"The Wiz" Movie and Question- Page 3

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/6/06 at 2:40am

What I wish though, is that there were more pictures of this show. I've seen three pictures of this show, and two were publicity photos

[WSS2]

Posted: 7/6/06 at 7:23pm

Did anyone hear Mill's 1990 soemthing remake of "Home" with the weird spoken intro?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 7/6/06 at 8:14pm

WSS2 - No, but now I want to!

I'm actually really glad that T.V version wasnt made because they cut half the original songs and added new ones by Andrew Lippa. The score to the WIZ doesn't need an overhaul...

...Especially not by Lippa.

I used to enjoy this movie - haven't seen it in a long time. The racist part of the whole thing is that after the scarecrow got the brain, he turned white.

Now, unfortunately, I cannot find my OCR! I have the box though, signed by de Shields!

ETA: I found it! It was in a SCARLET PIMPERNEL box. I dunno.
Updated On: 7/6/06 at 08:14 PM

[Thespinoy]

Posted: 7/6/06 at 11:56pm

Successful or not, I admire what they were trying to do in the movie version of the Wiz. The original conceit of the stage play was to bring an urban aesthetic to the Wizard of Oz story. In the movie they tried to bring it even further by setting it in contemporary NYC (1977 at the time) and by making Dorothy older and putting her in a time of life when she has to decide to cut the apron strings and finally become her own woman. I also liked the choices Sidney Lumet made when he filmed all the dance sequences. He used a lot of master shots and chose not to move the camera a lot. In this time of MTV quick cuts, it's refreshing to see dance on film in the context in which it was created. The choreography is huge and done by hard working dancers. You can actually see their work in this film, not just an elbow here, a close up ankle there, etc...

Also, we forget that film is a very different medium than theatre. It isn't enough to just go into a theatre and record the stage version. That's fine if you're going to make an archive. There have been some really good filmed versions of plays and musicals on PBS. But you still can't get the full impact of being there in the theatre with the live actors. Although I thought the broadcast of Piazza was very good, I didn't get the goosebumps that I did when I saw Vicki Clark do it live. So when producers make a film of a musical or a play, they always try to reconceive it so that it stands alone as a film in it's own right. It's what any good artist would do. Unfortunately, most of the time the movies fail. Plus it's hard to compete with any romantic notion one may have had of the stage version and not to let that go when watching the film version.

[TonyaFanatic]

Posted: 7/7/06 at 8:17pm

while the art direction was definitely beautiful and i think oscar-nominated, it was the film as whole and the concepts that maybe looked nice on paper that didnt come to full realization, making it a failure of a film.

[ReederWI]

Posted: 7/7/06 at 10:04pm

The film was bad and despite it's drawbacks, it received four Oscar nominations. The nominations were:

Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography- Oswald Morris
Best Costumes- Tony Walton
Best Music (Adapted Score)- Quincy Jones

The film lost in each category.

Art Direction went to Heaven Can Wait
Cinematography went to Days of Heaven
Costumes went to Death on the Nile
Best Music went to The Buddy Holly Story in a 3 way race for the Oscar.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/7/06 at 11:31pm

"In the movie they tried to bring it even further by setting it in contemporary NYC (1977 at the time) and by making Dorothy older and putting her in a time of life when she has to decide to cut the apron strings and finally become her own woman."

For crying out loud, the woman was 34. And you think it's an artistic decision to make her older so she can "cut the apron strings and finally become a woman"?

If she hasn't become a women by 34, there's a much better story her than her trip to Oz.

[Thespinoy]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 2:58am

"If she hasn't become a women by 34, there's a much better story her than her trip to Oz."

Hey, it's not such a long shot. Michael Jackson was at least 34 when HE decided to become a woman.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 12:28pm

That is the come back of the year!

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 2:46pm

The Wiz film is a good reminder that at one time Michael Jackson was actually a black man with a nose.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/8/06 at 3:08pm

..and it dispelled the rumor that he and Diana were the same person.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 10:01am

I have never seen the stage production of The Wiz, but I have seen the movie. I have to say that there are some good points in this movie that I really enjoy and have not flinched when viewing for second and third times. some of these are the songs "You Can't Win," Ease on Down the Road," "Slide Some Oil," Mean Ol Lion," and "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News." These parts, especially the latter, were very enjoyable for me. I read the comment about not liking "You Can't Win," but I have to say, after listening to the alternative in the Broadway Cast Recording, I enjoy MJ's song much better. Of course, I ALWAYS fast-forward through every slow song by dorothy (the song she sings right after meeting miss one, I do not believe I have ever made it all the way through that one). I'm also glad I did not have to hear Richard Pryor sing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 10:03am

"Of course, I ALWAYS fast-forward through every slow song by dorothy..."---LuPonatic

So, when you watch this movie, it's basically 11 minutes long?

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 11:11am

Yes..exactly.

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 2:15pm

You guys are so mean, but so damn funny.

I haven't watched THE WIZ in years, and I'm glad I missed it on TCM.