The Wiz [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Sidney Lumet Sidney Lumet

Overview

Sidney Lumet's The Wiz is the film version of the popular Broadway musical that retells the events of L. Frank Baum's classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz through the eyes of a young African-American kindergarten teacher who's "never been below 125th Street." Leaving a large family dinner to chase her dog into a snowstorm, Dorothy (Diana Ross) is swept up by a cyclone and transplanted to the land of Oz -- which looks suspiciously like a skewed version of the run-down Manhattan of the late '70s. Landing on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, the puzzled Dorothy is greeted by munchkins who peel themselves from a graffiti mural and sing to her about the Wiz (Richard Pryor), a powerful wizard living in Emerald City who can help her get home. On her journey down the yellow brick road, she encounters a garbage-stuffed scarecrow (Michael Jackson) in a junkyard, a broken-down tin man (Nipsey Russell) caught in the decay of an old amusement park, and a cowardly lion (Ted Ross) posing as a stone statue outside a museum. The quartet tangles with a subway station that comes to life, a poppy den, and a gaggle of motorcycle henchman on their way to the Wiz -- who orders them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West (a sweatshop tyrant) before he will grant them their wishes. The Wiz has about double the large-scale production numbers of The Wizard of Oz (1939), with songs written and composed by Charlie Smalls.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/10/2025
UPC:	0715515314312
Original Release:	1978
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Diana Ross	Dorothy,Lion
Michael Jackson	Scarecrow,Green Footman
Nipsey Russell	Tinman
Lena Horne	Glinda
Mabel King	Evillene,Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Theresa Merritt	Aunt Em
Thelma Carpenter	Miss One,Aunt Emma's Party Guest,Aunt Em's Party
Richard Pryor	The Wiz
Stanley Greene	Uncle Henry
Clyde Barrett	Subway Peddler,Subway Peddler
Carlton Johnson	Head Winkie
Harry Madsen	Cheetah
Glory Van Scott	Rolls Royce Lady
Vicki Baltimore	Green Lady
Derrick Bell	Crow
Roderick Spencer Sibert	Crow
Kashka Banjoko	Crow
Ronald Smokey Stevens	Crow
Tony Brealond	Gold Footman
Joe Lynn	Gold Footman
Charles Rodriguez	Green Footman
Ted Williams	Munchkin #1
Mabel Robinson	Munchkin #2
Damon Pearce	Munchkin #3
Donna Patrice Ingram	Munchkin #4
Carlos Cleveland	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Mariann Aalda	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Aaron Boddie	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Gay Faulkner	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Ted Butler	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
T.B. Skinner	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Jaime Perry	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Daphne McWilliams	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Douglas Berring	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
James Shaw	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Johnny Brown	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Gyle Waddy	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Dorothi Fox	Aunt Emma's Party Guest,Aunt Em's Party
Francis Salisbury	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Beatrice Dunmore	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Traci Core	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Claude Brooks	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Billie Allen	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Denise DeJon	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Kevin Stockton	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Alvin Alexis	Aunt Emma's Party Guest
Luther Vandross	Actor
Roberta Flack	Actor
Charlie Smalls	Composer
Quincy Jones	Composer

Technical Credits

Joel Schumacher

Sidney Lumet	Director
Joel Schumacher	Screenwriter
William F. Brown	Playwright
Rob Cohen	Producer
Al Griswold	Special Effects
Ken Harper	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Albert Whitlock	Special Effects
Stan Winston	Special Effects
Albert J. Whitlock	Special Effects
Steve James	Stunts