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The Wiz is a 1978 musical fantasy film produced by Motown Records and distributed by Universal Studios. The film is based on the Broadway show of the same name, which itself was inspired by the classic children's tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but being told through the perspective of African Americans. The film starred singer and actress Diana Ross. The film also guest starred Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor as The Wiz. This was Michael's first feature film.

Plot[]

The film begins in the streets of Harlem, New York. Aunt Em gets ready for a big thanksgiving dinner. Helping her out is her niece Dorothy Gale, a young kindergarten teacher who's "never been south of 125 street". Despite having many family members Dorothy has no friends, boyfriend, children and is very shy and humble. After a crowded Thanksgiving dinner with relatives, Aunt Em has a talk with Dorothy about getting a new job, finding a new place and meeting new people. Afterwards, Toto runs out the door while Dorothy is cleaning up. Dorothy chases after him into the cold streets right in the middle of a snow storm. She eventually catches him but not in time, it's too late. There is a huge blizzard (The work of Glinda the Good Witch Of the South) that sweeps her and Toto away, far away into space until the two cross over in the Land of Oz (which is a parallel universe of New York City).

As Dorothy and Toto go flying through the sky, they finally crash through a giant sign and land into a giant sandbox and end up in Munchkin Land. Dorothy looks around for Toto in the sandbox. Once she gets Toto she finds herself surrounded by children covered in graffiti who are the munchkins who were just freed from a horrible curse, by the Wicked Witch of the East named Evamene. As Dorothy crashed through the sign, the piece of the sign fell flat on the Wicked Witch. Which broke the cruse. The Munchkins rejoice that the horrible witch is now dead and Miss One (The Good Witch of the North) returns happy to find out the munchkins are now free. Dorothy is very frightened and confused and wants to go home. Miss One hands Dorothy Evamene's silver shoes and tells her the only way for her to get home is to see The Wiz.

Mikethewiz3

Michael as The Scarecrow

Given the advice to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, Miss One and the munchkins mysteriously disappear leaving Dorothy and Toto alone and lost. Dorothy wonders through Oz lost and scared. She finally comes across and vacant lot which holds a cornfield and inside is a talking Scarecrow who is being tortured by a gang of crows. After witnessing the crows taunting the scarecrow she's had enough. She scares them away and helps the Scarecrow off his pole. Feeling very unintelligent, he wishes he had a brain. Dorothy tells him about the  Wiz and she invites him to come along. He happily accepts the offer and they both finally find the yellow brick road and happily travel down the road. The road leads them through an old amusement park that was abandoned long ago, Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet and rescue the Tinman, who is a rusted solid in a uncomfortable position. They help oil the mechanical man and free him. The Tinman tells his new friends that he wants to gain a heart to love. So they quickly invite him on their journey so he can ask the Wiz for a heart. Later on down the road, the group of friends are attacked by the Lion who was banished from the jungle and hid inside one of the stone lions in front of a building resembling the New York Public Library and wishes for some courage. Dorothy, the Scarecrow and The Tin Man invite him to see the Wiz also.

On the way they all run into frightening obstacles. First they follow the road into an underground subway, there they meet an old, homeless peddler (who has been secretly watching Dorothy on her journey the entire time). The peddler unleashes two evil puppets to chase Dorothy and her friends also the items of the subway awaken and tries to kill them all. Luckily, the Lion rescues everyone and they safely escape the peddler and his trickery of minions.

The group then encounters the poison "Poppy Girls" who are women dressed up in sexy and flashy outfits on the streets. Stopping to have some innocent fun, Dorothy, the Lion and Toto are put to sleep, with magic poppy glitter to poison them to stop Dorothy from reaching the Emerald City. However, the Tinm Man's tears save them and they are awakened by the deadly trance.

Finally, they all arrive at the Emerald City and see the Wiz .The city citizens are rich socialites who changed their clothes magically according to what colors the Wiz says is in or out of style. Thanks to Dorothy's Silver Slippers, the Wiz allows her and her friends an audience. The Wiz says he won't grant any of their wishes unless they kill Evillene (the Wicked Witch of the West), who runs a sweatshop in the sewers of Oz and keeps The Winkies as her slaves and workers. She also has the crows, the peddler and Poppy Girls working for her as her slaves for failing to stop Dorothy. She figures out that Dorothy and her friends are coming to kill her and sends out her Flying Monkeys (a motorcycle gang) to kidnap them.

