Review of The Wiz (1978) by Dann M — 23 Jul 2016

"Ease on down, ease on down the road." Blaxploitation comes to Oz with The Wiz, a Motown interpretation of L. Frank Baum's classic fairy tale. Based on a Tony Award-winning stage musical, the story follows a Harlem kindergarten teacher who's swept up in a blizzard and lands in a fantastical urban city called Oz that's full of strange and magical people.

Starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor, the cast is quite impressive. And with Quincy Jones arranging the music, they would seem to be in good hands. However, most the music is rather poor and doesn't carry the exposition very well (the way a musical should).

Also, while there's a lot of interesting set and character designs, on the whole it has a very grungy post-apocalyptic look that's rather off-putting. The Wiz is a novel take on The Wizard of Oz tale, but it doesn't quite work.