Rating: 
Summary: "The Wiz" (1978) directed by Sidney Lumet
Review: Visually delightful but overall mediocre Universal/Motown all black cast screen adaptation of Broadway musical based on the L. Frank Baum novel. Dorothy (Diana Ross), Toto, the Scarecrow (Michael Jackson), the Tinman (Nipsey Russell) and the Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross in role that won him a Tony on Broadway) make their journey down the Yellow Brick Road in search of "The Wiz" (Richard Pryor) who resides in the Emerald City and reportedly has the power to grant each their wish (a trip home, a brain, a heart and courage).
The film begins with the painfully shy 24 year old Dorothy helping with a family gathering at her home. After the gathering her dog Toto runs off and while chasing him she gets swept away by a tornado that materializes from a blizzard(!). She and Toto are magically transported to the Land of Oz with the aid of Glinda the Good Witch of the South (Lena Horne in bit role). The Wicked Witch of the East is inadvertantly killed during Dorothy's arrival and Dorothy is given her silver slippers and told not to take them off until she leaves Oz. Thus the adventure begins.
The movie was filmed in and around New York City including at Shea Stadium, Coney Island and in the central plaza of the World Trade Center (which served as the setting for the Emerald City). The indoor set shots were filmed at Astoria Studios on Long Island. In fact the sets are very well done and add greatly to the ambience of the almost post-apocalyptic urbanized setting of Oz. While some laud the musical numbers in the movie (arranged by Quincy Jones), I found most of the songs forgettable. There are musical highlights however, including the title song "The Wiz","Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News" (sang by Mabel King in role as Evillenne the Wicked Witch of the West), "Believe In Yourself" (performed by Lena Horne in her only musical number) and the best remembered song from the film, "Ease On Down The Road"-the movie's equivalent of "Follow The Yellow Brick Road" from the far superior 1939 film version. A couple of elaborate dance numbers also populate the film, including a weird number featuring the newly freed minions of Evillene dancing in their underwear.
I remember thoroughly enjoying this film as a child when it was released theatrically. As an adult however I found it a little slow, almost boring in parts. It's also more difficult to watch the scenes with Michael Jackson and especially those of the World Trade Center without being distracted from the story in light of subsequent events. I also thought that Ross' portrayal of Dorothy was overly whiney which provoked mild irritation. Overall I would recommend this movie to those with grade school aged children (the movie is rated G). The DVD version is a good widescreen transfer and provides some extras (production notes, trailer, cast bios and short making of featurette "Wiz On Down The Road") and is certainly preferable to the VHS version.
While the Broadway production won 7 Tony's, the film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards (Best Costumes, Best Art Direction/Set Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Music Score), losing in all categories.
Rating: 
Summary: "...If you believe, within your heart ...a Brand New Day"
Review: "The WIZ", alternating between grittily modern challenges and mellow blues, fashions its own allegorical urban legend. Distinguished by Michael Jackson's engaging movie debut, with performances enhanced by Diana Ross's style stretching and the evergreen legend Lena Horne. Tony Walton's feisty stage settings, presented within the fabulous, historic landmark Astoria Studios, where famed director Sidney Lumet, perhaps sentimentally realizing childhood ambitions from his old neighborhood, helped restore the then derelict Astoria Studios to its historic brilliance.But MetaMorphosis doesn't end. The pageantry dance scenes of "The WIZ" on "the massive plaza between the World Trade Center towers ...transformed into Emerald City, featuring nearly 400 dancers with three costume changes" (see director Lumet commenting about staging the huge WTC plaza dance scenes on this DVD's bonus "Featurette", beginning about 7:35 in). Could this prophetic, then newly fashioned urban legend "looking back to the future" of uplifting theatrical pageantry also portend a renaissance at Ground Zero? With the power of today's applied lighting techniques and economies of kinetic light shows, such settings might provide a virtual immersion into an ambient Amphitheatre of the Sky, and continue to have eternal applications. "Suddenly my world's gone and changed its face...
"...time be my friend, let me start again
"If you believe, within your heart...
"Can't you feel...
...a brand new day
Rating: 
Summary: Once in a while, its good to watch it.
