The Wiz

In 1978, director Sidney Lumet punctuated a rousing decade of all-timers – including SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, and NETWORK – with this wonderfully bonkers adaptation of the smash Broadway musical The Wiz, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, a shy 24-year-old Harlem kindergarten teacher.

A snowstorm brings her to the mysterious Land of Oz, a sprawling, decaying, nightmarish, and dangerous megalopolis that just so happens to resemble the physical characteristics of New York City. Co-starring Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow and Nipsy Russell as the Tin Man, THE WIZ is about as original and crazy as a musical version of THE WIZARD OF OZ can be.