Many reviewers were not aware of the fact that this was a Broadway stage musical in 1974. Director Sidney Lumet ruins the entire production by making it too urban, depressing, and dull. The TV copy is murky, dark, and panned & scanned. The cable Broadcast on BET was 215 min. long for a 133 min. movie! (DVR it.) Dated musical orchestration by Quincy Jones. The whole thing is lifeless and staged badly. Using NYC as a backdrop is a failure. The Munchkins pop off the wall as live graffiti. Some of the minor songs are "pitchy". Michael Jackson is a major disappointment and has a surprisingly huge nose! Both Tin Man and Lion upstage him! Much of it is set in trash-filled alleys and streets. (Coney Island was shot on location.) Diana Ross (and only a select few) can actually sing. The "Poppy Girls" sprinkle-down either pixie dust or cocaine on everyone? Terrible! It only "comes to life" in the last 45 minutes. Richard Prior is a wimp as the Wizard. Even Lena Horne's great talent falls flat and the babies in the sky are just "creepy". The worst part: The NYC subway becomes an urban nightmare with attacking electrical wires and snarling trash cans with huge teeth. The sweat shop has a great musical number ("Don't Give Me No Bad News"). The "Winged Monkeys on Harleys" double as "The Winkies" as well. Brilliant! Then, The Wicked Witch gets flushed away. Finally,there is joyous dancing and singing in "Brand New Day". Why isn't the rest of the musical this good? Diana Ross is 33 years old and fools no one pretending to be only 24. She sings a dreary version of "Home" at the beginning and her "legendary version" as the finale. A soul-less Black Musical! So, Dorothy and Toto just go home. No reunion. Why such a weak ending? Please watch the 2015 NBC "live" remake, on DVD, and see it "reimagined" as an exciting and amazing TV "stage" musical.

The Wiz is a 1978 Africa American adaptation of the 1939 classic film, the Wizard of Oz. It stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Richard Pryor. The musical numbers are very catchy and well choreographed. I really liked Diana Ross, she has a beautiful voice and was really suited for the role, my one and only complaint about Diana Ross was that a few times I felt like she was a little too wimpy, I just felt like a few times she went a little overboard with that persona. Michael Jackson was perfect as the Scarecrow! No complaints at all for him. I also loved the sets and style the movie possessed! Everything seemed so colorful and unique. The urban/modern setting was also neat to see. I think this movie would be a good choice for family movie night, there's really just one scene that might be objectionable to families, and that's when the people are freed and they emerge from their ugly rags and are in white cloths resembling underwear. Other then that, I would definitely recommend this to a family audience. My only other complaint, is I feel like the musical number in the city of Oz was a little too long and drug on a bit longer than it should have. 7/10

What a supreme act of hubris this idea turned out to be. A modern day Black Wizard of Oz shot in the hood ( mostly warehouses and mall parking lots ) with a Dorothy ( Diana Ross) in her mid 30s and with distinguished Gotham director Sidney Lumet at the helm the concept had an edge but the follow through is a complete swing and a miss. Shy and withdrawn Harlem denizen Dorothy rushes out into a snowstorm looking for her dog and soon finds herself disoriented and no longer in The Big Apple or Kansas but a series of drab caverness warehouses and parking lots paralleling the Judy Garland scenario played out every year on television, making new friends and heading for the Emerald City in search of The Wiz. It is one bad trip. With its superstar line-up of Ross, Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson one might think it impossible a musical comedy would be totally drained of any entertainment value but The Wiz surely is. Ross puts the final nail in her movie career (the first being Mahogony) as she screeches and squeals through her performance of an adult playing an adult as a child. Pryor brings nothing special to the dithering role of The Wiz while Jackson on the verge of super stardom is only allowed brief glimpses to display it. Lumet for his part seems content to haphazardly film huge chorus scenes under bad lighting to unmemorable music while putting the flying monkeys on motorcycles to harass Dorothy and pals in empty parking garages. His attention to keeping it real simply zaps the film of its joy and replaces it with an unrelenting shrillness from end to end. The Wiz is an unmitigated disaster. Considering the talent behind it, as failed a musical as you could ask for.

I understand that Sidney Lumet's Motown-themed adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" is one of those movies that people usually either love or hate. I suspect that a lot of people found it odd that he went from "Network" to a musical. As for me, I found "The Wiz" an OK movie. It's a fun movie, more than anything. I should say that it's a little harder to like the movie once you learn that it basically espouses Werner Erhard's shadowy EST movement by talking about understanding one's true self. On its own "The Wiz" is a good time. Diana Ross (as Dorothy) and Michael Jackson (as the scarecrow) get top billing, but I liked Richard Pryor's performance as the wizard the most.So that's it. I liked the movie. It does exactly what it intends to do.