Road Trip: West Side Story (1961)

West Side Story

Directed
by
Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise
Music
by
Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics
by
Stephen Sondheim
Choreography
by
Jerome Robbins

Viewed at
The Galaxy Theater

Tulare, California
November 9, 2011

I had not been able to take a Movie Road Trip since  way back in late September when I saw the crapfest known as the remake of Straw Dogs.  By the end of summer, the studio left overs usually don’t have much appeal which may have had something to do with my current  drought.  It didn’t seem worth the effort to go.   But this week, (November 9) Honorable Number 3 Son and I decided yesterday was as good a time as any to take a little trip through the space/time continuum.  We polished up our the stainless steel DeLorean and sped out to I-99.  Once on the freeway, we set the flux capacitor for late 1961,  revved the engine up, and after hitting 88 mph found ourselves instantly transported back in time where we were able to attend the New York Road Show Engagement of what I consider to be the greatest musical of all time.  That would be West Side Story.

Wouldn’t it be fun if one could really jettison themselves backward and forwards in time?  Of course, I imagine if you had a time machine, taking in a movie might be one of the last things you would want to do as you hurdled yourself from one century to the next.  But in a way, films have always been our ticket to the past.   With film revivals and one night digital showings of classic films you can often enjoy the experience of the theatrical presentation once again.  And no matter how fancy your home theater equipment may bet, nothing surpasses that .  

I’ve blown several opportunities to see some of these one time events over the years.  Generally, time, money, and distance were not on my side.  Time, because work kind of gets in the way.  Money, because I’m as broke as everybody else in this country these days.  Distance, because the nearest movie theater is thirty miles away.  I would love to go to some of these film festivals in L.A., but most require  more than a one day stay and others like the TCM Film Festival require a mortgage on your house as a down payment.

I wanted to see The Sound of Music on the big screen last year, but it just wasn’t feasible.  When they had a Back to the Future revival, there were no local theaters participating so I missed out on that as well.

Many full moons ago when I was still living in Ohio, they had a Cinerama revival of How the West Was Won at The Neon Movies in Dayton, Ohio.  I had even bought my reserve seat ticket in advance.  Obviously the problem there wasn’t time, money or distance.  It was just a crazy Looney Tunes ex-wife that did me in. It's a long story and you don’t really need to know.

So a few weeks back when I was checking out the movie scheduling on the Turner Classic Movies web site, there was an ad for a one time anniversary event showing of West Side Story.  Not so coincidentally, the blu-ray remastered special edition was being released a week later.

I have seen this film many times over the years.  I was probably around ten or eleven at the most the first time, and it was in a neighborhood theater in Erlanger, Kentucky long after it’s Road Show Engagement had run its course.  I think we called the theater the “Gayety” but research tells me that by the time we saw West Side Story, that theater had long ago changed it’s name to the Village Cinema in either 1950 or 1960 depending on which of my sources is screwed up the most.  I remember seeing Li'l Abner there as well.  What a dreary experience that was!
 
It was the only time I had seen it in a theater, and I liked it well enough, but better than that,  it certainly satisfied my curiosity as to what all those goofy songs my three older sisters waltzed around the house singing incessantly were about. They had seen the film months earlier in a first run engagement, and saw it again when I did at the Gayety.  Their idea of course. 

When my parents bought them the soundtrack the girls were ecstatic.  And they must have played that LP until they finally wore it  out and me right along with it to the point where I felt like throwing up every time my siblings would warble along with “I Feel Pretty.”  You know kid brothers.  At that age I thought they were overreaching a bit with that particular song. 

It may have been the first stereo soundtrack LP we ever owned.  We had a copy of Flower Drum Song, but I don’t think it was the original cast.   Having found that album through Google did nothing to clear up that mystery.  Still, you probably thought I made up that stuff about the vinyl being red, didn’t you?  Hell, I played that record just because I liked the color better than your basic black.


It was later showings on television that enabled me to really appreciate the film, even panned and scanned and loaded with commercials.  I have purchased the soundtrack myself on various occasions, bought the movie on VHS, and bought the special edition DVD when it was released.  And now, I have the anniversary blu-ray box which was on order as I began writing this but arrived before I finished.  That tells you how long it takes me to write some of these things.

There were to be no showings at any Bakersfield theaters (as usual).  If there’s a bright center of the country when it comes to culture and film, Bakersfield is the city that it’s farthest from.  As a matter of fact, it is my opinion that Bakersfield is the city that’s farthest from anything much worth while.   And yes, towns like Wasco are a bigger drag to live in, but it has the excuse of it’s puny size. 

The nearest theater hosting this event was the Galaxy Theater  in Tulare, some 50 miles from where I live (about 70 from Bakersfield).  I had been to this theater before, several times in fact, when it had first opened.  But not recently and not in the past couple of years.  I know it was a nice place back then, but like I said, it was new.  However, the fact that it hosted events such as this one was a good sign. 

I asked The Girlfriend if she wanted to go.  You already know the answer to that.  So I asked Honorable Son Number 3 if he wanted to give it a try.  To my surprise he said yes.  So I purchased our tickets in advance on the internet.  Better to be safe than sorry.

In the weeks leading up to the event I did my best to get The Girlfriend to change her mind.  But it was no go.  If it had been The Notebook or Twilight or some other crap like that she’d had been right there.  But she did take the day off so that we could use her vehicle which is much better than my hunk of Buick Regal junk.  And in the end, she did go with us, but went to a different movie.  She opted for a real cinematic achievement and work of art known as The Tower Heist.

