Dolemite (1975) User Reviews

A genuinely crazy blaxploitation film

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 3 March 2012]

The blaxploitation genre certainly produced some bizarre oddities that's for sure. Dolemite is firmly in this category. On a technical level its appalling, with bad camera work, acting, action and story. The boom mic is visible so often that it really deserves a mention in the credits. But these considerations are ultimately irrelevant. In fact, the sheer scale of the cinematic incompetence is certainly one of the actual joys of the movie. The film-makers just didn't care and seemingly knocked this one out with little concern for such matters.

The rough and ready style of Dolemite kind of seems appropriate though, given the nature of the central character, who is a super-shady bad mutha in a pimp suit. This character, Dolemite, spends most of the film swearing in creative ways. His routines are like proto-rap and seem to have influenced hip-hop culture. The movie is really a superb time-capsule flick. The insane fashions and jive talk are all almost alien in their bizarreness now. While the movie sports various other strange characters such as Reverend Gibbs, the mayor and the Hamburger Pimp. The latter of which actually appears to be out of his head on something or other – I don't think this bloke was really acting! There's also an extended scene near the end in a nightclub that really has to be seen to be believed. It has a priceless performance from a soul act and a crazy dance routine with some guy battering hell out of a drum-kit, it then climaxes with Dolemite's swearing rap thing. It's strange, like the movie in general. This may be super-trashy but it's highly original. It's yet another example of why the 70's ruled when it came to movies.

Eddie brought me here

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 3 November 2019]

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.

Classic Blaxploitation, plus great hats

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 25 April 2017]

"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.

Get yourself some "rat soup" before watching this 70s classic.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 14 May 2016]

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.

No Disco Godfather, but still a winner

[Mr. Pulse · 2/10 · 22 April 2000]

"Dolemite" is the touching story of Dolemite (Gotta love blaxploitation film titles), an ex-con who probably should still be in jail. He gets in trouble with cops, friends, drug dealers, women, prostitutes, and society in general. He's just not that likable a guy. Neither is the movie, though it's still hilarious and worth watching.

The flimsy premise is that Dolemite (played with as much enthusiasm as star Rudy Ray Moore can muster) is in jail for a crime he claims he didn't commit. When a drug hit or a drug bust or drug something is about to go down, the warden releases him to stop it, or help it, or just watch it. Not very clear. All I know is that I was unaware that the justice system frees convicts in order to allow them to prove their own innocence. My ignorance, I guess.

The plot is convoluted and unimportant, basically Dolemite goes around killing people (Usually with very poorly choreographed karate), having sex, and cursing out people, sometimes even rhyming too. The joys of the movie are its total incompetence, and its total indifference in the matter.

I stopped counting the number of times I saw the boom mike after it was in one scene for the entire duration (about two minutes of film). I stopped questioning why the warden was looking down at where Dolemite was sitting, even after he stood up and walked around, when they cut back to the establishing shot and Dolemite was inexplicably sitting down again. I stopped wondering why Dolemite dressed like that when he got naked on the street to change, because he didn't want to get in his car with the ugly (read: normal) clothes the jail gave him. And I stopped wondering where he learned karate when he jiggles his hand on a guy's stomach and somehow cuts him open. The only time I was ever remotely nervous and tense was when the disgusting, flabby white mayor is walking around totally naked with nothing but a towel hanging around his neck which just barely covers him up. You keep saying "Cut away...cut away...cut away" but by the time they do, you are already emotionally scarred.

The movie is ridiculous in every way imaginable. Moore as Dolemite, is either funny, cool, or both. If you're on the lookout for a bad movie, you have found it with "Dolemite."

Ultimate Backyard Blaxploitation Movie

[Schlockmeister · 5 October 2000]

1975... before Rudy Ray Moore was hailed as the "Father Of Rap Music" he was touring Black clubs around the nation doing routines from his brisk selling "Party Records". In his spare time and when finances allowed, he would make the opccasional movie on a shoestring budget. This was his first. A classic blaxploitation action movie. The flubs are legendary and have been detailed elsewhere, this looks like a backyard movie, very similar to movies kids would make in their yards with the advent of home Video cameras.

