80-454: Dolemite is a 1975 American blaxploitation crime comedy 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 a rhymed toast about an urban hero named Dolemite from a regular at the record store where he worked, and decided to adopt the persona as an alter ego in his act. The film focuses on
160-462: A sequel if the film did well. White hinted that a sequel was being written during an interview on G4 's Attack of the Show , and stated in an April 2012 interview that he hoped filming would begin at the end of that year. Black Dynamite 2 was slated for production in 2021 from Jaigantic Studios, with White writing and directing. In July 2023, the trailer for Outlaw Johnny Black was released,
240-641: A 'G' Thang ", Chilly B of Newcleus raps that he "learned to rock like Dolemite" in "Jam On It", and the character has also been name dropped in songs by Wu Tang Clan , Eazy-E , Beastie Boys , Lupe Fiasco , Fugees , and A$ AP Rocky . Additionally, a number of rappers, including Too $ hort , Luther Campbell , Big Daddy Kane , and Del the Funky Homosapien have given testimony to Moore's influence on them and on rap generally. The video for " Got Your Money " by Ol' Dirty Bastard and Kelis features clips of this movie. Comedian Aries Spears riffed on
320-674: A 1930s twist. In 2004, Mario Van Peebles released Baadasssss! , about the making of his father Melvin's movie (with Mario playing Melvin). 2007's American Gangster , based on the true story of heroin dealer Frank Lucas , takes place in the early 1970s in Harlem and has many elements similar in style to blaxploitation films, specifically its prominent featuring of the song " Across 110th Street ". Blaxploitation films have profoundly impacted contemporary hip-hop culture . Several prominent hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg , Big Daddy Kane , Ice-T , Slick Rick , and Too Short , have adopted
400-481: A Jewish protagonist and was jokingly referred to by its director as a "Jewsploitation" film. Robert Townsend 's comedy Hollywood Shuffle features a young black actor who is tempted to take part in a white-produced blaxploitation film. The satirical book Our Dumb Century features an article from the 1970s entitled "Congress Passes Anti-Blaxploitation Act: Pimps, Players Subject to Heavy Fines". FOX 's network television comedy, MADtv , has frequently spoofed
480-478: A blaxploitation reference. He has an afro, sideburns, and a mustache. He carries swords, dresses in stylish 1970s clothing, and says that he hunts "Blaculas". A scene from the Season 9 episode of The Simpsons , " Simpson Tide ", shows Homer Simpson watching Exploitation Theatre. A voice-over announces fake movie titles such as The Blunch Black of Blotre Blame. Martha Southgate 's 2005 novel Third Girl from
560-449: A cult following with black viewers. Dolemite , less serious in tone and produced as a spoof, centers around a sexually active black pimp played by Rudy Ray Moore, who based the film on his stand-up comedy act. A sequel, The Human Tornado , followed. Later spoofs parodying the blaxploitation genre include I'm Gonna Git You Sucka , Pootie Tang , Undercover Brother , Black Dynamite , and The Hebrew Hammer , which featured
640-524: A fictional character created for the video game series Fatal Fury , is a prime example of foreign black stereotypes. The sub-cult movie short Gayniggers from Outer Space is a blaxploitation-like science fiction oddity directed by Danish filmmaker, DJ, and singer Morten Lindberg . Jefferson Twilight, a character in The Venture Bros. , is a parody of the comic-book character Blade (a black, half human, half-vampire vampire hunter), as well as
720-472: A fictional mineral called "Dolemite", where Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth describes it as "the tough black mineral that won't cop out when there's heat all about". Blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement , the black power movement , and
800-481: A kung-fu battle. Nixon gets the upper hand when he dishonestly pulls John Wilkes Booth 's gun, but the ghost of Abraham Lincoln appears and disarms Nixon with kung-fu. After defeating Nixon in a fair fight, Black Dynamite threatens to expose Nixon as the subject of a series of bondage and cross-dressing photographs. The president begs to be killed but Black Dynamite refuses to give him "the easy way out" and has Nixon watch out for his people. The film concludes with
880-557: A low budget that they had to "think in the same ways that they had to think" in the classic blaxploitation movies. Sanders and White had a difficult time keeping the modern world out of the movie. Sanders was worried about anything modern that could destroy "the whole illusion". White worked individually with actors to keep their tone correct. As an homage to the low production values and "one take only" style of blaxploitation films, many filming errors were done on purpose. For example, in one scene where Black Dynamite stands up from his desk,