Review: "The Wiz" is another example of how a successful stage musical can't truly be captured on film (and I would say the reverse is also true). Why? Because they both insist on using their experts, and not the people who actually know that medium. "The Wiz" is one of the most original, inventive, creative stage musicals to come along in the past 50 years! The writers had a great original to work from, but they carried it away and created a child that is as brilliant as the parent. The music is definitely worth the watch and listen. The movie, however, is a sad attempt to recreate this brilliant package by using only individual parts. Sidney Lumet is a wonderful director, but not a musical director. Diana Ross and Michael Jackson are wonderful singers, but not actors. Poor Richard Pryor is at a loss as to what to make of his character. Lena Horne - doesn't she deserve better? Does this mean they are bad? No, but they are all like fish out of water. Watch this movie for what it represents, then go see a really good production of the stage musical. That's where the magic happens.
Rating: 
Summary: A "Wizard of Oz" for the African-Americans
Review: ( *I hope I haven't anyone buy the title, it's all I could come up with* ). I first saw "the Wiz" as a very young boy (somewhere around 5-8 in year 1 or 2) in Primary School, which had been taped by a teacher when it premiered on TV. I had already seen "Return to Oz" and "the Wizard of Oz" on its 50th Anniversary both on TV. I ordered this DVD for my 20th Birthday (it came a week after that, however) and watching it was so exciting. I really enjoyed the movie and DVD and the songs (alomost all of them) were fantastic. Many farmiliar parts of the story have new twists, like Glinda and the Wizard being seen earlier than the original story says, and the Yellow Brick Road appearing AFTER the Scarecrow. Of course, there were a few similarities between this Universal version and the MGM version, but only by conicidence. I also read the script of "the Wiz" 1975 Broadway Musical on a site ( * I can't put it down here because Amazon.com will just take it off leaving a (. . . ) *) before I saw the movie on DVD.
THE MOVIE STORY: Dorothy, Toto, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry live in New York City, receiving the rest of the family to celebrate the birth of Aunt Em's daughter's baby - Dorothy feels excluded and is extremely shy. ( *Even though a lot of people hate Diana Ross as Dorothy, I think that it was good of her to play Dorothy because it's a new twist and some people can relate to Dorothy in this version, afraid to step out into the world and make a big change in her life *). Aunt Em goes about how Dorothy has to find a place for her and Toto. (This next scene I LOVE!!) After that, Toto runs outside into the swirling blizzard storm and Dorothy chases after him, resulting with them being caught up by a tornado (which has a new twist itself), and crash landing into a place where the Munchkins (finally in their originally described blue outfit) thank her for killing Evermean, the Wicked witch of the East. Miss One (the Good Witch from the North) appears and thanks her also, gives her the Silver Shoes (about time they were SILVER!!) and says that the only way to get home is to The Wiz in the Emerald City by following the Yellow Brick Road ("EASE ON DOWN THE ROAD" is such a GREAT song that you'll want to sing along with the subtitles available). Dorothy saves the Scarecrow and with his help, company and companionship, find the Yellow Brick Road and follow it until they meet the TinMan and the Cowardly Lion (who has a name for the first time). But afterwards, they get attacked (in a subway) by a strange man and many subway monsters, just before Dorothy, Toto and the Lion get put to sleep by the Poisonous Poppies. After that, they finally arrive at the Emerald City (*the Big Green Apple, displaying a funny pun *) and manage in seeing the Wiz, but of course they can't get what they want unless they kill Evillene, the Wicked witch in the West, who sends Flying Monkeys to capture them. Her attempt to take back the Silver Shoes fails, and Dorothy defeats her, freeing the Winkies (whose true col,our is yellow after taking off their slave clothes) and returning to the Emerald City, only to make a very disappointing discovery. But even so, dorothy realizes that her friends had what they wanted all the time, and that's when Glinda, the Good Witch of the South appears, telling Dorothy that she can go home. Saying good-bye to her friends and singing about 'Home', she and Toto return home, and the movie end credits play "Ease on Down the Road", ending the movie after 2 hrs 15 minutes.
