Starring: Brenda Banks (II), Jana Bisbing, Brenda DeLong, Pat Haywood, Karolynn Hill Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: Xenon Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Release Date: March 19, 2002 Running Time: 91 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1975-07
Amazon.com: Who's the baddest motherf****r to blow onto blaxploitation screens? Forget Shaft and just ask X-rated comic and "godfather of rap" Rudy Ray Moore. He'll give you the gospel of Dolemite. Street hustler, pimp, and all-around ghetto superhero Dolemite began life as a character in Moore's nightclub act and was a natural character for his self-financed film debut, a revenge tale set on the corrupt streets of L.A.
Dolemite is sprung from prison by an impossibly understanding warden so he can find the drug-dealing, gun-smuggling crooks who framed him. With the help of his all-girl army of kung fu killers and the most flamboyant wardrobe this side of Cher, he lays waste to dozens of bad guys while spouting his funky raps. Thick, slow and sleepy, Moore is neither a natural actor not a convincing martial arts action hero, but his lazy line deliveries are great, lyrical cascades of four-letter words and "ghetto expressions," and he performs two of his most famous stand-up raps, "Shine and the Great Titanic" and "The Signifying Monkey."
Dolemite is not a particularly competent movie--the direction (by costar D'Urville Martin) is clumsy, the performances flat, and microphones peek in from time to time (get that video letterboxed, Xenon!)--but the outrageous mix of nightclub rap, kung-fu action, and Moore's four-letter dialogue turned it into an instant urban hit and has kept it alive as a cult classic. Dolemite returns in The Human Tornado. The DVD also features clips from the documentary The Legend of Dolemite and the complete lyrics to his raps. --Sean Axmaker
In a word... I have only this to say: The scene where Dolemite is hovering above the camera as he makes sweet love to YOU, the viewer... You can feel his manly prowess coming right through the TV! Blacktastic!
Why? Why? Why?! I distinctly recall the first time I ever watched Dolemite. I was in college and I had just gotten off of work. I came home and my housemates informed me that the movie was on the agenda for the evening. We partook of some fine green tobacco and proceeded to watch one of the finest movies I've ever had the pleasure of screening.
The beauty of Dolemite is that it delivers exactly what you would expect from a movie of it's caliber. Karate? Check. Fights? Check. Prostitutes? Check. Karate Prostitutes. Hell Yeah!!
To sum it all up, I feel sorry for the people who actually took the time to rate this movie 1 star. You don't get it, and unfortunately for the rest of us, you most likely never will.
OMG!! This is Bad! I heard about this film for years. Even had people tell my I had to see it 'cause it's a trip. It's a trip, alright! A pretty bad one! What really stunned me about this film is the horrible screenplay! Ugh! It was brutal to listen to! The script was so bad, it was laughable! Sure it was a low budget movie! (You can see the microphone a couple of times and you can clearly see the school yard in the background of the opening sequence.) But if they didn't play this straight, I would have enjoyed it much more! Overall, this film isn't what people make it out to be! You're better off hangin' with "The Mack"! At least they tried!
4.5 Dolemite-- a comedic experiance like no other Many people might be overly critical of an otherwise enjoyable film. Definately Dolemite is not for everybody and definately not for those who only enjoy either art house films [not that it's a bad thing]. I was introduced to Dolemite while reading a know defunt hip-hop magazine. The particular issue was paying homage to Rudy Ray Moore. I decided to take the plunge and rent Dolemite from the local Blockbuster. Having Done so I can say I found the movie both entertaining and hysterical at the same time.
The comedy was very low-brow but Rudy Ray Moore gave it a certain style and grace that only few people can do. Consider also that Rudy Ray Moore was ghetto comedy before the advent of Richard Pryor. Rudy Ray Moore,alongside Paul Mooney and Red Foxx, paved the way for the type of ghetto comedy that would latter be made mainstream by Richard Pryor.
Of all the so-called blaxplotation movies I have seen thus far[I don't really like that term], I have to say this movie has a certain comedic charm that shines despite the mediocre acting,bogus martial arts,and paper thin plot. You know immediately that Dolemite is not a film that takes itself very seriously. Just a film to watch and amuse yourself with as Rudy Ray Moore intended to do so.
Just a little historical background into this film before I bore the life out of you. Most of Rudy Ray Moore's characters come from African-American folk-lore. Dolemite originally started as a urban toast in African-American communities of a outlaw type figure.
Either the best or the worst This is either the greatest or the worst Blaxploitation film ever made. I am not sure. Unlike other films like "Foxy Brown" or "Cleopatra Jones," this movie makes no attempt to make blacks dignified upstanding citizens, rather it does the opposite like "The Mack" times a million. The Nword is dropped constantly, people refer to each other as motherf***er all the time and so on. Maybe it is more real, maybe not. It certainly is a hilariously over the top run into a world that is rarely visited in this way.
The movie's plot is thin... at worst. Dolemite is a pimpin', club owning, karate master with a legion of trollops who are also karate masters. He was also framed and sent to prison by his archrival pimpin' club owner (this one does not know king-fu as well as Dolemite though). Anyway he is released in order to, well um, stop crime. So, instead he does the opposite and beats a lot of people up. Then he has sex with some strumpets and then he talks to some druggie. He also spills a huge sack of coke on a police officer.
Anyway, the movie ends in a chaotic kung-fu battle and whatever else. The entire movie is hilarious and should be watched only because of the incredibly utile quotes. Here are some good ones:
"You rat soup eating honky motherf***er!"
"Man move over and let me pass 'fore they have to be pulling these hush puppies out your motherf***ing a**!"
Fun... well that is what the movie is. It is horribly politically incorrect. Some scenes may straight out shock a sensitive viewer, but all in all it is a fun romp through an era of funny, flamboyant hats and canes to match. Go buy it or rent it, it is always handy to have at a party where things are going too slow. I am sure 100s of drinking games can be made for this movie.
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