Now, West Side Story is not a bad film, but when The Hustler lost many of its oscar noms to it, I feel a blow was struck to cinema. It was a symbolic passing of the torch from the deep, emotionally driven, and nuance-filled cinema to the gaudy spectacle. Thoughts?
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."-Dr. Strangelove
I really like West Side Story, but the Academy's penchant for voting Best Picture for musicals in the 60s was really over the top!
West Side Story won for '61, My Fair Lady for '64, Sound of Music '65, and Oliver! in '68. Pretty ridiculous.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.
There is something so stale, dated and unpleasant about West Side Story - I could not watch it again if you paid me. The Hustler I just started watching a few minutes on Netflix and had to watch it right through to the end - again! As often is the case with Oscars - time will tell.
shareI would guess that if it were voted on today, the Hustler would beat West Side Story in a landslide. Somehow a gritty, realistic story involving gambling, sex, hustling, and too many cigarettes would probably overwhelm a glorifying and too peaceful (at least by today's realities) gang tale.
Funny how many of the good movies, even in the color era, are black and white. I can certainly do without the 'tropical make up' used on most of the Puerto Rican wannabes
in Westside story.