Natalie Wood STUNK in this film!
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leader-7 — 12 years ago(May 04, 2013 07:36 AM)
Maybe that's what draws Maria to him, as a contrast to all the dripping, steaming machismo that surrounds her every day.
You are spot on.
natalie was perfect for this the right amount of demure, shy, naive. And she didn't have to be a dancer, so her one dance sequence was easily choreographed for the young girl she portrayed (the rooftop meeting). So what if her singing was dubbed? In those days, Marnie Nixon had a great job filling in for so many of Hollywood's actresses whose roles required it but they didn't have the skill (Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe.) -
leader-7 — 12 years ago(May 04, 2013 07:56 AM)
agreed.
evidently, one of Marnie's great skills was being able to mirror the voice she was dubbing. Listening closely, it totally sounds like Wood. Ditto, her dubbing of Kerr in "King and I" and for An Affair to Remember. And she nailed Hepburn.
?who is imdb-vits, anyway? what a silly review. did you click on the link? ridiculous! -
EliotTempleton — 10 years ago(November 06, 2015 06:35 AM)
Marni Nixon did
not
dub Marilyn Monroe. This is one of the claims she has made in her old age, but it's bogus. Marilyn did her own singing, always.
I'm amazed at the length of this thread! Why do so any people respond to the posts of trolls? -
barryfleckmann — 12 years ago(June 10, 2013 10:00 AM)
I think YOU are entitled to YOUR opinion, but I also think YOU are totally nuts!
Natalie WAS out of her element (musicals were NOT her forte), but she WAS a big star and this movie didn't HAVE any other big names. They NEEDED her name above the title in order to put fannies into seats.
NOTICE TO MITT ROMNEY: A BAD DAY FREELOADING, IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK. -
barryfleckmann — 12 years ago(June 11, 2013 05:41 AM)
"I thought she (Natalie Wood) carried the part of Maria off quite well."
So did I, but NOT as well as Carol Lawrence did on Broadway. Natalie just had a bigger name, is all.
NOTICE TO MITT ROMNEY: A BAD DAY FREELOADING, IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK. -
barryfleckmann — 12 years ago(June 17, 2013 05:35 AM)
"I never saw the original Broadway stage production of "West Side Story" that had Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert in it"
Well, THAT makes two of us! I was TOO young! I missed Carol Lawrence in "West Side Story," Julie Andrews in "Camelot" and "My Fair Lady" and Mary Martin in "South Pacific." Whatever happened to American musical theatre?
NOTICE TO MITT ROMNEY: A BAD DAY FREELOADING, IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK. -
friendoffilm — 11 years ago(April 05, 2014 04:24 AM)
To each their own, but I kind of
liked
Natalie Wood in the film version of
West Side Story
. I thought she did okay as Maria. As for Richard Beymer, wellgiven the fact that the Beymer-bashing really has gotten out of hand in some circles, I'm more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt than I previously was. Imho, directorial constraints put on him by Robert Wise, the way in which both the scripts for the original Broadway stage versions and the film versions of
West Side Story
had been written, and the fact that Natalie Wood showed such open hostility and resentment towards him during the filming of WSS (Natalie Wood actually
did
attempt to get Richard Beymer kicked off the set on several occasions!) all hampered him from playing an even stronger Tony with a bit more of an "edge".
As for George Chakiris's role as the Shark gangleader, Bernardo, I thought he was excellent and did a fabulous job playing Bernardo, and he wasn't effeminate at all, imho. -
Yort14 — 11 years ago(March 07, 2015 09:25 PM)
I've always thought that Natalie Wood was very good in a thankless role. The music,the dancing,the set design are all great, but in "West Side Story",Natalie Wood lingers in my memory.
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