The Wizard Of Oz

[tomspanks 9039]

Wait a minute. After Dorothy goes back to Kansas, is the Toto thing resolved or does he still have to be put down?

[grudlian. 4725]

Wait a minute. After Dorothy goes back to Kansas, is the Toto thing resolved or does he still have to be put down?

Oof. This is really bumming me out

[taylor anne photo 11311]

One thing that fascinates me about The Wizard of Oz is its prominent place in gay male culture . . . which surely has something to do with Judy Garland and her popularity with that community, but it seems like the stories and the movie itself have also had massive resonance.

 

http://www.epgn.com/...-lgbt-community

http://www.gaytimes....ites-wizard-oz/

 

https://en.wikipedia...iend_of_Dorothy

https://en.wikipedia...and_as_gay_icon

 

I will say the last time I saw it on a big screen I came away thinking, "Wow, this is the gayest children's entertainment ever!" (not in a bad way, I loved noticing the subtext). I will grant that some of this might be because I was literally seeing it at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, but still: The Lion calls himself a "dandy lion." The Scarecrow talks about having a "pole up his . . . back" and that "some people do go both ways." Glenda repeats, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." Dorothy travels with three male companions who show no romantic or sexual interest in her at all. And of course there is the theme song: "Over the Rainbow."

 

Even with this reading, the ending does kind of leave something to be desired, with Dorothy happily returning to her sepia-toned existence. But perhaps this was also just a realistic portrayal of what life was like at the time -- this is a Depression-era movie, after all. Most people weren't living in a fairy tale.

[Cameron H. 23786]

There are a couple of tiny things that happened in the movie that I really enjoyed. I liked that whenever anyone was like, "She's wearing the ruby slippers" Dorothy would give them one of these:

 

 

I also liked when Dorothy was saying goodbye to her friends, Judy Garland had taken Toto's paw and was waving goodbye to them all. It was really adorable

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

HDTGM fans should also appreciate the ultimate Wizard of Oz reference.

 

 

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

I wish they weren't doing Swing Time next. There are several better Fred and Ginger movies. Better songs. Better plots. And none of them have Fred in blackface. That AFI list is crap! :D/>/>

 

Over on the HDTGM thread, a group of us discuss a different Musical every two weeks and Quasar Sniffer picked Top Hat a few months ago and it was absolutely charming. I’m kind of dreading Swing Time (especially after watching Holiday Inn this year). I wish AFI had gone with Top Hat...

 

Speaking of Musical Mondays, anyone here interested (who isn’t already involved) is more than welcome to join us! It’s all very democratic. We have a rotation for who picks on any given week. We’ve done everything from Phantom of the Paradise to Guys and Dolls; Josie and the Pussycats to Om Shanti Om. Everyone there is funny, intelligent, and cool. And, best of all, knowledge or familiarity with Musicals isn’t required

[grudlian. 4725]

Over on the HDTGM thread, a group of us discuss a different Musical every two weeks and Quasar Sniffer picked Top Hat a few months ago and it was absolutely charming. I’m kind of dreading Swing Time (especially after watching Holiday Inn this year). I wish AFI had gone with Top Hat...

I wonder how much of the AFI list was "We need a movie genre listed. Pick between Swing Time andTop Hat Or did the voters pick their top XX from a list and most votes is #1, second most votes is #2. If it's the former, I see Swing Time replaced with another Rogers/Astaire picture of they ever update the AFI list. If it's the latter, I assume it just goes away.

 

I haven't watched Swing Time yet. So, maybe it's really great (except for the minstrel show black face) but it seems like audience scores on imdb and letterboxd give a .1 edge to Top Hat. I know the AFI isn't made up of audiences but even they have to realize, whoops. I mean, I assume that's why Intolerance is in and Birth Of A Nation is out. But Birth Of A Nation is maybe the most racist movie I've ever seen and, I assume Swing Time is "just" black face.

[tomspanks 9039]

Over on the HDTGM thread, a group of us discuss a different Musical every two weeks and Quasar Sniffer picked Top Hat a few months ago and it was absolutely charming. I’m kind of dreading Swing Time (especially after watching Holiday Inn this year). I wish AFI had gone with Top Hat...

 

It can’t be worse than Holiday Inn, right? RIGHT??

[tomspanks 9039]

Just wanted to say I absolutely loved the physicality of the scarecrow. It really looked like he had no bones. His legs were like rubber bands. Then I realized hey, I’ve seen that before - Bill Irwin’s merengue geekout in My Blue Heaven.

 

https://youtu.be/q3oke-znT7o

 

PS - my favorite Oz reference is the Femputer from Futurama

[Cameron H. 23786]

... Bill Irwin’s merengue geekout in My Blue Heaven.

 

 

AKA One of Cameron H’s favorite movies.

 

[grudlian. 4725]

Just wanted to say I absolutely loved the physicality of the scarecrow. It really looked like he had no bones. His legs were like rubber bands. Then I realized hey, I’ve seen that before - Bill Irwin’s merengue geekout in My Blue Heaven.

 

PS - my favorite Oz reference is the Femputer from Futurama

Speaking of 1930s movies with very liquid physicality dancing, I watched King Of Jazz recently. I dont recommend it unless you really really like the music in this clip, but check out the dancing here around the 2:20 mark.

 

[Susan* 135]

Over on the HDTGM thread, a group of us discuss a different Musical every two weeks and Quasar Sniffer picked Top Hat a few months ago and it was absolutely charming. I’m kind of dreading Swing Time (especially after watching Holiday Inn this year). I wish AFI had gone with Top Hat...

 

Speaking of Musical Mondays, anyone here interested (who isn’t already involved) is more than welcome to join us! It’s all very democratic. We have a rotation for who picks on any given week. We’ve done everything from Phantom of the Paradise to Guys and Dolls; Josie and the Pussycats to Om Shanti Om. Everyone there is funny, intelligent, and cool. And, best of all, knowledge or familiarity with Musicals isn’t required

Holiday Inn is the worst! But I absolutely hate Bing Crosby.

 

I'll try to wait for my full rant till they post the podcast for Swing Time, but I'd take Top Hat over Swing Time. The entire plot, dance numbers, etc are subpar in Swing Time, other than the one where he pretends she's teaching him to dance. And it doesn't have Edward Everett Horton! A Fred and Ginger movie without him is like the Marx Bros. w/o Margaret Dumont. The best part of the studio system movies is maybe the way character actors are reused. But Follow the Fleet and Gay Divorcee and Shall We Dance are all better than Swing Time, and not just because of EEH. (also the guy who plays the fashion designer in Top Hat plays the gigolo in Gay Divorcee!) WTF Swing Time.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

 

Haha, I was trying to remember where I first heard the phrase "Friend of Dorothy," and this is definitely it.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Just wanted to say I absolutely loved the physicality of the scarecrow. It really looked like he had no bones. His legs were like rubber bands. Then I realized hey, I’ve seen that before - Bill Irwin’s merengue geekout in My Blue Heaven.

Bill Irwin is always delightful and amazingly talented. He gives clowning a good name.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

My history with The Wizard Of Oz is probably entirely before the age of 12, when I read all the books (it's a full-on series with like 13 books), saw this movie a bunch, and some of the other "sequel" films (Return To Oz in the theaters! etc.). I have not seen this film in probably 30 years, I'd guess. I'm not particularly a fan of musicals. I don't have kids. My thought going into this was basically, would the film hold up?

 

And I found it did. I REALLY dug watching this again. What a blast! I've been diving into "children's" movies, both from my past and the ones I've missed since I was no longer a kid (mainly Disney things). So maybe this was my mood lately, but I definitely loved everything going on here - the painted backgrounds, the parts I'd forgotten, the special effects, the simple weirdness. The "tactile" feeling that Paul mentioned may not work for every story, but for this one, definitely. The colors still, today, in 2018, are incredible.

 

I definitely agree with the strangeness of "there's no place like home" being the message/tag/theme, when there clearly is somewhere much better than home but whatever. That's what makes Oz special, it's a private feeling. Kids know. Dorothy knows. If your home is sepia-colored, don't worry, one day you'll find Oz. It's like Harry Potter and Hogwarts. He still had to go home every summer.

 

I was thinking of keeping track of my "ratings" for these 100 movies, put them in my order like Amy mentioned doing... and I've started, but we'll see if that lasts 96 more weeks.

[mjwilson 3]

URLs have forward-slashes, not back-slashes.

[DanEngler 5249]

In case you aren't following @Unspooled on Twitter:

 

For all those who are watching along with us, we wanted to give you a head start on what to watch for the upcoming episodes...

Ep 5 - The French Connection

Ep 6 - Titanic

Ep 7 - 2001: A Space Oddessey

[Susan* 135]

I love Gene Hackman with a passion I cannot explain.

 

French Connection is on HBO.

 

I went on a cruise once and the itinerary showed separate meetings for "Friends of Bill" and "Friends of Dorothy."

[StreetBloke76 22]

I'm pretty sure that Willow had about twice as many little people in the cast.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

There are a couple of tiny things that happened in the movie that I really enjoyed. I liked that whenever anyone was like, "She's wearing the ruby slippers" Dorothy would give them one of these:

 

 

I also liked when Dorothy was saying goodbye to her friends, Judy Garland had taken Toto's paw and was waving goodbye to them all. It was really adorable

When I was a kid all I wanted was a pair of those ruby slippers and honestly I still wouldn't mind indulging in a pair.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

On a sad note, the last surviving munchkin died at 98 last week.

[Alexander Campbell 1]

Here I am writing this in December, but axtually listened to this episode when it was first released, and had this reply to write then, but for some reason did not.  2018 has been a year of personal change, personal growrh, and survival.

I actually have recast Wizard of Oz in my head years ago using Earwolf people with the exception of Dorothy.  Have created a new account tonight.  Had an old one many years ago.

Scarecrow:  Scott Aukerman

Tinman: Marc Evan Jackson

Cowardly Lion: Chris Talman (had a 2nd choice, but have forgotten over time).  Gary Anthomy Williams would also make a good one besides the actor I am forgetting.

Glinda The Good Witch/Wicked Witch of the West:  Lauren Lapkus in a dual role.

Wizard of Oz:  Paul F. Tompkins (He can be cast with his own personal wardrobe.)