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#1732771857843960-439: A mid-1970s blaxploitation television series. In the catalytic scene of True Romance , the characters watch the movie The Mack . John Singleton 's Shaft (2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson , is a modern-day interpretation of a classic blaxploitation film. The 1997 film Hoodlum starring Laurence Fishburne portrays a fictional account of black mobster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson and recasts gangster blaxploitation with
1040-647: A mock nonprofit organization called "Fight Smack in the Orphanage" (FSITO). Black Dynamite had a limited release to only 70 theaters and a run time of two weeks. The film grossed $ 131,862 in its opening weekend, and its two-week total was $ 242,578. This placed it at number 264 for all films released in 2009. Black Dynamite received positive reviews and currently holds an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A loving and meticulous send-up of 1970s blaxploitation movies, Black Dynamite
1120-492: A monologue from Black Dynamite on his quest for justice as Gloria and Pat Nixon watch on rapturously. "It's just a little too badass. That's the tone of the movie. Our humor comes from the fact that the movie is just a little too badass." Scott Sanders, director/writer Michael Jai White originally thought of the idea for Black Dynamite around April 2006, while listening to James Brown 's " Super Bad ". White had also held blaxploitation movie parties where he picked up
1200-435: A professional comedian , pimp , and nightclub owner. He serves a prison sentence after being framed by dirty cops , but he is released by the governor and tasked with dealing with his hometown's illegal drug trade . He uses his prostitutes as a private army , since they are kung fu -trained martial artists . Dolemite is a pimp , comedian , and nightclub owner who is serving twenty years in prison after being set up by
1280-600: A protracted battle which kills Saheed, the three militants, and Bullhorn, Black Dynamite discovers the true identity of the mastermind of the entire operation - the White House . Black Dynamite then travels to the White House (in the process, Cream Corn is killed by the Secret Service ) and confronts President Richard Nixon , who has been giving the orders from the beginning. Black Dynamite engages Nixon in
1360-444: A quote from the film: "I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is my name, and f***in' up motha f***as is my game!" The film The Great White Hype shows the love scene from Dolemite as the grim reaper roper (Damon Wayans) is preparing for the main fight. He refuses to fight until he sees the scene and is angry when his trainer shuts off the film. Snoop Dogg mentions Dolemite in his final verse on Dr. Dre 's 1992 single " Nuthin' but
1440-472: A red boom microphone appears above his head (which was common in Rudy Ray Moore films, such as Dolemite ). Some of the actors recite their stage directions before their intended dialogue; in one scene, an actor verbalizes the stage direction written into a film script ("the militants turn startled"), and continues saying the scripted dialogue "How did you get in here?" (which causes Ferrante Jones,
1520-430: A rival, Willie Green ( D'Urville Martin ), and framed by detectives Mitchell and White, at the direction of the mayor ( Hy Pyke ). Released by the governor thanks to lobbying by fellow pimp "Queen Bee" (Lady Reed), Dolemite is freed in order to discover the source of the out of control drug problem in the "Fourth Ward" of the city, and take revenge on the corruption that put him in prison. He rekindles his reputation on
1600-488: A similar scene in Foxy Brown , in which Pam Grier hides a small semi-automatic pistol in her Afro. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force series has a recurring character called "Boxy Brown" – a play on Foxy Brown. An imaginary friend of Meatwad , Boxy Brown is a cardboard box with a crudely drawn face with a French cut that dons an afro. Whenever Boxy speaks, '70s funk music, typical of blaxploitation films, plays in
1680-404: A staging of Mozart 's opera Don Giovanni in the manner of a blaxploitation film, set in contemporary Spanish Harlem, with African-American singers portraying the anti-heroes as street-thugs, killing by gunshot rather than with a sword, using recreational drugs, and partying almost naked. It was later released on commercial video and can be seen on YouTube . A 2016 video game, Mafia III ,
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#17327718578431760-556: Is a kind of blaxploitation Western . Some of the later, blaxploitation-influenced movies such as Jackie Brown (1997), Undercover Brother (2002), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), and Django Unchained (2012) feature pop culture nods to the genre. The parody Undercover Brother , for example, stars Eddie Griffin as an afro -topped agent for a clandestine organization satirically known as
1840-505: Is funny enough for the frat house and clever enough for film buffs." On Metacritic , Black Dynamite has a 65/100 rating, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Owen Gleiberman wrote in Entertainment Weekly , " Black Dynamite blends satire, nostalgia, and cinema deconstruction into a one-of-a-kind comedy high", noting Sanders captured the language and feel of blaxploitation. Roger Ebert awarded