Great flick from a strictly guilty pleasure standpoint. You ignore the errors and weak plot, you see Rudy's obvious pleasure over acting in front of a camera for the first time. I imagine this was a dream come trur for Rudy, he could finally bring his nightclub character Dolemite to the big screen. Of course, Dolemite is an almost mythological character, much bigger than real life, sort of like a Black Paul Bunyan, but Rudy gives an admirable attempt in bringing Dolemite to the screen. This movie had a revival of sorts when Arsenio Hall's TV talk show would feature clips from this movie and also when Arsenio had Rudy Ray on his show. Worth seeing if not taken seriously.

BLACK ACTION

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 1 April 2001]

The King of all Black Action films, Dolemite is the story of Dolemite, the most bad ass brother in LA. Go with Dolemite from the jail house to the mean streets of LA in search for the man who killed his fellow brother. Get the Unrated version to get the whole gut punching scenes with all the great moments. Need more? This film has a sequel...enjoy.

Is it weird to call this wholesome?

[MarkoutTV · 5/10 · 8 November 2019]

Every bit as crude and poorly made as I had hoped. It could serve as a "how not to make films 101" in the sheer amount of continuity errors, poor audio, bad acting, bad writing, bad camera cuts and even an instance of bad lip-syncing.

But you can tell the sheer amount of heart and passion that is at the core of this movie, to the point that even with all the violence, gratuitous nudity, and coarse language, there is this odd sense of wholesomeness that occupied the whole picture. There's something about a bunch of friends coming together and making a film with absolutely no clue how to do it, and now given the backstory thanks to Dolemite Is My Name, and knowing the challenges the crew went through as well as their ultimate triumph, I found myself really respecting everything about this hilariously bad film.

That was one hell of a run-on sentence.

Rudy Ray DOLEMITE Moore is a really a blast man!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 6/10 · 19 April 2020]

Please, forgive me to put aside the crap plot, just talk about this production, astonishing bad movie that the skillful Rudy Ray Moore made by own money when this genre walking for yours last years, Dolemite is really a trash picture, using non-professional actors, fake fights, bad directing whatever you could imagine, however it was a vehicle for a daring slight fat black man pursued and reaching on stardom on the seventies, quite possibly singing the primitive Rap he is a true highlight on those two sequence when he sang odd songs, mainly "The Jive Jungle" really funny, on purpose Dolemite is fully spoken in black jargon sometimes almost indistinguishable, flamboyant colorful clothes even wearing white shoes exposing a conceptive extravaganza to answer their own style, surround of tons of beauties is also a trademark implied on movie, the carefully choreographed dancing sequence is worth mentioning, fine songs as well, shot on adapted lousy sets, a great entertainment Blaxploitation!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.25

Warning! Looking too closely at the fashions worn in this film might result in hysterical blindness!

[MBunge · 5/10 · 13 September 2010]

As a time capsule from a particular social, cultural and economic era, Dolemite is remarkable. As a movie, it sucks very, very, very, very hard.

This is one of those so-called "blaxsploitation" films from the 1970s and before you watch Dolemite or any of these films, you'd probably be well served to at least check out the Wikipedia entry on "blaxspoitation". If you don't, you could suffer a severe case of brain cramp trying to figure these things out.

Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) is pimp/spoken word artist/night club owner/street avenger who starts out the movie in jail, where he may or may not have been framed by the cops for dealing in drugs and stolen furs. Yeah, I don't understand the stolen furs either. It must have been a 70s thing. Anyway, Dolemite is offered the chance to get out of jail if he'll go back to his old neighborhood and put a stop to the out of control crime and violence that's taken it over. Accepting the offer, Dolemite is picked up by a carful of his "ladies" and exchanges his prison-issued suit for his first of many pimptacular outfits. Returning to his neighborhood, Dolemite discovers that Willie Green (D'Urville Martin) has taken over his old night club. As Dolemite basically wanders from scenes of sex to scenes of violence and back again, we learn that Willie is connected to the mayor of the city and essentially runs Dolemite's old neighborhood to suit the mayor's agenda. Essentially, it's the story of the white power structure co-opting elements of the black community to "keep the black man down", with Dolemite being the returning hero spoiling that plan. It's a brutally primitive rendition of that story, but subtlety's not exactly a strong point of this movie. A couple of racist cops hassle Dolemite, a black FBI agent gets involved and Dolemite and his "ladies" use some amazingly bad 70s karate to defeat the forces of evil. I mean, seriously, there are 10 year olds in karate dojos all across America who could more convincingly kick people's butts.

From almost every technical aspect, this is a laughably bad movie. It's poorly shot, poorly written, it looks cheap and the acting is almost uniformly terrible. Jerry Jones as the black FBI agent and D'Urville Martin are passable, I suppose, but Rudy Ray Moore's alleged acting consists of a "Can you dig it, baby?" nonchalance interspersed with overemphasis of the word "motherf****r"…and he still gives the third best performance of the film.

For all of it's flaws, there are two things for which I can recommend this movie.

1. This is a film made by 1970s urban black people, for 1970s urban black people, about the world of 1970s urban black people. I'm not saying this is some sort of documentary about the way the 70s actually were for African-Americans, but it does give you a theatrical view of how they looked at and felt about their world. I don't say that as some kind of excuse for how crappy this movie is, but this was the era when African-American filmmakers were getting their first meaningful chance to tell their stories their way. In a country where history is what happened last month and everything before that has vanished into the mists of time, this is a movie that slaps you in the face with how different things are today from how there were just a generation or so ago.

2. For all the bad acting, bad camera-work, bad dialog and bad fight scenes, there's an infectious energy to Dolemite. Everything about this movie is raw and unpolished and unpretentious. If you ever got together and made movies with your friends when you were kids, the same honest joy that you can still see in those stories is the same thing you can see in Dolemite. These filmmakers and these performers are all so clearly caught up in what they're doing that they're extremely likable, no matter how awful they are. A great example of that is the clothing in this film. It is hilariously bizarre, but the performers AND the characters they play are so utterly at ease in these fashion disasters, so convinced that these fabricated atrocities are the greatest thing since sliced bread, that you'll end up wishing you could wear those sorts of outfits to work.

If you want to watch a good movie, I really can't recommend Dolemite. There are just so many ways that it's truly terrible. But this is a fun movie, I enjoyed it and it's a reminder of how weird the 1970s actually were. So, if you ever are in the mood to watch a awful film about a pimp/spoken word artist/night club owner/street avenger and his army of karate chopping prostitutes, you now know where to look.

Rudy Ray Moore movies: He's bad! The man is out of sight...

[Captain_Couth · 8/10 · 8 March 2004]

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.

Dolomite is my name and f---ing up mother f---ers is my game!

[a_chinn · 6/10 · 19 April 2020]

I wanted to watch the Eddie Murphy film "Dolomite is My Name" so it was important I rewatch the original film (which is free to stream on Amazon Prime). I remember the first time I watched this film, going into it I'd heard that "Dolomite" was a classic blaxploitation action flick, but I was immediately confused by the portly star, the abysmal acting, and particularly the incredibly awkward "marital arts" fight sequences. "Dolomite" is a film that needs to be seen to be believed. Although I'm sure there are fans who love "Dolomite" without irony, this blaxploitation classic is one that's so terribly written, directed, acted and just about every other filmmaking facet you can think of, it achieves Ed Wood proportions of so-bad-it's-good (interestingly, the writers of "Dolomite is my Name" also wrote "Ed Wood"). If you ever listen to star Rudy Ray Moore talk about the film, he made it with complete seriousness, which is what makes this revenge tale of Dolemite being released early from prison to take down the rival pimp who put him away. Lucky for Dolemite his madame has had all his girls trained in karate in his absence, so Dolemite now has an army of female kung-fu fighters. He also gets some of the worst 70s fashion imaginable. The acting is wonderfully awful and is made even more hilarious by ridiculous dialogue that features a profanity just about every third or fourth word. Oh, and you're also treated to Rudy Ray Moore doing his "rapping," which feels as if it comes out of nowhere and from a completely different film. Overall, this is a zero-star film, but I certainly got at least three-stars worth of entertainment out of it.

