Review: The Wiz (1978)

The Wiz

Rating

Director

Sidney Lumet

Screenplay

Joel Schumacher (Novel: L. Frank Baum; Musical Book: William F. Brown)

Length

2h 14m

Starring

Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, Stanley Greene

MPAA Rating

Review

Although the movie musical had slowly faded into the 1970s, a raft of new, innovative Broadway musicals would make their way to the big screen with The Wiz among the best.

Based on the original L. Frank Baum novel (since the movie was still under copyright), the book of the stage musical was written by William F. Brown; music by Charlie Smalls, Timothy Graphenreed, Harold Wheeler, George Faison, and Luther Vandross; and lyrics by Smalls, Vandross, and Zachary Walzer. Joel Schumacher wrote the screenplay, Sidney Lumet directed the film, and Quincy Jones adapted the score. The film adaptation tells the story of Dorothy Gale (Diana Ross), an elementary school teacher whose Thanksgiving feast turns into a tornadic nightmare in the streets of Harlem. As she travels the land of Oz, she meets an array of colorful characters, including Glinda (Lena Horne), the Scarecrow (Michael Jackson), the Tinman (Nipsey Russell), the Cowardly Lion (Ted Ross), the Wiz (Richard Pryor), and the Wicked Witch of the West (Mabel King).

With the fantasia of the narrative taking place in New York City, from the dangerous living trash can-filled subway to the sweatshop of the Wicked Witch, Tony Walton gives the film a unique and inventive look and feel embellished by his own costume design. It’s easy to get swept into the vast universe that comprises the land of Oz. No one could mistake this modernist take on the popular children’s novel as a copy of the 1939 Judy Garland classic. It stands on its own as a classic of sorts for the then-modern era.

Featuring gifted singers Ross and Jackson in primary roles gives life to the vibrant songs of the film with “Can I Go On?,” “Ease on Down the Road,” and “Home” being the stand outs with “Believe in Yourself” a fine standard for both Ross and Horne in the reprise. Russell and Ross give the Tinman and the Cowardly Line fine comedic turns with “Slide Some Oil to Me” and “I’m a Mean Ole Lion” perfect showcases for their talents. Then there’s A Brand New Day, an anthem for Black civil rights in an era when such battles were slowly being fought across America.

A deviation from the source material, Schumacher’s screenplay (he was always a better writer than a director) focused on many of the struggles facing the Black community from the 1960s through the 1970s and the dream it wanted to realize as the struggles for success remained fleeting then and sadly still today. That doesn’t mute its impact and while it wouldn’t prove to be a rallying cry for new movie musicals based on Black stories, it would help bolster the case for Black voices on the big screen, enabling comedians like Eddie Murphy and Whoopi Goldberg to find their own successes in the lead roles of numerous 1980s and 1990s cinematic successes.

The Wiz has aged well with the vibrant visuals and creative energy standing strong as it approaches its 50th anniversary. That it remains crucially relevant to the conversation on Black rights and the onerous history of discrimination and debasement in the United States is one of its core strengths even if society still hasn’t found its way forward as foreshadowed in the film. The Black experience is not dulled by such societal failures but they are reflected in the art of the era and subsequent successes in conveying those histories and messages into the future.