West Side Story, by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (1961)

West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood,Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris and it was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70.

The film’s opening sequence was shot on the streets of New York City, mainly in the area where the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts campus of Fordham University now stands. Veteran director Robert Wise was chosen as the director and producer because of his familiarity with urban New York dramas, such as Odds Against Tomorrow. Wise had never directed a musical before and when it was suggested that Jerome Robbins, who had directed the stage version, be brought in to handle all the music and dance sequences in the film, Wise agreed. After about one-third of the movie had been shot, the Mirisch Company, which had become increasingly concerned that the production was over-budget, fired Robbins, who, according to Saul Chaplin in his autobiography, nearly suffered a nervous breakdown during the time he worked on the film. The remaining dance numbers were handled by Robbins’ assistants. However, because of his great creative contribution to the film, Wise agreed Robbins be given co-directing credit, even though Wise directed the majority of the film himself. The ending title sequence was created by Saul Bass, who is also credited as «visual consultant» on the film.

The film was released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists. It received praise from critics and the public, and became the second highest grossing film of the year in the United States. The film won ten Academy Awards in its eleven nominated categories, including Best Picture, as well as a special award for Robbins. West Side Story holds the distinction of having won more Academy Awards than any other musical film (unless one counts the Honorary Award given to Maurice Chevalier in 1959, the year that Gigi won its nine Oscars). The soundtrack album sold more copies than any soundtrack album before it, and more than the original cast album did.

The film opens in the streets of Manhattan in the late summer of 1957. There is a mounting tension set to music («Prologue«) between a white American gang, the Jets, led by Riff Lorton (Russ Tamblyn), and a rival gang of Puerto Rican immigrants, the Sharks, led by Bernardo Nunez (George Chakiris). The Jets harass the Sharks and vice versa, culminating in a free-for-all throughout the streets.

Riff decides that his best friend Tony Wycek (Richard Beymer), a co-founder of the Jets who has left the gang to work at a local candy/drug store, would be the best member to present the challenge to the Sharks because he has always come through for the Jets. This is the plot for The Jet Song.

Dance at the Gym. Tony and María’s first meeting

Maria is sent home, and Anita argues with Bernardo that they are in America, not Puerto Rico. At the Sharks’ apartment building, Anita and other girls from Puerto Rico engage in a spirited argument with Bernardo in defense of Maria’s right to dance with whomever she pleases. They debate the advantages and disadvantages of their country. This is the song America. Click next if you want to get the lyrics: West Side Story America

Tony discreetly visits Maria outside the fire escape at her home and they confirm their love. They arrange to meet the next day at the bridal shop where Maria works.  This is the story surrounding the number Tonight.

The Jets gather outside Doc’s store to wait for the Sharks. They are visited by Officer Krupke, who warns them not to cause trouble on his beat. After he leaves, they lampoon him and the various theories of how to deal with juvenile delinquency. This is the number Gee, Officer Krupke!

Tony, who is in a good mood and alone with Doc in the store to clean up, surprises Doc and tells him about his love for Maria. The day comes to an end as a distressed Doc closes the store and Tony leaves. The next day at Madam Lucia’s bridal shop, Maria sings to her co-workers about how happy and excited she is in the song I Feel Pretty.

A musical montage («Quintet«) intertwines the feelings of the Jets and Sharks in anticipation of the rumble, Tony and Maria’s anticipation of meeting each other, and Anita preparing for her date with Bernardo.

The Jets and Sharks arrive at their agreed location for the rumble, a fenced dead-end under a stretch of New York highway. As the «fair fight» begins between Bernardo and Ice, Tony arrives and tries to stop it, but is met with ridicule and mockery from Bernardo and the Sharks. Unable to stand by and watch his best friend be humiliated, Riff angrily lashes out and punches Bernardo («The Rumble«). Drawing their knives, Riff and Bernardo fight each other. Once Riff gets the upper hand, Tony stops him. However, Riff breaks away and runs back into the fight, only to be stabbed by Bernardo. Riff collapses while handing the knife to Tony and Bernardo looks shocked at what he has done. Enraged, Tony kills Bernardo with Riff’s knife, resulting in a full-fledged melee. Suddenly, police sirens blare out and the gang members flee, leaving behind the bodies of Riff and Bernardo.