"Tell him I want him out of here in 24 hours...and 23 of um's already gone."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 14 August 2014]

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."

Rudy Ray Moore Makes The Movie

[Michael_Elliott · 4 February 2017]

Dolemite (1975)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) is a hard-hitting pimp who is serving twenty-years in prison after being framed by some dirty cops. The warden tells him that evidence shows he might have been set-up so he allows Dolemite out of prison if he agrees to help track down someone passing guns and drugs in the streets. Soon Dolemite is going up against gangster Willie Green (D'Urville Martin).

DOLEMITE was a late entry in the blaxploitation boom of the 1970s when people like Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier became stars. Rudy Ray Moore made his debut in this film and he would make a handful of other films but there's no question that he'll always be remembered for this role. For the most part this is a mildly entertaining film, although I doubt you'll find anyone that will try to say that this is some sort of classic or even a good picture.

What makes this film work is the performance from the lead star. Yes, it's not Oscar-worthy material but it wasn't meant to be. The point of a film like this is to have fun and I must say that I thought Rudy Ray Moore was a lot of fun and especially early on when he's screaming out countless one-liners and many of them are quite funny. He's certainly very believable in the role of this pimp and he keeps the film moving at a nice pace.

For the most part the film is entertaining but there's no question that the first half is much better than the second. For some reason the movie just runs out of gas around the fifty-minute mark and it never picks up. There are some really long and boring stretches including some bits inside Dolemite's club. These scenes towards the end of the movie just drag on and go nowhere so they could have easily been cut.

DOLEMITE isn't a classic blaxploitation movie but if you're a fan of the genre then the star makes this worth watching.

it's become a cult film.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 21 January 2023]

Rudy moore, durville martin did it all. None of this would fly now, but it was still the 1970s. The cars, the clothes, the hair. Leisure suits and wide ties. Directed by martin, and written by rudy moore and jerry jones. Pretty rough talking script, but it's part of the gritty, inner city fun. There's a plot in there, kind of. Dolemite will go undercover for the coppers, helping to root out the players and troublemakers, like willie green. But, like austin powers, dolemite has his own army of girls, or hookers, or something. Lots of female nudity. Lots of bad acting and a wacky script. But it's fun, and it all works. Don't mess with queen bee ( lady reed ). It's silly and crazy and naughty. And fun. The best part is that it was written and directed by black actors and directors in the business. According to the credits, rudy moore even did the set decoration himself. Fun stuff. It's a piece of hollywood history. And it would be fun to go see what's at all those los angeles locations now, fifty years later.

a precious artifact and a kick-ass mofo at the center

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 30 April 2009]

Oh, Dolemite, where have you gone? Sure, you're getting a revamp/parody done by Black Dynamite in 2009, but in your own time and place you were quite the bad-mother-f***er! So many bad movies, so so bad...

In Dolemite, played by Rudy Ray Moore, he is about the baddest mofo around the way. He gets an early release from jail in order to take down an arch-rival, only to still have the fuzz after him on top of a whole gang of... well, anyone willing to take him on, frankly. But Dolamite's got back-up in the form of an all-girl army of kung-fu killers, and the mob, frankly my dears, don't stand a motherf***ing chance... sorry for the mother****** it comes up so much in the movie you'll loose count (certainly it would make one of the deadliest drinking games ever, or perhaps a match-up with Samuel L. Jackson).

