Garnering a total of ten Academy Awards - including Best Picture of 1961 - West Side Story set a brilliant standard for movie musicals that remains unsurpassed to this day. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins form Ernest Lehman's spectacular screenplay, the film combines the unforgettable score of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with Robbins' exuberant choreography to create a transcendent fusion of realism and fantasy that will forever be a feast for the eye, the ear, and ultimately, the heart. A triumph on every level, this electrifying musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in the slums of 1950's New York. Starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, and - in supporting Actor Oscar - winning roles - Rita Moreno and George Chakiris, it remains "one of the most popular film musicals in history" (Cinebooks' Motion Picture Guide).