The Wiz

The Wiz (1978)

10 mistakes

(4 votes)

Visible crew/equipment: As the Tin Man gets to the end of his song, he's dancing in front of three mirrors. If you look past him as he's centered in the middle mirror, you can see the camera lens looking out of the canvas at him.

Movie Nut

Factual error: Dorothy tells Miss One that she lives at "433 Prospect Place." Dorothy is supposed to live in Harlem. Any New Yorker knows that there is no Prospect Place in Harlem. In reality, Prospect Place is in Brooklyn and is, in fact, where the street scenes for "Harlem" were filmed.

Continuity mistake: During the last part of the Gold number in the Emerald City, one of the dancers has a costume with a detachable ruffled skirt. The skirt alternately disappears with changing shots.

Revealing mistake: During the "Red" number in the Emerald City, a large screen is supposedly telecasting from the walking camera focused on the dancers below. Watch closely and you'll see the dancers' movements do not coincide with the movements displayed on the screen.

Revealing mistake: During the subway scene, when the first pillar breaks and starts to move towards Dorothy, the top of it is cardboard and wiggles back and forth as the pillar breaks. This is noticeable in the other pillars as well.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where the characters are walking up to the Wiz, The Scarecrow gets scared and faints, and then falls into the lions arms. But then you can see him scratching his head, when he really should be unconscious.

Revealing mistake: When Dorothy lands in the concrete sandbox, arriving in Munchkinland, behind her is the empty cutout placement of where one of the Munchkins will emerge from - before the Munchkins emerge from the walls.

Continuity mistake: Towards the beginning of the Wicked Witch of the West's song in the sweat shop, keep your eye on the line of dancers at the left of the screen, by their sewing machines. One knocks something off the table onto the floor, and it's subsequently kicked by one of the dancers and rolls about. It also disappears later when the shot changes.

Continuity mistake: At the end of the subway scene, Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion all come running from four completely different directions, implying that they were in four completely separate areas (which is also implied at the beginning of the scene when they get through the red fence door and run in different directions). However, during the scene, Lion was running back and forth between the other three in very short amounts of time, indicating that the areas were connected and very close together, making it unlikely that Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow were unable to help each other. Lion also comes running from the opposite direction than the other three came from at the end of the subway scene, even though he just saved Dorothy from the moving pillars and should be right behind her.

Other mistake: During the subway scene, when Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow are trapped behind the red fence, there is no lock on the door in the fence. The door bounced once before falling shut, so it's probably not stuck. So how are Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow unable to push it open?

Scarecrow: Barnum said there's a sucker born every minute.
Tinman: I was there when he said it, but I never thought I'd be one of them.

More quotes from The Wiz

Trivia: During the Munchkinland sequence, if you pay attention, you will notice that none of the very young Munchkins appear until the musical number starts. This was most likely to save shooting time, since children are not allowed to work for more than four hours a day.

More trivia for The Wiz

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