Growing up, I didn’t watch The Wizard of Oz. Sorry.
I know that sounds weird, but in our house, my mother and I watched the overlooked The Wiz on home video. It was our preferred version of L. Frank Baum’s tale of Dorothy Gale and her trip to the marvelous land of Oz.
So whereas people sang along to “If I Only Had a Brain,” I was grooving to “You Can’t Win.” Where some old man was the Wizard, I knew that Richard Pryor — the dude in Superman III — was the Wiz. Plus, the Quincy Jones score can’t be beat!
Muddy VHS and somewhat muddy DVD transfers haven’t helped The Wiz. Thankfully, its Criterion Collection upgrade makes it seem like a brand-new movie with a new heart. And brains. And courage.
The story gives the world of Oz a car wash, a buff and a shine. A winter storm transports Dorothy (the electrifying Diana Ross) and her dog, Toto, from Harlem to a magical land, where she accidentally kills the Wicked Witch of the East and eventually becomes a freedom fighter. Along the way, she encounters a bevy of choreographed friends — including the Scarecrow (a teenage Michael Jackson, truly magnificent), the Tin Man (Nipsey Russell, Wildcats) and the Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross, Police Academy) — who help her defeat the Wicked Witch of the West (Mabel King, TV’s What’s Happening!!).
Obviously crossing The Wizard of Oz with mid-1970s Noo Yawk-era films, The Wiz is more than a street-smart take on the material, taking societal concerns and giving them a fantastical sheen that made them all more revolutionary. Director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men! Dog Day Afternoon! Network!) lets the story breathe, slowly letting all the magic of the movie out until the finale.
There, Ross sings the one-two punch of “Believe in Yourself” and “Home,” and there’s not a dry eye in the house. That stellar soundtrack makes The Wiz so special. With cuts like “Slide Some Oil to Me,” “I’m a Mean Ole Lion,” “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News” and the timeless “Ease on Down the Road,” it’s one to own and play regularly.
Like that old East Coast electronics store’s advertising slogan, nobody beats The Wiz. No one. —Louis Fowler