Unaware of what has happened, Maria is waiting for Tony on the roof of her apartment building. One of the Sharks, Chino (Jose DeVega), whom Maria has been promised to, arrives and angrily tells her that Tony killed her brother. Tony arrives, and initially Maria lashes out at him in anger, but Tony explains what happened and asks for her forgiveness before he plans to turn himself in to the police. Maria decides that she still loves Tony and begs him to stay with her. They reaffirm their love (in the song Somewhere), kiss, and make love for the first time (offscreen).

Meanwhile, the Jets (with Ice now in command and joined by the Jet girls) have reassembled outside a garage. Action demands revenge for Riff’s death, but Baby John opposes it. Action yells at Baby John for being scared, then tensions flare amongst several Jets. Ice pulls them all into the garage and tells them they will have their revenge on the Sharks, but must do it carefully (Cool song).

You know that I don’t usually tell the end of a story, but this is a revisitation of Romeo and Juliet, so I expect that most of you know what is going on here. At the end of the story, on the playground next to Doc’s store, Tony suddenly sees Maria and they begin to run toward each other with joy. Suddenly, Chino appears and shoots Tony. As the Jets and Sharks arrive, Maria and a fatally wounded Tony reaffirm their love («Somewhere«), but Tony dies in her arms. Maria takes the gun from Chino and blames the rival gang members for the deaths of Tony, Bernardo, and Riff with their hate, threatening to kill as many of them as she can, while still leaving one bullet for herself. However, she can’t do it and drops the gun before sinking to the ground, crying. Three of the Jets start lifting his body and two Sharks join them to help carry him off. Maria and several Jets and Sharks walk behind them in a funeral procession and Chino is arrested by Schrank and Krupke for killing Tony.

I also post the ending titles because they are absolutely brilliant, modern and avant-garde, designed by the great Saul Bass, and they haven’t lost a bit of their up-to-date quality after more than fifty years from the release of the film.

Network, by Sidney Lumet (1976)

Network is a 1976 American film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System (UBS), and its struggle with poor ratings. The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, and stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Robert Duvall and features Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight.

The film won four Academy Awards, in the categories of Best Actor (Finch), Best Actress (Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress (Straight), and Best Original Screenplay (Chayefsky). Thirty-five years later, “Network” remains an incendiary if influential film, and its screenplay is still admired as much for its predictive accuracy as for its vehemence.

Network has continued to receive recognition, decades after its initial release. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being «culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant». In 2002, it was inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame as a film that has «set an enduring standard for U.S. American entertainment.» In 2006, Chayefsky’s script was voted one of the top-ten screenplays by the Writers Guild of America, East. In 2007, the film was 64th among the Top 100 Greatest U.S. American Films as chosen by the American Film Institute, a ranking slightly higher than the one AFI had given it ten years earlier.

Sidney Lumet, the director who preferred the streets of New York to the back lots of Hollywood and whose stories of conscience —12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, Network — became modern American film classics, died on April 9th at his home in Manhattan. He was 86. Robert Berkvist in the New York Times reflected: «‘While the goal of all movies is to entertain,’ Mr Lumet once wrote, ‘the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further.

It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.’ Social issues set his own mental juices flowing, and his best films not only probed the consequences of prejudice, corruption and betrayal but also celebrated individual acts of courage.»

