Dolemite

Dolelemite (1975) is a cult classic. Starring Rudy Ray Moore as the pimp superhero out to wrong rights whilst challenging the MAN along the way. He has two enemies, that no good Willie Green and the sleazy mayor. Watch Dolemite kick, punch, slap and pimp his way across the screen. What's the man's name? DOLEMITE!

Interesting film that paved the way for a generation of rappers and performers. To sell more of his party albums, Rudy Ray Moore made several on the cheap films during the seventies. Self produced and marketed he catered towards a specific audience. Some people call it blacksploitation others call it trash, I call it entertaining. Dolemite was followed by the semi-sequel The Human Tornado and a direct to video Return of Dolemite 25 years later.

Highly recommended, a definite cult classic!

Footnotes, if the film was properly matted on video you wouldn't see the boom mikes. Dolemite was cut to receive an R-rating.

Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) is a pimp and a pusher. He gets set up by the FBI and his rival Willie Green. In prison, he is given a second chance by the warden with mutual friends Queen Bee and the governor. Crime has risen despite Dolemite's incarceration. He is to go back into the community to root out the real crime lord.

After watching Eddie Murphy's Dolemite biopic, I had to see the real thing. The production is better than I expected. The acting is surely amateurish. Moore himself is a bit stiff on the screen but has some genuine charisma. Best of all, he knows who he is. The writing gets messier in the second half. There is fun in this blaxploitation. I love his rap comedy on the streets. It has a purity to the scene. I also love watching the real thing after watching the Eddie Murphy recreations. This is fun.

Blaxploitation "classic" that introduced the movie-going public to Rudy Ray Moore. The plot, such as it is, has pimp Dolemite (Moore) being framed and sent to prison. A friendly warden believes Dolemite is innocent, so he lets him out of prison to prove it (!). Dolemite sets out to take back control of his pimp business and get revenge against the man who set him up: Willie Greene (D'Urville Martin, also the director).

If you're unfamiliar with Rudy Ray Moore, this is as good a place to start as any. Dolemite features the standards of every Moore film: inept direction, unintentionally hilarious fight scenes, and the worst excuse for acting you'll ever see. Not to mention more colorful ways to fit the word 'mothereffer' into a sentence than I ever thought possible. A fun game to play while watching this cheapie is "spot the boom mic."

Stand up comedian Rudy Ray Moore stars as the hip, badass, styling m.f.er pimp hero of the title. He's set up by conniving hoodlum Willie Green (D'Urville Martin, who doubles as director) for possession of drugs and stolen furs. Dolemite is subsequently released from prison so he can dig up the dirt on Willie and his associates. Fortunately for Dolemite, he has people like the formidable Queen Bee (Lady Reed) and his stable of karate chopping hookers at his disposal.

"Dolemite" wins no awards for quality filmmaking. For one thing, a lot of its action is pretty inept, even if the production supposedly had the services of Chuck Norris' karate school. But it IS quality entertainment. It's often hilariously crude and dumb, with some priceless dialogue. It's also pretty damn violent, and there's occasional flashes of female skin to attract viewer interest. The main attraction, though, is Mr. Moore himself, who's given two opportunities on screen to launch into two of his routines, one about a black named Shine who was on board the Titanic, and another about a monkey who attempts revenge on a bullying lion. The script by co-star Jerry Jones (who plays the lawman Blakeley) is deliciously profane.

The performances by all are unceasingly amusing. Moore is much more of a personality than an actor, but he does have a certain charisma about him. Martin is fun as his nemesis. Be on the lookout for hambone thespian Hy Pyke as the corrupt mayor Daley; as can be expected, he tears into the scenery in his typical fashion.

Definitely a blaxploitation classic, even if it's not for all the "right" reasons.

Seven out of 10.

"Dolemite" was definitely not made for a "rat-soup-eatin', insecure honky MF" like me but I liked it anyway. The movie is a 'Blaxploitation classic' (which some people may consider an oxymoron) – it's hard to say what's worse: the acting or the karate fights, but it's also hard to say what's better: the pimp suits or the funk. I find it amusing that these extremely crude, subversive, counterculture movies now show up, unedited, on TV Turner Classic Movies – it's like seeing poisonous snakes in a display case at a petting zoo. Times have certainly changed. Worth watching for its own sake as well as from a cultural history perspective, as a lot of modern comedy and rap culture are rooted in movies like this.