text: the wiz ( film ) the wiz is a 1978 american musical adventure film produced in collaboration between universal pictures and motown productions , and released by universal pictures on october 24 , 1978 . an urban reimagining of l. frank baum 's classic 1900 children 's novel the wonderful wizard of oz featuring an entirely african - american cast , the wiz was loosely adapted from the 1974 broadway musical of the same name . the film follows the adventures of dorothy , a shy twenty - four - year - old harlem , new york city , schoolteacher who finds herself magically transported to the urban fantasy land of oz , which resembles an alternative fantasy version of the big apple . by a scarecrow , a tin man , and a cowardly lion , she travels through the city to seek an audience with the mysterious wiz , who they say is the only one powerful enough to send her home . produced by rob cohen and directed by sidney lumet , the wiz stars diana ross , michael jackson , nipsey russell , ted ross , mabel king , theresa merritt , thelma carpenter , lena horne , and richard pryor . the film 's story was reworked from william f. brown 's broadway libretto by joel schumacher , and quincy jones supervised the adaptation of charlie smalls and luther vandross 's songs for film . a handful of new songs , written by jones and the songwriting team of nickolas ashford & valerie simpson , were added for the film version . upon its original theatrical release , the wiz was a critical and commercial failure , and marked the end of the resurgence of african - american films that began with the blaxploitation movement of the early 1970s . despite its initial failure , the film version of the wiz became a cult classic , particularly among african - american audiences , oz enthusiasts , and fans of michael jackson . certain aspects of this film adaptation influenced the the wiz live ! , a live television adaptation of the musical . summary a crowded thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a small harlem apartment , where a shy , twenty - four - year - old schoolteacher named dorothy ( diana ross ) lives with her aunt em ( theresa merritt ) and uncle henry ( stanley greene ) . extremely introverted , dorothy is teased by aunt em for never having been south of 125th street , as she has delayed moving out to start her own , independent life as an adult . while dorothy cleans up after the meal , dorothy 's dog toto runs out the open kitchen door into a violent snowstorm . she succeeds in retrieving him , but finds herself trapped in the storm . a magical whirlwind made of snow – the work of glinda , the good witch of the south – materializes and transports them to the realm of oz . released by the snowstorm , dorothy smashes through an electric " oz " sky sign as she descends from the atmosphere , and which falls upon and kills evermean , the wicked witch of the east who rules munchkinland . as a result , dorothy frees the munchkins who populate the playground into which she lands ; they had been transformed by evermean into graffiti for " tagging " the park walls . dorothy soon meets the munchkins ' main benefactress , miss one , the good witch of the north ( thelma carpenter ) , a magical " numbers runner " who gives evermean 's pretty charmed silver slippers to her by teleporting them on dorothy 's feet . however , dorothy declares she doesn 't want the shoes and desperately just wants to get home to aunt em . miss one urges her to follow the yellow brick road to the capital emerald city and seek the help of the mysterious " wizard " who she believes holds the power to send dorothy back to harlem . after telling her to never take the silver shoes off , the good witch and the munchkins then disappear and dorothy is left to search for the road on her own . the next morning , dorothy happens upon a scarecrow ( michael jackson ) made of garbage and rags , and saves him from being viciously teased and picked on by a group of humanoid crows and whom she befriends . the two of them discover the yellow brick road and happily begin to follow it together . the scarecrow hopes the wizard might be able to give him the one thing he feels that he lacks – a brain . along the way to the emerald city , dorothy , toto , and the scarecrow meet the tin man ( nipsey russell ) , in an abandoned turn - of - the - century amusement park and the cowardly lion ( ted ross ) , a vain dandy banished from the jungle who hid inside one of the stone lions in front of the new york public library . the tin man and lion join them on their quest to find the wizard , hoping to gain a heart and courage , respectively . before the five adventurers reach the emerald city , they must face obstacles such as a deadly subway where they meet a crazy subway peddler ( a homeless man ) who unleashes evil puppets in his control . they narrowly escape the subway and then encounter the " poppy " girls ( a reference to the poppy field from the original story ) , flamboyant prostitutes who attempt to put dorothy , toto , and the lion into an eternal sleep with magic poppy perfume . finally reaching the emerald city ( an analogue of the real - life world trade center plaza ) , the quintet