The Galaxy is part of the Preferred Outlets of Tulare.  It’s not particularly easy to navigate to.  We had the GPS, but even the little woman living in that little box  got confused and almost steered us in the wrong direction.  We had started our trip by eating out at The Black Bear in Tulare, but that’s fodder for another article.  If I ever get to it.  Any more weeks like this one and I won’t.

The theater was pretty much as I remembered, although it seemed a lot larger than before.  We were there early so we killed some time driving around the outlet mall and stopped at Baskin-Robbins for some overpriced ice cream which we were also overcharged for, adding insult to injury.  And it wasn’t that good.  But I’ll leave that for part of The Black Bear article when and if I ever get to it.  And honestly, I really have to get a phone with a better camera in it for things like this.  These photos are crap.

 

We entered the theater, gave the guy our paper to scan that he didn’t scan but he simply tore a notch in.  The film would be shown on Screen 8 near the back of the theater.  I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking another sardine can.  But you would be wrong.

We went into the Auditorium 8, and it was dark.  It was dark because they were still showing Johnny Depp’s newest bomb, The Rum Diary.  So we left and waited out in the hall way.  

Eventually other patrons who were there to see West Side Story joined us.  One of the workers told us it would be about another fifteen minutes or so.  Finally Mr. Depp  had wrapped  and the one guy, an old bearded gentleman  who had been sitting in there watching it left.  Still, they roped off the entrance and then went into clean and set up for West Side Story.  My question: How long could it possibly take to clean up after one person?  I mean, even if he dropped a whole bucket of popcorn on the floor, it wouldn’t take that long to sweep up.  But finally  Honorable Number 3 son and I were ushered in along with another 20 or so people who were standing in line.

When I said the auditorium wasn’t a sardine can I did not mean it wasn’t small.  It was in the sense that the capacity couldn’t have been much over a hundred.  But there is a right way to do small and a wrong way.  If you read my previous articles regarding the Reading Valley Plaza Cinema, than you would know those cigar boxes at that location are wrong in every way imaginable.  This auditorium was designed properly.  It was much wider than longer thus spreading the seats over a larger area and also enabling a much larger screen while still not using up huge amounts of square footage.  In fact, the screen was probably as large as you would find in some of the main auditoriums I’ve been in.    It gave the appearance of being large without actually being that way.  Wish I could have taken a picture, but because of us being ushered in late, it wasn’t possible.

By the time the show started, I would estimate there were about 40 people in the auditorium give or take a few.  Maybe more.  Honorable son and I were in the first row of stadium seating and our row was full.  So it could have been as many as 60.

The evening  began with a segment taped at the Turner Classic Movies 2011 Film Festival.  Robert Osborne was on hand along with George Chakiris , Marni Nixon, and Executive Producer Walter Mirisch.  Chakiris played the part of Bernardo, Nixon did Natalie Wood’s vocals, and some of Rita Moreno’s. 

Although this segment was interesting, most of the information was nothing new to those who already own the original DVD Special Edition.  I did find that George Chakiris's recollections on the events surrounding the making of the film were quite a bit different from those of Nixon and Mirisch.  As Mirisch tried to pass off the fact that firing Director and Choreographer Jerome Robbins was just one of those things that had to be done for the financial sake of the film, Chakiris didn’t seem to see it that way.  Although he didn’t say so exactly, I’m sure he and many of the cast agree that without Robbins, there was no way that West Side Story would have been the great film that it is. 

And they are right of course.  I also didn’t much care for the attitudes of Nixon or Mirisch when discussing, almost jokingly, the fact that Natalie Wood's musical vocals were going to be dubbed after she had already performed the numbers on the film.  Why is Natalie always the one they crap on, when it turns out just about all the musical vocals were dubbed in except a couple of Rita Moreno?  And her vocals weren’t entirely pure either.

The preliminaries lasted about twenty minutes before the “film” began.  I say film but these things are actually digitally downloaded to the theater and then projected on to the screen in High Definition.   From the many internet articles I read, the presentation that you get in any particular theater is a crap shoot, often dependent on that particular chain’s quality control.

I never know who’s visiting this blog, whether they are young or old, whether they know little about classic films or nothing at all.  Sometimes it seems a bit silly to offer up a synopsis of a classic films such as this, until I’m reminded that a large portion of today’s audience may be totally clueless when it comes to any film made before the year 2005. 

If you know the story of Romeo and Juliet, than you’ll have a pretty good idea of the story behind West Side Story.

 

On the West Side of New York, the streets or turf as they are referred to, are controlled by gangs.  How much turf each gang controls is dependent on one thing:  whether or not they are tough enough to defend their territory against any challenges that come along  One particular section of Manhattan is controlled by the Jets, formerly led by Tony (Richard Beymer) but now led by his best friend Riff (Russ Tamblyn).  Tony has dropped out of the Jets and is attempting to go straight.  He is now working at Doc’s Candy Store, a move which does not sit well with most of The Jets.  But as Riff explains it, it’s a temporary condition.  “Maybe Tony was corrupted by the youth board,’ explains one Jet.

The Jets are now facing another serious threat to their turf.  A Puerto Rican gang known as The Sharks, led by Bernardo (George Chakiris) is invading the Jet’s territory.  And as Riff sees it, the only way to get rid of them is to have one big rumble to decide who will rule the neighborhood.  He intends to invite Bernardo to a war council to decide on a time, place, and choice of weapons which could be anything from fists , to knives, or zip guns.

Before that can happen Riff must convince Tony to rejoin the Jets.  It’s not an easy task, even if Riff is like a brother to him.  Tony has given up the battle of the streets for good.  He has grown tired of it, and now views gang warfare as a one way dead end alley.  The dead end being prison, or being sliced open.