The Monkeys chase them all around through an abandoned arena and after the friends are captured, Evillene dismembers the Scarecrow, flattens the Tin Man, and hangs the Lion by his tail trying to make Dorothy give up the slippers. When she threatens to burn Toto, Dorothy nearly gives the slippers up until the Scarecrow , who's still able to move, hints her to a fire sprinkler switch. Dorothy pulls the lever activating the sprinkler system which puts out the fire and melts Evillene (who is allergic to water). The Winkies are freed from Evillene and help Dorothy's friends and celebrate the witch's death.

The Flying Monkeys take them to the Emerald City only to discover the Wiz is a phony. But soon they all realize that they don't need his magic to get their wishes because everything they need was in them all along.

Just as it seems that Dorothy will never get home, the beautiful Glinda appears and encourages Dorothy by telling her home is where the heart is and how to find her way home by clicking her heels three times.  After saying goodbye to all her friends she takes Toto in her arms, thinks of home and the things she loves about it, and clicking her heels finds herself back in her neighborhood and is finally home again. Dorothy runs into her building and back into her family.

Michael's character[]

"I auditioned for the part of the Scarecrow because I thought this character best fit my style. I was too bouncy for the Tin Man and too light for the Lion, so I had a definite goal, and I tried to put a lot of thought into my reading and dancing for the part."
— Michael Jackson
Main article: Scarecrow
Michael-history9WENN

Michael Jackson portrayed the Scarecrow. His own rendition and appearance of the character is much different from the original and many other adaptations of the character. In the movie, the Scarecrow is made entirely of garbage (old newspapers and discarded junk). From his hat all the way to his pants and even big dusty old boots. While hung on his pole, the crows he is unable to scare, who force him to humiliate himself and entertain them, torment him day and night. They force him to sing the song, "You Can't Win", meaning that he cannot escape the crows' rule and his bad luck. After being rescued by Dorothy he helped her find the Yellow Brick Road to go visit The Wiz. He would often educate himself by pulling out old quotes from scholars and poets out of his body so he can read and become more articulate. Also the character seems more curious, innocent and child-like in the film. Michael exclaimed that he enjoyed playing the character so much. He even expressed that he loved wearing the prosthetic makeup and having his nose covered during the film.

By the start of development on The Wiz in 1978, he and his brothers The Jacksons had left Motown for Epic Records after the release of their tenth album Moving Violation, though Jackson had yet to make a solo album since his fourth album Forever, Michael. Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and approached Berry Gordy with the idea, who agreed, though director Sidney Lumet was harder to convince. Lumet wanted Jimmie Walker, star of CBS-TV’s Good Times, telling Cohen “Michael Jackson’s a Vegas act. The Jackson 5’s a Vegas act.” Quincy Jones was also skeptical of Jackson, but after Cohen arranged a meeting, flying 19-year-old Jackson to New York, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. Jackson's father, Joseph Jackson, was wary of the project and saw it as a threat to the Jacksons group cohesion. Cohen moved Michael and his sister La Toya Jackson into a Manhattan apartment, allowing him to be on his own for the first time. During the production, he became a frequent visitor to New York's famous Studio 54. Jackson was dedicated to the Scarecrow role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part. The long hours of uncomfortable prosthetic makeup by Stan Winston did not bother him. During the production of the film, Jackson asked Quincy Jones who he would recommend as a producer on a yet unrecorded solo album project. Jones, impressed by Jackson's professionalism, talent and work ethic on the film, offered to produce Michael's albums Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

Cast[]

  • Diana Ross as Dorothy
  • Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow
  • Nipsey Russell as The Tin Man
  • Ted Ross as The Cowardly Lion
  • Mabel King as Evillene
  • Lena Horne as Glinda
  • Richard Pryor as The Wiz
  • Quincy Jones: Piano Player

Production[]

