If you try to decide on the most popular movie of all time, a good choice would be The Wizard of Oz.

Almost everyone has been “off to see the wizard” more than once. I think I’ve seen it about 10 times, starting when the Marshall movie theater had special showings in the 1970s. That was more than 30 years after it first premiered.

This month Boulder Estates has about a half dozen events structured around a Wizard of Oz theme. It’s a good subject to highlight. Even someone who’s not much of a movie fan knows the characters and the story.

At first I feared the Wicked Witch. By the time I was a pre-teen I realized that she was pretty tame compared to some of the villains in more adult movies.

My favorite character when I was growing up was Scarecrow. I think that’s because he wanted so badly to have a brain. He cared about knowing things.

Now my favorite is the Cowardly Lion. Wishing for courage is harder than wishing for a brain. There’s a fine line between having courage and being reckless. It was great to see the wizard award the Lion a medal after he proved himself.

Something that many Wizard of Oz viewers never perceive is the contrast between Oz and Kansas, the difference between Dorothy’s Midwestern home and the fantasy land that she visits after being clocked on the head during a tornado.

It’s clear that Oz existed in a dream because of how many of the characters have Kansas counterparts. The Wicked Witch is Miss Gulch. The Wizard is the carnival man. Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion are Auntie Em and Uncle Henry’s farm hands.

The book and the movie had roots in the nationwide Populist movement. Dorothy never forgot that Kansas was home. She wanted to go back. She didn’t change because of Emerald City’s glamour.

The black and White Kansas and the colorized Oz provided an obvious extra dimension to the contrast. Oz is colorful. The Yellow Brick Road shines brightly. The witch’s skin is greener than pea soup.

Even Dorothy’s shoes are a result of color. The author L. Frank Baum originally made the shoes silver, a reflection of how silver was the preferred currency of populists.

For the movie the shoes became red. The bright candy apple red made more of an impression in scenes that have color.

I like old movies. I have over 100 in my collection of DVDs. I wish more of them could be popular in the 21st century. It’s great to see an exception.

The Wizard of Oz has continued to capture the imagination of children and families because of how it can be enjoyed on different levels. It can simply be a fantasy and adventure story. An older viewer can choose to read more into it, to see it as a fable-like story about the difference between good end evil.

One of the most famous lines in the Wizard of Oz was the Witch’s exclamation that she was melting. The scene showed that evil can lead to consequences. The Witch didn’t have the kind of power that her Surrender Dorothy skywriting indicated.

The Wizard of Oz has withstood all the trends in the movie industry. It’s stayed popular. It still gets enjoyed by many people in 2025. It’s simply stood the test of time.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent