Considered one of the most popular musicals of all time, WEST SIDE STORY earned director Robert Wise an Oscar for Best Director as well as nine other Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Realistically portrayed characters and their surroundings and expert editing complementing innovative dance sequences mark this highly stylized modern-day Romeo and Juliet tale. The stage is set in New York's Upper West Side in the 1950s, where the area's slums are plagued by racial tensions acted on by two rival gangs: the Puerto Rican Sharks and the Caucasian Jets. In the middle of this mess is young, innocent Maria (Natalie Wood), a Puerto Rican seamstress whose brother, Bernardo (George Chakiris), is the leader of the Sharks. Despite the warnings of Anita (Rita Moreno), Bernardo's fiery girlfriend, Maria falls in love with a young, hopeful Polish boy, Tony (Richard Beymer), who used to belong to the Jets, now headed by Riff (Russ Tamblyn). When Tony, on Maria's urging, tries to stop a rumble between the gangs, tragedy ensues, marking their dedicated love affair with violence and desperation. The infectious, lyrical landmark score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim help round out one of the greatest musical experiences ever captured on film.

A Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim score backdrops this landmark Broadway musical in which a modern-day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York City street gangs. Academy Award Nominations: 11, including Best (Adapted) Screenplay. Academy Awards: 9, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor--George Chakiris, Best Actress--Rita Moreno, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

WEST SIDE STORY was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1997.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono - French, Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
Trailers - Original Theatrical Trailer

Natalie Wood: American actress, WEST SIDE STORY
Richard Beymer: American Actor/Director
Rita Moreno: Oscar Winning, Puerto Rican Actress/Dancer/Singer
Russ Tamblyn: American Actor/Dancer/Singer
George Chakiris: American Dancer/Actor/Singer
Simon Oakland: American Supporting Actor
Tony Mordente: Choreographer/Dancer
Eliot Feld: Choreographer/Dancer

Robert Wise: Director/Producer/Editor, WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
Jerome Robbins: Choreographer/Director; WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

Robert Wise: Director/Producer/Editor, WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

Ernest Lehman: Screenwriter/Prod./Director

Leonard Bernstein: American Conductor/Composer
Johnny Green: American Composer/D. 1989

Thomas Stanford: Editor

"..Incredibly cool..."
"...You'd be a fool not to buy it and once more savour the muscular song-and-dance numbers..."
"[E]very Bernstein song's a humdinger with sizzling Sondheim lyrical gags. Cosily cool."