Tony is looking for something better, something special and although he hasn’t found it yet he knows it’s out there.  Riff convinces Tony to come to the dance that night where Riff will offer up his invitation for a war council.   “Who knows,” he tells Tony, “maybe what you are looking for will be twitching at the dance.”


Maria (Natalie Wood) is also excited about the upcoming dance.  It is the first real dance that her overprotective brother, Bernardo, will allow her to attend in America.  Bernardo’s hope is to pair Maria up with Chino (Jose De Vega), who has become Bernardo’s Protégé and has also been enlisted to be Chino’s protector.  But as Maria tells Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita (Rita Moreno), “When I see Chino, nothing happens.”  When you meet Chino, you’ll pretty much understand Maria’s viewpoint.  He’s pretty much a weenie.


That evening, as the Jets, Sharks, and their girlfriends, vie for supremacy on the dance floor, Tony and Maria see each other for the first time.  It is love at first sight, and they become totally oblivious to those around them as they quietly begin to dance.

“I felt…I knew something never before was going to happen, but this is so much more,” He tells her.  As they kiss for the first time, Bernardo angrily interrupts them and pushes Tony away.

“Couldn’t you see he’s one of them,” Barnardo tells Maria.
"I saw only him,” she replies. 
“They only want one thing from a Puerto Rican girl,” Bernardo replies angrily

After telling Chino and Anita to take Maria home, Bernardo attempts to go after Tony but is blocked by Riff and Ice (Tucker Smith).  Riff and Bernardo agree to a war council at Doc’s Candy Store later that night.  Tony wanders through the streets calling for Maria.  On the rooftops of the apartments, the Sharks lampoon their life in the mainland and life in Puerto Rico, all in the same song.
 

Afterwards, despite Anita’s objections, they leave for their war council with The Jets.

Bernardo:  Meet me on the roof later.
Anita: (mimicking Bernardo)  Meet me on the roof later.
Bernardo:  Well, will you or won’t you?
Anita:  Will you or won’t you?
Bernardo (grabbing Anita and pulling her towards him)  Well, will you?
Anita:  You have your big important war council.  The Council….or me?
Bernardo:  First one, and then the other.
Anita (pulling away): No, I’m an American Girl now.  I don’t wait.
Bernardo:  Back home, women know their place.
Anita:  Back home, little boys don’t have war councils. 
Bernardo:  But they do here.  You want me to be an American don’t you?

Romeo and Juliet finally get together on the balcony  Tony and Maria finally meet up on the fire escape when she hears him calling her from the street.  It is Maria who is more realistic about their situation.

Tony:  I am not one of them, Maria.
Maria:  But you are not one of us and I am not one of you.

But despite Maria’s misgivings, the two of them are in love, and for this one moment, that is all that they see, and all that they feel.

Before he leaves, Maria invites Tony to come to the Bridal Shop that she works in the next day at closing time. 

At Doc’s, The Jet’s wait impatiently for The Sharks to arrive for the war council.  Unfortunately, Officer Krupke gets there first to read them the riot act.  And after he leaves, The Jets lampoon him  with the song Gee, Officer Krupke.
 

Doc arrives to close up the Candy Store.  The Jets tell him why they are there so late and Doc let’s them know how disgusted he is with them.  “I’ll dig you an early grave,” he tells them.

Bernardo and his gang finally show up to set up terms of the rumble with Riff and The Jets.   After agreeing to rumble under the highway the following evening, they are about to choose weapons (rocks, belts, pipes, cans, bricks, bats, clubs chains) but are interrupted by Tony.

Tony:  Bottles!  Knives!  Guns!  What a coop full of chickens!
Action:  Who are you calling chicken?
Bernardo:  Every dog knows his own.
Tony:  I’m calling you all chicken.  Big, tough, buddy boys, gotta throw bricks.  Afraid to get in close?  Afraid to slug it out?  Afraid to use plain skin? 
Snowboy:  Not even garbage?
Action (to Tony): That ain’t a rumble. 
Riff:  Who says?
Bernardo (to Riff):  You said call weapons
Tony:  A rumble can be clinched by a fair fight.   If you’ve got the guts to risk that.  Best man from each gang to slug it out.
Bernardo:  I’d enjoy to risk that!  Fair Fight!
Pepe:  What?
Action:  No!
Riff:  The commanders say yes or no.   (to Bernardo) Fair Fight.

With Tony having convinced Riff and Bernardo to tone down their own 1961 version of Fight Club to a mere fistfight between the best fighter of each gang,  everything is  right with the world.  The rumble takes place the following evening between Ice and Bernardo, and ends in a draw.  The two gangs seeing that further conflict is useless, decide to disband and share their turf.  Bernardo sees that Tony and Maria really do love each other, introduces him to their mama and papa, thus enabling the couple to live together in love, ecstasy, and harmony for as long as they both shall live.  And that’s exactly how it happened in Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet as well.  Yeah, it’s just as I thought.  You didn’t ever really read Romeo and Juliet did you?   You just kind of heard about it.

Of course, nothing in that last paragraph happens.  Despite having reduced the rumble to a one on one fist fight things begin to deteriorate.  Bernardo is under the impression that Tony is the one he will be fighting, thus giving himself the opportunity to beat the crap out of him for having dared to smooch his precious sister.  When he is informed that the Jet’s best fighter is not Tony, but Ice, he’s none too happy about it.  But he did shake on it so he’ll do it.

