Dolemite

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

For the mineral, see Dolomite.

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.

Characters

• Dolemite MOTHERFUCKA!! (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 segway Sedan DeVille in which stolen fur coats and a rooster,

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 Queenie) (Lady Reed): runs a whorehouse that references Dolemite as the 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 Total Experience" 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 is ripe, apprehends 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, and a second sequel, The Dolemite Explosion, is due to be released sometime in 2008.

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.

References in popular culture

• In the Kid-n-Play film House Party, Dolemite plays in the background during a scene.
• Mad TV 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. 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

External links

• Dolemite at IMDb
• 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