To assert that so many amazing films have been shot in New York City is to bludgeon the obvious. From "The French Connection" and "Serpico" through "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "An Affair to Remember," New York -- and Manhattan especially -- has played a vital and central role. Manhattan's place in film has doubtlessly fueled its mystique and is the reason so many people continue to flock here (arguably for the wrong reasons). In any event, the list of canonical New York films is long and distinguished. I composed a list of my faves not too long ago, but ultimately it only scratched the surface.
Personally speaking, I've even been known to sit through appalling films if only to play "spot the location." I wouldn't call the film I'm highlighting here appalling, necessarily, but one might be hard pressed to call it a classic. You, of course, may beg to differ. In any case, I remember being taken to see the Broadway production of "The Wiz" sometime back in the mid-70's and really digging it. My sister slavishly played the soundtrack album, which I wasn't quite as jazzed up about, but it was certainly less painful to endure than the soundtrack of "A Chorus Line." A few years later, they brought "The Wiz" to the big screen. Opinions were mixed.
I've never been a fan of Michael Jackson, although he was still relatively normal at the time (circa 1978). I remember that there was a bit of a stir regarding the casting of Diana Ross in the role of Dorothy, being that she wasn't exactly a spring chicken anymore. I didn't really give too much of a damn about that. I was more intrigued by their ambitious setting of the film on the surreally stylized streets of New York. The similarly inclined film adaptation of "Godspell" a few years earlier had also attempted this, but the depiction of New York in "The Wiz" was truly bizarre. The film is worth checking out for this reason alone, as far as I'm concerned.
The scene below was probably my favorite, a nightmarish spin on the New York City subway system (itself a nightmarish experience in reality in 1978). The spooky orange puppet-giants still kinda freak me out. Enjoy.
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