The two gangs have no sooner finalized plans than Lt. Shrank comes strolling in to harass the Puerto Ricans.  Lt. Shrank is not a nice guy. On the other hand, the two warring gangs do find common ground in their hatred and disgust with the guy, and when he pops in, they almost seem agreeable with each other.  

Lt. Shrank (upon seeing the Jets and the Sharks making nice with each other): 

Y'know, when headquarters hears about this, I may even get a promotion.  Good deal all around, huh Bernardo?  I get a promotion and you Puerto Ricans get what you been itchin’ for:  use of the playground, use of the gym, candy store, the streets.  So what if they do turn this whole city into a stinkin’ pig sty?  (Bernardo lunges at Shrank but is blocked by Riff)  Don’t stop him.  He wants to get home, write a few letters to San Juan, tell ‘em how he’s got it made over here.  I mean clear out you!  Sure it’s a free country and I ain’t go the right.  But I got the badge.  What do you got?  It’s tough all over.  Beat it!

After the Shark’s leave, Shrank does his best to get Riff and the others to tell him where the rumble is going to be held, even promising Riff that he’ll help them get rid of the Puerto Ricans.  But despite doing his best to intimidate them, Shrank gets nowhere.

The next day Tony arrives at the bridal shop to see Maria, but unfortunately Anita has not yet left.  Still, she promises Maria she won’t tell Bernardo.  “How can I see what goes on 12 feet above my head,” she tells them.  After Anita leaves, Maria asks Tony if he is going to the rumble.  When he tells her he is not, she convinces him he must go and stop the fight completely.

“Any fight is not good for us,” she tells him.  Tony tells her that if it will make her happy he will go and stop the fight.

When Tony arrives at the rumble, he tries to convince Bernardo that there should not be a fight.  Instead of listening, Bernardo taunts Tony calling him a coward and a chicken while shoving him, hoping to goad him into fighting since it is Tony that Bernardo wanted to fight all along.  Riff, who is like Tony’s brother, steps into defend Tony by slugging Bernardo sending him sprawling across the pavement.  When Bernardo recovers, he and Riff both yank out switchblades and the fight is on.



Since West Side Story is not based on A Midsummer Night's Dream, or The Merchant of Venice, you know going in that chances of all of this ending with a smiley face were pretty slim to begin with..  How close does it emulate Romeo and Juliet?  All I’ll tell you is pretty close, but not exactly and if you want to find out, watch the movie.  And why shouldn’t you? 

In my opinion, it is the greatest musical ever filmed,  certainly on my must see list (if I had one), and one of the ones you should see before you die.  Singin' in the Rain?  I love that film as well, but it doesn’t come close to approaching the depth and musical accomplishments of West Side Story.  The Sound of Music?  High on my list for entertainment as well, the blu-ray is phenomenal, but still not in the same league.  What I’m saying is pop the damn pop corn, get the blu-ray or DVD out, sit your ass down in front of the big screen, and crank up that surround sound.  You won’t be sorry.

And what a musical!  Jerome Robbins choreography is simply put, the greatest ever filmed.  Chakiris is right.  Without Robbins dance sequences, West Side Story would be half a movie.  Once you watch the opening sequence, when  the Jets and Sharks try to one up each other in dance on the streets of New York, you’ll want to watch it over and over again.  There had never been anything like it before, and nothing like it since.  Yes, the opening of The Sound of Music is breathtaking, but that is attributed  to the exquisite cinematography of the Swiss Alps.  With West Side Story, you find out everything you need to know in music and dance before nearly one word of dialogue is even spoken.  George Chakiris:

“Working with [Jerome] Robbins was the greatest experience I ever had, because it was Jerry who first showed me how a dancer could express himself in dancing rhythms and how an actor could intensify his dramatic performance with the graceful, expressive body movements of a dancer.”

 

It’s not just the dancing.  Leonard Bernstein's dynamic musical score with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, will stay with you forever.  Whether it’s the comical number “America’ sung and danced to by the Sharks and their girlfriends, the hautingly beautiful “Maria” sung by Tony as he searches for her though the streets of New York, or the edgy intense “Cool” once having watched, you’ll be singing along with them forever.  Then there’s “Quintet” which takes place just before the rumble, and encapsulates all the events of the movie perfectly up to that point.  I offer up that clip as well with the usual disclaimer, YouTube here today, YouTube gone tomorrow, and the caveat as above that the quality is rather piss poor and horridly panned and scanned.  But this may be my favorite musical vocal of the whole film.

 

Much has been written about the casting of West Side Story, and you can find out even more from either the Special Edition DVD (out of print, you will pay a premium) or the new Special Edition Blu-ray box set.  George Chakiris and Rita Moreno won Academy Awards in the best supporting actor/actress categories.  They certainly earned them, although there are some who would begrudge Chakiris his because of other performances in his category that year. 

You and I both know that while winning an Oscar is certainly an achievement, it should never be the absolute judgment  on which film is better or which performance is more deserving than someone else’s.  Still, despite neither Beymer or Wood being nominated the film garnered a record (at that time) ten wins.  I think Chakiris deserved his.  He defines Bernardo as more than just a gang member.  He didn’t come to the mainland to declare war, he came for a better life, and instead was dealt a hand of discrimination and racism from which his anger and hatred grew:

“When I think of how I thought it would be for us here, we came like children, believing trustin…” he tells Anita.  Chakiris captures ever little bit of complexity and turmoil that seethes inside Bernardo. 

