Some time ago, I thought it'd be cool and funny to do a double feature post on Ed Wood Jr.'s immortal "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and Tim Burton's loving homage to its director, "Ed Wood"......
I still do promise those reviews, as soon as I can track down a copy or streaming availability of "Ed Wood". In the meantime, here's almost the exact same thing...... first .the legendarily laughable, but iconic film from Rudy Ray Moore, as tireless, and ambitious a striving creator as Ed Wood ever was. And I'm pairing it with "Dolemite Is My Name".... as loving and funny a biographical tribute to Moore as Tim Burton's affectionate bio of Wood.
Dolemite (1975) was urban, X-rated comedian Moore's breakthrough into the burgeoning pile of 'blaxsploitation' movies that flourished throughout the 1970's. Produced on a shoestring budget and slapped together with Moore's collection of friends and assorted oddballs, it's an unintentionally riotous experience to sit through........filled with amateur acting and slapdash production values, it more than rivaled and exceeded Ed Wood's output in its sheer ridiculous audacity.
But as foolish and silly as the film is, you may find yourself laughing with it as much as you laugh at it.....
Moore curated and collected urban tall tales from street people to fashion his signature creation, the rapper/gangster/comedian Dolemite. Taking no crap from anyone, be it the law or rival hoods, he struts around in spectacular fur-lined outfits while he karates, kung fu's and shoots down a host of enemies.....and Dolemite's sexual prowess can literally bring the furniture down around his head.
And it mattered not to black audiences that Moore's clumsy, arthritic attempts at kung fu kicks rarely made actual contact with his opponents.....or that he and the rest of cast recited their lines much like elementary school students performing at their first class pageant,,,(with clear views of the crew's boom mike hovering over their heads...)
Moore glided on his own self contained bubble of brazen self-confidence, and no one could resist the obvious enthusiastic joy he took in making the movie, no matter how shipshod it looked And he surely knew how to stop the show all by himself......by launching into one of his X-rated, side-splitting poem-stories punctuated by bongo drumming. (Watching these two bravura performances in the film, you can see Moore actually birthing the embryonic beginnings of rap music.....)
More 'Dolemite' sequels and even greater success came to Moore, who passed at age 81 in 2008. Certainly not forgotten, though......since 44 years after the release of of 'Dolemite', came-
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)......even with the overload of Rudy Ray Moore's most favored four letter word, this film's still reminded me of those appreciative, celebratory biographies that Hollywood used to make about its most beloved public figures.
In perfectly recreating Moore's life story and the rocky road leading him to "Dolemite", director Craig Brewer and star Eddie Murphy deliver everything this saga needs........heartfelt drama, raunchy laughs and yes, a sweet innocence in the depiction of all the folks who hopped on to Moore's rollercoaster ride to fame and fortune.....
Eddie Murphy seizes and totally owns the role of Moore like it's the role he'd been waiting all his life to play. And who can blame him? Rudy Ray Moore's life contained everything that goes into the narrative of any creative artist.......dogged perseverance in the face of constant soul-crushing rejection, brutal reversals of fortune in the struggle to achieve one's dreams.....and the joyous satisfaction of ultimate success......
In case that last description sounds too heavy and pretentious, let me not forget to mention the movie's funny as hell, with a dream cast of supporting comedic actors to back up Murphy ...(including .Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Titus Burgess and Chris Rock).
And the film's most surprisingly deadpan, witty turn, comes from Wesley Snipes as D'Urville Martin, the already established character actor ("Rosemary's Baby") who took on the dauntless, constantly chaotic task of directing 'Dolemite'. (as well having rubber intestines pulled out of his stomach while playing Dolemite's nemesis in the film>>>)
BQ most heartily recommends these films as one brilliant double-whammy to sit through......you can LOL to your heart's content at the raggedy, rowdy 'Dolemite' and then watch with fascination as Eddie Murphy and company brilliantly bring to life the backstory of Rudy Ray Moore and his distinctive first film. See 'em both and I promise a guaranteed 4 star (****) experience.
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