Take the Money and Run, by Woody Allen (1969)

Take the Money and Run is a 1969 comedy film co-written by, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. It is an early mockumentary, chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a bungling petty thief. His entry into a life of crime at a young age, his crime spree, his first prison term and eventual escape, the birth and growth of his family, as well as his eventual capture at the hands of the FBI are some of the notable events depicted. Allen initially filmed a downbeat ending in which he was shot to death, courtesy of special effects from A.D. Flowers. Allen’s editor, Ralph Rosenblum (in his first collaboration with Allen), reputedly convinced him to go for a lighter ending.

This film was the first to be directed solely by Allen. (He had wanted Jerry Lewis to direct originally; when that didn’t work out, Allen got the notion to direct it himself). Woody Allen’s decision to become his own director was partially spurred on by the chaotic and uncontrolled filming of Casino Royale, in which he had appeared two years previously.

Take the Money and Run marked the first time Woody Allen would perform the triple duties of writing, directing and acting in a film. The hysterical and almost slapstick style is similar to that of Allen’s next several films, including Sleeper and Bananas.

This film is presented as a documentary on the life of an incompetent, petty criminal called Virgil Starkwell. It describes the early childhood and youth of Virgil, his failure at a musical career, and his obsession with bank robberies.

The film was shot on location in San Francisco. It was also filmed at San Quentin State Prison. One hundred San Quentin prisoners were paid a small fee to work on the film. The regular cast and crew were stamped each day with a special ink that glowed under ultra-violet light so the guards could tell who was allowed to leave the prison grounds at the end of the day.

The film uses a voice over narrative and interviews with his family, friends and acquaintances. Take the Money and Run is Mel Brooks-like in structure and gags, but definitely Woody Allen at his comical best. It’s not his greatest picture by any means, but perhaps the best of his early slapstick flicks. This movie is very much like his innovative Zelig (1983), a black and white docu-spoof about a fictional chameleon.

 

 

Paint Your Wagon, by Joshua Logan (1969)

Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 American musical film starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The movie was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 stage musical by Lerner and Loewe, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. Chayefsky provided a significantly changed storyline from the stage musical version. In the film «Rumson» is simply called «No Name City,» and Ben Rumson (Marvin) has no daughter. The character «Julio» is replaced by «Pardner» (Eastwood), now an American and Ben’s partner in the gold claim. Additionally, in the film it is Pardner who falls in love with Elizabeth (Jean Seberg), Ben’s wife under mining law, rather than the stage musical character Edgar Crocker. The temporary polyamorous solution to the love triangle among Ben, Pardner and Elizabeth appears only in the film as well.

This film was made near Baker City, Oregon. Other locations include Big Bear Lake, California and San Bernardino National Forest; the interiors were filmed at Paramount Studios with Joshua Logan directing.

 

The story tells about how a Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnaping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boomtown. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.

The film was released at a time when movie musicals were going out of fashion, especially with younger audiences. Its overblown budget and nearly 3 hour length became notorious in the press. Eastwood was frustrated by the long delays in the making of the movie, later saying that the experience strengthened his resolve to become a director. According to Robert Osborne, Marvin drank heavily during the filming of the movie, which may have enhanced his screen appearance, but led to delays and many retakes.

After a debut on Broadway in 1951, Paramount spent an estimated 17 to 20 million dollars in production costs for this Lerner and Loewe musical. With Loewe’s permission, Lerner wrote five additional tunes for the film with Andre Previn. The musical comedy features 13 songs. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band helps out on the song «Hand Me Down That Can O’ Beans».

Here you have the lyrics for this song: Hand me down that can o’ beans lyrics

Both Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin are given a chance to show their vocal ability (or lack of it) in several songs. Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled prospector trying his luck panning for gold in California. Pardner (Clint Eastwood) is his companion.

When Ben buys a woman from a Mormon, Elizabeth (Jean Seberg) expects equal rights for her gender and chooses to live with both men. Ben and Pardner tunnel under the boomtown to gather the fallen gold dust that has filtered through the cracks of the saloon and other places.

