West Side Story

From Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins

With Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris

Year 1961

Duration 151 min.

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" - as a musical in 1950s New York: a gang war is raging between two rival gangs, the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. And the already simmering conflict is exacerbated when Tony (Richard Beymer), former leader and co-founder of the Jets, and Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks boss, fall in love at first sight during a visit to a disco. But the gangs have no regard for their feelings - stabbings and murders are followed by escapes, rapes and police raids, until Tony is finally gunned down in a fight...

Thanks to Robert Wise's stunning direction, Leonard Bernstein's score and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, WEST SIDE STORY remains perhaps the most iconic of all Shakespeare adaptations ever brought to the screen.