Rating: 
Summary: Timeless
Review: I loved this movie the very first time I saw it as a child. I recall going to the theater on a Saturday afternoon and was just mesmorized by the songs, dancing, cast and dialouge. There are some great lines in the movie that are just classic. The lion telling the rest of the crew that his mama named him after Cadillac's Fleetwood Coup De Ville is almost worth the price of the video alone. I bought this video for my god-daughter and I'm happy she enjoyes it as much as I. MJ performing YOU CAN'T WIN is one of his greatest performances.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic...by default
Review: Is this a great movie? Not by any stretch. But I feel it's still a classic (to Black people anyway) because it's the only big budget, major studio all-black movie musical other than Carmen Jones. It's also significant because it marked the end of the black movie boom of the 70's. Who knows what would have happened had this movie been successful (or at least good). Maybe we wouldn't have had to wait until the early 90's for black movies to come back. One thing the film does have going for it is Quincy Jones' music. The soundtrack album is a million times better than the movie. I also think most of the performances (Diana Ross being the one exception) are very good. The problem was the choice of Sidney Lumet as director. Why would someone known for directing gritty, urban dramas want to do a musical? It would have worked better with someone like David Green (Godspell), Bob Fosse (Cabaret), or even Milos Foreman (Hair). The tone of the film was way too dark and depressing for the material. It's also surprisingly vulgar for a G rated film, especially with the Poppy Girl/Hookers. I think today it would earn a PG. I saw this film when it first came out as a kid and still remember how not very much fun the experience was. Still, I saw it several more times because I was hungry for black entertainment of the non-exploitation variety. Now I want to comment on the DVD. The actual movie is seen in a wide screen ratio of 1.85:1, but when the closing credits roll, the screen gets even wider (2.35:1). My guess is that it was shot in 2.35:1, but since most of the scenes in the movie are dark and murky, they figured we wouldn't be able to see anything if it was a wide as it was originally. Just a theory.
Rating: 
Summary: Say It Ain't So!
Review: I was watching "The Wiz" for the first time a few days ago. I came in about ten minutes into the movie, and my impressions were: 1). What a mediocre movie; 2). What mediocre performances; 3). Why did Lena Horne, Quincy Jones and Richard Pryor debase themselves this way?But, worst of all was when I found out that it was directed by Sidney Lumet(?!?) No kidding, the great director of "Network," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," and -- later -- "The Verdict" for some inscrutable, strange reason, chose to direct this unforgivable mess and waste of Technicolor stock. Guess he needs to eat, too. This would be like Elia Kazan directing "Hot Dog: The Movie." But, on the other hand, it makes Francis Ford Coppola's sins for "One From the Heart" pale by comparison.
Rating: 
Summary: My children are constantly singing and playing this DvD.
Review: The WIZ is an exciting interpetation of the "WIZARD OF OZ." All the stores were sold out. When I asked the young salesman in the store about the "WIZ" with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, he could sing all the songs on the DVD because his mother had bought the DVD for him when he was little. I had to special order the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The Wiz
Review: What a mess this movie is! The charm and innocence of the Broadway production is gone. It's a mean ol' movie full of bad news! Songs omitted or edited out of existence turn this into such a hash that there is nothing to commend it. I directed the stage production at Savannah State University and found it a charming play, full of hope and promise. The movie took all that out. And, when we meet the Wiz, he is pathetic. The Broadway production has him continuing his flim-flam to the very end. Dorothy learns much from all those she meets along the way, but we have an adult Dorothy here -- who should have learned these things when she was 12! The first song of the movie and the play is wonderful. The movie confused the story line of the song so much it was impossible to understand what Aunt Em was singing about. I wish a real Broadway tune smith had done the movie. And, Michael Jackson -- he's too cuddly!