gains passage into the city because of dorothy 's ownership of the silver slippers ; they marvel at the spectacle of the city and its sophisticated , fashion forward dancers . they are granted an audience with the wiz ( richard pryor ) , who lives at the very top of the towers . he appears to them as a giant fire - breathing metallic head . he will only grant their wishes if they kill the sister of the wicked witch of the east , evillene ( mabel king ) , the wicked witch of the west , who runs a sweatshop in the underground sewers of oz . before they can reach her domain , evillene learns of their quest to kill her and sends out the flying monkeys ( a motorcycle gang ) to kidnap them . after a long chase , the flying monkeys succeed in capturing their targets and bring them back to evillene . for dorothy having killed her sister , she dismembers the scarecrow , flattens the tin man , and tortures the lion in hopes of making dorothy give her the silver shoes . when she threatens to throw toto into a fiery cauldron , dorothy nearly gives in until the scarecrow hints to her to activate a fire sprinkler switch , which she does . the sprinklers put out the fire but also melt evillene . she is flushed down into her throne , the lid of which slams shut like a toilet . with evillene finally gone , her spells lose their power : the winkies are freed from their permanent costumes ( revealing attractive humans underneath ) and their sweatshop tools disappear . they rejoice in dance and praise dorothy as their . the flying monkeys give her and her friends a triumphant ride back to the emerald city . upon arriving , the quartet takes a back door into the wizard 's quarters and discovers that he is a " phony " . the " great and powerful oz " is actually herman smith , a failed politician from atlantic city , new jersey , who was transported to oz when a balloon he was flying to promote his campaign to become the city was lost in a storm . the scarecrow , tin man , and lion are distraught that they will never receive their respective brain , heart , and courage , but dorothy makes them realize that they already have had these things all along . just as it seems as if she will never be able to get home , glinda the good witch of the south ( lena horne ) , appears and implores her to find her way home by searching within and using the magic of the silver slippers by clicking the heels together three times . after thanking glinda and saying goodbye to her friends , she takes toto in her arms , thinks of home and the things she loves most about it . when dorothy clicks her heels , she immediately finds herself back in her neighborhood of harlem . now a changed woman , dorothy carries toto back to their apartment building ; implying she now has the strength to face her fears and move forward with her life . cast songs all songs written by charlie smalls , unless otherwise noted . " overture part i " ( instrumental ) " overture part ii " ( instrumental ) " the feeling that we had " - aunt em and chorus " can i go on ? " ( quincy jones , nickolas ashford and valerie simpson ) - dorothy " tornado " / " glinda 's theme " ( instrumental ) " he 's the wizard " - miss one and chorus " soon as i get home " / " home " - dorothy " you can 't win , you can 't break even " - scarecrow and the four crows " ease on down the road # 1 " - dorothy and scarecrow " what would i do if i could feel ? " - tin man " slide some oil to me " - tin man " ease on down the road # 2 " - dorothy , scarecrow , and tin man " i 'm a mean ole lion " - cowardly lion " ease on down the road # 3 " - dorothy , scarecrow , tin man , and cowardly lion " poppy girls theme " ( anthony jackson ) ( instrumental ) " be a lion " - dorothy , scarecrow , tin man , and cowardly lion " end of the yellow brick road " ( instrumental ) " emerald city sequence " ( music : jones , lyrics : smalls ) - chorus " is this what feeling gets ? ( dorothy 's theme ) " ( music : jones , lyrics : ashford & simpson ) - dorothy ( vocal version not used in film ) " don 't nobody bring me no bad news " - evillene and the winkies " everybody rejoice / a brand new day " ( luther vandross ) - dorothy , scarecrow , tin man , cowardly lion , and chorus " believe in yourself ( dorothy ) " - dorothy " the good witch glinda " ( instrumental ) " believe in yourself ( reprise ) " - glinda the good witch " home ( finale ) " - dorothy production pre - production and development the wiz was the eighth feature film produced by motown productions , the film / tv division of berry gordy 's motown records label . gordy originally wanted the teenaged future r & b singer stephanie mills , who had played the role on broadway , to be cast as dorothy . when motown star diana ross asked gordy if she could be cast as dorothy , he declined , saying that ross — then 33 years old — was too old for the role . ross went around gordy and convinced executive producer rob cohen at universal pictures to arrange a deal where he would produce the film if ross was cast as dorothy . gordy and cohen agreed to the deal . pauline kael , a film critic , described ross 's efforts to get the film into production as " perhaps the strongest example of sheer will in film history . " after film director john badham learned that ross was going to play the part of dorothy , he decided not to direct the film , and cohen replaced him with sidney lumet . of his decision not to direct the wiz , john badham recalled telling cohen that he thought ross was " a wonderful singer . she 's a terrific actress and a great dancer , but she 's not this character . she 's not the little six - year - old girl dorothy in the wizard of oz . " though 20th century fox had financially backed the stage musical , they ended up exercising their first refusal rights to the film production , which gave universal an opening to finance the film . initially , universal was so excited about the film 's prospects that they did not set a budget for production . joel schumacher 's script for the wiz was influenced by werner erhard 's teachings and his erhard seminars training ( " est " ) movement , as both schumacher and diana ross were " very enamored of werner erhard " . " before i knew it , " said rob cohen , " the movie was becoming an est - ian fable full of est buzzwords about knowing who you are and sharing and all that . i hated the script a lot . but it was hard to argue with [ ross ] because she was recognizing in this script all of this stuff that she had worked out in est seminars . " schumacher spoke positively of the results of the est training , stating that he was " eternally grateful for learning that i was responsible for my life . " however , he also complained that " everybody stayed exactly the way they were and went around spouting all this bull * * * * . " of est and erhard references in the film itself , the grove book of hollywood notes that the speech delivered by glinda the good witch at the end of the film was " a litany of est - like platitudes " , and the book also makes est comparisons to the song " believe in yourself " . although joel schumacher had seen the broadway play before writing the script , none of the broadway play 's writing was incorporated into the film 's . during production , lumet felt that the finished film would be " an absolutely unique experience that nobody has ever witnessed before . " when asked about any possible influence from mgm 's popular 1939 film adaptation of the wizard of oz , lumet stated that " there was nothing to be gained from [ the 1939 film ] other than to make certain we didn 't use anything from it . they made a brilliant movie , and even though our concept is different – they 're kansas , we 're new york ; they 're white , we 're black , and the score and the books are totally different – we wanted to make sure that we never overlapped in any area . " michael jackson , a former motown star who by the start of development on the wiz in 1977 , had left motown for epic records with his brothers the jacksons , was cast as the scarecrow . jackson was dedicated to the role , and watched videotapes of gazelles , cheetahs , and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part . ted ross and mabel king were brought in to reprise their respective roles from the stage musical , while nipsey russell was cast as the tin man . lena horne , mother - in - law to sidney lumet during the time of production , was cast as glinda the good witch , and comedian richard pryor portrayed the wiz . principal photography the wiz was filmed at astoria studios in queens , new york . the decaying new york state pavilion from the 1964 new york world 's fair was used as the set for munchkinland , at coney island was used for the tinman scene with the cyclone as a backdrop , while the world trade center served as the emerald city . the scenes filmed at the emerald city were elaborate , utilizing 650 dancers , 385 crew members and 1 , 200 costumes . costume designer tony walton enlisted the help of high fashion designers in new york city for the emerald city sequence , and obtained exotic costumes and fabric from designers such as oscar de la renta and norma kamali . albert whitlock created the film 's visual special effects , while stan winston served as the head makeup artist . quincy jones was the musical supervisor and music producer for the film . he later wrote that he initially did not want to work on the film , but did it as a favor to sidney lumet . the film production marked jones ' first time working with michael jackson , and jones would later produce three hit albums for jackson : off the wall , thriller , and bad . jones recalled working with jackson as one of his favorite experiences from the wiz , and spoke of jackson 's dedication to his role , comparing his acting style to sammy davis , jr . jones had a brief cameo during the " gold " segment of the emerald city sequence , playing what looks like a fifty - foot grand piano . commercial reaction the wiz proved to be a commercial failure , as the $ 24 million production only earned $ 13 . 6 million at the box office . though prerelease television broadcast rights had been sold to cbs for over $ 10 million , in the end , the film produced a net loss of $ 10 . 