The Wiz Joins the Criterion Collection- Page 3

[BJR]

Posted: 7/1/25 at 1:20pm

CarlosAlberto said: "Instead of exuding any kind of wonder and curiosity upon crash landing in Oz she goes into tortured and anguished screams that one would think she was about to get raped.

I couldn't then and cannot now understand why a grown up woman would behave in this way. It was like she was afraid of her own shadow!"

Exactly. I can slightly understand making it about a woman with arrested development, even if that is already lowering the stakes, but then to behave less like a teenager and more like a 5 year old is bizarre and alienating. I simply spend the whole movie not caring about Dorothy, which is kinda a big problem.

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/1/25 at 1:23pm

TotallyEffed said: "I’m so sorry, Joe, but Diana Ross reads about forty to me in The Wiz."

Fair. To each his own. :)

[morosco]

Posted: 7/1/25 at 2:04pm

Here's a great interview with the absolutely charming Tony Walton, Production Designer for the film. It's very interesting.

The Wiz: Conversation with Production Designer Tony Walton

 

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 7/2/25 at 12:51am

I am so glad you feel that way, joevitus! And I have been watching that interview, morosco, it is very interesting! I hope to finish it tomorrow.

[tomorrowBIGLITES]

Posted: 7/2/25 at 8:39am

Just rewatched it.

I think it would just work better as the fever dream it is if you shaved off 20 to 30 minutes. 
 

Cause it’s very wild. 
but it’s more than anything wearing.

and you know how it all plays out so it’s just trotting along so slowly

 

[morosco]

Posted: 7/2/25 at 3:12pm

More from Tony Walton on his production designs for The Wiz...

Designing The Wiz

[morosco]

Posted: 7/2/25 at 4:39pm

Oh... another thing that bothers me about the film is the cinematography. Much of the action is shot from a very wide and very distant angle. Because of that it's hard to connect with the characters.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/2/25 at 6:46pm

morosco said: "Oh... another thing that bothers me about the film is the cinematography. Much of the action is shot from a very wide and very distant angle. Because of that it's hard to connect with the characters."

Yes, you need binoculars to catch some of those facial expressions. It is horribly shot! 
 

And to just point the camera at Miss Ross while she was singing “Home” was so lazy AF

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 7/3/25 at 12:09am

I like the epicness the far away shots give. There are also enough close-ups to connect to the characters in other shots, in my opinion.

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/3/25 at 3:24pm

MagicalMusical said: "I like the epicness the far away shots give. There are also enough close-ups to connect to the characters in other shots, in my opinion."

I response, as well.

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/3/25 at 3:31pm

CarlosAlberto said: "morosco said: "Oh... another thing that bothers me about the film is the cinematography. Much of the action is shot from a very wide and very distant angle. Because of that it's hard to connect with the characters."

Yes, you need binoculars to catch some of those facial expressions. It is horribly shot!


And to just point the camera at Miss Ross while she was singing “Home” was so lazy AF"

Out of curiosity, what do you think the number should have been filmed?

I think the ending poses a problem because it isn't really an ending so to speak, though literally it is the end of the show. It's just Dorothy singing the song and then Toto leaping into her arms and the curtain falls. It poses almost an unsolvable problem for anyone adapting the show to the screen. She can't really sing it to her friends or Glinda because it isn't a ong about her her sharing information with them, it's a song she's singing to herself, bringing to mind what home means to her and why she needs to get back there. She can't even be like flying through time/space as she's singing it because the goal is the prompting of thoughts that then, with a click of her heels, send her back. It's a just a face-the-audience-and-belt-it number. I like the way Lumet includes images of characters she's met in black and white and then finally Aunt Em and Uncle Henry in color (a nice flip on the 1939's films imagery). But I don't think this number can help but be stagy. It is what it is.

[MagicalMusical]

Posted: 7/4/25 at 12:19am

I completely agree, joevitus. "Home" was filmed the way it should be. I love her seeing all the people she met as she sings the song.

Updated On: 7/4/25 at 12:19 AM

[Tsao5]

Posted: 7/4/25 at 2:45pm

As a fan on the film particularly the cast (well, not Pryor), my issue is the bookends of the movie......the before she went and after she got home. She sings about HOME but its not like she ever wanted to leave. In fact, her aunt and family WANT her to go explore more of, at least, the city. So, it's not like she is complaining how she wants to leave her family behind or anything like that and discovers "there is no place like home". If in the movie, her time in OZ made her want to have more adventures or meet people outside of her block or background or whatever, and then, at the end of the movie she has a line like, "I love home but Toto we can go see more of the world now", having gained some new insight and bravery, THAT could have been a nice departure from the original and give a little lesson or something. As it is in the movie, she just..........ends up in front of her Aunt's apartment and runs inside. Cue: credits. Even if before she ran into the apartment she stopped and maybe looked down her block and we hear the musical strains from Ease on the Down the Road and the streetlight glow for a second or two leading away down the block.......that could have indicated maybe she will want to explore more. A small thing, but could have had a more satisfying ending.

Random qualms. Having The Tinman's songs back to back was a disservice.  Could have shown The Wicked Witch's shadowy form or eyes or something earlier.....just her eyes, or her hand from behind a tree or something to build up the anticipation of her final reveal in her factory. The song So You Wanted to Meet The Wizard could have been a full-on ensemble number with various denizens of the emerald city singing it to the 4 travelers with the frenetic ending having the doors open and the Wizard head sings...So, you wanted to meet the Wizard!!!!!! Flames!! Hand the movie it Academy Award!(I think that would work in the stage production also, and give the ensemble another song and  a dance break showing the 4 travelers being cleaned up before they meet the wizard). It seemed at times, though I did not mind her casting and liked her in the role, that Dorothy might have had some "emotional issues". Some her screams were a bit much and her reactions were a bit.......TOO emotional.  One thing I did like very much, all the singers were not trying to out sing or out riff each other. It seems as of late, in STAGE production everyone is trying to see who can riff and sing the highest. They might sound great, but it lends the songs to a certain sameness. In the movie, they all had different vocal qualities that was mighty appreciated. 

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 7/4/25 at 4:40pm

morosco said: "Oh... another thing that bothers me about the film is the cinematography. Much of the action is shot from a very wide and very distant angle. Because of that it's hard to connect with the characters."

Maybe those shots might not have been a problem when the movie was shown on huge theater screens in its original release? I mean, no matter how large some of our home theater screens have become, they still don't do justice to wide screen compositions.