Rating:
Summary: Why every director is not right for every film
Review: I finally broke down and picked this up on DVD. The music is as stunningly handled (if not stunning in and of itself) as I remembered, and the filming is as strange. Pauline Kael was right; Lumet shoots the musical numbers from about a block away. There are NO closeups of Mabel King (Evillene) during her big solo, "No Bad News," 'til the end of the song. It's like they thought, damn we built these big sets here in Astoria, we better show 'em! And you never saw so many shots of characters moving away from the camera - lots of backs in this film, especially during "Ease on Down the Road." Could it be that Call Her Miss Ross didn't do all her own "easing?" Which brings me to my next point... Odd, odd moment. In the "Brand New Day" number, Ross, as Dorothy, triumphantly dances down a bolt of cloth that's been unfurled on the floor, in a medium shot.* After we cut to (yet again) an extreme long shot, Dorothy (probably not Ross, but a double - but, in this film, WHO KNOWS?) executes a passable cartwheel (!) and picks up the fabric and runs off with it, clearing the floor for the real dancers. Now, as I say, in any other film, you'd automatically assume they cut to a long shot to mask that a dance or gymnastic double was about to sub for the star; in this film, with its bizarre lack of close shots, that might actually BE Diana Ross who, for all we know, took three weeks to learn how to do a cartwheel, or revealed to Lumet that she had been doing them since she was a little girl. However, we'll never know if she did it herself, because the camera is too damn far away. That said, I was less bothered by the idea of Dorothy being a troubled adult than I was in 1978; since then, I have known a lot of introverted, frightened grown-ups. Pity that Quincy Jones (and he's got... a close-up? No, a medium shot in the Emerald City sequence, as he sits pounding at an enormous piano) thought that having Ross sing at the top of her register would make her sound younger. No, it just makes her sound more like a kitty cat. A tired kitty cat, at that. Oh, and Joel Schumacher wrote the screenplay. Be afraid...be very afraid. *Actually, after studying this shot last night with the pause/still and zoom buttons, I'm not so sure it was Ross even then...
Rating:
Summary: The years have not changed my opinion of this film!
Review: Pluses: the songs, the costumes, Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell, Mabel king, the sets (rivaling the original 1939 classic), and Toto
Minuses: Diana Ross and Richard Pryor...way out of their league as "Dorothy" and "The Wiz", respectively...and I am a fan of both performers. As has been expressed universally by audiences and critics alike, Ross, at the time, was just too old for the part, even though the character was changed into an inner-city teacher. The innocence of "Dorothy" is nowhere to be found in this restructuring. Had the producers stayed faithful to the Broadway show, then they would have had a winner on their hands. Unfortunately, they have a movie that somehow got lost over the rainbow and never yielded a pot of gold.
Rating:
Summary: A Flawless Masterpiece
Review: This movie was great! It's just like "The Wizard of Oz," Only with different music. Personally, my favorite song was "You Can't Win." The Scarecrow sang that song (Michael Jackson). Of course he was my favorite character to. We're doing the musiacal "The Wiz" and I got the part of the Scarecrow. Any way Emerald City was great. So were the costumes. So if you liked "THe Wizard of Oz" you'll like this movie. To bad it didn't win best picture!
Rating:
Summary: The Wiz or The Sin (When a good thing turns bad...)
Review: I was tempted into buying this DVD by the mostly glorious reviews that I've read on these pages... I thought: "maybe it's not as bad as I remember it...let's give it a chance" Well, after I don't know how many years since I saw it on the big screen I still think is a painful waste of time. Of course I was impressed by the ensemble of talents congregated for this film which is quite unrepeatable. We will never see again in one film the likes of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, Mabel King, etc. etc. and that alone might justify the expense. But in my humble opinion the excellence of the names involved in this project as well as the marvelous Broadway musical in which it was based should have produced better results. It's painful to realize that there's no soul in this all black effort, except, of course, for Mabel's "No Bad News" and a couple of other songs; not enough to fill the length of this product. But the biggest drawback remains Miss Ross. When you take the glamour off this diva you ain't got nothing. Not only does she look bad in what it seems like one of her Brewster Projects pre-Supremes home made outfits, but it's pure torture watching her trying to hit the notes to some of the songs, specially "Home." Probably the biggest miscasting in film history since that other movie where U.S. astronauts bump into Zsa Zsa Gabor in planet Venus. I do not want to stop anybody from buying this DVD. The transfer is quite good and as I said seeing these performers interacting together is a rare treat, but don't expect miracles...When a good thing turns bad not even a good DVD can save it.
Rating:
Summary: Diana at her best
Review: Mike and Diana are great together on screen. I wish they would of done another one but we all know that will never happen. The music really set the movie and I grew up loving this movie and when I got it for my 17th birthday I was very happy to own it again. My mom had it first she taped it off of the tv I guess.
Great movie for all ages.
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