Willie Dynamite

Willie Dynamite is most certainly one of the most flamboyant pimps to ever grace the screen and his "stable" of beautiful women are frequently scantily clad, but don't let the smooth taste fool you, Willie Dynamite is not your average pimp film.

"Willie Dynamite" was at times thought-provoking, frequently intense and entertaining throughout. Watching Willie Dynamite fall from pimp grace makes for some interesting drama.

Roscoe Orman is great as the fallen pimp and Diana Sands is brilliant as always but there is much to be said about the performance of the young Joyce Walker, Willie's newest and most inexperienced 'treat'. This film's motto seems to be 'even an old dog can learn new tricks' as each of the main characters undergo some form of transformation before the credits start rolling.

8/10 stars

A classic 70's Blaxploitation film. Pimps as colorful as peacocks with land cruisers dressed in chrome.

Roscoe Orman (Gordon from Sesame Street) plays Willie, a pimp who has the patter down pat and the clothing that rivals anything that your imagination can come up with. He runs afoul of a determined social worker and the police, both determined to bring him down. They use every trick in the book to make his life hell and bring on him the wrath of his fellow pimps.

Diana Sands, who was one of the top black actresses of the 50s and 60s, shined as the social worker. This was one of her last films as she died of cancer before its release. She was 39.

Like Al Capone, Willie's downfall was the IRS.

After watching 100 or more blaxploitation movies in the last 10 years or so, my wife and I fell in love with this movie. You love blaxploitation for the cheesy acting, the characters, the cars, the ghetto heroes. But for this one, it's the costumes. Sure, it's got pimps, hos, bad cops, drugs and prostitution, even a ex-hooker with a heart of gold. With costume changes nearly every scene; leather, fur, satin and those hats!, this one should have taken an Oscar!

If we can find the DVD, this one goes in the permanent collection.

Mary and David

Highly entertaining and interesting as willie dynamite applies the principles of capitalism to enhance his business of managing sporting ladies. But where there is greed and the quest to be second to none, one is always confronted with jealousy and envy from your fellow peers.

The character Willie dynamite was immaculate in his dress from the beginning of the film to the end. He changes wardrobe complete with hats more times than Cher did in her last concert! He displays the 70's pandering apparell that he wore to absolute perfection.

I originally saw Willie Dynamite in 1973, and after watching it again today, after all of these years, it had the same impact. That is why I feel that I can recommend the viewing of this film. If you like blaxploitations films, this is a must see!!!

It is impossible to deny that this film has some hilarious parts. You can't help enjoying the absolutely ridiculous outfits and mannerisms of the pimps.

Everything from Willie's beyond gaudy car to even the characters' names (i.e. the white pimp named Milky Way) is pretty entertaining.

But it does have some serious (well okay, maybe not serious) implications as well. It is basically set up like most classic tragedies; a man in a position of great power falls due to a tragic flaw. Willie is likable enough not to deserve our hatred, but ruthless enough that we accept that he deserved his fate. Okay, so it's a bad idea to overthink this movie, but it is important to at least recognize that format.

Furthermore, its social implications are pretty relevant. It portrayed Black and White characters in both positive and negative stereotypes, as well as providing more well rounded characters to serve as positive rolemodels. It started out glorifying the pimp lifestyle and slowly de-glamorized it as a life of dishonesty, drug addiction, violence, and eventual ruin. It may have really given young kids growing up in ghettoes in that era as made something to think about by slowly exposing the harsh realities of a life outside the law. Especially since it also presented positive Black role models who came from similar situations, like Cora, a prostitute-turned-social worker on a quest to help rescue other young girls from a life on the streets.