Dolamite is hardcore blaxsploitation, black to the bone and proud of it, and it even features its star, (sometimes) comedian Rudy Ray Moore, reciting poetry- not rap, *poetry*- on the streets in order to prove to folks, in true bad-ass fashion, that he is, indeed, Mr. Dolamite Esq. He's such a strange, raw screen presence that one can kind of forgive that he's not a very good actor - he reads his lines like each one is meant to make its mark on-every-step-like-THIS-motherf***er, and when he goes into martial arts mode, watch out (especially those kicks that, erm, don't connect)! Maybe it is all meant to be one big gag on Moore's part, and maybe in some backwards-ass way maybe he succeeded. Or, perhaps, not at all. It's a sight to see him at work, either way, and he's missed today.

Adding to this is the direction by Mr D'Urville Martin, someone I am not familiar with and am perhaps glad to keep it that way. His work here makes Jack Hill, a competent director, look like Orson Welles; he can barely frame or light in most scenes, and the big gag (one that has been repeated uproariously, if obviously, in Black Dynamite) of the boom Mic coming into shot is one that has to be seen to be believed. Whatever sense of action or comedy he has is usually off-center, or pushed to such a trashy degree that you can't help but laugh - at it, of course, and it is on this level that Dolamite succeeds best today. It's like opening up a time capsule and instead of having a face melt ala the ark of the covenant it just hangs with jaw open, wondering how this thing even exists, or how the action works or how anything actually plays out well.

And yet, it would be hard-pressed for me to find a more quotable line than the following: "When I see a ghost, I cut the mutha-f***a." That's gotta be worth something...

Bad to the Bone

[masercot · 2/10 · 17 October 2016]

I like bad movies. In fact, I'm still trying to get AFI to show Eckes vs Sever in their next film festival. I own Aztec Mummy vs the Robot Monster. What you call "hell", I call "entertainment"...

Dolemite is a very very bad movie. I've narrowed down its problems to the acting, directing, writing and cinematography.

Most of the cast in this movie are non-actors and it shows. Most of the cast members mumble their lines as if on a Thorazine binge. Some of the lines were meant to be spoken with great feeling which makes it all the more hilarious when they are said with the same flat mien as one would have ordering a MacDonald's breakfast. The few competent actors in this movie just make the rest of the cast look even worse. Who do I blame? The director, of course! You can tell this movie had a director or the actors would've just wandered off the lot during filming and gone about their lives; however, none of the acting seems to be directed. Maybe the director just gave up after seeing the...

...writing. Odd when the drugged monotone of a narrated flashback matches the exact dialog after the flashback. And, a warden letting a man out of prison to find who framed him is essentially a plot built from Ad Libs during a car ride. Bad bad writing. But, at least you have the...

Cinematography... Oh forget it...

This is a jaw-droppingly bad movie. I'm not saying that anyone should avoid it. Historically, it is worth watching because the seventies were an interesting time for grind-house movies...

Bravura debut

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 9 October 2019]

Rudy Ray Moore burst onto the scene with this outrageous, cheesy, entertaining blaxploitation movie that makes up for in spirit what it lacks in budget. A well-meaning independent feature solely designed to entertain audiences, it feature the titular character as he's released from jail to go on a crusade to bring down various evil drug dealers. Moore is certainly a force to be reckoned with; hardly good-looking or charismatic, but making up for that in sheer brute force and humour. The film suffers from the usual production value issues and slightly stilted feel, but the narrative works just fine and it's certainly never boring, instead one of the more memorable and definitive examples of its kind from the 1970s. A sequel, THE HUMAN TORNADO, followed.

