Did anyone else feel that it should have been Maria who…
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friendoffilm — 11 years ago(May 05, 2014 05:26 AM)
Gangs are also armies, but they're armies of the street, rather than of a nation and an ordinary battlefield. The fact that the arrogance, hubris and street violence that both the Jets and Sharks engaged in on such a regular ongoing basis, and their feuding, which resulted from the afore-mentioned behaviors, ultimately claiming the lives of three people (i. e. the leaders of both the Jets and the Sharks, and the Jets' ex-leader and founder, Tony), is what made both gangs and their girls stop, at least momentarily, to look at the consequences of all their feuding and their hatred of each other, and to unite, at least temporarily, in the face of tragedy.
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jschillig — 11 years ago(June 08, 2014 01:34 PM)
Funny you should mention that.
A while ago, I read a book called "Enchanted Evenings", about the creation of several musicals. WSS was one of the ones the book focused on, discussing cut songs and earlier drafts.
In one of these early drafts (I don't know if this was when it was still "East Side Story" about a Catholic boy and a Jewish girl), it WAS Maria who died instead of Tony. In the synopsis of the draft, Maria, believing Tony was dead (in a gender-reversal of the finished product), returned to the bridal shop, sang an aria about how she couldn't live without Tony, and plunged a pair of scissors into her stomach. Tony arrived as she was dying, held her in his arms and sang a snippet of their love song to rally her (sound familiar?) but she died in his arms. Tony kissed her, lay her on the floor, then flung open the bridal shop door to shout for the other gang to "come get me too!" No word on whether the other gang actually did in this draft, or whether the curtain fell right afterward.
It's an interesting wrinkle. As for whether it would have worked as well in the finishedmaybe it could have been a case of her taking Chino's bullet to save Tony? It might have been an interesting twist if she'd died at the hands of the OTHER man who loved her. -
friendoffilm — 11 years ago(June 08, 2014 06:15 PM)
I'm not so sure that it would've worked out for the best that way, jschillig. Personally, I think that this sort of an ending to
West Side Story
would make it too much like
Romeo & Juliet
, which wouldn't be desirable. I also couldn't see Maria taking Chino's bullet to save Tony, especially since Chino's bullet wasn't being aimed at Maria, to begin with. I think that the ending of
West Side Story
as it is does this film justice, whereas another kind of ending wouldn't, really.
Having said all of the above,
West Side Story
is a movie that's best left as it is, since it's in a very special class all by itself. -
oprlvr33 — 10 years ago(July 03, 2015 05:18 AM)
NOPE.
Because the entire synopsis was not about lovers: Tony and Maria as the [fatal and not] epilogue heroes/heroines. It always surrounded the rival gangs' hatred [and ethnic bigotry] Tony meeting/falling for Maria was merely the added flavor that sparked further interest-conflict against Riff's (and the Jet's) original war-pact with the Sharks. Bernardo fiercely intervene's the lover's kiss at the HS dance, with a warning glare at Tony to "watch his step - and his intentions"
"Get your hands off my sister!"
"He is one of THEM!"
Chino accidentally killing Maria (in place of Tony), or her getting caught in any gang-war crossfire would have been out of place. The ladies were the more secondary or supporting aspects of this story; same as Anita getting caught in the gang crossfire, while searching desperately for Bernardo. Would have made little sense. The mission was for Tony to try putting an end to the childish ongoing rivalry by reasoning with both sides; which proved fatal, when Chino shoots him out of jealousy.
Peanutlee33 -
friendoffilm — 10 years ago(July 05, 2015 11:37 AM)
Riff was killed by Bernardo, Bernardo was killed by Tony, in retaliation for Riff's death, and Tony, in turn, was killed by Chino in retaliation for the death of Chino's close friend/right-hand man, Bernardo, and out of jealousy, as you succinctly pointed out, oprivr33.
Sometimes, I wonder, however, what would've happened if Tony, despite what he'd promised Maria, had not gone to the rumble, and just let the Jets and the Sharks have it out with each other. -
friendoffilm — 9 years ago(April 15, 2016 03:53 PM)
One also has to bear in mind, however, that the fact that Tony tried to put an end to the feuding by first shaking hands with the Shark gang leader, Bernardo , also backfired, because Bernardo was so furious with Tony for being interested in his sister, Maria, to begin with (Bernardo had brought Maria to the United States to marry Chino, which was also what made Bernardo so irate about Tony's interest in and love for his sister!), plus Chino also shot and killed Tony in retaliation for Bernardo's stabbing death at the hands of Tony.
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stevenackerman69 — 9 years ago(October 19, 2016 12:46 AM)
No, I think it is good that Tony is the one who gets killed at the end. He was the gang member to begin with. Maria is the one who was against all the rumbling to begin with, remember? She tried to be calm about it, but her speech at the end was the fact that she was annoyed that now she lost two people she cared about, her brother, and now the person she loved. And she stopped them from even more fighting, notice? If she hadn't said anything, there would've been more killings right there, with Ice probably killing Chino.
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friendoffilm — 9 years ago(October 19, 2016 10:46 PM)
Your points are well taken, and interesting, stevenackerman69. Frankly, I think that had Maria not gotten between the Jets and Sharks and prevented them from clashing once again, there would've been multiple killings.on both sides.
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