Martin Scorsese is known for his movies about the seedier side of New York, with violence, emotional trauma, fast music; however, he has made a number of other movies with different tones. New York, New York is a musical drama, released in 1977, meant as a tribute from Martin Scorsese to his hometown of New York. The movie stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli in the lead roles (playing lovers who are musicians), and has songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb. However, the movie did not do well, earning less ($13 million) than the budget ($14 million), and the failure depressed Martin Scorsese, and sending him to drugs. The failure of the movie meant that the movie studio (United Artists) cut down the movie length by around 19 minutes, however, the deleted scenes were restored in a re-release in 1981. The Theme from the movie became famous when Frank Sinatra released a cover version in 1979. The movie opens on the day that the World War II ended in 1945, a time of glorious celebration.

During a celebration in a New York nightclub, with music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, a smooth talking self-centered saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) bumps into an upcoming singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli). Jimmy wants to get Francine’s number, but Francine wants to evade him. However, due to Jimmy’s persistence and luck, they end up sharing up a cab the next morning and she also accompanies him to an audition. At the audition, their joint act impresses the owner, and he offers them a job. They also get into a relationship, but Jimmy is not ready for a deeper commitment, even when Francine gives birth to his baby, and he leaves. Separate, they prosper, and several years later, are both significant figures. But when Jimmy proposes that they reconcile, what does she do ?

The Doors was a rock band that existed for a short period, but was incredibly famous, primarily due to its lead singer and lyricist Jim Morrison. The Doors existed between 1965, and went into a major problem in 1971 after the death of Jim Morrison, and was finally disbanded in 1973, but remain famous to this day. The Doors was formed by vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. Jim Morrison, or if you know him by his full name, James Douglas “Jim” Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971), had a very short life, all of 28 years, but in this short life, he became popular enough with his vocals, his persona, and his charisma to be counted at # 47 among the 100 greatest singers of all time (as enumerated by Rolling Stones magazine).
Why the name “The Doors” ? Well, it was adopted from a famous author, Aldous Huxley’s book, “The Doors of Perception”, and fittingly, refers to the use of psychedelic drugs getting doors open.

The movie about an iconic man was in turn directed by an iconic director, Oliver Stone. The movie starred in the lead, Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson (Morrison’s companion). The further roles of the other band members were played by, Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger, Kevin Dillon as John Densmore and Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy. This however happened after only a decade of casting for the leading man with many being considered (such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, etc). Travolta was rejected by the band members, they wanted somebody with a wilder look. Kilmer in fact got the part by making a video of him singing, and then getting Stone to watch it.
The movie takes the viewer through Morrison’s life, from his young self onto his arrival in California, his studying at UCLA, and the formation of the group. The group in turn starts growing in popularity; and it is this popularity that leads to Morrison going down the path of alcoholism and drug abuse, something that starts to affect the band. He starts going downhill, and eventually dies of “heart failure” in Paris in 1971.

There are many movies that have been adapted from screenplays or from books, and West Side Story is one of the most successful of the lot. The movie was adapted from a running screenplay of the same name, which was adapted from a very famous piece of work by Shakespeare called ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The movie credits the direction by 2 people – Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Jerome Robbins was the first director, and he was also the director of the stage version, as well as being responsible for planning and directing all music and dance sequences in the film, as well as all the fight scenes. However, when around 60% of the movie had been shot, the producer of the movie (Robert Wise) felt that the costs had not been in check, and Robbins was fired. In the end, when the movie earned 10 Oscars (out of a total of 11 Academy Awards nominations), Robbins got a special award.