Anita, on the other hand, sees things differently.  She is passionate about everything, but is realistic enough to know that the present is wrought with danger.  She understands the passion between Tony and Maria, but as she says, “You’re out of your minds.”  Moreno's characterization of Anita is so powerful, that her performance overshadows those around her, which is why the contributions of Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood are often overlooked.

Beymer’s Tony has been often criticized as being too much of a goody two shoes.  Frankly I don’t see it.  What I do see is a man tired of fighting all his life.  He wants meaning and purpose in his life.  He is no longer a Jet because he chooses not to be.  And to make Tony as hard edge as his former gang members would have made him as unsympathetic as most of the Jets are portrayed here, with perhaps the exception of Riff.  In a way, we see a little bit of Tony that has rubbed off on Riff. 

He says he hates Bernardo and the Sharks, yet there are times when you can see that he respects him, such as when Lt. Shrank is brandishing his own personal racial prejudice as a weapon against the Sharks. And when Riff is forced into a one on one knife fight with Bernardo, the look on both men’s faces tells you it’s a fight neither really wanted.  Have Tony act as if he’s still a member of the Jets,  and the whole films falls apart.  Beymer gets it exactly right.

Strangely the same too good to be true criticism is often made of Natalie Wood’s Maria.  And that makes no sense at all.  She’s come to America as the others, to find a new life.  We see that she has been overprotected by her brother and the rest of her family, and thus  it would only be natural for Maria to see everything in a positive light.  She doesn’t understand the hatred between the Jet’s and the Sharks, but like Anita she knows that no good will come of it.  But she blames both sides. 

To Maria, her brother Bernardo and the sharks is just as wrong headed as Riff and the Jets.  In every scene she is in, Natalie Wood is simply beautiful, and stunning.  Yet, it is always she that  bears the brunt of some of the unwarranted and petty criticisms of this film.  Silly criticisms such as she didn’t sing her own vocals.  Uh…hardly anybody in this film did.  But she did sing them during the filming and Marni Nixon’s voice was dubbed in later.  So it is 100 per cent Wood’s performance on the screen, not Ms. Nixon’s and the criticism is just plain stupid.  If Moreno is the fire of West Side Story, Wood is the grace, beauty and charm in an unforgettable role.

The presentation at the Tulare was for the most part, terrific.  However, what we saw is the same as on on the recently released blu-ray release and the film had the same flaw that a lot of consumers are bitching about.  There is a big screw up in the opening title sequence, near the end when the film fades to black and then fades back in when it is not suppose to.  Those who know the film as well as I do know what I’m talking about.  The rest of you probably won’t care.  But on the very large Tulare screen it was a rather glaring noticeable error and drew me out of the film but only momentarily.  Other than that, it was simply super.

Whether the blu-ray will have the same effect on a smaller screen I don’t know.  Word is that eventually there will be a replacement disc offered for those who are irritated by this unnecessary glitch.  Here are my feelings:  It’s a crap shoot.  Whether a new disc will eventually be offered for retail sale is iffy.  Everything else about the film looks great, unless you’re one of the extreme nitpicking technophiles who wring their hands over every single pixel.  Sometimes after wading through their slog, I’m not sure there’s any release they will find exactly to their liking.

I recommend you get the film, and if a replacement disc is offered up, then send for it.  The error in the title sequence has no bearing at all on the rest of the movie, and if the blu-ray is as stunning as the theater presentation, both visually and sound wise, then you’re in for a first class experience. 

Make no mistake about it. West Side Story is an outstanding achievement and ranks high on my list of great films of all time.  And you know is well as I do that a film that does that leaves me no choice but to bestow a grade in the rarified air of A+.  My only regret?  It’s that I’ll never get to experience the film again as I did one evening in November of the year 2011.

Edit 3/24/2013  Since writing this, the Collector’s edition is still available, but at half the price I paid for it.  Whether the title error was fixed to people’s satisfaction is debatable.  I still highly recommend it.  You probably won’t see another edition for a while.  You can also buy just the movie on Blu-ray at a continuing fluctuating price.

Road Trip: The Debt

 

The Debt
starring
Helen Mirren
Jessica Chastain
Tom Wilkinson
Marton Csokas
Ciarán Hinds
Sam Worthington
Jesper Christiansen
Romi Aboulafia

Directed by
John Madden

So after having missed an opportunity to go to the theater the previous weekend, The Girlfriend and I tried it again last weekend.  We were aided by the fact that she was babysitting her Aunt’s house and her cats, so I was able to go into Bakersfield on Saturday and spend the night,  That way we could not only see a movie but we could both have the brunch buffet at Marie Callender’s the next morning.  

The Girlfriend has some strange ideas that really annoy me.  She would rather go to a movie that she has no real interest in seeing, just because she doesn’t want to pay the difference in cost between the matinee price and the evening price.  You can’t blame her for being thrifty I suppose, but there is such a thing as carrying it to the extremes.  I mean, isn’t it worth a few extra dollars to spend some time with your supposed beloved, that of course being me?  Never mind, don’t answer that.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn’t make it into Bakersfield as early as I had hoped I would.  I guess you want to know why, don’t you?  My, you are the nosy bunch.  If not just skip ahead to the review because this is the part where I make the blog personable, just like I said I was going to.  It’s the way I left off a little steam now and then.

The Girlfriend was supposed to call and wake me up so that I wouldn’t sleep too late on Saturday, something I have a tendency to do unless I’m doing something really special such as making a trip to L.A.  She didn’t.  Then when I did get up and get motor-vated, The Girlfriend’s sister hopped into the shower mere minutes before I could get into the one adjacent to our bedroom.  And two showers at the same time is not workable in this house considering the plumbing was installed in 1912, right after it was salvaged from the Titanic.

