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Dolemite
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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.
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Encyclopedia
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. 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 "Club Donkey Punch") 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 Dimension Films has since given the rights to the project to Fallout Entertainment.
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