The Wiz (1978)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

L. Frank Baum (novel)
William F. Brown (play)

Release Date:

24 October 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

From the book that's an American tradition...from the smash-hit Broadway show...the entertainment of the year!

Plot:

An adaption of "The Wizard of Oz" that tries to capture the essence of the African American experience.

Plot Keywords:

Wizard | Broadway Musical | Teacher | Melancholy | African American

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 7 nominations

Cast

Diana Ross	...	Dorothy
Michael Jackson	...	Scarecrow
Nipsey Russell	...	Tinman
Ted Ross	...	Lion / Fleetwood Coupe de Ville
Mabel King	...	Evillene
Theresa Merritt	...	Aunt Emma
Thelma Carpenter	...	Miss One
Lena Horne	...	Glinda the Good
Richard Pryor	...	The Wiz (Herman Smith)
Stanley Greene	...	Uncle Henry
Clyde J. Barrett	...	Subway Peddler
Derrick Bell	...	The Four Crows
Roderick-Spencer Sibert	...	The Four Crows
Kashka Banjoko	...	The Four Crows
Ronald 'Smokey' Stevens	...	The Four Crows

Runtime:

134 min | Finland:136 min (uncut version) | Finland:118 min (cut version) | UK:128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (uncut) (1979) | Finland:S (heavily cut) (1980) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Astoria Studios, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

In his book "Making Movies," Sidney Lumet admits that the filming of the Emerald City Sequence on the plaza at the World Trade Center had to be cut short due to wind and scheduling. The Port Authority would not allow more time to fix the mistakes, the red sequence had to be shortened due to a lighting error, and there was no time to re-shoot.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the wide shot in "Slide Some Oil to Me" when Nipsy Russell is dancing in front of the mirrors, there's a large hole in the canvas behind him. You can see a camera through the hole, and a couple of times, you can see a reflection of him dancing in the camera lens.

Quotes:

Evillene: [shouting as she threatens to burn Toto] Would you like sauerkraut or mustard, my dear, on your hot dog?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Family Guy: Barely Legal (#5.8)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

If You Believe In Yourself (Dorothy)

Jawdroppingly bad...appalling is more like it!!!

What must have looked good on paper turned out to be a case of bad concept, bad design, bad acting, bad singing, and the worst choreography ever seen in a major musical!! THE WIZ is so appallingly bad in its execution, that it staggers the imagination to think that anyone would think this film could make money at the box-office.

Worst casting mistake: DIANA ROSS as Dorothy, a one-note impersonation of a frightened child (although she's supposed to be a young adult schoolteacher). It's hard to believe she won an Academy Award nomination for LADY SINGS THE BLUES, so bad is she in voice and manner to suggest the Dorothy image made famous in the Frank L. Baum original.

The others are so fully disguised as to be almost unrecognizable--yes, even MICHAEL JACKSON as The Scarecrow completely misses the mark. Whatever laughs are attempted, they barely conjure up a chuckle.

The big production numbers are a complete mess, either too intricately staged or filmed at such a distance ("Ease On Down The Road") that there's no intimacy with the characters.

Lumet was obviously the wrong director for this kind of material. And of course he had obstacles thrown in his way by the miscasting of all the major characters.

A friend of mine used to use the phrase "Looks like two-cents worth of God Help Us!" It's an apt description of this God-Awful mess of a movie.