The concept of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is an extremely old concept, valid in different cultures and across geographies. The theory that a girl and boy from 2 rival clans meet, fall in love, and fall victim to the enmity between their clans (and getting killed due to this rivalry) is something that finds mention in a lot of different cultures. This movie is also based on the same concept, with the clans being modified to be 2 different gangs set in New York in the 1950′s. These are 2 rival gangs called the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks (and these are composed of members from different racial backgrounds), fighting for supremacy over the New York neighborhoods in which they operate.
The romantic duo are Tony (Richard Beymer), who is a former member of the Jets gang (and also its co-founder), and Maria (Natalie Wood), who is the sister of Bernardo (George Chakiris), the head of the rival Puerto Rican immigrants gang, the Sharks. These 2 meet at a dance, to which Tony has gone to convey a message about a challenger between the 2 gangs, something that would decide the rivalry once and for all.
The movie is a musical, so there are several song and dances about the tension in the gangs as they proceed to a final rumble (the challenge) between them, along with the excitement in the life of Tony and Maria as their love increases. The story climaxes when Maria requests Tony to stop the rumble, and Tony is subject to ridicule from the gang members when he tries to stop them. His attempts are met with scorn, and the Jets head Riff cannot stand to see this ridicule of his close friend and starts fighting with Bernardo. In this tussle, Bernardo kills Riff, and Tony kills Bernardo in revenge. At this point, the police arrive and the gang members disperse.
Maria is informed by another gang member Chino (Jose DeVega) about the fight and about Tony killing her brother. When Tony arrives, Maria is very angry, but Tony manages to convince her by detailing what happened at the fight, and by offering to surrender to the police. However, the story happens in tragedy when Tony and Maria are about to meet, Chino comes in and shoots Tony. It is in this tragedy that the gangs unite, when member of both gangs carry Tony’s body.

Academy awards:

Wins:

Academy Award for Best Picture – Robert Wise, producer
Academy Award for Directing – Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Set Decoration, Color) – Victor A. Gangelin and Boris Leven
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color) – Daniel L. Fapp
Academy Award for Costume Design (Color) – Irene Sharaff
Academy Award for Film Editing – Thomas Stanford
Academy Award for Original Music Score of a Musical Picture – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin
Academy Award for Sound – Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Nominations

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium – Ernest Lehman

The musicals had a great season in American celluloid in a period of the 40′s and 50′s; and one of the greatest musicals of all time was ‘Singing In the Rain’ (released in 1952). The movie is also acknowledged to be Gene Kelly’s greatest work (with An American in Paris released in 1951 being another great movie). This was a movie that Gene Kelly had thrown his heart and soul into, with not only delivering a great acting role, but also co-directing, and being the choreographer. The movie had some great dances, with the dance on the title song where Gene Kelly danced with an umbrella, with water pouring, dancing in puddles, and generally having a good rain soaked dance being one of the greatest. It is even more admirable due to the fact that the dance happened when Gene Kelly had 103 fever.
The movie also picturised the transition that the American film industry had from the age of silent movies, to the age of movies with sound. This was a major change, and impacted not only the art of film-making, but also had an impact on the film stars of the silent era. Singing in the Rain captures the transition of some of the stars, while others failed to make the transition, and also heralded the appearance of new stars who were more suited for the sound era.

The movie is about a popular star of the silent era, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly). He has risen through the industry while doing all sort of jobs, and is now the leading star. His leading lady is Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen); Don cannot stand Lina, while she feels that they have an ongoing romance (something created by the studio for more publicity). Once, Don gets to suddenly meet a lady Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) (he jumped into her car to escape from some fans); and after some initial back-and-forth, they start falling into love.
However, there is a major disturbance – a new talking film called ‘The Jazz Singer’ has been released by a rival studio and becomes a success. This forces a change of plans, with the studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) deciding to convert the upcoming Don – Lina film into a talkie. However, it wasn’t so easy, and they eventually decide to get Kathy to dub for Lina, and to make the movie into a musical. Lina does not like Kathy and her romance with Don, and makes sure that Kathy cannot get screen credit for her voice-over; however, in the premiere, after some delay, the inevitable happens. It is revealed that Kathy is the voice, and also the upcoming star.