Audio problem: During the opening overture, right when the orchestra starts "Maria", you can hear someone sneeze in the background. It's easier to hear on the soundtrack but you still can hear it in the movie.
West Side Story (1961)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Starring: Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris
After being falsely told that Maria has been killed by Chino, a distraught Tony wanders the streets, yelling for Chino to come kill him too. He discovers she is not dead when he sees her from across the playground, coming to meet him. Forgetting his sorrow, he runs towards her, and she towards him, but Chino heard Tony's screaming for him, and arrives at the same moment, shooting and killing Tony. Tony dies in Maria's arms. Maria, now a widow, declares that all the Sharks and the Jets are both responsible for all the deaths because of their hate. The Jets and Sharks at least temporarily put their feud behind them and carry Tony's body off together. Chino is escorted to a police car.
MovieSal
More mistakes in West Side Story
Doc: Why do you kids live like there's a war on?
Trivia: "West Side Story" was the first film to win the Best Picture Academy Award for two directors (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins).
Question: In the original musical of West Side Story, the song "Officer Krupke" is sung some time after the rumble when Riff was killed. Why was it changed to before the rumble?
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Answer: Actually there were a number of changes made in the movie adaptation compared to the original stage version. There were cuts, new additions, and changes to music, lyrics, dialogue, and characters. A few of the musical numbers were switched around because it was felt the storyline flowed better on screen, for different reasons. Some examples are "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "I Feel Pretty" which are cheerful, light-hearted songs and were moved to before "The Rumble", and "Cool" was moved to after "The Rumble" which gives that song's lyrics gravitas.
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