The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Sorry. I have to get a little personal in this entry because, well, I’ve spent most of my life hating this film. I know, I know. HOW can you hate The Wizard of Oz? Everybody LOVES The Wizard of Oz! What’s wrong with you NOT LOVING The Wizard of Oz!? How can a Star War fan HATE The Wizard of Oz!?!?

All I can say is: I didn’t like it. When my high school English teacher called it “a stupid movie” in class – I almost fell out of my desk! Someone else DOESN’T LIKE The Wizard of Oz? Impossible!
But, as I got older, I realized I wasn’t alone in my disliking this classic. But I was in a minority of film fans. Oh, sure, I softened up over the years. Having kids does that. My youngest kids – Clare and Henry are performing as Dorothy and the Scarecrow in their dance recital this month…

My daughter Clare and son Henry as Dorothy and The Scarecrow.

In regards to the 1939 film, I softened in stages. First, I came to NOT HATE IT, and then I arrived at LIKING it. Love it? Not yet. Like? Sure. You won Wizard of Oz.

Of course, seeing it on the big screen with my fellow members of the TCM Backlot fan club The Philadelphia Backlot Story this past January also helped.

Image obtained from TCM Backlot

It truly is amazing to see this film on the big screen. Do it if you can. Here’s a trailer:

Now, I’m not going to give you a whole history lesson on Oz. But here are a few tidbits to munch on:

Victor Fleming directed The Wizard of Oz – he also directed Test Pilot (1938) the same film I introduced on TCM in November 2017. Oh, he directed a little film called Gone with the Wind (1939), too.

The Wizard of Oz won 2 Oscars – Best Song and Best Score. That’s it. Sorry, Oz fans.

The music is iconic. OVER THE RAINBOW will be forever stuck in your head after you hear it.

Judy Garland and the rest of the cast are great. Everyone does their job perfectly.

Like Star Wars, Oz’s dialogue has become a part of pop culture and is often quoted by people who haven’t seen the movie or even know what they’re quoting.

The film is said to have inspired George Lucas for various aspects of the original Star Wars. That said: we’re not comparing this to the 1977 Star Wars. We’re comparing it to Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). A film, ironically, many Star Wars fans HATE. Me? I don’t hate Last Jedi. I don’t LOVE it either. Like The Wizard of Oz, I have arrived at LIKING IT. Here’s the trailer for The Last Jedi….

Why Last Jedi? In Phil Szostak’s book The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the author quotes the film’s Production Designer Rick Heinrichs when describing First Order’s Supreme Leader Snoke and his throne room:

“I think the most important inspiration for the throne room is a Ralph McQuarrie drawing of Darth Vader in hell. Obviously, this is a metaphorical hell. And we’ve taken the essential organic characteristics of Ralph’s image and refined it into a much more polished and ceremonial place – more Wizard of Oz.”

But the similarities don’t stop there. The Last Jedi – like most of the Disney Star Wars films – has tons of visual and thematic nods to the original and prequel trilogies. And, since they are referencing the older films, they pull with them the classic film connections – especially between A New Hope and The Wizard of Oz.

All right: Spoiler Ahead. You’re been warned.

Good vs. Evil 

One of the timeless qualities of The Wizard of Oz and the original Star Wars is that it’s crystal clear who the bad guys are and who are the good guys.  In Oz, the good witch is pretty and talks sweetly. The evil witch is ugly, shrieks and doesn’t hide any evil intentions. Darth Vader was pretty obvious in his evil ways: dressed in black, chokes people, and kills kind old Jedi. Last Jedi continued to paint evil in black (and red) hues, too. You know that Snoke and Kylo Ren are bad. Sure, they play with Kylo Ren being a tortured soul – but they also have him kill off Resistance pilots without hesitation and even puts his own mother in the target hairs of his supped-up TIE Silencer. Boooooooooo. Hissssssss. Bad guy! Last Jedi’s good girl Rey is a combo of Dorothy and the Good Witch of Oz. She’s clean, pretty and has a pleasant voice. She’s also powerful with The Force (magic, if you will) and uses that power to help others.

No Parents?

It’s beyond cliché that Disney main characters are orphans. While it hasn’t fully been explained who or where Rey’s parents are – Last Jedi did have several scenes dealing with Rey’s parents. In the cave sequence, Rey encounters a vision involving many, many Reys and a hint that she may discover her parents. Later, Kylo Ren tries to convince Rey that her parents were bums and sold her for money.  Dorothy’s mother and father are never discussed but we do learn that her Aunt and Uncle take care of her on their farm.

Girl vs. Wizard

Dorothy must deal with the Wizard of Oz in order to return home. Her mission: bring the Wizard the evil witch’s broomstick. Dorothy succeeds with her mission – thanks to her friends Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man. It’s also with the help of her friends and little dog Toto that they deal with the Wizard when the Wizard tries to back out of his deal. Rey, too, must deal with a sorcerer-of-sorts – Snoke. But her usual friends don’t help her. In fact, her nemesis Kylo Ren assists her and destroys Snoke.

Into Costume 

In order to infiltrate the evil Witch’s castle and save Dorothy, her three bumbling male friends – Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man – must don uniforms of the Witch’s soldiers. In Last Jedi, Finn, Rose, DJ and BB-8 all don Imperial uniforms (okay, with BB-8 = it’s an Imperial trash can) to move freely through Snoke’s massive starship in order to disable its tracking device.

Image obtained from Fathom Events

I’m sure there’s more similarities to unearth between Oz and Last Jedi, but that’s all I have for now. If you’d like to point out other connections – or offer another tidbit of information – please leave a comment below.

Thanks! Now, I’m off to see the Wizard…