'The Wiz' is atrocious! I can't believe so many of you are saying it's a good movie.It's loud,tacky and just plain silly.It's amazing that a film featuring red-hot talent like Diana Ross and Michael Jackson,with a score composed by the legendary Quincy Jones,could be so horrible.

DavidEye said:

The truth finally comes out...Glad to see it davideye...You finally admitted what we all have known for many years...Welcome to sobriety!!

"I'm drinking a soy latte
I get a double shot'e
It goes right through my body
And you know I'm satisfied"


I know how much you love Madonna's rapping...lol

I love both of the movies...this is so funny because my son just got a copy of The Wiz soundtrack and he plays it constantly like it's a top 40 cd!! :LOL:

The Wizard of Oz is a classic...come on now... tell me that "Over The Rainbow" doesn't flow out of Judy's mouth like lil angels resting on her vocal cords!!!
I watch this movie whenever I can because it's just magical and pure fun. I remember as a child only getting to see it on CBS as someone mentioned above along with the movie "Gone With The Wind" (that's another thread) !

The Wiz to me has MANY wonderful parts and songs...like
Michael dancin' his ass off and clearly seeing that he loved every bit of filming that movie. Diana Ross, (I vividly remeber being salty that she bum rushed the part from Stephanie Mills),but she surprised the hell out of me! Yeah she was too old for the image that Dorothy was in the story...but...you cannot deny that Ms. Ross got her dance on throughout that movie (checkout the yellow brick road scenes and when they are captured at Evilene's sweat shop). Check out those skinny legs!

The Wizard of Oz was just before it's time in my opinion. I've heard from people today that it scared the shit out of them. The flying monkeys being the key to many nightmares! :LOL: My favorite is the Munchkins and the Wicked Witch...I'll get u my pretty!

The Wiz has funk ...my favorite scenes... well let's see. The fashion show outside the twin towers...Mable Kings WHOLE performance...the dancers at the sweat shop (their bodies were like WHOA)! :LOL:

Comparing the two is kinda a hard for me because I love em both. It was a big part of my childhood. In these crazy days I like to keep a strong hold onto those happy times. Now I get to enjoy my sons reaction to these old movies like they were made yesterday.

Now can we talk about "Grease", "Hairspray" ,and "Lil Shop of Horrors" ???

The Wiz...all the way. I saw this in the movie theater back when it came out in the late 70s and I remember people dancing in the aisles. NO JOKE. The only other times I have ever seen that in a movie theater is when I saw Rocky Horror & Sign o The Times. The Wiz brings back great memories

I always thought The Wizard of Oz was kinda boring...except when my friends and I discovered how to sync it with Dark Side Of The Moon. Now THAT is cool.

I love both.

The Wiz. Y Compare?

'dre

and to whoever compared the racial stereotypes in "the wiz" to the ones seen in blaxploitation movies, i just have to say that doesn't make it right, and i wouldn't show the wiz to a child anymore than i would show "coffee" to them. it's still offensive.

DavidEye said:

I like silly. I think the world can use a little more silly, and a few more adults who haven't forgotten how to appreciate the value of silliness.

That said, I love both movies. Equally, I'd say. Wizard of Oz is by many standards a better movie, but the Wiz is groovy and funky and strange, and I like that. Reminds me a little of Graffiti Bridge, actually. Not thematically, but in spirit.

cborgman said:

how is it offense again?

sosgemini said:

almost every character in it is a stock racial stereotype. the worst, are the crows and the monkeys.

cborgman said:

interesting that you feel that way...

i dont!!!


Glenda (Mrs. Horne) is a wonderful display of grace, class and ellegence...

Ms One breaks it down...

Aunt Em...The strong monarch who is loved by her family and husband...


how are they perpetuating stereotypes?

