At the end, the Wiz reveals he lives a lonely, fearful life, and begs Dorothy and her friends not to leave: The Wiz: " Please . The usually exuberant Lumet became despondenta quality that came out distinctively in the film, recalls production designer Tony Walton. This particular shot always gave me that "liminal" feeling. To finish Lady Sings the Blues, Gordy had to sink in $2 million of his own money because Paramounts top executive, Frank Yablans, had told him the maximum a studio could spend on a black film at the time was $500,000. I can write anything down on paper, the veteran arranger said. The director who signed on, after a number of false starts, was Sidney Lumet, who had collaborated with a young Al Pacino on Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico. He has nothing but straw encompassing his head and crevices of his body. Michael mostly listened, with mmm-hmms and an occasional whoo! When Quincy enthusiastically mentioned hed seen the Rolling Stones perform, Michael sniffed, You know its not talent, though. The key moment in this nascent partnership came when Michael said hed been writing songs: I hear something in my head. With Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross. The first song that Michael Jackson sings, "You Can't Win," was originally written for the stage version for the Winkies to sing to Dorothy about the futility of escaping from Evillene. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/TheWiz. Mabel King was then starring in What's Happening!! The puppets are indubitably the scariest of the bunch. The Wiz Directed by Sidney Lumet Produced by Rob Cohen Screenplay by Joel Schumacher Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date October 24, 1978 The Wiz is a 1978 movie musical released by Motown Records and Universal Pictures. 1. The Scarecrow's nose tip is the piece of brown paper that holds a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. She lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, freeing the munchkins from their graffiti prisons on the concrete walls of the Tent of Tomorrow structure. Not because shes too old (although she is), but because she plays Dorothy the same way she played Billie Holiday, with an emaciated world-weariness, when the part, as Judy Garland had shown the world forty years earlier, called for a wide-eyed, childish wonder. As big and as spectacular and as musical as it was, he says, we never got a real solid distribution. Black films, aside from Shaft, were for black audiences. The movie has become. The Wiz came along at a perfect time for Berry Gordy and Motown Records. Watching this scene as a child, as a generation of black kids did, was quite an awakening. They are always there for us, they love us unconditionally, and they treat us a whole lot better than most humans do. Hmm, maybe Gordon Parks?). The Scarecrow, described in one review as looking like he escaped from an especially creepy. Sidney Lumet was chosen to direct primarily because of his reputation for finishing his pictures on time and within budget. Though the future may not be certain, being strong after times of vulnerability is an alright thing. These parallels are most noticeable in the the New York City Center Encores! The Wiz is a 1978 American musical adventure fantasy film directed by Sidney Lumet. It was directed by the great late Sidney Lumet, who is a kickass director but was out of his element when tasked to film a musical, which SHOULD be shot and edited in a more dynamic way instead of having these long shots away from the dancing characters. (In the film, Jones appears dressed in gold, playing a giant piano in Times Square.) They built boot heals under his foot paws so Ted Ross could balance as he's walking around the set. In case you cant tell, the NYPL building is not actually employed for this scene, which would have been too difficult to manage. The moving pillars in this movie really terrified me. Comedian Doug Benson cites this as his movie debut, claiming to have been an extra. The 1985 sequel RETURN TO OZ has its Wheelers and decapitated heads and THE WIZ wields a truly alarming subway scene. 1. Finally, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. None of which was really in the script., The Wiz has its timeless qualities, especially the lovingly rendered scenes to Lumets home city, prominently showing landmarks such as Coney Island, Shea Stadium, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Dorothy is extremely reluctant to leave Aunt Em's home and branch out by herself in the 1978 film. The Jackson 5's a Vegas act," the director told Cohen. That's a big part of why I love it so much. (It's a villain singing to the audience about how threatening they are, trying to scare them). (The Wiz/Soundtrack Version) I felt I owed him more than one, Jones said of Lumet. Join me below as I highlight some of the best of these location-transforming scenes. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Our heroine, Dorothy, has been transformed from a Kansas teen-ager to a twenty-four-year-old black schoolteacher. Best remembered for its role in Ghostbusters, this building is known for its stone lions adorning the front steps. Dance portions in the Emerald City during the Green and Red clothing. 