Jeff Walderman

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner did an amazing job of contemporizing this old romantic musical. For the most part, it is as good as the best movie musiucals ever made. However, there were two major flaws that should have been addressed to put this movie over the top. 1) I think movie musicals are much better with a star/celebrity playing one or two of the lead roles. It gives the audience someone they can identify with, root for and see their star shine. This cast was fantastic but it missed out on the star quality needed to attract a huge audience. 2) More importantly, the disappointing ending. Kushner and Spielberg simply used the original film's ending. They lost the contemporary feel that they achieved so brilliantly throughout the rest of the movie. When Tony saw that Maria was alive he should have made a concerted effort to stop Chino from shooting him. The Jets were close by as well. They could have been involved in Tony's effort to stay alive, driven by his love for Maria. It would have been much more dramatic, more heartfelt, had more street wise credibilty and maybe even added some contemporary violence to knock this film out of the park. Tony still would have lost the battle but with a fight his character was totally entitled to and deserved. Maria's love for Tony and disgust of the gang lifestyle could have been brought forth more determinedly as expected from the way her character developed throughout the film.This type of ending would have left the audience breathless and deeply affected. That is what a Spielberg movie is famous for and is supposed to do. What happened gentlemen?