Here you have the lyrics for this song: The Gospel of No Name City lyrics

The initial release fell far short of regaining the millions put into the production, and most critics dipped their pens in poison to pan the picture — though the film plays better than the critics would lead anyone to believe. Many jumped on the Paint Your Wagon smear campaign after the film proved to be not nearly as successful as other musicals.

Here you have the lyrics for this song: A Wanderin’ Star lyrics

 

 

Pulp Fiction, by Quentin Tarantino (1994)

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who cowrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. A major critical and commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.

Directed in a highly stylized manner, Pulp Fiction joins the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters’ senses of humor and perspectives on life. The film’s title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of «pulp». The plot, as in many of Tarantino’s other works, is presented out of chronological sequence.

In keeping with writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s trademark of nonlinear storytelling, the narrative is presented out of sequence. Pulp Fiction is structured around three distinct but interrelated storylines—in Tarantino’s conception, mob hitman Vincent Vega is the lead of the first story, prizefighter Butch Coolidge is the lead of the second, and Vincent’s fellow contract killer, Jules Winnfield, is the lead of the third. Although each storyline focuses on a different series of incidents, they connect and intersect in various ways.The film starts out with a diner hold-up staged by «Pumpkin» and «Honey Bunny», then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, Butch, and several other important characters, including mob kingpin Marsellus Wallace, his wife, Mia, and underworld problem-solver Winston Wolf. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner: Vincent and Jules, who have stopped in for a bite, find themselves embroiled in the hold-up.

Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema (although it is not an independent film itself). Considered a cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction’s influence has been felt in several other media.

You can read the script for this scene here: Jules script part

 

Dead Poets Society, by Peter Weir (1989)

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film starring Robin Williams and directed by Peter Weir. Set at a conservative and aristocratic boys prep school, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to change their lives of conformity through his teaching of poetry and literature.

The story is set at the fictional Welton Academy in Vermont, and was filmed at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware. The script, written by Tom Schulman, is based on his life at Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Robin Williams stars as a teacher who doesn’t fit into the school where he teaches, but whose charisma and love of poetry inspires some boys to revive a secret society with a bohemian bent. The script is well-meaning but a little trite, though director Peter Weir (The Truman Show) adds layers of emotional depth in scenes of conflict between the kids and adults.

Williams is given plenty of latitude to work in his brand of improvisational humor,

though it is all well-woven into his character’s style of instruction.

A subplot involving one father’s terrible pressure on his son – played by Robert Sean Leonard -to drop his interest in theatre reaches heartbreaking proportions.

Saving Private Ryan, by Steven Spielberg (1998)

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat.  Rodat first came up with the film’s story in 1994 when he saw a monument dedicated to four sons of Agnes Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania. The brothers were killed in the American Civil War. Rodat decided to write a similar story set during World War II. The script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, who then handed it to Hanks. It was finally given to Spielberg, who decided to direct. The film’s premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland brothers.

The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6th, 1944. It contains intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence, and explicit language all throughout the film.

Afterwards, it follows Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller and several men (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg, and Jeremy Davies) as they search for paratrooper Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is the last surviving brother of three fallen servicemen. Government policy dictates that he should return home lest his family be deprived of all its male offspring.

This team of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller and fresh from the beaches of Normandy, is assembled to find and save Private Ryan.

The Germans arrive in force with more than 50 men supported by armor. In spite of inflicting heavy German casualties, most of the paratroopers, and Miller’s squad (Jackson, Mellish and Horvath), are killed. While attempting to blow the bridge, Miller is shot and fatally wounded. Just before a Tiger Tank reaches the bridge, an American P-51 Mustang flies over and destroys it, followed by more Mustangs and advancing American infantry and M4 Sherman tanks who rout the remaining Germans. Upham executes «Steamboat Willie» upon finding him with a group of surrendering Germans. Ryan, Reiben, and Upham are the only survivors of the battle. Ryan is with Miller as he dies and says his last words, «James… earn this. Earn it.»

Cabaret, by Bob Fosse (1982)

Cabaret is a 1972 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing National Socialist Party.