3. It all happened. Who can say! I have to admit that The WIZ is waaaaaay too long for me & is a bit of a chore but the visuals are cool in that wonked out seventies way & that subway scene is truly nuts. Quincy Jones was skeptical of Jackson . Pay no attention: Critics like that wouldn't know a yellow brick road if they saw one. Ross was 33 when The Wiz was filmed, two decades older than 14-year-old Dorothy. Chrysler Buildinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building. The Scarecrow tells us however, that it is alright to have moments of silliness, moments of being confident in the abilities that we do have and to have faith in our purpose. How these two characters differ is that where Aunt Em is a very simple and down-to-earth woman with a hot-temper, Glinda is an extravagant and theatrical witch with boundless patience. It's quite unnerving as a first impression of Oz. Stanley Kubrick never directed a musical film probably because as talented as he was, musicals weren't his thing, so I wouldn't be surprised if he would end up doing Lumet's similar mistakes had he ever made one. Scorsese? Motown Productions bought the rights to the stage show, intending to cast Stephanie Mills as Dorothy. He is also the author of Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, a memoir-in-essays. After watching on dozens of occasions, particularly the underwear dance scene, I cannot tell you if The Wiz is good, but I am certain that it is great. With Evilene's signature song, the gospel-tinged "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News," the thesis is right there in the title, so I won't belabor an explanation or too heavily underline how closely it echos the ethos of a certain national leader. (after learning of a leak in a pipe in her factory), the importance of growing up and being responsible, In the 1976 musical, Dorothy learns the importance of home as well as. Peter Stone adapted the screenplay from the 1973 novel of the same name written by Morton Freedgood under the pen name John . Possible reasons include using Baum as source material, not The Wizard of Oz (1939), and silver slippers better matching Diana Ross' complexion and costuming. Astroland at Coney Island was used for the Tinman scene with The Cyclone as a backdrop, while the World Trade Center served as the Emerald City. Originally The Wiz was supposed to be directed by the same guy who directed Saturday Night Fever, it probably would've been a better pick for a musical. You might've seen the commercial before, but if you haven't, check it out below. Summer Stars staging of. The name of the wicked witches in this version are Evilene and Evermean. He looked at Michael the way a jaguar looks at a goat, Cohen says. 3. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel both gave this two thumbs up on Sneak Previews: The Wiz/Who is Killing The Great Chefs of Europe?/Girlfriends/The Big Fix/Days of Heaven (1978). The Wiz asks for our suspension of disbelief and earns it (after a slow start) in that great shot of Dorothy and the Scarecrow dancing across a yellow brick bridge toward the towers of Manhattan. To his surprise, Gordy agreed. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Well, no, it's not (what movie could be?) You have reached your limit of free articles. When Harlem schoolteacher Dorothy (Diana Ross) tries to save her dog from a storm, she's miraculously whisked away to an urban fantasy land called Oz. One of these days Ill get around to seeing the whole flick. I remember having fever dreams that someone was going to steam press me. Alla Nipsey Russell! Must have been a set, no subway was that clean in 1978. In the film, Michaels most impressive steps are with Diana Ross, as he clumsily learns to walk after being imprisoned by crows on his scarecrow pole. In October of 1978, The Wizard of Oz was flipped, reversed and remixed to feature an all-black cast, with musical heavy hitters like Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Lena Horne. 4. Its an interesting moment for really bringing in replicas of recognizable NYC landmarks rather than using real famous landmarks and trying to sort of disguise (or at least alter) them with crazy, yet awesome, production design. Before there was NBCs The Wiz Live!, starring Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier and Stephanie Mills, there was The Wiz, a 1978 movie based on the musical of the same name. A homeless man selling puppets in the Brooklyn station (which has been commonly used for film shoots Michael Jackson would return a decade later in fact for his Bad music video) turns his wares into the creepiest thing youll ever see at an NYC subway stop, which is saying a lot. On that wonderfully logical premise, the classic Wizard of Oz was transformed into a Broadway musical named The Wiz, and then the most expensive movie musical ever made. Later, Jones called his new friend and listened intently as MJ explained he could hear fully formed songs in his head and needed someone to help write them down. The songs get a little sticky about here (all sorts of unthrilling messages about how you can achieve anything if only you believe) but Diana Ross knows how to sell them, and she has a virtuoso solo in a totally darkened frame that reminds us of Barbra Streisand's closing number in Funny Lady.. Other authors have create their own names for the witches. Diana Ross and Richard Pryor had previously appeared together in Lady Sings the Blues (1972). NYCs Film Forum didnt even include the musical in its otherwise exhaustive retrospective of his work a few years back. Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Michael Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and he approached Gordy with the idea. . When you think about it, the story is about liminal space. J. Walker, star of TVs Good Times. Jones made his move on the set. The Wiz: Directed by Sidney Lumet. He 's walking around the set best of these location-transforming scenes they built heals... 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