West Side Story was made for approximately $6 million. Its earnings have been reported as between $11 million (on its initial release) and nearly $20 million (total rentals). It was the second highest-grossing film of 1962, after Spartacus.

The lyrics to a few of the songs in West Side Story were changed from the stage version. In one case, it was done to avoid offending a certain ethnic group. Sondheim's use of the rhyming phrases "island of tropical breezes" and "island of tropic diseases" was taken to task by The New York Times during the play's run. In the Broadway stage version, the lines went "Puerto Rico, you ugly island, island of tropic diseases, always the hurricanes blowing, always the population growing, and the babies crying, and the bullets flying." In the film version, they were changed to "Puerto Rico, my heart's devotion, let it sink back in the ocean, always the hurricanes blowing, always the population growing, and the sunlight streaming, and the natives steaming." Other lyrics were toned down to be less suggestive, such as the line in the "Jets Song" that was changed from the stage version - "on the whole ever-mother-lovin'-street" to "on the whole buggin' ever-lovin street" on screen. Other lyrics had to be changed simply because the setting or time of the song had changed. Maria's "I Feel Pretty" was moved to earlier in the film, occuring in daytime instead of at night. Therefore, the line "I feel pretty and witty and bright, and I pity any girl who isn't me tonight" became "I feel pretty and witty and gay, and I pity any girl who isn't me today."

Director Robert Wise started his long and varied career in 1939 as an editor at RKO Studios, where he was nominated for an Oscar for cutting Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). He also edited Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) before moving on to a directing career in producer Val Lewton's famous horror unit at RKO. There he directed Curse of the Cat People (1944) and The Body Snatcher (1945). He made several pictures in the film noir genre, including Born to Kill (1947) and The Set-Up (1949), and directed one of the most famous sci-fi movies of all time, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Throughout the next decade, he concentrated on small personal dramas, such as Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and I Want to Live (1958). After West Side Story, however, he concentrated primarly on blockbusters and big, commercial features; some hugely successful - The Sound of Music (1965) - and some disastrous (Star!, 1968).

Scriptwriter Ernest Lehman has been nominated for five Oscars (including one for his work on West Side Story) and received an honorary award in 2001. Among his screenplays were Executive Suite (1954), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), and The Sound of Music (1965), all directed by Robert Wise. In terms of gritty New York stories and themes, he was certainly qualified for this picture through his creation of Sweet Smell of Success (1957). Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for the stage version of West Side Story, did his first movie script for Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948). He was Oscar-nominated as both co-producer and screenwriter on The Turning Point (1977). A noted writer for the stage, his play The Time of the Cuckoo was turned into the Katharine Hepburn film Summertime (1955), and he wrote both the stage and screen versions of the musical Gypsy (1962). Among his other film scripts are Anastasia (1956) and The Way We Were (1973).

Natalie Wood was the biggest star of the cast. She had been a popular child actress since 1943, most notably in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and made the transition to more grown-up roles with no interruption in her career. The same year she made West Side Story, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Splendor in the Grass (1961). Wood maintained a successful career for 40 years until her accidental drowning death at 43 during filming of her last movie, Brainstorm (1983). United Artists offered Wood either $50,000 and a share of the profits to play Maria or a one-time salary of $250,000. At the time, Wood's husband -Robert Wagner - was suffering a career slump and the couple really needed fast cash, so she took the latter option. Considering the huge profits West Side Story earned, it was a bad financial decision for Wood in the long run.

Russ Tamblyn had a successful career before West Side Story as a child actor - Samson and Delilah (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), in musicals - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Hit the Deck (1955), and in teen dramas - Peyton Place (1957), High School Confidential (1958). After playing Riff, he was cast in supporting roles in a handful of major films, including The Haunting (1966), but soon was making low-budget horror and exploitation flicks. Richard Beymer suffered a similar fate. After leads in Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) and The Stripper (1963), he made only a few minor films in the following 20 years like the suspense thriller, Cross Country (1983). Beymer and Tamblyn were later reunited in David Lynch's cult TV series Twin Peaks (1990).

