Westside Story Overture

[Animesbff13]

I'm going to see this play for my birthday in philedalphia and i am so excited!!!!!!!! This play has amazing music and an awesome story!!!! I wish that my birthday would come soon so i can see it!!!

[PRR5406]

This is not the overture, but a hybrid of "Quintet" and other music. Still elegant, and a tetimony to Bernstein's genius.

[CutandPrintFilms]

@PRR5406 It is the overture!

[PRR5406]

@CutandPrintFilms You are correct. My error.

[StupidLamb251]

Favorite part = the whistles

[lkrauss100]

Does this play have an alto sax part?

[StupidLamb251]

I watched this movie in theaters on the 50th anniversary on November 9th.......seeing this movie on the big screen just like Russ Tamblyn and Natalie Wood and George Chakiris did for the first time made me so happy. I will cherish that first fingersnap til the day I die.

[uKooKu]

Has anyone seen the 50th anniversary Blu-Ray version they just released? I read a review that they completely f**ed up the overture with a totally bogus fade-out right at the crescendo when it pans back and fades to real life!! I also heard they're going to re-issue it because they've gotten such a bad rap about that. Can anyone verify this??

[doyouwantfries20]

I love "maria" its just so, i want to see a consert band play this, and i want to see it.

[mikaelakimothy976]

I am figure skating to this song :)

[tobeetwo]

This is one of the most amazing intros to any films made. The indescript backround of New York City coming into view...it's a masterpiece!!!

[thebiggestqueenfan]

Happy birthday Leonard Bernstein!!!

[mariposasabrosa]

who doesn't love this? noone

[sorim69]

seeing 4:31 onward on the bigscreen gave me HUGE goosebumps

[sorim69]

On dvd as a child I could never sit through the overture...last night I saw the film in 70mm on the big screen...I cant even describe how riveting it was!!!!

[flcl4evr]

@sorim69 Ugh......I am so jealous of you. I saw the 50th Anniversary Digital rerelease a few days ago, and they butchered the way it was projected. 70mm>digital

[StooGP]

How did Leonard Bernstein not win an Academy Award for this soundtrack????

[blacksultan06]

This intro is so off the hook!!!

[Dockelektro]

Can someone tell me more movies with this kind of pre-credit sequence? I know that 2001, dancer in the dark, ben hur and star trek do have them, can you tell me some more? Thanks!

[norsemustang]

@Dockelektro Go to Wikipedia and search for "List of films with overtures" and you will find a whole list of them.  This movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture had my favorite overtures.

[Dockelektro]

@norsemustang Thank you!

[rebecca8273]

@Dockelektro Gone With the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia.

[auntjojo1980]

love it but makes me sad since my poor dear Mom just passed away, reminds me of happier times and being a kid with no worries...West Side Story is part of me and my youth.....

[buffedtrainer1]

EPIC!!!!!!!!

[blithium]

One person probably legitimately did miss the like button.

[wendyblue7]

this is music... THIS is real music!!!!!!

[wendyblue7]

watched this last night, it was AMAZING

one of my fav musicals, and i have MANY favs but this has to be one of the top for sure

[SeabassMovies]

1 person can not feel the power and beauty of this music, thank god to the 58 + me that can actually notice good music, not all this rap songs about sex and drugs

[GingerJoberton]

You lot say you all love it.

Try playing the arrangement of the entire musical for piano.

It's fun laughing at your own failure.

[branie99]

It's hard to believe the film is 50 years old this year

[pix042]

such a genius that leonard bernstein. christ, how good this is. the whole shebang is brilliant.

[JohnMichaelBradshaw]

Chino was trying to shoot the "like" button, missed it, and hit "dislike" by accident.

[auntjojo1980]

@JohnMichaelBradshaw goo one.....awww the old days befor Facebook, such simple times. I miss them and good music like this :-(

[Preston2244]

Absolutely brilliant! My favourite film opening titles!

[thebiggestqueenfan]

This is without a doubt the greatest overture of all time...I don't know of any other overture that could get your heart beating faster and relax you at the same time. Amazing, Leonard Bernstein was a genius.

[MusicaLover18]

Maria and Tony ~ Forever !

[Wordman67]

No greater music has ever been written for Broadway, or the movies.

[mortalfrog0815]

what i don't like about the west side story movie is that they play every single song absolutely too fast!

