Happy New Year from Alaska! I thought I’d bring it back to a day trip we did towards the end of our Omaha assignment. We took a day trip to Kansas, and visited the Oz museum in Wamego, KS, so I found it fitting to do my first review of 2024 on the 1939 classic, Wizard of Oz. The funny thing was that the major highway we took to visit Kansas was the Road to Oz highway. The movie is directed by Victor Fleming. The movie stars Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as Hunk/Scarecrow, Bert Lahr as the Zeke/Cowardly Lion, and Jack Haley as the Hickory/Tin man. The movie has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 89%.
The movie opens to Dorothy, and her dog Toto in a rural part of Kansas, far away from town (even though it’s all filmed on the MGM lot in California lol) Dorothy lives on a farm with her Auntie Em. Auntie Em has three employees that work on the farm, and we are introduced to them, as Dorothy is causing mischief on the farm. One by one we discover Hunk doesn’t use his brain to think, Zeke is afraid of the hogs, and they say Hickory doesn’t have a heart. They are discussing Miss Gulch, and how she wants to take Toto away from Dorothy. Auntie Em tells Dorothy to go somewhere, where she won’t get in trouble, and this leads us to the infamous song “Somewhere over the rainbow”. Can you think of a more iconic song in a movie than this?
We are introduced to Miss Gulch, and after claiming that Toto attacked her, she takes Toto away from Dorothy. I love how the music shifts to a darker and scarier tone whenever we see Miss Gulch traveling. Toto escapes from Miss Gulch, and finds his way back to Dorothy. This leads Dorothy to run away from home with Toto. Along her way she meets Professor Marvel. She tries to convince him to tag along with him on his travels. While finding an answer in a crystal ball, Professor Marvel tells Dorothy that Auntie Em is sad, and in danger. Dorothy rushes back home. When Dorothy gets home, there’s a terrible tornado with a wind storm, and everyone is hiding in the bunker. Dorothy ends up getting hit in the head, and passes out. The tornado takes the house with Dorothy and Toto inside.
The house finally lands, and when Dorothy opens the door, we see the screen that was in black and white, turn into the beautiful Technicolor, and a colorful world she landed in. A lot of people believe that Wizard of Oz was the first movie in color, but it actually wasn’t, they just made it very popular. Dorothy walks around, and says one of the most iconic movie lines of all time “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” Most people misquote this line, and just say “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” What other famous movie lines gets misquoted? I think my #1 is in Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader says “No, I am your father” People still think it’s “Luke, I am your father”.
Dorothy meets Glinda, the witch of the North, and the munchkins of Munchkinland. Through song we meet all the different types of Munchkins. Probably the most popular part of the song is when they sing
“Ding Dong the Witch is dead”. I feel like that’s been imitated thousands of times. My favorite are the munchkins that represent the Lollipop Guild. I wish I had those stockings.
Just when everything seems fun and cheery, a big red smoke appears, and we meet the Wicked Witch of the West. She is upset because Dorothy’s house landed on her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East. Not going to lie, I was afraid as a little kid of the Wicked Witch of the West (my wife would probably say I still am).
We learn that the Wicked Witch of the East had magic ruby slippers, and as her sister tries to grab them, they are magically placed on Dorothy’s feet. The witch leaves, but says she will find Dorothy, and get back her shoes. During filming of this scene, the actress who played the Wicked Witch, actually had third degree burns on her hands, and second degree burns due to the flames appearing before she was safely below ground.
Dorothy asks for help, and tries to make her way back to Kansas, and the Witch of the North suggests talking to the Wizard of Oz. She explained to follow the yellow brick road to find him. We then get another infamous song “Follow the yellow brick road” sung by the munchkins. I know most people will point out, when she waves goodbye to the Munchkins, you can clearly see the background is just a painting to show how far the road goes. Yes it doesn’t hold up, but the movie was made almast 85 years ago. It shouldn’t take you away from the movie.