Cheap but cheerful

[HaemovoreRex · 5/10 · 2 March 2009]

Certainly far, far from the quality end of the Blaxploitation genre, this nonetheless shares some of the staple ingredients which make many of its more illustrious brethren so charming. The plot concerns the titular hero (the term applied in the loosest possible manner as our man is a bit of a scumbag) who does a deal with the warden in the prison he is being held in (after he was framed by bent cops) to clean up his old hood. This our man sets about with great gusto, partially fuelled by the need to avenge the senseless murder of his nephew. It turns out that the crime in the area is far more deep rooted than a few mere drug dealers and gun runners however, indeed a whole conspiracy is afoot involving bent law enforcement officers and a dirty mayer.

With multiple attempts on our heroes life and the pressure on, will our man be able to save the day? Well, if Dolemite's inimitable way with obscenities is anything to go by, then the answer is 'hell yes'!!! Indeed, Rudy Ray Moore's fast and foul outbursts are probably the real highlight here and are sure to raise much mirth. Unfortunately, matters do tend to drag when our man isn't busy berating someone which is a real shame but don't switch off just yet, for the finale in this is an absolute hoot! Yes, the final fight or perhaps more appropriately, small riot which breaks out in a night club is absolutely hilarious and showcases a plethora of poorly choreographed karate fights, our hero literally punching through a guys chest(!) and all this backed up by a cool and thumping seventies soundtrack! Damn! - What more could one wish for in a film I ask?

Fellow fans of the genre will probably derive at least some enjoyment here, not least of all the aforementioned sequences but just be warned - as if to act as a reflection of just how low rent this entry is, if one were to base a drinking game on the number of times the boom mike is visible throughout the film, then you'll probably be comatose by the end credits!

The Bad, Bad Dolemite

[brando647 · 7/10 · 5 June 2012]

Thank you, DOLEMITE, for introducing me to an entirely new level of movies that are so bad, they're awesome. From the mind of comedian Rudy Ray Moore, DOLEMITE is a bit of blaxploitation gold. Throughout the entire film, I can't tell if Moore meant for this movie to be taken seriously or not. At times, it really looks as if it's trying for actual drama but it's all done so unbelievably poorly that I just can't figure it out. DOLEMITE is a movie produced by a team of people who had no real idea how to make a movie. Everything about this movie is amateur, from the script to the execution. Still, you can't help but be entertained for all the wrong reasons…or right reasons? Like I said, I can't figure out if it's glaring flaws were intentional or not. Dolemite (Moore) is a pimp and owner of the Total Experience club, and opens the movie in jail. He's been framed by some crooked detectives and the FBI, who'd planted drugs and stolen furs in the trunk of his car. The entire plot was hatched by Dolemite's rival, the diabolical Willie Green, who continues to corrupt the streets: selling dope to kids, providing gangs with guns, and even gunning down Dolemite's nephew. Dolemite's confidant and business partner, Queen Bee, has convinced the warden to give Dolemite his freedom on the condition that he investigates Willie Green and brings him down. This is a job for the bad, bad Dolemite.

I don't even know where to begin. There is so much to love about the movie. The horrible dialogue, the constant boom microphones dipping into frame, the shoddy editing…it all adds up to hilarity. The writing is atrocious and the movie constantly grinds to a halt as characters spout exposition, but it's OK because the performances are so bad that it feels like a joke. It's like watching an elementary school play as characters step on each other's lines or stumble over their dialogue. I'm guessing director D'Urville Martin wasn't interested in multiple takes when filming; it's the only explanation I can fathom for the amount of mistakes in the movie. To give you a frame of reference, the DVD case for the movie went so far as to list martial arts champion Howard Jackson (that's his credit…Martial Arts Champion) but couldn't be bothered to give mention of the cinematographer. I hope that puts their priorities into perspective for you here. Scenes are often left in wide master shots (with occasional close-ups) and the framing is often weird. I also noticed an odd tendency to hold unnaturally long at the end of scenes to watch characters wander out of frame or climb into their cars and ride off. It's like a real bad student film. Now, this movie is an action film so you've got to take a moment to show some love for the fight choreography here. Again, the fights are generally left to a wide master shot so you can see just how uncoordinated these performances are. Punches never come close to connecting and people can't even fall to the floor convincingly. There are even a few instances of Dolemite being shot (obviously at point-blank range) and, thanks to poor editing, he's perfectly fine (with the exception of the final fight).

