, Otter. This is the kind of thing that happens in real life, as well. I wonder if Ice didn't know that the s**t turned real, especially since Ice went and checked out the back alleys behind the Candy Store, even before Anita came to the Candy Store to deliver Maria's message.

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If Ice were a real person, I betcha that he heard the yelling, telling himself he'd do his bit for the gang if there was a fight going on... and once he'd had a look at a lone girl being assaulted he snuck back out to the alley.


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Who knows what may have happened, in this instance? One of the interesting aspects of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story is that it leaves a lot to the audiences' imagination(s).

I still think, however, that Anybodys more than likely helped to instigate the gang into doing their dirty work even if they'd thought of it prior to Anybodys' having said "But she wants to help get Tony!"

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Ice went back out to the alleys to look for Chino. He knew Tony was already in Doc’s basement.

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That's way more like it, Strong Rex. What do you think Ice would've done to Chino if he'd found him? Just wondering.

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I’m not sure what would have happened, mplo. Ice is very street smart so he wouldn’t have tried to do anything stupid, I know that. I’m not sure what the plan was to take down Chino.

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Ice was smarter, more mature, and more emotionally stable than many, if not most of the other Jets, and when he took over the Jet gang leadership after Riff's death during the Rumble, he advised the rest of the Jets to play it cool, and not continue to wreak revenge on the Sharks.

I must say that the Jets' attack on Anita, when she was trying to help save Tony's life and protect him from Chino's wrath, was rather immature and vicious.

Also, Chino ended up gunning down Tony in cold blood, partly out of jealousy, and partly in retaliation for Tony's having stabbed Bernardo to death during the Rumble, in retaliation for Bernardo's having stabbed his best friend, Riff.

In the end, Chino gets escorted to a waiting police car by a cop,.

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mplo, when you tried watching Woke Side Story, did you get as far as seeing Valentina’s first scene? Did you see the dynamic between her and the Jets?

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To be honest, I don't think that I got to the point where Valentina got involved in the dynamic between her and the Jets. I was not able to bring myself to see the entire reboot/remake of the film version of West Side Story. I fast forwarded it to the Rumble scene, but couldn't bring myself to see that entire scene, either.

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I was curious because I wanted to see if the white Jets did indeed treat her the same way they treated Doc, or if they treated her any differently whatsoever.

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Thank you for your quick response to my post, StrongRex. I seriously wonder that myself, but I would imagine that the Jets did treat Anita the same way, but there's really no telling.

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Yeah, I’m inquiring solely about the character Valentina.

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Hi, StrongRex. I figured that you were inquiring about the woman, Valentina. I heard (though I forget who I heard this from,), that Valentina chewed out the Jets for their attempted rape of Anita.

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Yeah, I figured she would do so, even though Doc does the same thing. I’m sure I will see the remake at some point, I would just like to know in advance how exactly the Jets interact with Valentina and if it’s exactly the same as Doc. Because if it is, it’s extremely forced.

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If, indeed that Valentina did upbraid the white Jets for what they tried to do to Anita, it's not surprising, especially since Doc did the same thing, although more abruptly than Valentina probably did. If, indeed, the Jets did interact with Valentina in the same fashion that they interacted with Doc, it is extremely forced, but Spielberg's whole reboot/remake of the film version of West Side Story, sounds forced and all wrong, in general...period.

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