And let me tell you, this gal takes record setting showers.  I didn’t know that a hot water heater could even hold that much water.  Sometimes I half expect a walking talking Sunsweet Pitted Prune in a robe to come walking out of the bathroom when she’s done.  But still, I figured that even after the forty five minutes she was in there, I should have no problem getting into Bakersfield at a decent hour after taking my own fifteen minute shower, even with having to make a stop at the local Save Mart to get some sodas.  Honorable Son No. 3 also wanted me to take him to get his cash checked and that was doable as well.

But plans started to go awry the minute we arrived at Save Mart.  They had exactly one check out lane open, and there was a line all the way back to the Bum Fuck Meat Department.  I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea.  It took us quite a while to get out of that place so time wise things weren’t looking so hot.  It was about to get worse.

I had to drive all the way across Wasco down highway 46 to get to the Wasco Liquor Store where Honorable Son No 3 cashes his check, and traffic did not cooperate one bit.  But at least there was a parking space when we got there.  I waited patiently while he went inside.  Several minutes later he returned and informed me that somehow he had brought the check stub with him instead of the actual check. 

So it was necessary to drive across town to get back home.  It was then that I remembered that it was the day of the annual Wasco Rose Festival which is held in Barker Park and the surrounding area.  Having made the mistake of going in that direction it took forever to get back to the house.  I had meant to blog  the Rose Festival for my blog rejuvenation, but it was way too late to do anything about that now, except rerun this seven year old picture or wait until next year.  

I waited for him to run inside the house and get the proper portion of his whopping big McDonald’s check.  To make matters worse, temperatures were in the high nineties and the air conditioning in my car has been kaputz for a couple of years.  I had tried to think of a faster route to the Liquor Store but there wasn’t one, although I did have sense enough when I took him home (again) to avoid the Rose Festival so it wasn’t nearly as bad on the return trip.  Finally I was able to head into Bakersfield, but it was apparent that we were going to have a hard time catching a matinee.  I finally arrived at her aunt’s home around 4:30 PM.

The movie she had wanted to see was The Debt.  I don’t know why because it was the last film I had expected The Girlfriend to want to see.  But to be fair, I knew nothing about the film so maybe she had read something or seen the trailer for it.  You know how trailers are.  They often make a movie seem like something it’s not.  Myself?  I would have rather seen Contagion or even The Help but not The Debt.  Hell, even the title sounded lame.   I thought The Help would be right up her alley but apparently not.  She said she’d wait for the DVD and nothing I said could convince her otherwise.

It appeared at first that we weren’t going to see The Debt either.  There were no more matinee showings that we could make it to on time.  So if we were going to make the Matinee as she insisted that we do, we were going to see My Idiot Brother.  I considered that to be appropriate considering how idiotic The Girlfriend was being about her requirement of not attending an evening showing.  So we got into her Ford Escape and headed to the theater.  Although neither film was one I would have picked out, I decided I would rather take my chances with The Debt.

“What I think is silly,” I told her, “is that you’ll go see something you know you don’t want to see just to save a few extra dollars.  And besides, if we go to Valley Plaza, my admission is only $5.50 regardless of what time we go so we’ll only have to pay for one regular admission.” 

It must have been that last part that convinced her.  She asked me to check the times that The Debt was showing which I did.   If we had gone to see My Idiot Brother, we would have ate dinner after the movie.  Since we were going to a later showing we went to Marie Callender’s which you can read about here.

So eventually we made it to the Valley Plaza.  I also knew for sure that we were going to end up in one of their cigar box screening rooms.   And this we did, thus keeping The Girlfriend’s record intact of only picking movies that either everybody had already seen weeks before or nobody wanted to see now.  But even so, the theater was hardly busy.  In fact they only had one concession stand open and the girl working it was practically begging for people to buy popcorn.  Later I would find out that it was the weakest weekend of the year at the box office and boy did it show at this place.

Still, for some reason they had not cleaned out our cigar box cinema yet, even though we weren’t all  that early.  That left me with some time to kill which meant either twiddling my thumbs, talking to The Girlfriend, or taking pictures with my cell.  I opted for taking pictures with my cell.  Lucky you.   I bet since we have been here before I would forego this.  But there’s always something going on.  Nevertheless,  I’ll try to be glib.

Kenny Wormald Who?

Oh well, I can always settle for downloading a nude picture of her.

Now that I’ve wasted your time with all the other crap what about this movie?

 

The Debt is the story of three Israeli Mossad agents who sneak into East Berlin in the 1960’s to locate a German war criminal known as Dieter Vogel, the Surgeon of Birkenau (Jesper Christiansen), who experimented on and tortured Jews during World War II at Auschwitz.  Once they have ascertained  that he is the man they are looking for, their mission is to capture him, escape with him from Berlin, and return him to the west to stand trial for his horrendous crimes.  When the film opens the three agents are in fact arriving home as heroes, although Vogel is not with them.  Later we  will  find out why, but opening your picture with a scene that should be near the end is often not a good idea and that ended up being true for The Debt.

Flash forward to the present day.  The daughter of agent Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren) and Agent Stephen Gold  (Tom Wilkinson), Sarah Gold  (Romi Aboulafia), has written a book based on the exploits of her mother and the other agents.  In fact, her mother is given the task to read one of the chapters of the book aloud at a party being given to celebrate the book’s release.  As she begins reading, the film flashes back to illustrate the events as they happened, at least as they do in Sarah’s book.

