Dolemite

Dolemite
Original one-sheet poster for Dolemite
Directed by	D'Urville Martin
Produced by	Rudy Ray Moore
Written by	Rudy Ray Moore (story) Jerry Jones (screenplay)
Starring	Rudy Ray Moore D'Urville Martin Jerry Jones Lady Reed Hy Pyke West Gale William Bryant Vainus Rackstraw
Music by	Arthur Wright
Cinematography	Nicholas Josef von Sternberg
Editing by	Rex Lipton
Distributed by	Dimension Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	United States: July 1, 1975
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Followed by	The Human Tornado

Dolemite is a 1975 blaxploitation feature film, and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack.

Moore, who started his career as a stand-up comedian in the late 1960s, heard around that time a rhymed toast by a local homeless man about an urban hero named Dolemite, and decided to adopt the persona of Dolemite as an alter-ego in his act. He included the character on his 1970 debut album, Eat Out More Often, which reached the top 25 on the Billboard charts. He released several more comedy albums using this persona. In 1975, Moore decided to create a film about Dolemite, using many of his friends and fellow comedians as cast and crew.^[1] The film was directed by D'Urville Martin, who appears as the villain Willie Green.

Cast

• Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore): the protagonist of the movie. Dolemite is seen jailed in the beginning of the movie, followed by a flashback of detectives examining the trunk of his Cadillac Sedan DeVille in which stolen fur coats and drugs were found. It is obvious Dolemite was framed, but he spends time in jail regardless. Dolemite is later pardoned and released. Throughout the movie, as Dolemite attempts to rekindle his reputation on the streets and reclaim his pride and joy (the club referred to as "The Total Experience") from Willie Green, he is constantly having run-ins with a pair of bumbling detectives, Mitchell and White, who framed Dolemite before (as seen in the flashback), and who are hell-bent on getting Dolemite back into the slammer.

• Queen Bee (often called Qunte Bee) (Lady Reed): runs a whorehouse that references Dolemite as the part time owner on several occasions throughout the movie. Queen Bee is the only woman in Dolemite's household who Dolemite speaks to as an equal, rather than a pimp. While Queen Bee is very emotional about having Dolemite return home after time in jail, no reference of an intimate relationship is ever made during the film.

• Willie Green (D'Urville Martin): the antagonist. Willie Green is seen in the initial flashback as having a leading part in the framing of Dolemite. Willie Green takes over Dolemite's club "The Honkey Punch" while Dolemite is serving hard time. Willie Green and the city's mayor have a peculiar partnership. The mayor will abuse his office in helping Willie Green avoid problems with the law, while Willie Green promises black votes for the mayor's upcoming re-election.

• Reverend Gibbs (West Gale): a black separatist with many connections, who leads a fraudulent church. He tips off Dolemite regarding matters at the club and later is seen there with the Dolemite Girls karate-chopping one of Willie Green's thugs.

• Blakely (Jerry Jones): an FBI man who, when the time comes, apprehends the corrupt detectives Mitchell and White and the corrupt Mayor.

• Creeper (Vainus Rackstraw): better known as the Hamburger Pimp, he is recognized by his dingy "white-T", characteristic pimp stroll (as he pulls up his pants), and constant begging for spare change and free food.

Follow-ups

A sequel, The Human Tornado, was released in 1976.

In 2001, Dimension Films announced that there was a remake of Dolemite in production, starring LL Cool J in the lead role. However, details released about it signaled major differences that would severely tone down the adult (and possibly politically incorrect) nature of the original film, such as making Dolemite not a pimp, but rather an individual framed for a crime he had not committed.

Due to massive delays, LL Cool J is no longer attached to the project and Xenon Pictures secured the rights and developed a "Dolemite" remake script in 2009 with screenwriters Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus. Savidge and Wenkus had previously written an Eazy E/NWA biopic for New Line Cinema. ^[2]

References in popular culture

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

• In the Kid-n-Play film House Party, Kid's father is disappointed that his son would rather go to a party rather than watch Dolemite with him, claiming "You grew up on him."
• Madtv has featured sketches wherein Aries Spears portrays the Son of Dolemite, in what are parodies of the blaxploitation genre.
• Rudy Ray Moore also cameoed as the Dolemite character in the Insane Clown Posse film Big Money Hustlas. In the film he plays "the ghost of dolemite", despite (as character Sugar Bear points out) the fact that Dolemite wasn't dead.
• He also cameoed in the music video for Eric B. and Rakim's "In The Ghetto" (c. 1990).
• Parts of the movie Dolemite were used in Ol' Dirty Bastard's video "Got Your Money".
• In the film The Great White Hype, clips of the movie were shown as Damon Wayans's character watches Dolemite as his inspiration before a fight.
• Musician Scott Henderson's 1997 release Tore Down House uses samples from the movie on the leading track, titled "Dolemite".
• The Dolemite character provides intro tracks for several Busta Rhymes albums.
• Professional wrestler Craig Williams has a comical pimp persona similar to Dolemite, Human Tornado.
• An episode of Futurama references a fossil made of Dolemite as being able to survive contact with magma, describing it as a tough black mineral that doesn't cop out when the heat's all about.
• One of Clinton Portis's media characters is known as Dolemite Jenkins.
• Rock band The Independents have a song titled "Dolemite", on their album Do It Again, about the film.
• 311's song "Down" "....Lightning strikes yo we be in that violent force of light/Guaranteed to turn it out as bad as dolemite.."
• Snoop Doggy Dogg raps in Dr. Dre's song Nuthin' but a "G" Thang, "....pimpin hoes and clockin' a grip, like my name was Dolemite."
• There is a Los Angeles based Grindcore/Metal/Punk band called "The Dolemite Project".
• An episode of FOX's "Mad TV" that aired prior to the 1996 presidential election (hosted by Ice-T) included a sketch of Bob Dole appearing at a debate as a pimp. He introduced himself by saying, "Dolemite's my name and pimpin' D.C.'s my game."

References

1. ^ Dolemite Dot Com: A Bit of Explanation
2. ^ Near Misses: The 6 Worst Movies Hollywood Almost Made | Cracked.com

External links

• Dolemite at the Internet Movie Database
• Dolemite at Allmovie
• Dolemite.com - Rudy Ray Moore, Dolemite and blaxploitation fansite
• Reviews of Dolemite at Rotten Tomatoes
• 2006 SuicideGirls interview with Rudy Ray Moore by Daniel Robert Epstein