L'homme coriace

The Human Tornado (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Comedian Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) has to defend his black people when a racist white sheriff starts trouble. Soon Dolemite and his clan are on the run and going after a white gangster who is taking black women are selling them.

This sequel to DOLEMITE is actually a better movie. Well, let me put that another way. The first film was a fun and somewhat well-made movie that became a box office hit so a sequel had to follow. This sequel is incredibly silly from the opening credit sequence to the final moment and everything in between is just rather nutty and over-the-top. There's not a single second where anything you're watching should be taken serious and as long as you're in for a good time then you're bound to have one here.

To me THE HUMAN TORNADO is just one of those films where the director, writer and producers just throw everything on the screen and hope that something sticks. The great thing for fans is that quite a bit sticks here and the end result is a campy but fun action picture. I mean, just check out the opening sequences, which catches Dolemite doing a stand up routine where he throws countless jokes at the crowd ala Don Rickles. From here we're treated to non-stop big-breasted women, crazy kung fu fights and one of the craziest sex scenes that you're ever going to witness.

Rudy Ray Moore was certainly a personality and that leaps off the screen here. I'm not going to call him a brilliant actor but there's no question that the camera loved him and his spirit just makes it impossible to take your eyes off of him. The supporting cast of players are fun but special mentions needs to go to J.B. Baron who plays the redneck sheriff. You've even got a young Ernie Hudson playing a small role.

THE HUMAN TORNADO is a wild little gem that fans of blaxploitation should enjoy.

Rudy Ray Moore reprises his comic character creation, Dolemite, the hyperbolic, Mohammed Ali-jive-talking, rhythmic discoursing, man of the people. The sequel to 1975's Dolemite, the film offers nothing new to the series, or to blaxploitation cinema, but simply adheres to the generic signifiers, such as female nudity, car chases, and the ubiquitous kung-fu cross-over. But significantly for the stylistic variations of the sub-genre, the subject of racism is the most evident theme - despite the fact that blaxploitation is readily accused of reverse racism (a term I have never understood, as this would suggest that racism is a purely white condition - it's all xenophobia).

Dolemite is caught in bed with the local red-neck sheriff Beaty (J. B. Baron)'s wife, who is then shot dead by his deputy. Escaping this situation, Dolemite flees to California, and the sheriff's crew follow, pinning the crime upon Dolemite. Lady Reed also reprises her role as Queen Bee, and she along with "her girls" have their club shut down by the mob, and it is up to Dolemite to settle the score.

Undoubtedly taking into account the failings of Dolemite, the sequel increases much of what makes exploitation cinema exciting. The violence is more nuanced, there is a lot more naked flesh on display, but more significantly, the comedy is far more indulgently silly, over the top ridiculousness. It's those rhythmic one-liners that Moore produces that increase the enjoyability of the film. And of course (as previously stated), no blaxploitation film would be complete without that other ethnic sub-genre, kung-fu, and here we are enthralled by the ferocious work of the Central American Nunchuck Champion, plus an early role for future Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson. Marginally better than its predecessor, it has a strange ability to be both dull and exciting.

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A must for any film buff of any era. How can you ignore Ernie Hudson's motion picture debut. Rudy Ray Moore, did so much, with so little. Some studio needs to put him to work again.

The film is great, Jimmy Lynch is amazing. Lady Reed is wonderful. Rudy is at his best. Bring in Howard Jackson was a great move to see real, authentic martial arts.

Far ahead of its time.

Who said sequels suck? Not Rudy Ray Moore who IS the human tornado! You better hope you never meet Dolemite just before he drops one of his ass kickin', head beatin' rap soliloquay's, as this would warrant a reversed film jump onto a rooftop with a sloppy slap to the mouth, while his topless beauties sit in the background laughing it up in what must be the (intentionally) funniest Blacksploitation film ever (yes funnier than the original Dolemite film!)

You will not only laugh at the fight scenes, but the dialogue is hilarious! Forget competent filmmaking as that adds for all the enjoyment!. All serious expectations should be left at the front door when watching this.

A true gem that will never be recreated except in the music video's of Snoop dogg. (and thats a good thing!)

As a lover of bad movies, I definitely hit paydirt with this one. The plot isn't really that bad, but there are a few instances where you really have to ask yourself "what the heck is going on here?"

There are many many things that make this the funniest bad movie ever. First off, Rudy Ray Moore had gotten so fat and slow when this movie was filmed that the special effects consist of speeding up the fight scenes to double time. There are also scenes where there is a slow-motion instant replay, jumping onto a ten foot high wall (by playing falling off of it backwards), naked men walking out of huge letters, and sex that literally brings down the roof (with the cable holding up the roof catching on fire).

Of course, no Rudy Ray Moore movie would be complete without a completely gratuitous and random comedy club scene where Rudy makes fun of all the customers, interposed with people doing some odd dance. There are so many things bad about this movie, but they're bad in an entertaining way, and if you take your eyes off the movie, you might miss another mistake.

Rating: 1/10 for actual value, 10/10 for cheese factor, 10/10 for picking out mistakes and goofs, averages out to 7/10.