West Side Story 4K 1961 Ultra HD 2160p

The plot is based on the timeless story of Romeo and Juliet, reimagined in a new way. On the streets of Manhattan, two street gangs—the Jets and the Sharks—are waging a merciless war for territory. Tony is a member of the Jets and the best friend of their leader, Riff.

Maria, a dark-skinned girl, is the sister of the leader of the Puerto Rican Sharks. Tony and Maria fall in love despite the hatred of their friends and relatives, and their love ends tragically…

User Review

It’s a story as old as time—there are probably too many film adaptations to count by now—but in my opinion, this one is the best: *West Side Story*. There’s a street war raging between two gangs—a fight to the death—and right at that moment, the best friend of one gang’s leader and the sister of the other gang’s leader meet at a dance, and right at that moment, they fall in love...

Romeo and Juliet has been adapted for the screen countless times. But no one has done it as elegantly as this director (?). From the very first frames, it’s clear that this is an extraordinary film. And the first ten minutes or so play out like a theatrical performance (when the two gangs meet on the street and sort of battle each other to the rhythm of a dance)—it looked really cool, if only the cops hadn’t broken it up and ruined the whole show. The screenplay, in my opinion, is the weakest part of the film. Everyone surely already knows how things will unfold, and take, for example, the modern adaptation of *Romeo + Juliet*—even though the setting was moved to the present day, everything happened exactly as in the original story, without deviating one bit. And since I watched *R + J* before *West Side Story*, I expected something along those lines before seeing this movie. But no. There are many significant differences from the original. Yes, of course, there’s the death of “Mercutio”—just under a different name—and the tragic ending (which, by the way, they completely reworked—something I’m actually very glad about, because the poison scene wouldn’t have fit this movie at all, but the way they did it ended up looking great).

Just like in any musical, there have to be great songs and well-choreographed dances. While the former is more or less okay, the latter is simply superb. And the opening of the film, which I’ve already mentioned, is executed masterfully. If the whole movie were like that, it would be priceless. The scenes in the nightclub are simply wonderful. I also really liked the choral singing scene when both gangs were heading to the “showdown.” With so many intertwining voices, excellent cinematography, and—voilà—the best scene in the movie is complete.

If this movie were just a movie, rather than an adaptation of *Romeo and Juliet*, I would have liked it much more. I generally can’t stand that story, and since I’ve watched various adaptations of it many times, the theme ended up feeling too overused for me. But in every other respect, the movie is simply wonderful.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (69.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1

Info Audio

#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#English: Dolby Digital 4.0
#German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#German: LPCM 2.0

Info Subtitles

English SDH (PGS), Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese (Traditional)) (PGS), Chinese (Simplified) (PGS), Chinese (Traditional) (PGS), Danish (PGS), Dutch (PGS), Filipino, Finnish (PGS), French (PGS), German (PGS), Greek (PGS), Hebrew (PGS), Hungarian (PGS), Indonesian, Italian (PGS), Japanese (PGS), Korean (PGS), Malay, Norwegian (PGS), Polish (PGS), Portuguese (Brazilian) (PGS), Portuguese (European) (PGS), Russian (PGS), Spanish (Latin American) (PGS), Spanish (Castilian) (PGS), Swedish (PGS), Thai (PGS), Turkish (PGS), Vietnamese.