misterjones

These are not comments! This is a soundtrack listing, which you don't currently post and, for a movie like this, should. The details come from the recent DVD.

1) Overture: Orchestra 2) Prologue: Orchestra 3) Jet Song: Tucker Smith (dubbing Russ Tamblyn) and The Jets 4) Something's Coming: Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) 5) The Dance At The Gym: Orchestra, danced by Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, Gina Trikonis, Tucker Smith, Carole D'Andrea, Yvette Othon, The Jets, The Sharks and their girlfriends. 6) Maria: Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) 7) America: Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, The Sharks and their girlfriends 8) Tonight: Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) and Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) 9) Gee, Officer Krupke!: Russ Tamblyn and the Jets 10) I Feel Pretty: Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood), Yvette Othun, Suzie Kaye, Joanne Miya 11) One Hand, One Heart: Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) and Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) 12) Quintet (Tonight): Russ Tamblyn and The Jets, George Chakiris and The Sharks, Rita Moreno (solo), Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) and Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood and, in the ensemble, Rita Moreno) 13) The Rumble: Orchestra, danced by The Jets and The Sharks 14) Somewhere: Jim Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer) and Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) 15) Cool: Tucker Smith, The Jets and their girlfriends. 16) A Boy Like That/I Have A Love: Betty Wand (dubbing Rita Moreno) and Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) 17) Somewhere: Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) 18) Epilogue/End Credits: Orchestra

With `The Last Samurai', director Ed Zwick appears to be aiming for an epic on the scale of a David Lean or Akira Kurosawa film. He couldn't possibly aim higher, and if he is not entirely successful he has nevertheless produced a film which will leave audiences grateful for the ways in which he is.

Impressively, Zwick never forgets that a great epic is based in equal parts on quiet moments of personal growth as well as on spectacle, and the two are in proper balance throughout `The Last Samurai'. Furthermore, this film never falls into the trap of presenting its American hero as the savior of a group of savages. It's presentation of the Japanese culture as represented by both the government forces and the Samurai warriors is informative, entertaining and never less than three dimensional.

The film's opening (and, later, closing) moments are its weakest. Simply stated, Tom Cruise is completely unconvincing as an embittered and alcoholic Civil War veteran. Watching him deal with stock characters (such as the photographer played by Timothy Spall), we are reminded of school-level productions in which a young cast can not possibly understand much less convey the life experience we are supposed to believe they have had.

Fortunately, things pick up considerably when Cruise finds himself in the hands of the Samurai warriors he has come to Japan to train the soldiers against. Not only is the actor convincing in the physical daring-do we have come to expect of him, but he is able to project a subtle variation on a theme he has explored before. His characters always seem to exist for the purpose of getting some form of comeuppance. Here it comes not in the form of a big emotive scene, but gradually, over the course of time, as he gives himself over to a world based on ritual, respect and honor. These quiet moments, juxtaposed with his learning the ways of the warriors, are the heart and soul of this film. Cruise is greatly abetted by the excellent actors Ken Watanabe and Koyuki in these sequences, as well as by the boys who play Koyuki's sons. Indeed, the greatest example of Zwick's skill in piloting this film can be found in the ease with which the film alternates between two languages, with none of the clunky feel too often associated with joint international ventures.

Not surprisingly, the film leads up to a spectacular battle sequence which, if anything, is even more impressive than any found in `Braveheart' or `Gladiator'. "The Last Samurai" can not help but recall "Dances With Wolves", with which it has a great deal in common, as well.

There is, however, a hokey quality to the film's final half-hour which brings it back to the level of its opening, with an unrealistic coda that its title portends to. There are, in fact, too many endings, and none of them are on the level of the film's best moments.

But if `The Last Samurai' sometimes falls short of its epic aspirations, it nevertheless is far more successful than many of its recent peers. It will be interesting to see how it holds up with time.

Included among the special features of the limited edition DVD of "West Side Story" is this magnificent documentary on the making of the film. We follow the show from it's inception as an idea in Jerome Robbins' mind through a 40th anniversary screening at Radio City Music Hall. Along the way we learn much about the collaborative process that brought the show to fruition on stage and the particular demands faced by the producers in adapting it to the screen. Of particular interest is the attempt to have the film directed by two men, Broadway director Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Art and commerce would collide and the exacting Robbins would be sent packing, much to the dismay of his cast. It is also of interest to note that the two distinct changes from the Broadway production were actually planned by it's Broadway creators: Stephen Sondheim always fought for the reversal of "Cool" and "Officer Krupke" and Robbins himself decided to add the men to the "America" number ("elevating it to the heavens", as Rita Moreno remembers).

The viewer learns that Natalie Wood was not always slated to be dubbed, and we hear her high-school soprano renditions of "I Feel Pretty" and "Tonight". (Marni Nixon should surely be given a medal for her ability to be faithful to Natalie's interpretations while literally giving her voice.) More surprisingly, we learn that Russ Tamblyn was dubbed on the opening "Jet Song" by Tucker Smith, who plays Ice in the film and also sings "Cool". Tamblyn's rougher track was certainly serviceable, but co-producer Saul Chaplin believed in leaving the dancing to the dancers and the singing to his professional singers. We do not hear Rita Moreno's original "A Boy Like That", but her concept of the song and her frustration with the dubbed result is quite fascinating.

Indeed, all of the interviewed parties (Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Harold Prince, Wise, Moreno, Tamblyn, Richard Beymer, Tony Mordente and many others) contribute to a vivid picture of the process of creating one of the most durable classics of two distinct mediums, the Broadway stage and the Hollywood film. You will watch the great "West Side Story" with enhanced appreciation after viewing this documentary.