Sunday, August 17 screening: Dolemite (1975) d. D'Urville Martin

Within the first ten minutes of D’Urville Martin’s Dolemite, our hero and titular protagonist is released from jail on the condition that he proves he was framed for the crimes of stealing furs and narcotics possession. He then proceeds to shoot several crooked cops dead and goes back to his life of being a professional pimp. Also, all his prostitutes are trained in kung fu.

So, that’s the kind of outrageousness we’re working with here. Dolemite is now considered a classic of blaxploitation, a film genre that emerged in the 1970s characterized by its focus on black protagonists in gritty urban settings, often blending action, comedy and occasionally social commentary. But at the time it was released, Dolemite was intended to be a satire of the genre, playing up the mythical qualities of characters in Shaft or Super Fly to their ridiculous extremes. Its main reason for existence was to highlight star and co-writer Rudy Ray Moore who portrays Dolemite, his then famous stage persona, a pimp who may or may not have invented rap with his vulgar rhyme-based boasts.

A lot of blacksploitation films can be called “low budget,” but “amateurish” might be a better descriptor for Dolemite, a film with lots of long awkward pauses, jarring cutting choices, and closeups where actors seem not sure if they’re even being filmed. There’s also lots of comically inept attempts at “kung fu.” The appearance of boom mics being lowered “accidently” into the frame has become a cliché gag in movies parodying cheap film productions, but that error actually happens on screen in Dolemite along with other bizarre framing choices that feel almost surreal.

That said, Dolemite doesn’t quite belong to the so-bad-its-good flavor of film appreciation, mostly because everyone involved seems to have a great time knowing how ridiculous the movie they’re making is. One extended sequence of the film is just Moore presumably doing his standup comedy routine for a captive audience that appears out of nowhere, before going back to its nonsensical story of corrupt police and prostitute assassins. It’s best to appreciate Dolemite in the same spirit as the people who made it, as a goof of a movie designed to laugh along at and with.

If you like Dolemite, check out…

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)

d. Melvin Van Peebles

Audiences only familiar with blaxploitation through its colorful satires might be taken back by this dark early, chapter of the genre which has an onscreen dedication to “all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man.” Unlike Dolemite, who never seems to be without a quippy line to utter, Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback hardly says a word of dialogue. Baadasssss Song follows Sweet Sweetback on the run after he kills two white police officers who are brutalizing a black activist, turning him into a revolutionary symbol of resistance against systemic oppression. Like Dolemite, Baadasssss Song is extremely low-budget, with Peebles writing, shooting, starring and editing the film in under a month after no studio would touch the project. The result is a startlingly original vision, as uncompromising then, as it is now.

 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)

d. Keenen Ivory Wayans

On the extreme lighter end of the genre, you have this debut film from Keenen Ivory Wayans, not so much a satire of blaxploitation, but an outright parody. Wayans grew up loving blaxploitation films, which were often the only way you could see positive portrayals of black characters on screen. For his big screen debut, he both played loving tribute, and mocked the genre, while gathering stars of blaxploitation movies like Isaac Hayes and Jim Brown. Like Dolemite, an understanding of the genre isn’t required, but certainly adds to the humor of the viewing experience.

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

d. Craig Brewer

Eddie Murphy stars in this biopic of Rudy Ray Moore which chronicles the evolution of the Dolemite character through Moore’s comedy records and behind-the-scenes depictions of the making of Dolemite. True to the nature of its source material, though, Dolemite Is My Name is a lot more focused on being an entertaining good time than a true, accurate biopic. Murphy is fantastic as Moore, but Wesley Snipes is the real standout in the ensemble playing Dolemite director and co-star D’Urville Martin.