At the same time that Rachel is doing her reading, the third agent, David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds) is picked up for a debriefing, but when he sees Stephen waiting in a nearby vehicle, he commits suicide by throwing himself in front of a truck.

The film then flashes back again to all of the events in the past and what actually happened.  Needless to say, what is written in Sarah’s book may or may not be exactly truthful.  And therein lies the main problem with The Debt. 

Once we realize that everything the agents do in the past is simply a buildup to one moment in time or in this case a book chapter, the film loses much of it’s suspense.  Watching how they capture the despicable Vogel, is chilling enough, especially when a young Rachel (Jessica Chastain) has to pay several visits to him by pretending that she and her make believe young husband David (Sam Worthington) are having trouble conceiving.  And we also see why their escape from Berlin with Dieter failed.  You already knew they weren’t going to make it so it’s simply a matter of finding out why.  And frankly if real life agents were as careless as this trio, the Mossad couldn’t capture a flea on their best day.

The interplay between the agents and Dieter is a study in psychological games, one that Dieter seems more adept at than the three agents.  He  knows how to manipulate them.  You would think they would be prepared for such a thing but they are not.  It is during this time that Rachel falls in love with David, but is rebuffed because he is only concentrating on the mission.  Rachel seeks solace in the arms of Stephen, a decision that has lasting consequences for all concerned.

But despite all that intrigue and love triangulation, it will always be in the back of your mind that this is just the filler until we get to the big reveal scene that tells what really happened one night in Berlin, and you just end up wanting them to get on with it and move the story forward.  And frankly, you’ll probably have guessed the big secret anyway.  Since you already know at the beginning of the movie the trio are going to concoct a fictional retelling of the events, it goes without saying that decision has it’s ramifications as well.  If ever a film begged for linear story telling this one would be the candidate.  The flashbacks in the first twenty minutes or so detract from everything that happened in the past, whereas if they had begun in the sixties as they should have, you probably would have been on the edge of your seat the entire time.  It’s sort of like watching or reading Love Story.  In the first paragraph they tell you the main character is going to die.  So you spend the rest of your time waiting for the Grim Reaper to come down and scoop  Jennifer Cavilleri away.

To make matters worst, the story then picks up in the present day where the agents must deal with the consequences of their actions in Berlin.  It’s interesting enough, but is spoiled by a ridiculous coincidence during the last ten minutes that just doesn’t hold water and will have you leave the theater feeling worse about the film then you would otherwise.  I could only shake my head and wonder why.

It’s a shame too, because some good performances are wasted.  Helen Mirren is always excellent, but Jessica Chastain as the younger Rachel is exceptional and almost upstages her present day counterpart.

 

Likewise, Jesper Christiansen’s portrayal, along with Chastain’s, would normally be the stuff supporting actor nominations are made up of if it were in a better film. As a matter of fact, I found both of the actors who played the younger David and Stephen far more believable and intriguing than their older selves, who just seem crotchety and grumpy.

The bottom line is that the film is worth watching, but I would wait for a DVD rental and no more than that.  And if I can’t recommend that you go out on a road trip of your own to see a film, I have no choice but to give it a grade of C+. It’s a good effort that just misses the mark.  See you, on the road.

Road Trip–Crazy Stupid Love

It was off to the movies again this Saturday.  This time it was The Girlfriend and I and just as it about 90 per cent of the time when we go together, it’s a ladies choice.  And her choice this day was the Steve Carell film, Crazy Stupid Love.

Since it was a return trip to the Reading Valley Plaza, I can pretty much dispense with most of the travelogue portion.  I had already figured out before hand that we were going to be viewing the film in one of the tiny cigar box auditoriums in the back left hand side of the Cinema, just as we did on this occasion. when we saw Cowboys & Aliens.  But did I say cigar box?  This one was more like a sardine can.  I counted less than a hundred seats in the place, and there are probably less than half of them in which you would really want to sit and view a movie.  We were in Screening Room 9. 

 

And I really have to remember to drag my better camera along.  The pictures I took with my I-phone really weren’t worth a squat.  As you can see, there was too much glare from the light on the sign (or there was until I photo-shopped it.  Let it not be said that I’m not creative), and the interior shots were way too dark although it wasn’t really that dark inside.  But I post them here anyway to give you some idea of the size of the thing.  But thankfully, there was no little brat climbing up and down off of her mother’s lap like there was the last time.  In fact, it was a rather peaceful evening as far as any theatrical disturbances go, and one is always grateful of that regardless of the quality of the film itself.  So was Crazy Stupid Love what the title implied it would be, or was it just stupid?

It was a bit stupid and maybe towards the end a teensy bit crazy.  But not in a good way.  It just wasn’t that good of a film, despite it’s lofty 76 per cent critic approval and 85 per cent audience approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. 

 

It probably helps you’re attitude towards this film  if you’re a really big Steve Carell fan, but I was not born of that ilk.  I like him well enough, but in every film of his I’ve seen he basically plays the big hapless  shmuck.  His shtick gets tiresome after a while, and Carell’s absolute totally straight faced deadpan portrayal  of Maxwell Smart in Get Smart was an abomination that made that particular film a major disappointment for me..  Playing such an unlikable shmuck like Cal that he plays in this film, doesn’t help to make the heart grow fonder

. 

But my low regard for this film wasn’t entirely his fault.  Cal’s wife Emily, played by Julianne Moore wasn’t particularly likable either.  When your husband asks you what do you want for dessert and your answer is “a divorce” it doesn’t exactly endear you to the audience, even one as small as the non-crowd inhabiting Screening Room 9.  Nor does it make you laugh either.  I suppose that Cal jumping out of a moving car shortly thereafter was meant to draw some guffaws, but it doesn’t.