I see this film as a beautiful example of african american talent..ACROSS THE BOARD. From the music to the choreography...(but, it still can put me to )


I guess one could easily say that The Wizard of Oz perpetuates hillbilly stereotypes..But they dont, cause its not in fashion this season...

sosgemini said:

ghetto drug makers, crows shucking and jiving in huge pimp hats, are the ones i recall off the top of my head. i would have to watch it again to really go to great length of discourse.

and i really resent the implication that i just feel that way because it's "in fashion" that is a really despicabley low blow. about halfof my family is black, and i think it's really disgusting that you think a white person standing up to say that black stereotypes offend him is doing so because it's in fashion.

cborgman said:

sorry...but i stick by that statement...if you are so hell bent against perpetuating stereotypes..why not get up in arms over The Wizard of Oz its its stereotyping?

The Wiz is sadly one of only a few examples of african american art on film. To ignore the "characterizing" of stereotypes that was incorporate into the play..(after all, the film was not an interpetation of The Wizard of Oz but of THE WIZ) would have resulted in a whitewashing of the work.

and to many, The Wiz is commentary on being black in the 70's. Do we slam tv shows like Good Times and The Jefferson's for the same approach to social commentary?

yes, i do believe *we all* sometimes get hairs up our arses about certain issues simply because they are "in fashion"...i'd say i do this myself from time to time..so dont take it to much to heart that i feel this way...

sosgemini said:

it was a personal slam, and it was completely unccessary and uncalled for, not to mention just a tich racist, thinking that just because i am a white man i have no idea what i am talking about. period.

and the wizard of oz characters are hardly stereotypes of "hillbillies" (as you so crudely put it) since, kansas is not a southern state to begin with, nor are the characters offensive stereotypes. show me where in the wizard of oz they are employing southern stereotypes?

and for the record, i do find good times very offensive, as did Esther Rolle, the woman who played the mother on the show who quit the show because she was offended by the racial stereotyping of the show. she ended up returning later when the producers promised her to change that.

the jeffersons is borderline, but the saving of it comes in the way that not all of the characters are stereotypes.

now, i would like an apology for the "in fashion" comment, as i am sure my uncle, cousins, sister-in-law, and nephews would if they could read that horrid comment.

cborgman said:

dude, i think you need to settle your whole..i didnt even know you were white until you pointed it out, afterwards...

sosgemini said:

right... sure ya didn't.

because when a black person points out a black stereotype it would just be "in fashion?"

i really think you owe me an apology, as it was a deliberate and completely unneccessary personal slam.

if you don't want to agree with me about the racial stereotyping, don't... sidestep issues, waffle, whatever you want to do, but don't accuse me of just trying to be fashionable because i dare say racism and stereotyping accordingly is wrong.

cborgman said:

why yes it would, if its completly without merit (IMHO)...and i dont waffle..


i had a similar conversation with an female african american friend over the film "Bringin Down Da House"...i made the same statement to her...so like i said, chill daddy-o..dont take it so personal...

all the way vogue...

now, can we get back to the fun nature of this thread...political views aside?

can the wizard kick richard prayors arse?

sosgemini said:

no, i demand an apology. it was deliberate and quite offensive. and you do waffle and sidestep, you are doing it right now.

cborgman said:

lol..how? i explained to you that you misunderstood my statement..i clarified my view..

stop fighting just to fight..get over it...

lifes to short!!!

sosgemini said:

i am not fighting just to fight, i am asking for an apology for an deliberate, offensive, and racist personal slam.

you don't like what i am saying about the movie? don't.

but you took a step too far, you made it a personal attack.

and as far as sidestpping, i brought up many points, including the one regarding your offensive stereotyping of southern people as "hillbillies", and Esther Rolle leaving the show, and you hedged them all.

still waiting for the apology you owe me.

o0o0o0ooo I wanna see The Wiz

I've seen many wonderful extracts from the film, but never seen it all the way through. And being a Very big Michael Jackson fan myself I'd love to see it.

Where can you rent it from? I don't think I could just walk into a shop in England and rent it...could I?

The Wiz. No one can ease on down the road like Michael Jackson did.

KoolAid said: