What's the Gayest Oz of All?

Photo: Disney Enterprises, Inc.

This month, James Franco slips into what could be his swishiest role yet, a young Wiz who's just landed in the Emerald City in Oz the Great and Powerful, Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz prequel. But you don't have to be a friend of Dorothy to know that the Yellow Brick Road is a very well-trod one, a path paved with melodramatic divas, zingy choreography, and apparently a shit-ton of creative license. Here, we rate five other memorable trips to Oz based on their own swishiness.

VOTE: TELL US WHICH OZ IS YOUR FAVORITE

TIN MAN (2007)
This miniseries shifts the Oz story to the present day, where the Tin Man (Neal McDonough) is a badged law enforcement agent and Zooey Deschanel's DG is a descendant of Dorothy.

Does It Succeed?
While Deschanel and scarecrow Alan Cumming do their best, the attempts to make the story steampunk-chic are a bit much. Oz being called the O.Z. ("Outer Zone")? That's just douchey.

But How Gay Is It?
Slightly. It sort of has a midnight movie vibe, and the detail that DG and the sorceress are sisters pushes it toward What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? territory.

VOTE: TELL US WHICH OZ IS YOUR FAVORITE

OZ (1997-2003)
This feisty drama's Oswald State Correctional Facility, or "Oz," doesn't have much in common with the original, but it does have Emerald City--a funky behavior modification center within the prison.

Does It Succeed?
The racy series was the most entertaining thing on HBO in the bleak period before Carrie Bradshaw and Tony Soprano showed up.

But How Gay Is It?
Gayer than Judy at Carnegie Hall. Oswald housed a gay boxer way before Oscar de la Hoya put on fishnets and showed male genitalia attached to stars both, ahem, big and small. (Luke Perry, you're a long way from 9-0!)

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RETURN TO OZ (1985)
In this dark unofficial sequel, a back-from-Oz Dorothy (young Fairuza Balk) escapes electroshock therapy and ends up hanging out with a robot and a pumpkin on a stick.

Does It Succeed?
Only as an L. Frank Baum junkie's mescaline dream. And Jack Pumpkinhead is no Cowardly Lion.

But How Gay Is It?
A little. Tik-Tok the robot has a submissive C-3PO air about him, and Mombi the witch is like a drag queen on 'roids. She doesn't just switch wigs -- she switches heads!

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THE WIZ (1978)
In this all-black adaptation of the stage musical, a Harlem schoolteacher (Diana Ross) and her scarecrow BFF (Michael Jackson at his giddiest) seek to end the reign of sweatshop-running tyrant Evillene.

Does It Succeed?
You'll marvel at the Studio 54-style Emerald City dance breakdown, but 33-year-old Miss Ross as a young girl?

But How Gay Is It?
Sweatshop workers wave around multicolored scarves all day and strip for a near-naked ballet number after their diva-bitch boss is killed. Plus, Diana showstoppers! Breathtakingly gay.

VOTE: TELL US WHICH OZ IS YOUR FAVORITE

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
Girl leaves small town, takes big city by storm, falls in with group of flamboyant troublemakers who totally drain her energy, moves back home with the fam.

Does It Succeed?
Though contrarians will say Judy was better in A Star Is Born or Meet Me in St. Louis, this is hands down her masterpiece. And those flying monkeys still give us nightmares.

But How Gay Is It?
Everyone from toddlers to stoners claim this movie is for them, but this is as gay as cinema gets without featuring drag queens or penis.

VOTE: TELL US WHICH OZ IS YOUR FAVORITE