West Side Stories (1996) Documentary on West Side Story

Here's one of the best films I ever made, though it has never been released. In 1995-'96 I produced and directed West Side Stories, a 60 minute documentary on the making if the Tony and Oscar winning classic, West Side Story. The film is making its debut here after 24 years in the can.

Here's the story...

I created West Side Stories following the critical success of my film That's Entertainment! III the previous year, and I went about making the very best to doc that I could.

When I began shooting interviews with some of the very greatest folks in musical films, (Robert Wise, Saul Chaplin, Ernest Lehman, Rita Morena, et al) a vivid, fascinating and gripping story began to emerge, one of daring innovations, a spirited and rambunctious cast as well as skilled craftspeople at the height of their achievements. After the interviews and research was complete, I went about shaping the material with editor in Glenn Erickson, who I believe did a great job and took my often emphatic direction with the patience of a pro. The documentary turned out terrific, at which point I sent VHS copies to the cast, and then all hell broke loose.

A cast member passed the movie along to the show's creator Jerome Robbins, who was livid about it. Another cast member told me that Robbins was angry that I had included a story by director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) that Robbins had been fired by UA after several of the numbers were filmed because he wasn't adhering to the schedule, and that they were going way over budget with two directors. Also that the cast had correctly referred to his fits of rage.

At the time, the studio was under the leadership of Frank Mancuso, who got an angry letter from Robbins' lawyer Floria Lasky who pledged to sue the company if it ever saw the light of day. And you will never guess who had once been an office boy for Ms. Lasky - none other than Frank Mancuso himself decades earlier.

Thus, due to show business politics, West Side Stories was killed by Mancuso. And to make matters worse, years later Glenn Erickson who had edited my film went on to edit a DVD documentary made by another filmmaker which essentially plagiarized the film you're about to see. Ouch. And to make matters worse, the other film went on to win an award for best archival documentary against my film on Singin' in the Rain in the same year.

So, to say that I'm more than a little sore about West Side Stories is a bit of an understatement. However, the bottom line is that West Side Stories is a terrific movie - better than many of its like - and I am glad to be able to share it with you in 2020 in light of the fact that MGM/UA will never release it.

I hope you will enjoy the film, "like" and subscribe to my channel, and I look forward to your comments below.

PS I'm looking forward to see how Steven Spielberg will remake this classic.

Видео West Side Stories (1996) Documentary on West Side Story канала Peter Fitzgerald