 

Unfortunately for Cal and Emily, upon returning home, their son, Robbie and the baby sitter Jessica quickly find out the happy news:  She’ll be babysitting for either Cal or Emily but not both at the same time.  Truthfully though, I almost wish they had revolved the whole film around Robbie and Jessica because they have the funniest, most sympathetic plotline..  Even before Cal and Emily arrive home, we discover that Robbie, who is 13 has a giant crush and has fallen hard for Jessica who is 17.  And we also find out that when you’re discovered playing fantasyland  by the babysitter, it’s not such a good idea to go into details about what was on your mind that made you raise the flagpole in the first place.  But while Jessica is busy trying to dampen  Robbie’s not so subtle ardor, she is carrying the torch for his father, Cal.   I guess that’s Crazy Love any way you look at it.

 

Cal tries drowning his sorrows at a local tavern, but does it verbally and loud enough so everybody in the bar soon knows he is getting a divorced and that his wife slept with David Lindhagen.  So ladies man Jacob, played by Ryan Gosling, who is as sick of listening to Cal whine as we are, and who takes home a different woman practically every night,  decides to take Cal under his wing to become Mr. Miyagi to Cal’s Daniel San.  It’s bachelor makeover time, and it isn’t long before Cal is picking up women almost as well as his mentor. 

 

Of course, you have to crawl down the runway before you can fly and Cal’s early attempts end in failure, until he hooks up with schoolteacher Kate played with hilarious abandon by Marisa Tomei, who always seems to rise way above the material. 

 

And let's not forget  Hannah played by Emma Stone whom I absolutely loved in Easy A which came out almost a year ago.  Here, she plays a law student who may or may not be in love with another lawyer, but definitely thinks he will celebrate her passage of the bar exam by proposing.  At the outset of the film, she is one of Jacob’s few failures, and is smart enough to see through his phony suave aura, and cliché pick up lines.  Then, to our chagrin,  she disappears for a long long  time until the plot needs her some more.  When Hannah reemerges, it is some time later  and when the lawyer boyfriend fails to propose marriage, she heads straight for the bar to find Jacob and become a one night stand.  Jacob, for his part, seems more than happy to oblige.  Do  you need for me to tell you what happens next?  I didn’t think so.

 

There are about three really big problems with this film that it never overcomes.  Problem one is that we end up not caring about the main story, which is the break-up of Cal and Emily’s marriage, and the continual “will they or won’t they get back together” that is the bulk of the running time.  It would have been nice, just this once, for Carell not to be such a doofus.  He spends way too time moping around and only becomes partially interesting when he is given a makeover by Jacob.  The problem with that is, now instead of a shmuck, he’s a jerkoff just like Jacob is.

Likewise, Emily fares no better.  We never fully understand her reasons for the divorce and for screwing the guy where she works except that she was bored with her life.  All well and good, but while Cal accepts his share of the blame for the failure of their marriage, she never really seems to come to terms with the part her own infidelity played in the disintegration.  So it’s difficult to root for either one, except that we do keep hoping that Cal will grow a pair of balls and take matters into his own hands.  But he never really does, and is controlled more by the circumstances of the script than anything else.

 

Problem two is Jacob.  Ryan Gosling is excellent as the ladies man so this is no knock on him.  He in fact, reminds me in many ways of Jerry Lewis’s alter ego Buddy Love in the original Nutty Professor.  We’re fascinated by him, but despise his treatment of the woman all  at the same time.  So having spent the majority of the film making us love/hate him, we are suddenly suppose to switch gears and just love him?  The change is so sudden, that we don’t really believe it.  We can’t.  Maybe if the film were called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but I saw no mysterious secret formula’s being served at the bar. Maybe if we had seen more of that aspect of the plot developing and spent more time  with Jacob when this change of heart is taking place we might have bought into it.  But the script couldn’t allow that to happen because it would……..well that brings us to problem three.

 

Problem three is that the film depends way too much on some major improbable, almost impossible,  coincidences that I cannot relate to you here.  The first one, involving the Marisa Tomei character didn’t bother me too much.  I was too busy laughing (when Kate is on the screen is one of the few times the film makes you laugh)  and gave the movie a pass on that one.  But when the really “big reveal” comes towards the end, the absurdity of it, and the astronomical odds against it  are just way too overwhelming to give it a pass.  We are too stunned to find it funny, and too put out by how ridiculous it is.  If this were a whacked out comedy like The Hangover or Harold and Kumar, it wouldn’t matter so much.  Those films are built from start to finish on the absurdness of improbability.   But this film seems to want take a higher road than that and to send a message, despite the fact that it purports to only be a romantic comedy.  And any good will we might have had earlier on is lost in one big swoop.  Even The Girlfriend who was with me for this trip, found it to be a bit much, although she liked the film overall more than I did.

The bottom line is that the film is sweet and entertaining when focusing on it’s subplots revolving around Robbie and Jessica, and when Emma Stone and Marisa Tomei are up to bat, the movie absolutely sparkles.  But those moments are way too few and far between, with the focus being on the main story line that never gets over the hump.

 

Now putting everything on the old Clyde’s Movie Palace Scale, I have no choice but to give Crazy, Stupid, Love, a not so crazy grade of C.   And if you haven’t checked out Emma Stone’s Easy A, now would be a good time to do so.

 

When we left the theater I grabbed this screenshot of the main concession stand.  Notice the huge painting on the wall.  It’s the coolest thing about Reading Valley Cinema’s so I thought I would share.