[Mick]

I didn't dislike the West Side Story remake, but found it too heavily weighted. 

It's easy to forget, beyond the sensational score and choreography, that West Side Story is not a particularly good musical. The book is a joke, Tony is a complete stick (no matter who plays him), and the vehicle was never intended as a cultural or social commentary. It was a success d'estime on Broadway in 1957 and lost most of the Tony Awards ,(rightly) to The Music Man (IIRC).

I ultimately decided I preferred the 1961 version, for two reasons - it preserved Robbins' choreography and the young Rita Moreno, who blazed off the screen.

I didn't like Tamblyn much -- teenagers back then didn't have beer guts -- but I could see why they picked him.  He was an acrobat and a gymnast-- you can see some of his moves in a Western, "The Fastest Gun Alive" where he performed a "shovel dance"...very interesting. He wasn't really a singer, and Tucker Smith (from the Broadway original cast) dubbed some of Riff's lines.  But I really couldn't stand Beymer, who looked like he'd never cocked a fist in his life.  Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno were spectacular. I read that the actress who landed the "Maria" part survived a casting call of 30,000 actors, and she had to audition nine times.  

My aunt used to dance with Tucker Smith, the actor who played "Ice", a role that wasn't in the Broadway play but was created for the movie.  She said he was a really good guy, really liked California (he was from Philadelphia), good conversationalist, etc.

By the way, the cops offered to arrest Will Smith.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/oscars/...4cb4e934a1

[Mick]

I didn't dislike the West Side Story remake, but found it too heavily weighted. 

It's easy to forget, beyond the sensational score and choreography, that West Side Story is not a particularly good musical. The book is a joke, Tony is a complete stick (no matter who plays him), and the vehicle was never intended as a cultural or social commentary. It was a success d'estime on Broadway in 1957 and lost most of the Tony Awards ,(rightly) to The Music Man (IIRC).

I ultimately decided I preferred the 1961 version, for two reasons - it preserved Robbins' choreography and the young Rita Moreno, who blazed off the screen.

I didn't like Tamblyn much -- teenagers back then didn't have beer guts -- but I could see why they picked him.  He was an acrobat and a gymnast-- you can see some of his moves in a Western, "The Fastest Gun Alive" where he performed a "shovel dance"...very interesting. He wasn't really a singer, and Tucker Smith (from the Broadway original cast) dubbed some of Riff's lines.  But I really couldn't stand Beymer, who looked like he'd never cocked a fist in his life.  Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno were spectacular. I read that the actress who landed the "Maria" part survived a casting call of 30,000 actors, and she had to audition nine times.  

My aunt used to dance with Tucker Smith, the actor who played "Ice", a role that wasn't in the Broadway play but was created for the movie.  She said he was a really good guy, really liked California (he was from Philadelphia), good conversationalist, etc.

By the way, the cops offered to arrest Will Smith.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/oscars/...4cb4e934a1