Rita Moreno and George Chakiris received the best notices of the entire cast, but even their Academy Awards didn't guarantee them skyrocketing film careers. Moreno was flooded with offers to play every variation of the "Latin Spitfire" role. Because she found the parts demeaning, she concentrated more on her stage career and developed a highly successful club act. After acclaimed work in Carnal Knowledge (1971) and The Ritz (1976), she went on to a number of TV roles, most recently in the HBO series Oz. Chakiris has also had a successful stage and TV career after West Side Story. His motion picture roles have been largely in other countries. In the 70s and 80s, he launched a popular nightclub act in Las Vegas.

Several of the film's dancers went on to careers as choreographers and directors. Tony Mordente (Action), a member of the original Broadway cast, was married for a time to Chita Rivera, who played Anita on stage. He has directed a number of TV series over the last 30 years like Burke's Law and Valerie. Eliot Feld (Baby John) made no other movies but founded a highly acclaimed ballet company in New York. Gus Trikonis (Indio) followed this film with only a handful of small roles, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), but has directed many made-for-TV movies and series. He was married to Goldie Hawn from 1969 to 1974.

Marni Nixon, who dubbed Natalie Wood's singing voice, has had a long and successful career singing (uncredited) for non-singing stars cast in musicals. He first film job was as the voice of an angel in Joan of Arc (1948). She dubbed Margaret O'Brien in The Secret Garden (1949), Deborah Kerr twice in The King and I (1956) and An Affair to Remember (1957), and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964). She also provided the high notes for Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Most recently, she was the singing voice of Grandmother Fa in the animated film Mulan (1998).

A number of eminent jazz musicians played on the soundtrack, including Shelly Manne and Pete Candoli.

George Segal, then a young unknown, tried out for the role of Tony. Among the many actors tested for the part was Keir Dullea, who later starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Dullea refused to cut his full head of wavy blond hair in order to play a gang member, according to producer Saul Chaplin.

FUN QUOTES FROM WEST SIDE STORY

SCHRANK (Simon Oakland): "You hoodlums don't own these streets. And I've had all the rough-house I can put up with around here. You want to kill each other, kill each other, but you ain't gonna do it on my beat. Are there any questions?"
BERNARDO (George Chakiris): "Yes, sir. Would you mind translating that into Spanish?"

RIFF (Russ Tamblyn): "Now I know Tony like I know me and I guarantee you can count him in."
ACTION (Tony Mordente): "In, out, let's get crackin'."
GEE-TAR (Tommy Abbott): "Where you gonna find Bernardo?"
RIFF: "He'll be at the dance tonight at the gym."
A-RAB (David Winters): "But the gym's neutral territory."
RIFF: "A-rab, I'm gonna make nice with him! I'm only gonna challenge him!"
ICE (Tucker Smith): "Great daddy-o!"

RIFF: "Look, Tony, I never asked the time of day from a clock but I'm asking you, come to the dance tonight. I already told the gang you'd be there. If you don't show I'll be marked lousy."
TONY (Richard Beymer): "What time?"
RIFF: "Ten."
TONY: "Ten it is."
RIFF: "Womb to tomb!"
TONY: "Birth to Earth. And I'll live to regret this."
RIFF: "Who knows? Maybe what you been waitin' on will be twitchin' at the dance tonight."

MARIA (Natalie Wood): "My brother is a silly watchdog!"
BERNARDO: "Ah, my sister is a precious jewel!"
ANITA (Rita Moreno): "What am I, cut glass?"

JETS: "Dear kindly Sgt. Krupke, ya gotta understand. It's just our bringin' upke that gets us outa hand. Our mothers all are junkies, our fathers all our drunks. Golly Moses, naturally we're punks! Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upset. We never had the love that every child oughta get. We ain't no delinquents, we're misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good."

SHARK WOMEN: "Here you are free and you have pride."
SHARK MEN: "Long as you stay on your own side."
SHARK WOMEN: "Free to be anything you choose."
SHARK MEN: "Free to wait tables and shine shoes."

BERNARDO: "I think I go back to San Juan."
ANITA: "I know a boat you can get on."
BERNARDO: "Everyone there will give big cheer!"
ANITA: "Everyone there will have moved here."

ICE: "Don't get hot, cause, man, you got some high times ahead. Take it slow and Daddy-o, you can live it up and die in bed. Boy, boy, crazy boy, keep cool boy."

MARIA: "All of you! You all killed him! And my brother, and Riff. Not with bullets, or guns, with hate. Well now I can kill, too, because now I have hate!"