The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Country: USA
Director: Victor Fleming
Screenwriters: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf
Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton

The Wizard of Oz plays out like your worst nightmare: hordes of tiny, creepy men with tans more orange than Snooki's, a kitschy town that looks as fake as a super-sized version of a department store's Christmas window display, human-sized flying monkeys, and an evil green witch with a maniacal laugh. But this is a children's movie, and a beloved one at that.

Though The Wizard of Oz was a box office flop when it was first released, just barely recouping the three million dollars spent on production, it got a second life when it started being telecast annually in 1956. To this day, parents and children are still delighted to tune in and watch Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow skip to see the Wizard whenever the flick airs during major holidays. —TA