Let’s be real. Nobody actually asked for a new West Side Story movie.
The 1961 original is basically sacred. It won ten Oscars. It has Rita Moreno. It has those iconic, finger-snapping New York streets that look suspiciously like a soundstage but still feel more "real" than half the stuff we see today. So when Steven Spielberg announced he was taking a crack at it, the collective "why?" from the internet was deafening.
But then we actually saw it.
Honestly, the 2021 version isn't just a copy-paste job with better cameras. It's a massive, sweeping attempt to fix the stuff the 1961 version got really, really wrong—and it’s also a movie that, weirdly, almost nobody went to see in theaters. It’s one of the best-reviewed "flops" in recent memory.
Why the West Side Story Movie Matters Now
If you grew up with the 1961 film, you remember the brown makeup.
It’s the elephant in the room. In the original, Natalie Wood (who wasn't Latina) played Maria, and almost all the Sharks were white actors in heavy, dark foundation. Even Rita Moreno, who is actually Puerto Rican, was forced to wear the same dark makeup because the producers wanted the Sharks to have a "uniform" skin tone. It was messy.
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Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner spent years trying to scrub that legacy. They hired actual Puerto Rican and Latine actors. They brought in historians. They even decided not to use subtitles for the Spanish dialogue because they didn't want to treat the Spanish language as "other" or something that needed to be "translated" for a white audience.
That’s a bold move for a $100 million blockbuster. It’s also probably why the movie feels so much grittier. You’ve got the wrecking balls of San Juan Hill literally destroying the neighborhood in the background. It’s not just a stage play; it’s a story about gentrification. The Jets and the Sharks are fighting over a pile of rubble that won't even exist in six months.
The Tony Problem
Let’s talk about the Ansel Elgort of it all.
Most critics agreed that the "Tony" in this version was the weakest link. While Rachel Zegler (Maria) was a literal revelation—she was 17 and found through an open casting call on Twitter—Tony felt a bit... flat.
But Kushner gave him a backstory that actually makes sense. In the original, Tony is just a nice guy who used to be a hood. In the 2021 West Side Story movie, Tony is on parole. He nearly killed a kid in a fight and spent a year in prison. He’s genuinely terrified of his own shadow. It makes his desperate need to stay out of the Rumble feel way more urgent. He’s not just being a "good boy"; he's trying not to go back to a cell.
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The Rita Moreno Factor
Replacing "Doc" (the drugstore owner) with "Valentina" (Doc’s widow) was a stroke of genius.
Casting Rita Moreno to play her? Incredible.
She becomes the bridge between the two films. When she sings "Somewhere," it’s not a romantic ballad between two teenagers anymore. It’s a prayer for a world that won't stop tearing itself apart. It’s heartbreaking.
Key Differences That Changed Everything
You might not notice if you aren't a musical theater nerd, but they moved the songs around.
- "I Feel Pretty" happens after the Rumble now. It’s devastating because the audience knows Bernardo is dead, but Maria is dancing around a department store (where she works as a cleaner, not a seamstress) totally oblivious. It turns a cute song into a tragedy.
- "Cool" is now a tense argument between Tony and Riff before the fight. In the old movie, it happened after the fight to calm everyone down. This new version makes it a desperate attempt to stop the violence before it starts.
- The Rumble happens in a salt warehouse. It’s claustrophobic and dirty. No stylized stage lighting—just dust and shadows.
The Box Office Mystery
So, why did it bomb?
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The movie cost about $100 million to make. It made back maybe $76 million worldwide. That is a disaster on paper.
Maybe it was the pandemic. Maybe younger audiences don't care about 1950s gang wars. Or maybe, despite all the fixes, people just couldn't separate the new film from the legacy of the old one.
Critically, though? It was a hit. Ariana DeBose won an Oscar for playing Anita, making her and Rita Moreno the only two women to win an Oscar for playing the same character. That’s a wild bit of trivia.
What You Should Do Next
If you’ve skipped this because you thought it was just another "remake," you're missing out on some of the best cinematography of the last decade. Janusz Kamiński (Spielberg’s long-time DP) makes the lens flares and the shadows look like a fever dream.
How to watch it the right way:
- Watch the 1961 version first. You need to see the "America" rooftop dance to appreciate how Spielberg moved it into the actual streets in 2021.
- Listen to the 2021 Soundtrack. The New York Philharmonic re-recorded the music under Gustavo Dudamel. It’s faster, louder, and way more aggressive than the original recordings.
- Look for Mike Faist (Riff). He’s the breakout star. His Riff is a twitchy, desperate mess who looks like he hasn't slept in three weeks. It’s a totally different energy than the "cool" Riff from the 60s.
Turn the volume up. The 2021 West Side Story movie is meant to be loud. It’s a reminder that even if a story is old, there’s always a way to find a new, more honest pulse inside it.