Some Random Observations of The Wizard of Oz

This evening I decided to take in a screening of The Wizard of Oz at the Brattle Theatre. 

The Wizard of Oz is among the first movies I ever remembering seeing on TV when I was a wee lad in the 1970's. The problem was that we didn't have a color TV so Oz looked just like Kansas. Of course, I remember Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, The Good Witch, The Wicked Witch of the West and The Wizard, himself. Color TV or no color TV, this is a movie which must be seen on the big screen. Until tonight, I did not truly have an appreciation of the juxtaposition between the Kansas dust bowl and the bright colors over the rainbow in Oz.

Margaret Hamilton scared the bejesus out of generations of children as the Wicked Witch of The West. Yet I also remember her as Cora, the kindly storekeeper who only sold Maxwell House coffee. 

Many of its phrases remain part of the common lexicon such as "We're not in Kansas anymore,", "Come out, come out...wherever you are," "I'll get you, my pretty", "Lions, tigers and bears, oh my" and "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Yet the line which most resonated with the audience was when Dorothy asked Scarecrow how he could talk if he didn't have a brain. When Scarecrow said, "I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking....don't they?," prompted both laughter and much agreement myself included. I suspect the first person who came to mind for most of in the audience was defeated former President Trump. If nothing else, I think I could understand why Dorothy would miss Scarecrow most of all.

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is an essential chapter in the Great American Songbook. How many works of art have been inspired by The Wizard of Oz? Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, "Tin Man" by America, the band Toto, the movie The Wiz. Now I don't buy the idea you can sync The Wizard of Oz with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and agree with David Gilmour's argument that the idea was from someone with too much time on his hands. Yet whatever its merits, it does demonstrate the enduring impact of The Wizard of Oz. 

At the risk of committing heresy, I found much of Judy Garland's performance to be way over the top and annoying. She was at her best when she was singing. Then again her character was supposed to be over the top and annoying to the people around her. So how else was Garland supposed to portray Dorothy Gale? Then again, viewed in a different context, Dorothy pulled a Will Smith on the Cowardly Lion was one witch short of being a serial killer while Toto was a fugitive from justice.