1920-638: Is historically linked to the slavesploitation subgenre. By far, the best-known and best-studied exemplar of slavesploitation is Mandingo , a 1957 novel which was adapted into a 1961 play and a 1975 film . Indeed, Mandingo was so well known that a contemporary reviewer of Die the Long Day , a 1972 novel by Orlando Patterson , called it an example of the "Mandingo genre". The film, panned on its release, has been subject to widely divergent critical assessments. Robin Wood , for instance, argued in 1998 that it
2000-628: Is no truly equal "Black Hollywood" as evidenced by the " Oscars So White " scandal in 2015 that caused uproar when no black actors were nominated for " Best Actor " at the Academy Awards. Slavesploitation, a subgenre of blaxploitation in literature and film, flourished briefly in the late 1960s and 1970s. As its name suggests, the genre is characterized by sensationalistic depictions of slavery. Abrams, arguing that Quentin Tarantino 's Django Unchained (2012) finds its historical roots in
2080-533: Is set in the year 1968 and revolves around Lincoln Clay, a mixed-race African-American orphan raised by "black mob" . After the murder of his surrogate family at the hands of the Italian mafia , Lincoln Clay seeks vengeance on those who took away the only thing that mattered to him. The notoriety of the blaxploitation genre has led to many parodies. The earliest attempts to mock the genre, Ralph Bakshi 's Coonskin and Rudy Ray Moore 's Dolemite , date back to
2160-630: Is the "greatest film about race ever made in Hollywood , certainly prior to Spike Lee and in some respects still". Blaxploitation films have had an enormous and complicated influence on American cinema. Filmmaker and exploitation film fan Quentin Tarantino , for example, has made numerous references to the blaxploitation genre in his films. An early blaxploitation tribute can be seen in the character of "Lite", played by Sy Richardson , in Repo Man (1984). Richardson later wrote Posse (1993), which
2240-532: The "B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D." . Likewise, Austin Powers in Goldmember co-stars Beyoncé Knowles as the Tamara Dobson / Pam Grier -inspired heroine, Foxxy Cleopatra . In the 1977 parody film The Kentucky Fried Movie , a mock trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz depicts another Grier-like action star married to a rabbi . In a scene in Reservoir Dogs , the protagonists discuss Get Christie Love! ,
2320-534: The Black Panthers spurred African-American artists to reclaim the power of depiction of their ethnicity, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for African-American students to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin ,
2400-752: The Harlem underworld characters in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), Jim Kelly 's character in Enter the Dragon (1973) and Fred Williamson 's character in The Inglorious Bastards (1978). Afeni Shakur claimed that every aspect of culture (including cinema) in the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by the Black Power movement . Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was one of
2480-597: The Northeast or West Coast mainly take place in poor urban neighborhoods. Pejorative terms for white characters, such as " cracker " and " honky ", are commonly used. Blaxploitation films set in the South often deal with slavery and miscegenation . The genre's films are often bold in their statements and use violence, sex, drug trafficking and other shocking qualities to provoke the audience. The films usually portray black protagonists overcoming " The Man " or emblems of
Dolemite - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-521: The Rudy Ray Moore -created franchise Dolemite , with a series of sketches performed by comic actor Aries Spears , in the role of "The Son of Dolemite". Other sketches include the characters " Funkenstein ", " Dr. Funkenstein " and more recently Condoleezza Rice as a blaxploitation superhero. A recurring theme in these sketches is the inexperience of the cast and crew in the blaxploitation era, with emphasis on ridiculous scripting and shoddy acting, sets, costumes, and editing. The sketches are testaments to
2640-540: The boom mic at the top of the frame frequently (with the correct matte in a theatrical presentation, this area would have been covered). Over the years, the appearance of the boom mic due to the oversight during the VHS and DVD transfer was the source of amusement by viewers, and in acknowledgement of this, the Blu-ray also features an open matte version as an alternate "boom mic" presentation. A sequel, The Human Tornado ,
2720-484: The "Annual Players Ball ", has become an often-referenced pop culture icon—most recently by Chappelle's Show , where it was parodied as the "Playa Hater's Ball". The genre's overseas influence extends to artists such as Norway's hip-hop duo Madcon . In Michael Chabon 's novel Telegraph Avenue , set in 2004, two characters are former blaxploitation stars. In 1980, opera director Peter Sellars (not to be confused with actor Peter Sellers ) produced and directed
