Please forgive me if you've already read this in classics. From the number of posts/responses, it seems that classics just doesn't get enough traffic, so I'm putting it here. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe nobody cares about "The Wizard of Oz" anymore.

When I was growing up, back when there were only seven TV channels (not counting UHF), I watched this film every year it was shown on Network TV. So, I guess I basically grew up with "Oz", just as I did with the Beatles.

"The Wizard of Oz" seems to be one of the greatest fantasy films ever, as well as being one of the funniest (most of the lyrics are priceless.) On the other hand, it has numerous scary and poignant moments, which just help to make it all the more satisfying. It is a wonderful children's film, but I appreciate it even more now that I'm pushing 50 and have seen it over 30 times.

Does anybody else have any memories or thoughts to share about this classic?

aaaaah the Wizard of Oz!

One of my favourite films as a kid, and still now. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes when Dorothy arrived at Oz because that's when the film suddenly had colour!!! I was like: woah! I though this was in black and white!!!

By the way, did you see Return TO Oz?
I know compared to the Wizard of Oz its not a contest but still, I though this sequel was really very good!

I am afraid to say I don't like The Wizard of Oz anymore ... I think I just outgrew it, and saw it too many times. Also ... I just don't like musicals. I actually like Return to Oz better now, because I think Fairuza Balk is a more convincing Dorothy (since she actually looks like a child and not an adult dressed like a little girl) and I like how there's some darkness in it.

But my favorite Oz story ... my neighbour's favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz, so she decided to read Wicked and she got all mad at teh author of Wicked because "he got the facts all wrong." Hee! Facts!

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Originally posted by KT:
I am afraid to say I don't like The Wizard of Oz anymore ... I think I just outgrew it, and saw it too many times. Also ... I just don't like musicals. I actually like Return to Oz better now, because I think Fairuza Balk is a more convincing Dorothy (since she actually looks like a child and not an adult dressed like a little girl) and I like how there's some darkness in it.

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Be afraid...be very afraid!
Judy Garland was 16 when she filmed "The Wizard of Oz", and Fairuza Balk was 10 when she made "Return to Oz." I agree that is a big difference. As far as I know, Baum never told Dorothy's age.
When did you watch this last, KT? It isn't really like many other musicals. KT, you don't like the Astaire-Rogers musicals, or Busby Berkeley, "Singin' in the Rain", "A Hard Day's Night" and "Cabaret"? There must be SOME musicals you like. "Umbrellas of Cherbourg"? Shut up, mark.

I like Cabaret and Victor/Victoria. I like them because, for the most part, the songs make sense, i.e. they are sung at times in which songs would be sung in life. But more than that, they have a sense of darkness, or reality to them. I shouldn't say that I don't like musicals as a blanket statement ... but generally, if something is a musical, I don't like it.

It depends on the relative realism vs. cartoonishness of it. One musical I really like, although it's not a film, is Into the Woods, because it starts out with fairy tale stories and then just goes into a downward spiral, but ends on a hopeful note.

Basically, I don't like an overload of emotions ... I don't like things overly happy, or overly depressing ... of course it's also subjective how light or dark you perceive something based on your own experiences so, yeah, shut up, KT.

EDIT: Too many mint juleps = bad spelling, oops!