WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

Russ Tamblyn (eight years before getting promoted to being the leader of the Satans in SATAN'S SADISTS) is the leader of the Jets.  A small "American" gang that has a rivalry with a gang of Puerto Rican immigrants called the Sharks.  Both gangs are based out of the Lincoln Square neighborhood in Manhattan and are constantly at each others throat.  Things go from bad to worse though when the sister (Natalie Wood) of the Sharks leader falls in love with the ex-leader (Richard Beymer) of the Jets.  Things really go south when people start stabbing each other to death!

WEST SIDE STORY can best be described as Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" modernized as a "juvenile delinquency" film (they were popular in the late '50's/early '60's) and told through lots of awesome song and dance numbers...my personal favorite being "America".

Anybody interested with American musicals needs to watch WEST SIDE STORY.  Not only is it a very interesting time capsule into the early 1960's, but the music, dancing, singing and choreography are all simply amazing.  And let's not forget the colors and the cinematography!  And the cast!

Oh well, I could keep going on and on about how much I enjoy WEST SIDE STORY, but I think it'd be best if you just go watch it for yourself.  Have fun and remember to be cool, boy.  Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it.  Just play it cool, boy, real cool!

THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS (2001)

Say whaaat?  A Takashi Miike musical!  How strange is that?

Four generations of the Katakuri family have opened a bed and breakfast out in the countryside with expectations that a major road will be built nearby.  Until then, they're pretty low on customers...and for some reason quite a few of the customers that they do get end up dead!  Scared that all of these deaths will ruin their new business the Katakuri family simply bury them out back.  Yeah, this is not your normal musical.

THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS definitely gets points for imagination, but it should have been trimmed down some to speed up the pace.  Slow pace aside I did enjoy the film.  Tetsuro Tanba's yelling and Kiyoshiro Imawano's performance were the highlights of the movie for me.  Dancing zombies, great camerawork, wonderful direction by Miike, good acting, crazy claymation skillfully used to cover up the low budget.  THOTK might not be up everybody's alley, but in the right state of mind it can be very enjoyable.