West Side Story (2021)

I had mixed feelings about the original West Side Story. So, I was hoping Speilberg would fix the flaws and improve it. And... he didn't. In fact, Speilberg hews so closely to the original movie in terms of story and song, you wonder why he bothered. Even the movie's run-times: 153 minutes v. 156 minutes are similar. And why remake the story and keep it in the 1950s?

On the plus side: the actors fit their parts better, we hear the Puerto Ricans speak Spanish, the setting and dialogue is more realistic, and the minor actors are better cast. Thank God, the cornball Jewish store owner got replaced! And since its Speilberg directing, the action scenes are more exciting and less phony.

But that's about it. The dancing isn't better, its usually worse. Songs? No significant improvement. "Cool" and "The Jet Song" , my two favorites from the original, were much worse. The love story between Maria and Tony which seemed fake and sugary in the 1961 original is still fake and sugary..

Summary:   An uneccessary remake that neither improves the original nor significantly updates it.  And who was supposed to be the target audience - Hispanics who like Lenny Bernstein?  Its puzzling. Anyway, if you want to see one West Side Story movie, this isn't it.  See the '61 version.

Who'll stop the Rain (1979)

Plot: A merchant seaman helps an old army friend smuggle Heroin into the USA. But the drug deal goes bad, and he and his friend's wife end-up running for their lives.

Starring:  Tuesday Weld, Nick Nolte, Michael Moriarity

Athough a critical favorite when released,  Who'll stopped the Rain has been completely forgotten.  And I can see why.  Skillfully directed, with good performances by Tuesday Weld, Nick Nolte, and Michael Moriarity,  it should be a lot more engaging and enjoyable than it it. The problem (as always) is the script and plot.

The movie gives us a standard story we've seen a million times.  A little band of not-so-bad crooks are being chased by a bigger band of very-bad crooks.  The big crooks want what the little crooks have, in this case 2 Kilo's of Heroin. Along the way, we get torture scenes, chase scenes, double crosses, and a shootout.  And because its the 70s, we get a downbeat ending with a dead leading man.  The dialogue is servicable.

It has its good points,  For one, a memorable scene where Nolte first meets Weld, discovers he's being followed and beats up the bad guys.  Another? there's a final shootout that's both unbelievable and exciting.  And 1970s California is a welcome sight. But the characters are all surface, there's no reason to root for them, and the villains are surprising flat.  Its way too long at 126 minutes 

Summary: An average Crook-chase movie with some good acting and a few good scenes.  

Postscript - The Stanley Kauffmann Review.

Kauffmann includes this in his book "Before My Eyes" and in his concise, well-written way, writes a puzzling review full of hate for the movie, the actors, and co-screenwriter Robert Stone.  After spending one page discussing Director Karel Reisz, and calling him English (!), he spends 1/2 page on the movie.  Kauffmann starts by trashing the source novel: National Book Award winner "Dog Soldiers", calling it vacuous, tedious, and a 2nd rate Hemingway knockoff.  Kauffmann then declares the movie characters are "vermin" & attacks the movie for falsely trying to portray them as "decent".  Other films about "Sewer People" - thunders Stanley - have the morals to "close the manhole cover".  He closes with darts at the 3 actors.  Nolte is compared to Buster Crabbe, Moriarity is labeled arrogant and condesending, and Weld is dismissed as a one-note "anguished Kewpie-doll". 

One wonders where all this moralism comes from.  After all, Kauffmann loved Bonnie and Clyde, Charlie Varrick, The Getaway, and Chinatown.  It confirms how "unreliable" Kauffmann is as a film reviewer.  What he likes today, he'll dislike tommorrow.  Why? Not clear. Motivations not shown on the page.