Hindsight

Classic Kids, or 100 films that the kids in your life have to see by 13 or else!

 Day 83:  West Side Story (1961) *kids 7 and up

This is probably the first movie I remember as a kid, think I was four years old.  I know my mom went to see it, when she was pregnant with me, and she claims that is why I love the movie so; but how could you not be blown away by this West Side Story?   Just the songs alone: "Tonight," "Maria," "America,"and"Somewhere." Then there is the incredible dancing from artists such as Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn. The opening number is still sensational.   Based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the story is updated to the  rivalry between two gangs in New York City during the mid 1950s. West Side Story was first a wildly successful Broadway musical.  Although, starting to feel a tad creaky in the plot's representation of gangs,  the rivalry between the Sharks and the Jets still hints to the discontent of teens living on the edges of society, and the consequences of bigotry and revenge.   The film earned ten Academy Awards, including best Pic.  West Side Story is a great film to link discussions on the American musical, William Shakespeare, and the gifts of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, and Robert Wise, the film's director.  

Themes:  gangs, social problems, ethnicity, class, NYC, 1950s

Media Literacy Questions for Kids:  How would a filmmaker, such as Wise, approach this musical differently than a producer/director for a play?  How does the musical use dance and song to forward the narrative?  What is the moral to the story?