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I agree with one poster that Diana Ross was "the most wicked witch" in this musical. Stephanie Mills brought the audience to their feet over and over again in the role of Dorothy during The Wiz's long run on Broadway. The musical was deemed one of the greatest masterpiece's in Broadway's history. Fast forward to casting for the television version and somehow we find Diana Ross, who looks all of 40, playing a 12 year old. It made parts of the movie almost laughable. Yes...The Wiz would have been at least close to the greatness of the Broadway production if Stephanie Mills were not pushed out of the title role to be replaced by Ross.

I do like the movie because Jimmy Stewart and his co-star, a wonderful actress whom we never saw enough of in movies, Jean Aurthur, were fantastic. However the ending of this movie, just like every Perry Mason episode I've ever seen, always takes away from that "fantastic" story and turns it into a fantasy. These endings always stand on the premise that the guilty party, who could easily get away with their crimes and wrongdoing, feels such great remorse due to the protagonist's( Perry Mason/Jimmy Stewart) theatrics that he or she becomes totally repentant and readily stands up in the courtroom/congressional floor and shouts, " It's me! Or "I did it! He's telling the truth!" or something to that effect. I go from sitting on the edge of my seat to " Wow... that was pretty corny!"