The Wiz (film)
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| The Wiz | |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Rob Cohen Ken Harper Burtt Harris Berry Gordy, Jr. |
| Written by | Joel Schumacher William F. Brown |
| Starring | Diana Ross Michael Jackson Nipsey Russell Ted Ross Mabel King Theresa Merritt Thelma Carpenter Lena Horne Richard Pryor |
| Music by | Charlie Smalls Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson Anthony Jackson Luther Vandross Quincy Jones |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Editing by | Dede Allen |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 24, 1978 |
| Running time | 134 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wiz is a 1978 American musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz is adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical of the same name with songs by Charlie Smalls and a book by William F. Brown. The film follows the adventures of Dorothy, a shy schoolteacher from Harlem, New York who finds herself magically transported to the wonderland of Oz — which resembles a fantasy version of New York City — during a snowstorm. Befriended by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion, Dorothy travels through the world of Oz to seek an audience with the mysterious "Wiz", who allegedly has the power to take her home.
Produced by Rob Cohen, directed by Sidney Lumet, and written for the screen by Joel Schumacher, The Wiz stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross (no relation to Diana), Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor. Upon its original theatrical release, The Wiz underperformed both critically and financially, to the extent that it marks the end of the resurgence of African-American films that began with the blaxploitation movement of the 1970s.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
A Christmas dinner brings a host of friends and family together in a Harlem home, where a twenty-four-year-old schoolteacher named Dorothy (Diana Ross) lives with her Aunt Emma (Theresa Merritt) and her Uncle Henry (Stanley Greene). Extremely introverted, Dorothy has, as her aunt teases her, "never been south of 125th Street", and refuses to move out and move on with her life.
While cleaning up after the dinner party, Dorothy's dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a violent snowstorm. Dorothy succeeds in retrieving him, but finds herself trapped in the snowstorm. A magical whirlwind (the work of Glinda the Good Witch (Lena Horne) materializes, and transports the woman and her dog to the world of Oz, which is in essence a parallel-universe New York City. Upon her entrance into Oz, Dorothy smashes through an electric "Oz" sign, which falls upon and kills Evamene, the Wicked Witch of the East. As a result, Dorothy frees the Munchkins who populate the park into which Dorothy lands; the Munchkins had been transformed by Evamene into graffiti for "tagging" the park walls.
Dorothy soon meets The Munchkins' main benefactor, Miss One the Good Witch of the North (Thelma Carpenter), a magical "numbers runner" who gives Dorothy Evamean's powerful silver slippers. However, the frightened Dorothy desperately wants to get home. Miss One urges her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City and find the mysterious "Wiz", whom Miss One believes holds the power to send Dorothy back to Harlem. The good witch and the Munchkins then disappear, and Dorothy is left to search for the Yellow Brick Road on her own.
The next morning, Dorothy happens upon a Scarecrow (Michael Jackson) made of garbage, with whom she makes good friends. The two of them discover the Yellow Brick Road, and happily begin to follow it together, Scarecrow hoping the Wiz might be able to give him the one thing he feels he lacks — a brain. Along the way to the Emerald City, Dorothy, Toto, and Scarecrow meet the Tin Man (Nipsey Russell), a turn-of-the-century amusement park mechanical man, and the Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross), a vain dandy banished from the jungle who hid inside one of the stone lions in front of the New York Public Library. The Tin Man and Lion join Dorothy and Scarecrow on their quest to find the Wiz, hoping to gain a heart and courage, respectively. Before the five adventurers reach the Emerald City, they must face obstacles such as such as a crazy Subway Peddler (a homeless man) with evil monsters in his control, and sexy Poppy Girls (prostitutes) who attempt to put Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion to sleep with magic dusting powders (depressant drugs).
Finally reaching the Emerald City (an analogue of the real-life World Trade Center plaza), the quintet gain passage into the city because of Dorothy's ownership of the silver shoes, and marvel at the spectacle of the city and its dancers. Dorothy and her friends gain an audience with the Wiz (Richard Pryor), who appears to them as a giant fire-breathing metallic head. The Wiz will only grant the travelers' wishes if they kill Evillene (Mabel King), the horrible Wicked Witch of the West, who runs a sweatshop in the sewers of New York. Evillene learns of Dorothy's quest to kill her, and sends out the Flying Monkeys (a motorcycle gang) to kidnap the Dorothy and her friends.
After an extended chase, the Flying Monkeys succeed in capturing their prey, and bring the five interlopers back to Evillene. The Wicked Witch tortures the Lion, dismembers the Scarecrow, and flattens the Tin Man, in hopes of making Dorothy give her the silver shoes. When Evilene threatens to throw Toto into a fiery cauldron, Dorothy nearly gives in, until she spots and activates a fire sprinkler switch. The sprinklers put out the fire, but also melt and destroy Evillene, who is "allergic to water". With the Witch gone, her spells lose their power: the Winkees are freed from their costumes (revealing humans underneath), and their sweatshop tools disappear. The thankful Winkees rejoice in dance, and praise Dorothy as their emancipator, and the Flying Monkeys give Dorothy and her friends a triumphant ride back to the Wiz.
Upon arriving back in Emerald City, the quintet take a back door into the Wiz's quarters, and discover that the Wiz is a "phony". The "great and powerful Oz" is actually Herman Smith, a failed politician from Atlantic City, New Jersey who was transported to Oz when a balloon he was flying to promote his campaign to become city dogcatcher was lost in a storm. Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion are distraught that they will never receive their respective brains, heart, and courage, but Dorothy makes them realize that they had these things all along. Just as it seems as if Dorothy will never be able to go home again, Glinda the Good Witch appears and implores Dorothy to find her way home by searching within and using her silver slippers. Dorothy offers to help Herman if he'll agree to reveal himself, which he refuses. After thanking Glinda and saying good-bye to her friends, Dorothy takes Toto in her arms, thinks of home and the things she loves most about it, and after clicking her heels three times finds herself back in her neighborhood. A changed woman, Dorothy carries Toto back to their apartment and closes the door.
