Romeo and Juliet on screen choreography by Jerome Robbins. Widely admired, and the winner of ten Oscars, the 1961 film of the show – set among New York gangs – does not aim for a realistic portrayal of New York gang culture: in the opening sequence the Jets and the Sharks trade dance-steps instead of blows. The Jets are a gang of white youths, equivalent to Shakespeare's Montagues; the Sharks, equivalent to the Capulets, are Puerto Rican. Unlike Shakespeare who included relationships between his young lovers and the older generation (the parents, and parent-substitutes such as the Nurse and Friar Laurence) "West Side Story" keeps
Romeo and Juliet (1964 film) harmed Shakespeare more than Zeffirelli". Romeo and Juliet (1964 film) Romeo and Juliet () is a 1964 film directed and written by Riccardo Freda. Riccardo Freda maintained that it was himself who had the idea to adapt "Romeo and Juliet", having been an admirer of William Shakespeare since his youth and that he convinced Goffredo Lombardo who had gone bankrupt after the production of "Sodom and Gomorrah" to create the production company Imprecine and set up a co-production deal with Spain for this film and "Genoveffa di Brabante". Other sources such as Stefano Della Casa state that Freda was commissioned