As Dorothy travels the road, she’s introduced to a new character that wants to see the Wizard of Oz as well. She first meets the Scarecrow, and he wants a brain. She meets the Tin man, and he wants a heart.The last person she meets is the Lion, and he wants courage. As we are introduced to each character, they get to sing their own song, and explain why they want these items. My favorite out of the three is the Tin man’s song. I always laugh when he gets smoke coming out of his hat while dancing. After we meet a new character, everyone starts singing “We’re off to see the Wizard of Oz”. Does anyone else have the issue of getting that song stuck in your head after watching this movie?
The gang arrives in Oz, and they are all pampered to get ready to see the Wizard of Oz. We get my favorite song in the movie, where The Lion sings “King of the Forest. Love the part where he sings *I would Ruff, and I would ruff. I’m not sure if this was part of the original source material, but I can see why they added it in, as the actor signing has an opera-like voice.
The gang finally meets Oz with the huge flames coming out, and his scary green face on screen. He tells the gang that they need to bring him the broom of the Witch of the West, and then he will grant everyone’s wishes. Lion runs away after being told of this, and jumps out of the window. This is only minutes after his song about courage and being King of the Forest lol.
The gang arrives to a dark and scary forest with a sign that points in the direction of the Witches house. I always laugh when the Lion reads “I’d turn back if I was you” and tries to run, before everyone stops him. Flying monkeys that are the Witches’ henchmen attack the gang, and kidnap Dorothy. The Flying monkeys steal Toto too. The witch gives Dorothy a choice to give up her slippers, or Toto will die, but before that can happen he runs away again. The Witch gives a sand hourglass, and says when it’s empty she will die. This scene is where we get the best acting out of Judy Garland. The worried look on her face even scares me.
Toto finds the guys, and helps lead them back to the Witches castle. The guards protecting the castle sound like they are humming “All we owe, we owe her”. What do you think they are humming while guarding the castle? The guys sneak into the castle, and rescue Dorothy at the last second. As they escape, the witch has trapped them. The witch toys with the Scarecrow, and puts fire on him. Dorothy gets a bucket of water and misses the scarecrow, but gets the witch instead. The witch reveals that this is her only weakness, and yells “What a world” as she is melting away. I always thought this was a lazy way of the villain being destroyed, but this is also a kid’s movie, and could have been from the original source material.
The gang goes back to the Wizard, only to find out it’s a man performing a show, and he’s not the powerful Wizard that everyone thinks he is. But what he lacks in wizardry, he makes up for in wisdom. He explains to everyone that they already had all the powers they were seeking, and provides an item to release their powers. He attempts to help Dorothy go back to Kansas in a Hot air balloon, but she misses the ride due to her dog. When we think all hope is lost, the witch of the North shows up, and explains that Dorothy had the power all along. The infamous scene of Dorothy tapping her shoes and saying “There’s no place like Home.”
Dorothy is brought back to Kansas, and the movie goes back to black/White screen. She is grateful that she’s back home, and we realize that it was all just a dream. She tells everyone that they were there the whole time with her. She has a new appreciation for her family and friends, and the last line of the movie is “There’s no place like home”
There’s a reason why this movie has been a staple of every child’s movie library, and has been relevant for more than 80 years. The iconic songs, the infamous movie quotes, the classic story of good vs evil, and the beautiful background scenery. How many times has this been parodied, or mentioned in other source materials? I can already think of a dozen off the top of my head. I know some people won’t revisit due to the movie being partially in black and white, and the outdated special effects, but I don’t believe this ruins the movie. We should focus more on the characters, and the humor of the movie. I think everyone should introduce this movie to their kids at some point, and get immersed in the Land of Oz. Is this the most watched classic Hollywood movie, or would that be It’s a wonderful life?
I rate this movie a 4.7/5
Check out Dominique’s day trip from Omaha, on Wamego, Kansas. Wamego Kansas has an Oz Museum!
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TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick 
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