[edit] Overview
The Wiz was the eighth feature film produced by Motown Productions, the film/TV division of Berry Gordy's Motown Records label. Berry Gordy wanted Teenage-Future R&B singer, Stephanie Mills to be cast as Dorothy, but when Diana Ross, famed singer of The Supremes, who starred in the 1972 classic, Lady Sings the Blues, a biography centering on Jazz singer, Billie Holliday, and Ross also starred in the 1975 film, Mahogany, asked Gordy if she could be cast as Dorothy. Berry Gordy, had declined, saying that Diana Ross, who was 33-Years old at time, was too old to play to role of Dorothy. Ross went to talk with Executive Producer, Rob Cohen, saying he would the Produce the film, if Ross was cast as Dorothy, Gordy and Cohen agreed to the deal, and Diana Ross was cast as Dorothy. Also starring in the musical film, was 20-Year old R&B singer, Michael Jackson as Scarecrow, Ted Ross (no relation to Diana Ross), as The Cowardly Lion, and Comedian, Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man, featuring legendary comic, Richard Pryor as the Oz's Great Wizard, Legendary entertainer/actress, Lena Horne as Glinda, The Good, That's My Mama's star, Theresa Merritt as Aunt Emma, and What's Happening star, Mabel King, as Evilene, The Wicked Witch of The West.
The Wiz was filmed at Astoria Studios in Queens. It was produced by Motown Productions and released to theaters in 1978 by Universal Pictures. The decaying New York State pavilion from the 1964 New York World's Fair is used as the set for Munchkinland, while the World Trade Center serves as the Emerald City. Mabel King and Ted Ross from the Broadway production reprised their roles for the film; the rest of the cast included Ross' former protégé and former Motown artist Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man, Richard Pryor as The Wiz, Lumet's former mother-in-law Lena Horne [1] as Glinda the Good Witch, and Thelma Carpenter as Miss One (the film's counterpart to the stage version's "Addaperle, the Feel Good Girl").
Quincy Jones served as the musical supervisor and music producer for the film, marking his first collaboration with Michael Jackson. Jones would produce three hit albums for Jackson: Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad.
Despite the talent involved, critics panned the production. Many critics directed their venom at Ross, who they believed was too old to play Dorothy. Most agreed that what had worked so successfully on stage simply didn't translate well to the screen. The Wiz was later nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Music Score and Best Cinematography, although it did not win any of those awards.
The Wiz proved to be a financial failure, as the $24 million production only earned $13 million at the box office. Its commercial failure brought to an end the stream of all-black films that had begun with the "blaxploitation film" era of the 1970s. The pop single version of "Ease on Down the Road", sung by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, reached #41 in the US and #45 in the UK. Later, Jackson would release a newly recorded version of The Wiz song "You Can't Win" as his first solo single for Epic Records. "You Can't Win" reached #81 in the US during a short three week stay on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
The film has been available on home video since the 1980s, and is periodically broadcast on television.
[edit] Cast
- Diana Ross as Dorothy Gale
- Theresa Merritt as Aunt Emma
- Stanley Greene as Uncle Henry
- Lena Horne as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South
- Michael Jackson as Scarecrow
- Thelma Carpenter as Miss One, the Good Witch of the North
- Nipsey Russell as Tin Man
- Ted Ross as Cowardly Lion
- Richard Pryor as the Wiz
- Mabel King as Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West
[edit] Songs
All songs written by Charlie Smalls, unless otherwise noted.
- "The Feeling That We Once Had" - Aunt Emma and Chorus
- "Can I Go On Not Knowing?" (Quincy Jones, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson) - Dorothy
- "Tornado"/"Glinda's Theme" (instrumental)
- "He's The Wizard" - Miss One and Chorus
- "Soon As I Get Home"/"Home" - Dorothy
- "You Can't Win, You Can't Break Even" - Scarecrow and The Four Crows
- "Ease On Down The Road #1" - Dorothy and Scarecrow
- "What Would I Do If I Could Feel?" - Tin Man
- "Slide Some Oil to Me" - Tin Man
- "Ease On Down The Road #2" - Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man
- "I'm A Mean Ole Lion" - Cowardly Lion
- "Ease On Down The Road #3" - Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion
- "Be a Lion" - Dorothy, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion
- "Poppy Girls Theme" (Anthony Jackson) (instrumental)
- "End Of The Yellow Brick Road" (instrumental)
- "Emerald City Sequence" (music: Jones, lyrics: Smalls) - Chorus
- "So You Wanted To See The Wizard" - The Wiz
- "Is This What Feeling Gets? (Dorothy's Theme)" (music: Jones, lyrics: Ashford & Simpson) (instrumental)
- "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News" - Evillene and the Winkees
- "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News (Reprise)" - Evillene and the Winkees
- "Everybody Rejoice/A Brand New Day" (Luther Vandross) - Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Chorus
- "If You Believe In Yourself (Dorothy)" - Dorothy
- "The Good Witch Glinda" (instrumental)
- "If You Believe In Yourself (Reprise)" - Glinda the Good Witch
- "Home (Finale)" - Dorothy
[edit] Trivia
- The animated TV series Family Guy once parodied the "Everybody Rejoice/A Brand New Day" sequence.
- Simon Cowell has made his distaste for The Wiz known on American Idol, especially when contestants have performed songs from the soundtrack.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sidney Lumet biography on AMCTV.com. Accessed August 30, 2006.
[edit] External link
- The Wiz at the Internet Movie Database
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