[westsidestory97]

I could listen to this over and over again until the end of time. <3

[utubesnamepolsux]

Yeah; I was lucky enough to see West Side at the Tampa Theatre for their, I think, Summer Classic Movie Series about 4 years ago. And yes, 1477 people will still applaud for a movie... if you're in the right theatre.

They *did* have a focus problem on the B projector that took half the movie to get fixed...

[mca1218]

One of the loveliest and most powerful film overtures ever done. Bernstein is a genius. I watched this on a big screen years ago and got chills up my back at the.2:00 mark when the segue to "Maria" begins. Then at the end, when the Saul Bass graphics zoom out and give you the title and the piece comes to its thunderous climax, the audience applauded anyway. And this was for a movie. Awesome.



[SuperKaitie333]

I love West Side... Oh God when I found out Marni died I swear I cried so hard...

[gamesport88]

@SuperKaitie333

What are you talking about? Marni Nixon, who voice doubled for Natalie Wood?

She's still alive and well at 80 years young.

[SuperKaitie333]

@gamesport88

0.0

I meant Natalie xD

[gamesport88]

@SuperKaitie333

OK, don't scare me like that. I had the honor of seeing Marni Nixon perform the national anthem at the Metropilitan Opera. But anyway, Natalie Wood's death is still a tragic loss. Sorry about that.

[SebastianAndrew1]

google mp3iffy to download this song from youtube.

[OsamaBinWeinstein]

Possibly the best musical ever set to the silver screen

The best music, too

Forever a part of our culture as humans

[dcbandnerd]

Every time a Broadway musical is adapted for the screen, they speed up the overture. I really wish they wouldn't do that. Having said that, this is always enjoyable to hear.

[spokeshole]

This movie was a masterpiece of all

time.  Simply stunning!

Thanks for the video mwizard!

[AliceJazz254]

At 3:27 should be the opening to a tv show for West Side story.

[SuperKaitie333]

@AliceJazz254

Like, a story following the gangs after the movie?

...

Would definetly kill the movie, but I like your thinkin' noggin.

[norsemustang]

Both this movie and Star Trek The Motion Picture were directed by Robert Wise, so it's no coincidence that both movies have awesome overtures.

[Raff365]

Actually, it is a coincidence. Directors don't compose the scores to the films. And the fact that West Side Story had an amazing sound track is because it was based on a musical by Leonard Bernstein, not because Robert Wise said anything about it.

[RikkiTheSuperstar]

dus anyone know wher ei casn this :) x

[howlongleft]

i can remember wen i saw this show nd i turned to my friend durin the overture nd just said to her 'wow'

[pinboyjorf]

4:32 seconds to end. explosive.

[crazydave19882006]

This is such a remarkable intro. The Orchestra is beautiful easily the best musical of all time.

[denisej242]

@crazydave19882006 : i definitely agree. my high school is performing this at the beginning of March and I'm just one of the lucky violinists that gets to play in it. and let me just say.. they make it sound so easy.. but it's not. :)

[uKooKu]

@crazydave19882006 And let's not forget to give credit to Mr. Saul Bass, who achieved the whole look of the intro. He also worked on Hitchcock films; genius in his own right.

[cingramaol]

Has there ever been a more remarkable opening to a movie? Did anyone else find themselves shouting "MAMBO!" a couple of times?

(The little "ching" sounds during the song "Maria" have always given me chills.)

And Natalie Wood, while perhaps not the most convincing Puerto Rican in cinema history, was quite lovely.

Wonderful film.

[uKooKu]

I'm Telling You, I Agree. In 1969 I was almost ejected from my seat in the Pickwick Theater as an Unruly Pre-Teen! MAMBO!

[darknipple]

my school did this... about 6 years ago. was fantastic. saw the movie after, was amazed. no finer overture.

[uKooKu]

I'm 52, and my older sister took me to see this when her fiance was in Viet Nam .. it was on its third run in theaters .. it was like 1969 ..I was 13. By the time of the Dance At The Gym, I was transfixed. Pow!!

[daking613]

I love this movie.

[katz1821]

the first time i saw it, i got chills to.\

[rglewingdon]

I still get chills when hearing this music. Especially at the end of the overture when the skyline of New York comes into view. Thank you for taking the time to post this video.

[rumtumtugger17]

dynamic!!!

[ardjoena]

Thanks, this completes my day.