I'm not sure if anyone in this movie has ever acted in a movie before, but it sure doesn't look like it. Rudy Ray Moore is the star here, bringing his Dolemite routine to the big screen. He's a smooth-talking pimp, often speaking in rhyme and even giving us a taste of his comedy routine in a random moment halfway through the movie. Moore was still finding his groove here and isn't nearly as insane as he'd become in his later movies. You can tell part of him is taking this role seriously and might even want to be seen as an action star. The film's director, D'Urville Martin, doubles as the villain Willie Green and, surprisingly, is the best performance in the movie. He's hilarious and, at points, even a little menacing. The rest of the performances range from the hilariously bad to the just plain terrible. Lady Reed is Queen Bee and she sounds as if she's reading the entire movie off cue cards. When she breaks the news to Dolemite that Willie Green murdered his nephew, she does so with all the emotion of your elderly grandmother reading a newspaper headline ("He wasn't bothering nobody…").

And then there are the characters that appear for no real apparent reason. What was the point of Reverend Gibbs? His character serves absolutely no purpose in the film other than to point Dolemite to some dock site where he finds drugs packed into fish, but no connection to any of the villains. Just drugs in fish. Gibbs is given 3 or 4 scenes and his entire purpose is to point Dolemite to a meaningless clue. But if I'm going to talk about pointless characters, I've got to bring up the best: the hamburger pimp. A drug addict with a taste for burgers, this dude is freaking hilarious. If the filmmakers were handing out screen-time to random characters, the hamburger pimp should've gotten more. With his hoppin' music and his crazy shuffle, I could watch an entire movie where he stars as Dolemite's sidekick (even if you can't understand a word he mumbles). There is too much to say about DOLEMITE than can fit in a single comment here so all I can do is recommend that you give this movie a shot. It's a classic movie that opened the door for Rudy Ray Moore's increasingly bizarre movie career.

And if you think this movie's strange, you need to watch it's sequel…THE HUMAN TORNADO!

A Poorly Made Blaxploitation Film

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 17 December 2018]

Having been setup for possession of stolen furs and narcotics a black pimp by the name of "Dolemite" (Rudy Ray Moore) is given a 20-year sentence with the expectation by those who framed him of never having to see him again. However, when new evidence emerges that Dolemite may be innocent he is released under the condition that he helps the F.B.I. catch those responsible. Needless to say, he is delighted to cooperate but soon finds that after 2 years in prison things have changed and another man named "Willie Green" (D'Urville Martin) has taken over most of his action. And Willie Green has a lot of connections and no intention of giving anything up. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a poorly made "Blaxploitation film" which suffered from bad acting, clumsy action scenes and an obviously low budget. No doubt it fit a certain niche in its time but that day has long since passed and I have rated this film accordingly. Below average.

You better hear my message, you honky rat-soup eatin muthf@@

[funkyfry · 10/10 · 9 October 2002]

Dolemite is, for me, an object of my deepest affection. It's got everything: a gang of karate-fighting prostitutes, Dolemite punching his fist through Willie Green's (director Martin) stomach, high pumps and 100 gallon dalmation-print hats. Moore's unique comedy raps, actually toasts, are close to the roots of hip hop. No wonder Dr. Dre mentioned "Dolemite" 3 times on his classic album "The Chronic." Add the best list of characters to ever grace a movie, like the horny preacher, the hamburger pimp and, of course, "the one who no one knows until it's time." Credit should be given for style to director D'Urville Martin, a fella who probly doesn't get as much attention as he should around film fan circles (I've been looking for a copy of his and Fred Williamsons' movies from the early 70s for years and can't find them).