The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera. Only a few numbers from the stage score were used; Kander and Ebb wrote new ones to replace those that were discarded. In the traditional manner of musical theater, characters in the stage version of Cabaret sing to express emotion and advance the plot, but in the film version, musical numbers are confined to the stage of the cabaret and to a beer garden. Cabaret was shot mainly in low light and has an Expressionist feel in the musical sequences.

In early 1930s Berlin, American singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new arrival in the city, Brian Roberts (Michael York), moves into Sally’s apartment building. A reserved English academic and writer, Brian gives English lessons to earn a living while completing his German studies. Sally unsuccessfully tries to seduce Brian and suspects he may be gay.

A subplot in Cabaret concerns Fritz Wendel (Fritz Wepper), a German Jew passing as a Christian. Fritz eventually reveals his true religious background when he falls for Natalia Landauer (Marisa Berenson), a wealthy German Jewish heiress. Although they marry, we are left wondering what their fate will be.

The Nazis’ violent rise is a powerful, ever-present undercurrent in the film. Though explicit evidence of their actions is only sporadically presented, their progress can be tracked through the characters’ changing actions and attitudes. While in the beginning of the film National Socialist members are sometimes harassed and even kicked out of the Kit Kat Klub, a scene midway through the film shows everyday Germans rising in song to rally around National Socialism, and the final shot of the film reflects (literally) that the cabaret’s audience is dominated by Nazi party members.

 

Click here if you want to have the lyrics: Willkommen From the film Cabaret lyrics

Click here if you want to have the lyrics: Money From the film Cabaret Lyrics

With Spanish Subtitles. Click here if you want to have the lyrics: Two Ladies From Cabaret

The ending song from the film, with Spanish subtitles. Click here if you want to have the lyrics: Cabaret From the film Cabaret

 

To Have and Have Not, by Howard Hawks (1944)

Directed by Howard Hawks, To Have and Have Not (1944) is a romance-war-adventure film. It starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, in her first film. Although it is nominally based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, the story was extensively altered for the film. Howard Hughes sold the book rights to independent director Howard Hawks, who sold them to Warner Bros. William Faulkner, “out of print and broke”, was on the payroll, helping with the script.

This was Lauren Bacall’s first film, at the age of 19. Hawks’ wife «Slim» noticed Bacall on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar and showed the photo to her husband, who soon sought out Bacall and signed her for the role. After filming began, a romance developed between Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, despite the disapproval of Hawks. This romance eventually led to the end of Bogart’s marriage to Mayo Methot, his third wife, and to Bacall and Bogart getting married. The memorable onscreen chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, would continue in The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, and Key Largo.

The film is set in the Caribbean city of Fort de France, Martinique, under the Vichy regime in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France to the Germans. In this exotic location, the world-weary fishing-boat captain Harry ‘Steve’ Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) is urged to help the French Resistance smuggle some people onto the island. He refuses, until the client, Johnson (Walter Sande), who has been hiring out his fishing boat (and owes him $825) is accidentally shot before paying him.

Watch the famous «whistle» scene with Spanish subtitles.

Missing, by Costa-Gavras (1982)

Missing is a 1982 American drama film directed by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea and Charles Cioffi. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed leftist President Salvador Allende.

Missing won the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sissy Spacek) and Best Picture. The film also won the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, where Lemmon was awarded Best Actor. The score is by the Greek composer Vangelis.

The film opens with Costa-Gavras’ statement that the events of the film are true, and ends with a disclaimer from the United States Department of State, denying that the events in the film happened. Set largely during the days and weeks following Horman’s disappearance, the film depicts his father and wife searching for him in vain.

I have selected two parts from the film. In the first part you will witness one of the most pulsating, touching and truthful pieces of acting in film history when Jack Lemmon talks to the American Ambassador. Tremendous performance, excellent script and directing, great movie. English original version, with English subtitles.