Revealing mistake: In the dance scene, when the two gangs are "battling," if you look in the background at the Sharks side, you can see Maria among others mouthing the rhythms of the songs. (00:37:25)
Revealing mistake: In the final scene, if you look in the background that is completely opposite of the gate where the characters exit, there are two cars obviously made of cardboard. Many times they can be seen by looking over Maria's shoulder. (02:22:05 - 02:25:35)
Revealing mistake: The knives at the rumble bend EVERY time they move.
Revealing mistake: When Maria is cradling the dead Tony you can see Tony's chest heave as the actor takes a breath.
Answer: Actually there were a number of changes made in the movie adaptation compared to the original stage version. There were cuts, new additions, and changes to music, lyrics, dialogue, and characters. A few of the musical numbers were switched around because it was felt the storyline flowed better on screen, for different reasons. Some examples are "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "I Feel Pretty" which are cheerful, light-hearted songs and were moved to before "The Rumble", and "Cool" was moved to after "The Rumble" which gives that song's lyrics gravitas.
Super Grover ★