West Side Story (film) West Side Story (film) West Side Story is a 1961 American romantic musical tragedy film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70. Released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and viewers, and became the second highest grossing film of the year
Robert Wagner the next picture. {Head of Fox} Daryl Zanuck was always placing me in different positions." Wagner's first film for Fox was "Halls of Montezuma" (1951) a World War Two film. Wagner had a support role, with Richard Widmark as the star. The studio then had him perform a similar function in another war movie, "The Frogmen" (1951), again with Widmark; the cast also included another young male under contract to the studio, Jeffrey Hunter, with whom Wagner would often work. "Let's Make It Legal" (1951) was a comedy where Wagner again supported an older star, in this case Claudette Colbert.