I am unabashedly one of the biggest fantasy movie nerds I know. As a little girl, I’d often sit in the park looking out at the trees, hoping I’d see a fairy whiz out from behind a bush or catch a gnome scampering across the forest floor. My head was always in the clouds, and as an adult, I am 90% proud of still being that way (and maybe 10% embarrassed). I can, without a doubt, trace it back to a movie that was on repeat in my house: The Wizard of Oz.
The 1939 film, which has inspired film lovers for 87 years, was recently named the “Greatest Fantasy Movie of All Time” by the American Film Institute, ranking number one among 100 beloved films. Other notable films, such as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), also made the top 10. AFI defines the genre as films in which “live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world,” and The Wizard of Oz undoubtedly fits that description to a-T.
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The Film’s Humble Origins
In 1900, author L. Frank Baum penned this children’s classic as one of the first distinctly American novels. The premise of people already having what they perceived they lacked felt particularly poignant during this tumultuous time in history, and it spawned a fan base that has lasted over 126 years.
Almost instantly, it began to be adapted into other media. By 1902, it became a stage play. When the novel was adapted into a film in 1939, the plucky heroine was played by the brilliant Judy Garland. The Wizard of Oz was actually a box-office disappointment during its 1939 run due to its massive production budget and the constraints of WWII. It didn’t become an undisputed cultural juggernaut until its annual television broadcasts began in 1956.
In 1964, The Wizard of Oz co-stars Garland and Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow, reunited on her variety show and openly discussed the film’s and book’s impact on them.
“I was brought up on the books of The Wizard of Oz, and my mother told me that these were great philosophies,” Bolger said. “There’s a very simple philosophy that everybody has a heart. That everybody had a brain. And everybody had courage. These were the gifts that are given to us on this earth, and if you use them properly, you reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And that pot of gold was a home. And home isn’t just a house or an abode, it’s people who love you and that you love. That’s a home.”
Related: Oldest Living ‘Wizard of Oz’ Cast Member Turns 107
The Wizard of Oz Today
The book and film went on to inspire other offshoots, such as the book Wicked, which was recently adapted into a successful film franchise starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Wicked did not have such a rough transition; it earned $758 million globally, becoming the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in box-office history, according to Variety.
Even today, Las Vegas’ most renowned venue, The Sphere, is still offering visitors an immersive experience based on the film, where moviegoers can feel like they are actually walking along the yellow brick road with Dorothy and Toto.
A film that has inspired that much whimsy for that many years totally deserves this high accolade from AFI.