The DVD also comes with excellent Special Features such as a 16 min "Wiz on Down the Road" 'Making of' featurette on the Movie, Production Notes (which gives a good reason to understand Diana Ross as Dorothy), Biographies and Film Highlights of the Actors and Director, Theatrical Trailer and a Web Link to Universal.
However, even for me the movie takes a little too long and the movie could've been made shorter by cutting a few songs either out altogether or shorter, as most dance sequences go on too long and a scene could've be put in at a different place (like the Winkies taking off their slave clothes), allowing the DVD to have a 'Deleted Scenes' feature and the ending could've been better, like Dorothy and Toto going through the swirl again on their way home. Richard Pryor plays the Wiz, who later played Gus in "Superman 3". The songs in this movie which didn't exist in the 1975 version are 'You Can't Win', (I think 'Can I Go On Not Knowing?') and 'Brand New Day' (which was performed in my High School's 2000 Jubilee).
(* THE FOLLOWING IS QUOTED FROM "THE ANNOTATED WIZARD OF OZ, pg 69*) "In her "Secrets of a Sparrow" book, Diana Ross argued that each of her 3 companions signifies a different aspect of dorothy's essence: 1) the Scarecrow was a representation of Doorthy's hunger for knowledge, the part of her that longed to know more about life and living. 2) the TinMan personified Dorothy's craving for love, the search for her heart, the deep need in her (in all of us, for that matter) to increase her capacity to give and to receive love. 3) And the Lion, the supposedly mean old lion, was uet another part of Dorothy's psyche. His loud and aggressive roars, designed to distance people by projecting fear and rage into their hearts, was merely a cover-up of his own fears and rage, an armoring to protect the sweetness and vulnerability of his, and of course Dorothy's, gentle heart".
I have made a review about this Wiz DVD, and i have 2 more pland for "the Wiz": 1) Send a letter to Universal Studios on making a "30th Anniversary Edition" DVD for 2008, and for me to do another movie remake combining the movie and stage for 2035, with a sequel to follow afterwards.
It was a pleasure to have written this review, and see you on my next review - what will it be? We'll see.
Rating:
Summary: I would have given this 5 stars, except.....
Review: ...Diana Ross was horribly miscast as Dorothy. I'm sorry, but a 24 year old (who was actually 33 at the time) being as naive as she was portrayed in this movie just didn't fly with me. The role of Dorothy is for a pre-teen or a teenager, PERIOD. It should have gone to someone else, preferably to a newcomer that would have been surrounded by an all-star cast...or to the young lady who originated the role on the Broadway stage, Stephanie Mills (who was a teenager at the time, as was Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz", 1939 version). I had seen Stephanie in "The Wiz" on Broadway only a couple of years before this film was made, and she was fantastic. To me, based on that, it seemed like she rightfully earned the role in the film. Unfortunately it went to Ross and that is what killed the appeal for many people. She just was not believable in the role, and apparently a lot of movers and shakers in Hollywood felt the same way, because "The Wiz" was the last major motion picture (excluding TV movies) she was ever cast in.
Overlooking that, "The Wiz" is a very good musical that featured Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow (Mike's performance of "You Can't Win" and "Ease On Down The Road" is outstanding), comedian and dancer Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man, Ted Ross as the Cowardly Lion (who had also been in the Broadway production and won a Tony award for it), Mabel King as the Wicked Witch of the West (her singing "No Bad News" - wow!!), the incredible Lena Horne as Glenda, the Good Witch of the South and Richard Pryor as the Wiz. I love the musical score (done by Quincy Jones - excellent job) and the choreography (Michael was definitely in his element here). I thought the costumes were a bit cheesy-looking, but being a native New Yorker, I did like the transformation of New York City into the Land of Oz. And for those of you who have a problem with the World Trade Center being the scene for the Emerald City, please keep in mind that this was filmed in 1978, and no one could have known back then just what was going to happen 23 years later.
If you can ignore Diana as Dorothy, then "The Wiz" is a very enjoyable film for the entire family.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh My God.
Review: ...The Wizard of Oz (and.. any movie, really) puts this to shame. I can't believe this is from the guy that did "Dog Day Afternoon." Please, do yourself a favor and rent that instead.
