# The Wizard of Oz



## jujube (Dec 19, 2015)

We're watching "The Wizard of Oz" right now.  Did anyone else get seriously freaked out by those flying monkeys as a kid?  They still give me the creeps.


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## Pappy (Dec 19, 2015)

A little bit. It was the music that goes with them that is eery. I vowed never to watch it again after raising three kids and they had to watch it every year.


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## fureverywhere (Dec 19, 2015)

No the witch, even by today's standards that witch was a horror show by herself. Weirdly enough my oldest boy used to have night terrors...the only thing that would calm him? Putting "The Wizard of Oz" in the VCR


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## IKE (Dec 19, 2015)

"Honey hide the bananas and bring me my shotgun, here come those damn flying monkeys again !"


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## fureverywhere (Dec 19, 2015)




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## SifuPhil (Dec 19, 2015)

After my kids first watched WoOZ, maybe at 4 years of age, they were terrified of the flying monkeys.

Of course, I then took every opportunity to sneak up behind them and, in Margaret Hamilton's voice, yell "*FLY, MONKEYS, FLY!*"


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## Pappy (Dec 19, 2015)

Oh yea...


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## Kitties (Dec 19, 2015)

That movie freaked me out as a kid and still does. It actually makes me shudder. I won't watch it.


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## Cookie (Dec 19, 2015)

I must admit I only could watch the Wizard of Oz after I was grown up and it was colorized.  As a kid it always came on at xmas and we were too hepped up to watch the boring black and white version of a little girl skipping around with her basket, dog and 3 weird old guys. We preferred to eat chocolate and bounce on the couch while the grown-ups played cards in the other room.


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## Butterfly (Dec 19, 2015)

For some reason, it freaked me out, too.  The flying monkeys, for one thing, but there was something about the movie as a whole that just bothered me.  I've never watched it again.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 19, 2015)

What about that old urban legend that there was a Munchkin that had committed suicide and was in one of the "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" segments, hanging from a tree?







Of course, Snopes proved this whole thing to be false, but the thrill of something like that brought me back year after year to watch.

That and, of course, synchronizing the start of Pink Floyd's _Dark Side of the Moon_ album with the GM lion's (Leo) third roar. Spent many a triptastic evening marveling at how that turned out ...


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## Underock1 (Dec 19, 2015)

It was my son's favorite movie. He even asked for and got the book for Christmas. We watched the movie every year.
How can you hate a movie with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in it? The monkeys were a kick, with their crude costumes and e hokey acting. I always thought the scene where the curtain falls away showing the Wizard cranking out his special effects was so symbolic of all of the phonies in the world. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Yeah. Right.
I watched some of it this year by myself.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 20, 2015)

It's funny, because by today's "standards" of entertainment Oz is a flop. Like Underock said, the cheesy monkeys, antiquated dialogue, over-the-top acting, lack of CGI effects ...

Yet we still watch it and for the most part enjoy it. It's a classic, with timeless themes. And yes, it has _Somewhere Over the Rainbow_.

Being a trivia buff I find there's SO much attached to this movie.


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## Underock1 (Dec 20, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> After my kids first watched WoOZ, maybe at 4 years of age, they were terrified of the flying monkeys.
> 
> Of course, I then took every opportunity to sneak up behind them and, in Margaret Hamilton's voice, yell "*FLY, MONKEYS, FLY!*"



We share a warped sense of humor, Phil. Is that a good thing?  When they were little my grandkids used to play "Wolfenstein" on the PC. They would get super intense waiting for a Nazi to come around the corner. I would sneak up behind them, grab their shoulders and yell "Look out!" and they would jump three feet off of the chair.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 20, 2015)

Underock1 said:


> We share a warped sense of humor, Phil. Is that a good thing?



I think it's a wonderful thing! :chuncky:



> When they were little my grandkids used to play "Wolfenstein" on the PC. They would get super intense waiting for a Nazi to come around the corner. I would sneak up behind them, grab their shoulders and yell "Look out!" and they would jump three feet off of the chair.



LMAO - excellent!

To add strange to funny - I played Wolfenstein as an adult! My heart would always skip a beat when the Nazis did that, especially Robot Hitler at the end. I can only imagine what we've done to this new generation.


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## Underock1 (Dec 20, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> I think it's a wonderful thing! :chuncky:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well the boys turned out great. They moved on to Grand Theft Auto.:smug1: 
One now teaches chemistry.The other, Physics. As a lover of science, that does it for me.


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## Falcon (Dec 20, 2015)

It was on last night.  I had forgotten a lot about it.  A pleasure to rewatch; no guns, no cops, thefts or other crime.

I thought it was well done for the time it was done.


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## SifuPhil (Dec 20, 2015)

Falcon said:


> It was on last night.  I had forgotten a lot about it.  A pleasure to rewatch; no guns, no cops, thefts or other crime.
> 
> I thought it was well done for the time it was done.



That's the thing I've learned about older movies - that you have to watch them with the mindset of the time. If you are normally entertained by lots of explosions and car chases, stick with the newer stuff. 

It IS a pleasure to watch, just like _It's A Wonderful Lif_e - simple, hokey yet quite moving.


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