 During production , Lumet felt that the finished film would be " an absolutely unique experience that nobody has ever witnessed before . " When asked about any possible influence from MGM 's popular 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz , Lumet stated that " there was nothing to be gained from [ the 1939 film ] other than to make certain we didn 't use anything from it . They made a brilliant movie , and even though our concept is different – they 're Kansas , we 're New York ; they 're white , we 're black , and the score and the books are totally different – we wanted to make sure that we never overlapped in any area . " 