  • Screenplay: Joel Schumacher
  • Additional Music: Anthony Jackson
  • Producer: Rob Cohen
  • Executive Producer: Ken Harper
  • Director: Sidney Lumet
  • Choreographer: Louis Johnson
  • Production Design: Tony Walton
  • Makeup artist: Stan Winston
  • Costume design: Tony Walton, Miles White
  • Set Decoration: Robert Drumheller, Edward Stewart
  • Editor: Dede Allen

Songs[]

  • Feeling that we have
  • Can I go on ?
  • He's the Wizard
  • Soon as I get Home
  • You Can't Win
  • Ease on Down the Road
  • What would I do if I could feel
  • Slide Some Oil to Me
  • I'm a Mean Ole Lion
  • Poppies Theme
  • Be a Lion
  • Emerald City Ballet
  • So You Wanted to meet The Wizard
  • No Bad News
  • A Brand New Day
  • Believe in Yourself
  • Believe in Yourself (Reprise)
  • Home

Pre-production and development[]

By the start of development on The Wiz and Michael's cast of the Scarecrow, he and his brothers The Jacksons had left Motown for Epic Records after the release of their tenth album Moving Violation, though Jackson had yet to make a solo album since his fourth album Forever, Michael. Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and approached Berry Gordy with the idea, who agreed, though director Sidney Lumet was harder to convince. Lumet wanted Jimmie Walker, star of CBS-TV’s Good Times, telling Cohen “Michael Jackson’s a Vegas act. The Jackson 5’s a Vegas act.”

Quincy Jones was also skeptical of Jackson, but after Cohen arranged a meeting, flying 19-year-old Jackson to New York, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. Jackson's father, Joseph Jackson, was wary of the project and saw it as a threat to the Jacksons group cohesion. Cohen moved Michael and his sister La Toya Jackson into a Manhattan apartment, allowing him to be on his own for the first time. During the production, he became a frequent visitor to New York's famous Studio 54. Jackson was dedicated to the Scarecrow role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part. The long hours of uncomfortable prosthetic makeup by Stan Winston did not bother him. During the production of the film, Jackson asked Quincy Jones who he would recommend as a producer on a yet unrecorded solo album project. Jones, impressed by Jackson's professionalism, talent and work ethic on the film, offered to be producer of what became Off The Wall (1979), then later on the hugely successful albums Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

Release and reception[]

Box office[]

The Wiz proved to be a commercial failure, as the $24 million production only earned $13.6 million at the box office. Though prerelease television broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, in the end, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made. The film's failure steered Hollywood studios away from producing the all-black film projects that had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early to mid-1970s for several years.

Home media[]

The film was released on VHS home video in 1989 by MCA/Universal Home Video (with a reissue in 1992) and was first broadcast on television on CBS on May 5, 1984 (edited to 100 minutes), to capitalize on Michael Jackson's massive popularity at the time. It continues to be broadcast periodically on Black-focused networks such as BET, TVOne, BET Her, and was the inaugural broadcast on the Bounce TV digital broadcast network. The Wiz is often broadcast on Thanksgiving Day (attributed to the opening scene of Dorothy's family gathered for a Thanksgiving dinner).

The film was released on DVD in 1999; a remastered version entitled The Wiz: 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2008. Extras on both DVD releases include a 1978 featurette about the film's production and the original theatrical trailer. A Blu-ray version was released in 2010.

Critical reception[]

Critics panned The Wiz upon its October 1978 release. Many reviewers directed their criticism at Diana Ross, who they believed was too old to play Dorothy. Most agreed that what had worked so successfully on stage simply did not translate well to the screen. Hischak's Through the Screen Door: What Happened to the Broadway Musical When It Went to Hollywood criticized "Joel Schumacher's cockamamy screenplay", and called "Believe in Yourself" the score's weakest song. He described Diana Ross's portrayal of Dorothy as: "cold, neurotic and oddly unattractive"; and noted that the film was "a critical and box office bust". In his work History of the American Cinema, Harpole characterized the film as "one of the decade's biggest failures", and, "the year's biggest musical flop". The Grove Book of Hollywood noted that "the picture finished off Diana Ross's screen career", as the film was Ross's final theatrical feature. In his 2004 book Blockbuster, Tom Shone referred to The Wiz as "expensive crud". In the book Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood, the author criticized the script, noting, "The Wiz was too scary for children, and too silly for adults." Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film, did not think highly of The Wiz, stating "The Wiz is overblown and will never have the universal appeal that the classic MGM musical has obtained."

