It was only a matter of time until we got here. We've been waiting for weeks to finally watch the Rudy Ray Moore classic, "Dolemite." As big fans of "Disco Godfather" and "Petey Wheatstraw" we were so ready. We figured out how to work Kast and made it happen.
In the beginning, Rudy is released from prison (in for theft of furs and drugs) and basically immediately murders three guys, although we as the audience are supposed to forget that for later when they are trying to arrest him for other things that he didn't do. It look a full fifteen minutes or so before we got our first rhyme, but he did two full routines in the movie anyway so it's all good. After one of them a woman actually said, "Let's have it for Rudy Ray!" which either means she forgot she was in a Dolemite movie or the scene was filmed independent of the film.
Although we are told early on that drugs and guns are being sold to kids, this ended up not being the plot. The first half is a lot of weirdness with the Hamburger Pimp and a preacher who's ready for 'the fourth war' and has plenty of guns in his congregation. The real plot is we have a conflict because Willie Green, Dolemite's rival, has gotten control of Dolemite's club, The Total Experience, while he was in jail. The actual process of getting it back isn't as complicated as you would think and mostly takes up only the second half of the film. All Dolemite's dancing girls have gotten martial arts training to fight for their club back but it's mostly Dolemite and his kicks that don't make contact saving the day. It actually ends with him pulling out Willie Green's guts. There's also a subplot with a corrupt politician in addition to the other two subplots based around fun characters and a fair amount of brothel moments.
While it's clear that Rudy Ray's movies get better over time, "Dolemite" is a classic for a reason. The budget for the clothes was clearly where most of the money went (well spent). The boom mic basically had it's own subplot too with how often it appeared, sometimes not physically but in shadow. There was also some solidly strange editing, the jewel probably being when the entire middle of a sex scene got cut out.
All in all, a great watch. I would recommend starting here and saving "Petey Wheastraw" and "Disco Godfather" for after because the weirdness only increases with time.
Spoon Rating: 7.5
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