Who would have thought that Sidney Lumet, the Jewish director who started his career at 4 years old in a Yiddish theatre will end up directing such classics as “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Cerpico”, “12 Angry men” and many more.

Lumet’s cinematic version of “The Wiz”, a 1974 Broadway musical is based on an Afro-American cast and is set in an Urban Oz that brings Harlem to mind. The film was released in 1978 and told the story of Dorothy Gail, a 24 years old teacher from Harlem, who is magically transported to Oz, the urban fantasy land. In her search for help from the mysterious Wizard she befriends a scarecrow, tinman and a coward lion.

The film was a co-production of Universal Pictures and Motown Records, was filmed in Queens New York with a cast that included Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horneת and Richard Pryor. Quincy Jones was in charge of the musical direction. When the film was released it fell flat, both commercially and critically, but as years passed it gathered a loyal audience and today is considered a classic that preceded its time.