West Side Story, a 1961 production starring Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood, is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story is a flashy production filled with music, dance and light. It presents Shakespeare's play from a 1960's inner city perspective.
             In the movie two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, demonstrate cultural prejudices between Puerto Rican and American inner-city dwellers. The hatred between the two groups is evident from the beginning of the film. The play opens with the Jets, the American "gang," roaming the streets snapping their fingers and dancing. The Jets run into the Sharks while singing and a fight that is filmed as a dance ensues. The cops come and break up the fight. The groups pretend to be friends when associating with the cops. When faced with the prospects of getting in trouble the gangs work together to prevent this from happening. By showing the members of these gangs working together, the directors want to remind the audience that the gangs are made up of boys who do not understand that their prejudice is cycling out of control.
             The hatred displayed by the two groups is destined to crush the "west side" equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, Maria and Tony. The scene where Maria and Tony meet is the most dramatic scene in the movie. The two groups are dancing in the same hall when Maria and Tony see each other. The music, which is loud, the dancing, which is fast, and the lighting, which is bright, changes when they see each other. The floor becomes completely dark, only lightened by a spotlight focused on Tony and Maria. They dance slowly to soft music and then kiss. As soon as they kiss, the lights come back on, and the loud music resumes. Bernardo, Maria's brother, pulls them apart; however, they continue to look at each other, and the audience becomes aware that their love will not be squelched.
             As the movie continues, the love between Maria a...