Rating:
Summary: Musical extravaganza
Review: A hip, modernised, all-black version of L. Frank Baums famous childrens story, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. Of course we all know the best version will always be the 1939 Judy Garland classic but surprisingly, The Wiz has something different to offer. Soul music legend Diana Ross oddly takes the role of Dorothy but to her credit she plays the part beautifully and she is vocally superb throughout. In contrast to the traditional teenaged Dorothy, this time round she is a 24 year old, Harlem school teacher who has such little confidence in herself. During a snow storm blizzard, she is whisked away with her dog Toto into the Land Of Oz which mirrors New York city itself and whilst the merry old land of Oz is seen as colourful and confectionary in the Garland version, Oz is immersed in The Wiz as a dark inner-city impressionism and whilst along the way some of the scenery is almost eerie, there are fabulous and dazzling eye-catching shots of New York such as the grand old Emerald city. Joining Diana Ross on her adventures along the yellow brick road are Michael Jackson as the scarecrow who hideously winges his way throug the scripts which does, at times, overflow with schamaltzy cliches, but his vocal performances are as consistently excellent as some of his other work. Nipsey Russell plays the Tin Man to vast effect whilst Ted Ross reprises his role as the Cowardly Lion (he previously had appeared in the Broadway version). Amongst the other array of stars are Richard Pryor playing The Wiz to considerable effect, Lena Horne as Glinda The Good and Mabel King putting in an amusing interpretation of the Wicked Witch of the West as Evillene. The songs are good and Diana gives you goose bumps as she dramatically sings Home at her upmost, fully-forced vocal power at the climax of the film. Her delivery is astounding, strong and passionate and easily sends shivers down the spine. She is joined by Michael Jackson for the fabulously funky and infectious, Ease On Down The Road (a minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic), which is used as the alternative to Follow The Yellow Brick Road. The soundtrack was written and composed by the genius Quincy Jones who later went on to enjoy further success with Michael Jackson at the heigt of his career. The glorious Emerald City sequences are dazzling and the dancing is truly spectacular during these scenes, the munchkin land sequences and during the scene after Evillene is destroyed where they all join together with Diana for the fantastic song, A Brand New Day. The cast certainly make a good job of it and Diana exceeded expectations though the film drew a mixed critical response and bombed at the Box Office much to the dismay of Ross. Though The Wiz doesn't eclipse the magic of The Wizard of Oz, it still has something diverse to offer and certainly was very origanal. Some of the lavish sets are truly spectacular and on the whole The Wiz is an enjoyable viewing experience that deserved far greater recognition that it ever received at the time.
Rating:
Summary: BLACK PEOPLE, BUY THIS FOR YOUR KIDS!!!!
Review: A MUST for every black child to see!! This is OUR classic production. Many great actors/actresses were young budding talents when they performed in the Wiz. It's great to see them then & know them now. My kids enjoyed the music & loved the dancing.
Rating:
Summary: The Wizard???? Take me to see the WIZ!!!
Review: After reading some of the other reviews, I just have to say that the Wiz definitely outshines The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I can't even bear to watch that version anymore. Give me the Wiz! Also, it is true that the stage adaptation of The Wiz was on a totally different level (it was absolutely wonderful - I saw it with Ms. Stephanie Mills as Dorothy). But Michael Jackson blew me away with his portrayal of the Scarecrow - I had to buy the soundtrack so I could listen to "You Can't Win" and "Ease on Down the Road"! Great Movie!!!
Rating:
Summary: Slow, Weak, and Tedious
Review: Although it sports a first rate cast, a brilliant score, and premiere production values, the film version of "The Wiz" is about as slow as molasses in a hard freeze on the high plains. The celebrated stars, particularly Ross and Jackson, deliver surprisingly weak performances which drag the film to a near standstill, and the director lacks any real feeling for the surreal fantasy of the material; even more surprising, the film traffics in a weird sort of covert racism of imagery which stereotypes the all-black cast in a way which the stage production does not. One gets the feeling that every one involved gritted their teeth with steely determination to make a classic; in consequence, the only thing which emerges on the screen is gritted teeth. Instead of buying or renting the film, order a copy of the Broadway soundtrack, which shows you what a sparkler the show really is.
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