
Movies that feel likeWest Side Story (1961)
If you loved West Side Story, the closest films we have are Pierrot le Fou (1965), On the Waterfront (1954) and Badlands (1973). All three share West Side Story's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.
Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Black Orpheus (1959).
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If West Side Story hit the spot, these will too

Gritty where it counts, contemplative underneath

Both land romance and tenderness at once


Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases
The difference: Made in the 1930s, in a different era of the craft

One thread runs through both: forbidden love
The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than West Side Story does

Both lean on romance more than on romance

Tender crime, and it commits to that

The same preoccupation in both: musical


From the 1960s, and it lands the same way

Tender drama, and it commits to that

Gritty crime, and it commits to that
In the mood for more gritty?
all gritty movies →The best-reviewed films that share West Side Story’s defining feeling.