A lot of people are really down on this movie and say it's really bad, and it is true that you can see boom mikes appearing everywhere (look to DP Nicholas Josef Von Sternberg, for whom I think this was a very early effort), there are a lot of things going for this movie. Number one, there is no other movie like it. Number two, you get to see Rudy Ray Moore do a (highly sanitized; everyone who HASN'T seen Moore's outrageous live act will have to use their imaginations) cinematic version of his toasts, plus him living the life of his comic book character superpimp come to life. The action scenes are pretty poor, but the characters' dialogue when they're talking trash more than makes up for it. It's full of strange little details (like the fact that the Hamburger Pimp is wearing a Dolemite T-shirt inside out -- was this intentional or did the guy just pick up whatever shirt was lying on the set and put it on?) that keep you coming back to watch it again and again.

At least I have.

it's a crazy ride that should have been crazier. i did ejnoy it nonetheless.

[quaseprovisorio · 6/10 · 5 July 2020]

Now, answers: is this a well shot movie? hell no. in a LOT of scenes we see the microphone captioning sound. in at least 8 or 9 scenes we can see it. is this move well cut, in order for the scene transictions to move smoothly? no. it has very rough cuts. is the screenplay good? somelines yeah, but the scenes should have been beter written in general. some of them are useless in plotwise terms. they don't add much to the story line which is: pimp/entertainer/spoken word artist gets released from prison in order to understand whos' dominating the drug and gun selling on his neighbourhood.

acting: is it good? nope. in some parts is laughable. rudy ray moore is not exactly the best actor in the world. he can't do many expressions or different voice tones. he kinda acts as if pain and glory are the same thing. the secondary cast is not better either. technically this movie has a huge amount of flaws. but the thing is: in this type of films it matters? honestly? not much.

and even if a movie is badly written, badly acted, badly shot it still can be entertaining. in this case not exactly in the "so bad it's good" category because i find a bunch of cool things here: technically the music and the costumes are top notch - dolemite is still a great character because he can express himself from the outside. the way he dresses, the way he speaks, the way he walks and fixes his hair. we can see his confidence just on the way he portraits himself, how he relates with others. the main issue for me in this film is not exactly the lack of techinque or the acting: i just wanted it to be more over the top than what it was.

i wanted more blood, more funky music, more memorable lines, more action less talking. that's where the movie lacked. this has some trash elements and is proud of it. this movie wants to be what it is: a cool piece of fun, very low budget, that doesn't give a crap about if it's well shot or acted, just wants to exist and mostly to be fun and entertaining. it achieves that? it does. but still evaluating on that premise (which i am) it still lacks more craziness.

but when it delivers oh boy...it is fun. most of the shooting scenes are really fun. it's not a type of film where we evaluate all the elements in order to perceive it as good or not: it's the type of movie to let go of all preassumptions and try to have fun with it. i had and probably will see this again and will check the sequel. not everyone will enjoy though. i just wanted more craziness in this. the rest is pretty good.

Dolemite is DynOmite as JJ from Good Times Would Holler

[iquine · 4/10 · 3 March 2020]

(Flash Review)

I only knew this movie existed because Netflix sort of remade it. I uncovered the original and watched it first. Hardened by life on the street as a pimp, Dolemite is released from prison to get back into the game to find out who killed his young, innocent cousin. Now he must find the facts. How will he navigate the street scene, while working for the cops, when he learns they also framed him and sent him to the clink for that 20 year stint he was serving? Turns out the cops planted drugs and illegal furs on him? Dolemite uses his old street savvy to not be a simple pawn. Overall, the acting is atrocious yet funny and Dolemite certainly is not shy with his use of profanity. Ha! It has a super funky theme song and score and classic 70s street styles. Turns out Rudy Ray Moore also is the father of rap music! Wow!