The 1961 West Side Story film, adapted from the 1957 Broadway musical, is one of those movie musicals that never seem to leave pop culture. The movie “so big it needed two people to direct” (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins) was released in the midst of the anti-Communist Red Scare. That, in addition to Robbins’s extreme perfectionism, the film had a few run-ins. Needless to say, there was a fair share of tension both on and off-screen.
Photo by Moviestore Collection, Shutterstock / Moviestore Collection, Shutterstock / Granger, Shutterstock / Mirisch-7 Arts, United Artists, Kobal, Shutterstock / Mirisch-7 Arts, United Artists, Kobal, Shutterstock / Mirisch-7 Arts, United Artists, Kobal, Shutterstock
After winning 10 Academy Awards and being acknowledged as a film that combines hard realities with song-and-dance numbers, West Side Story is still one of the most culturally significant plays of the 20th century.
But most people don’t know what went on behind the scenes…