4 million for motown and universal . at the time , it was the most expensive film musical ever made . the film 's failure steered hollywood studios away from producing the all - black film projects that had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early to mid - 1970s for several years . the film was released on vhs home video in 1989 by mca / universal home video ( with a reissue in 1992 ) and was first broadcast on television on cbs on may 5 , 1984 ( edited to 100 minutes ) , to capitalize on michael jackson 's massive popularity at the time . it continues to be broadcast periodically on networks such as bet , , vh1 soul , and was the inaugural broadcast on the bounce tv digital broadcast network . the wiz is often broadcast on thanksgiving day ( attributed to the opening scene of dorothy 's family gathered for a thanksgiving dinner ) . the film was released on dvd in 1999 ; a remastered version entitled the wiz : 30th anniversary edition was released in 2008 . extras on both dvd releases include a 1978 featurette about the film 's production and the original theatrical trailer . a blu - ray version was released in 2010 . critical reception critics panned the wiz upon its october 1978 release . many reviewers directed their criticism at diana ross , who they believed was far too old to play dorothy . most agreed that what had worked so successfully on stage simply did not translate well to the screen . hischak 's through the screen door : what happened to the broadway musical when it went to hollywood criticized " joel schumacher 's screenplay " , and called " believe in yourself " the score 's weakest song . he described diana ross 's portrayal of dorothy as : " cold , neurotic and oddly unattractive " ; and noted that the film was " a critical and box office bust " . in his work history of the american cinema , characterized the film as " one of the decade 's biggest failures " , and , " the year 's biggest musical flop " . the grove book of hollywood noted that " the picture finished off diana ross 's screen career " , as the film was ross 's final theatrical feature . in his book blockbuster , tom shone referred to the wiz as " expensive crud " . in the book mr. and mrs. hollywood , the author criticized the script , noting , " the wiz was too scary for children , and too silly for adults . " ray bolger , who played the scarecrow in the 1939 the wizard of oz film , did not think highly of the wiz , stating " the wiz is overblown and will never have the universal appeal that the classic mgm musical has obtained . " michael jackson 's performance as the scarecrow was one of the only positively reviewed elements of the film , with critics noting that jackson possessed " genuine acting talent " and " provided the only genuinely memorable moments . " of the results of the film , jackson stated : " i don 't think it could have been any better , i really don 't . " in 1980 , jackson stated that his time working on the wiz was " my greatest experience so far . . . i 'll never forget that . " the film received a positive critique for its elaborate set design , and the book american jewish filmmakers noted that it " features some of the most imaginative adaptations of new york locales since the glory days of the astaire - rogers films . " in a 2004 review of the film , christopher null wrote positively of ted ross and richard pryor 's performances . however , null 's overall review of the film was critical , and he wrote that other than the song " ease on down the road " , " the rest is an acid trip of bad dancing , garish sets , and a joel schumacher - scripted mess that runs 135 agonizing minutes . " a 2005 piece by hank stuever in the washington post described the film as " a rather appreciable delight , even when it 's a mess " , and felt that the singing – especially diana ross 's – was " a marvel " . the new york times analyzed the film within a discussion of the genre of blaxploitation : " as the audience for blaxploitation dwindled , it seemed as if car wash and the wiz might be the last gasp of what had been a steadily expanding black presence in mainstream filmmaking . " the st. petersburg times noted , " of course , it only took one flop like the wiz ( 1978 ) to give hollywood an excuse to retreat to safer ( i.e. , whiter ) creative ground until john singleton and spike lee came along . yet , without blaxploitation there might not have been another generation of black filmmakers , no denzel washington or angela bassett , or they might have taken longer to emerge . " the boston globe commented , " the term ' black film ' should be struck from the critical vocabulary . to appreciate just how outmoded , deceptive and limiting it is , consider the following , all of which have been described as black films , . . . " and characterized the wiz in a list which also featured 1970s films shaft , blacula , and super fly . despite its lack of critical or commercial success in its original release , the wiz became a cult classic , especially because it features michael jackson 's only starring theatrical film role . nominations the wiz was nominated for four academy awards : best art direction ( tony walton , philip rosenberg , edward stewart , robert drumheller ) , best costume design , best original music score and best cinematography , but did not win any of them .