Jackson's performance as the Scarecrow was one of the only positively reviewed elements of the film, with critics noting that Jackson possessed "genuine acting talent" and "provided the only genuinely memorable moments." Of the results of the film, Jackson stated: "I don't think it could have been any better, I really don't." In 1980, Jackson stated that his time working on The Wiz was "my greatest experience so far . . . I'll never forget that." Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film some of its most positive reviews on Sneak Previews. Siskel called it "superior musical theater," said Diana Ross was "superb," "terrific" and came across as "a real star" but had reservations about the film's "heavy message." Ebert praised other cast members and numerous technical aspects of the film, saying it was "fun" and in the "great tradition of the American musical." The film received another positive critique for its elaborate set design in the book American Jewish Filmmakers, which noted that it "features some of the most imaginative adaptations of New York locales since the glory days of the Astaire-Rogers films." In a 2004 review of the film, Christopher Null wrote positively of Ted Ross and Richard Pryor's performances. However, Null's overall review of the film was critical, and he wrote that other than the song "Ease on Down the Road", "the rest is an acid trip of bad dancing, garish sets, and a Joel Schumacher-scripted mess that runs 135 agonizing minutes." A 2005 piece by Hank Stuever in The Washington Post described the film as "a rather appreciable delight, even when it's a mess", and felt that the singing – especially Diana Ross's – was "a marvel".

The New York Times analyzed the film within a discussion of the genre of blaxploitation: "As the audience for blaxploitation dwindled, it seemed as if Car Wash and The Wiz might be the last gasp of what had been a steadily expanding black presence in mainstream filmmaking." The St. Petersburg Times noted, "Of course, it only took one flop like The Wiz (1978) to give Hollywood an excuse to retreat to safer (i.e., whiter) creative ground until John Singleton and Spike Lee came along. Yet, without blaxploitation there might not have been another generation of black filmmakers, no Denzel Washington or Angela Bassett, or they might have taken longer to emerge." The Boston Globe commented, "the term 'black film' should be struck from the critical vocabulary. To appreciate just how outmoded, deceptive and limiting it is, consider the following, all of which have been described as black films, . . ." and characterized The Wiz in a list that also featured 1970s films Shaft (1971), Blacula (1972), and Super Fly (1972).

Despite its lack of critical or commercial success in its original release, The Wiz became a cult classic, especially because it features Michael Jackson in his first starring theatrical film role. Jackson later starred in films such as Disney's Captain EO in 1986, the anthology film Moonwalker in 1988 and the posthumous documentary Michael Jackson's This Is It in 2009.

As of August 2019, The Wiz holds a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 33 reviews, with the consensus; "This workmanlike movie musical lacks the electricity of the stage version (and its cinematic inspiration), but it's bolstered by strong performances by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson."

Trivia[]

  • The makeup process was said to have been so long and excruciating, that Michael would go home with the Scarecrow makeup still on and come back the next morning rather than going through the 4 hour process.
  • The role of the Scarecrow was originally assigned to Jimmy "JJ" Walker from the hit 70s show Good Times, but the crew decided that it would be best to get someone who was able to sing and dance, so the role was given to Michael. Though the director detested to the idea of having Jackson on, he eventually warmed up to the idea.
  • The Wiz had a budget of $24 million, making it the second-most expensive movie to be made in 1978, right behind Superman, but it sadly flopped, bringing in only $12 million.
  • During filming, producer Rob Cohen gave an apartment to Michael and his sister La Toya in New York (where the film was being shot) to give them enough time and freedom to work on the movie and avoid any conflict with their father. During this time, Michael would visit the famous nightclub Studio 54, where he met artists like Elton John and Liza Minnelli.

Gallery[]

Video[]

Awards and honors[]

51st Academy Awards nominations for The Wiz
Nomination Recipients
Best Art Direction Art Direction: Tony Walton and Philip Rosenberg; Set Decoration: Edward Stewart and Robert Drumheller
Best Costume Design Tony Walton
Best Song Score or Adaptation Score Quincy Jones
Best Cinematography Oswald Morris
1979 NAACP Image Awards nominations for The Wiz
Winner Recipients
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Michael Jackson
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