Movie Review West Side Story West Side Story, a 1961 production starring Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood, is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a flashy production filled with music, dance and light. It presents Shakespeare’s play from a 1960’s inner city perspective. In the movie two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, demonstrate cultural prejudices between Puerto Rican and American inner city dwellers. The hatred …showed first 75 words of 779 total…

…showed last 75 words of 779 total…exceptional job of turning the Shakespeare play into a movie with appeal for the “modern” culture. “West Side” changes the family feud that destroys Romeo and Juliet into the cultural feud that tears apart Tony and Maria. The dancing, lighting and music increase the appeal to the “Sixties” audience and performers such as Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood, who are accompanied by the legendary score written by Leonard Bernstein make West Side Story a classic.