Dolemite (1975)

Director:

D'Urville Martin

Writers:

Jerry Jones (writer)
Rudy Ray Moore (story)

Release Date:

July 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

With his All-Girl Army of Kung Fu Killers.

Plot:

Dolemite is a pimp who was set up by Willie Greene and the cops, who have planted drugs, stolen furs...

Plot Keywords:

Cult Favorite | Racial Slur | African American | Surrealism | One Word Title

Cast

Rudy Ray Moore	...	Dolemite
D'Urville Martin	...	Willie Green
Jerry Jones	...	Blakeley
Lady Reed	...	Queen Bee
Brenda DeLong	...	Dolemite Girl
Terri Mosley	...	Dolemite Girl
Marilyn Shaw	...	Dolemite Girl
Lynell Smith	...	Dolemite Girl
Vera Howard	...	Dolemite Girl
Joy Martin	...	Dolemite Girl
Jana Bisbing	...	Dolemite Girl
Brenda Banks	...	Dolemite Girl
Pat Haywood	...	Dolemite Girl
René Van Clief	...	Dolemite Girl
Pat Jones	...	Dolemite Girl

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Dunbar Hotel - 4225 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Comedian Intl Enterprise Productions (C.I.E.)

Trivia:

Dolemite is a play on dolomite, a naturally occurring mineral that consists of calcium and magnesium.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dolemite karate kicks the two detectives as they walk away from him. The first detective that gets kicked gets knocked out and falls on his back with both of his legs flat to the ground. In the next shot, Dolemite walks over to them and pours the cocaine on them, and the guy that was knocked out now has his right knee bent up.

Quotes:

Dolemite: Damn! Looks like my women is on time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Alien Space Avenger (1989)

Solid genre film but no more than that

Thanks to the persistence of Queen Bee, Dolemite is proved innocent of a crime he was framed for (possession of stolen furs and a cool half mil of drugs). Back on the streets he finds that his "normal" activities have been overtaken by a much more deadly and aggressive crime wave, with drugs, guns and murder on the streets where pimping and simple old fashioned hustling should be. The ringmaster is Willie Green and his political backers. Dolemite is targeted as soon as he walks free and, with his staple of martial-arts-trainer hunnies, attempts to push back against the crooked cops, the violent criminals and, generally, the man.

I have not ever seen any of the Dolemite films beyond the same experience the majority of other white people have had – as part of ODB's video, so I decided to watch this film recently as part of dipping into many genres to make my viewing habits more interesting than whatever rubbish is spat out as that weekend's "big" movie (although I still do that too). Anyway, Dolemite delivers what I expected it to deliver but tha is not particularly a good thing. In terms of the genre it seems to have seized on the elements of blaxploitation that are superficial and appeal to the audience rather than what makes for a "good" film. As a result the plot is rather a slapdash affair with anything that really moves things beyond setting up a basic scene.

These basic scenes are mostly quite fun in a very dated way. They are scenes of out of shape men with beautiful and slim black and white women, scenes of unconvincing martial arts "action" and others of Dolemite talking tough to anyone around him. None of it is any "good" but in the context of the genre it does enough to provide what the majority of viewers will have come in the door expecting to see. In this regard it is trashy stuff but still nothing that makes me understand why this film is so famous even within the genre. Sure, it is solid and trashy like many others but it certainly doesn't compare to the stronger films (ie that are actually stronger as films, not just blaxploitation films) in the genre.

The cast match the "genre basics" feel. Moore looks half-awake at times, only really coming strong to bark some swear words at white men (albeit a crowd pleaser). He is an OK lead but didn't have the charisma to make me really get into his funky character. Martin is nicely slimy as Green. The lead women is solid in Reed's Queen Bee but it will be the many attractive women that stick in the mind – if only any of them had been allowed to act a bit or be used better in the plot then maybe they would have helped the film somewhat. The soundtrack is pretty good (although not brilliant) while the direction is kindly described as "serviceable", with nothing special and far too many "goofs" (like the many booms in shot for example).

Dolemite is a solid genre film but nothing special outside of home turf. It is reasonably funky with lots of pimps, attractive women, sex and "action" – all of which is basic but again nothing special. Not sure what about this film made it stick in the mind for so long as, although it is quite good as a genre film, there are much better films to be had in the blaxploitation field.