Highbrow! Lowbrow? is back from its month hiatus with a fresh new episode, episode 20 breaking our way into a whole new set of podcasts. As always, we review the Academy Award Best Picture Winner and the top box office earner to try and figure out who was right: the critics or the masses. For this episode, we go back to the year 1961 for our selections: Westside Story (Highbrow) and 101 Dalmatians (Lowbrow). We also take a look at the past 10 episodes and make our picks as to what films really made the cut and what films didn't.
West Side Story, directed by Jerome Robbons and Robert Wise, written by Ernest Lehman and Arthur Laurents and with music by Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim, is a modern retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, set in 1961 New York. Two star struck lovers, Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) are caught between the Sharks and the Jets, two gangs with a vicious rivalry. Also starring are Russ Tamblyn as Griff, leader of the Jets, George Chakris as Bernardo, leader of the Sharks, and Rita Moreno as Anita, girlfriend of Bernardo and best friend to Maria. Although this film had a lot of great moments due to the great song and dance numbers, the two main characters, Tony and Maria, were just unlikable and their songs were bland ballads, the film's greatest fault. The two gangs brought many of the memorable moments of the films with songs such as "Officer Krupke," "Cool" and "Jet Song", but they were hard to take seriously as they fought via dance. Other notable songs were "America" with Rita Moreno delivering a strong performance, and "Tonight" providing a strong ensemble performance leading into the intermission. Despite the movie's flaws and it's unwieldy length, West Side Story remains entertaining and enjoyable because of the exciting dance numbers and catchy tunes.
101 Dalmatians, directed by Clyde Geronimi, is another Disney animated classic, featuring Pongo, a dalmatian, and his girlfriend, Perdita, as they try and rescue 99 other dalmatians from the aptly named Cruella De Vil. Featuring the songs of Mel Leven and the voice talents of Rod Taylor, J. Pat O'Malley, and Betty Lou Gerson. The Disney hit making machine brings catchy tunes, memorable characters, and great stories to this film, continuing it's long standing tradition. The film also benefits from it's brief runtime, a svelte 79 minutes, that keeps the pace well without overdrawing the movie. That's not much else to say except that it's a classic disney film with all the elements that only Disney could execute so well, not to mention a great film for kids.
So what film did we end up choosing: 101 Dalmatians or West Side Story? Tune in and check out the latest episode of Highbrow! Lowbrow? to find out. Also stick around to see what we choose for our favorite picks over these past 10 episodes.
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