2800-441: The "funny inconsistencies" in the films. White rented costumes, photographed himself and showed it to Sanders who was attracted to the idea. The same blue costume on White's photograph was used in the final scene of the film. The original trailer was recorded even before the film went into production in order to raise money. It incorporated scenes from old blaxploitation movies with old voice overs from Adolph Caesar . The trailer
2880-565: The 1970s. The film was then converted to digital for editing. The filmmakers supplemented their shoot with period stock footage from Sony Pictures Stock Footage, using films such as Missing in Action , Charlie's Angels , and Police Woman . Black Dynamite was shot in the Leimert Park , Ladera Heights , and Angeles Vista sections of Los Angeles over twenty days, with several green-screen days and one reshoot day. The film had such
2960-568: The Dolemite character during his time on MadTV . Schoolly D 's "Signifying Rapper" was inspired by Moore's version. A sample of Dolemite was used as the intro for the song "Wit My Crew x 1987" by Lil Uzi Vert , included on his 2015 mixtape Luv Is Rage . Two samples of Dolemite appear in the Scott Henderson track of the same name, from his Tore Down House album. The Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark" makes reference to
3040-655: The Left is set in Hollywood during the era of blaxploitation films and references many blaxploitation films and stars such as Pam Grier and Coffy . Black Dynamite Black Dynamite is a 2009 American blaxploitation action comedy film starring Michael Jai White , Tommy Davidson , and Salli Richardson . The film was directed by Scott Sanders and co-written by White, Sanders, and Byron Minns, who also co-stars. The plot centers on former CIA agent Black Dynamite, who must avenge his brother's death while cleaning
3120-504: The United States has been controversial. Some held that the blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, but others accused the movies of perpetuating common white stereotypes about black people . As a result, many called for the end of the genre. The NAACP , Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Urban League joined to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Their influence in
3200-465: The actor playing "Black Dynamite," to break character and look offscreen to see if the director will realize the error and call "cut" - which the unseen director does not do). During casting, White sent Arsenio Hall the script, and "when he read that there's a Captain Kangaroo pimp in this thing," he accepted the role. Adrian Younge plays all instruments and wrote the lyrics to every song on
3280-617: The background. The cardboard box also has a confrontational attitude and dialect similar to many heroes of this film genre. Some of the TVs found in the action video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne feature a Blaxploitation-themed parody of the original Max Payne game called Dick Justice , after its main character. Dick behaves much like the original Max Payne (down to the "constipated" grimace and metaphorical speech) but wears an afro and mustache and speaks in Ebonics . Duck King ,
Dolemite - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-486: The blaxploitation era, such as Rudy Ray Moore , Antonio Fargas , Dick Anthony Williams and Pam Grier all make cameo appearances. In one scene, Martin, in character as aging pimp "Jerome", refers to Pam Grier as " Sheba, Baby " in reference to her 1975 blaxploitation feature film of the same name. In the movie Leprechaun in the Hood , a character played by Ice-T pulls a baseball bat from his Afro. This scene alludes to
3440-479: The bottom of Jimmy's murder, he finds out that his brother was actually working undercover for the CIA. Black Dynamite also discovers the shady organization is filling the black orphanages with heroin . He declares war on local drug dealers and successfully cleans up the streets, earning him the affection of Gloria, a Black Power activist who works at the local orphanage. After discovering the government's involvement in
3520-498: The character of Dolemite in his stand-up comedy routines, and the character later appeared on Moore's 1970 debut album, Eat Out More Often , which reached the top 25 on the Billboard 200 . He released several more comedy albums using this persona. In 1975, Moore decided to create a film about Dolemite, paying for most of the production out of his own pocket, and using many of his friends and fellow comedians as cast and crew. The film
3600-404: The drug ring, Black Dynamite steals the ledger belonging to corrupt Congressman James which details illegal shipments to a warehouse. Black Dynamite and his team (consisting of close friend Bullhorn, street hustler Cream Corn, militant leader Saheed, and three militants) storm the warehouse to capture a big shipment. They learn of a top-secret operation called "Code Kansas", but there are no drugs in
3680-403: The example set by Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song , many blaxploitation films feature funk and soul jazz soundtracks with heavy bass , funky beats and wah-wah guitars. These soundtracks are notable for complexity that was not common to the radio-friendly funk tracks of the 1970s. They also often feature a rich orchestration which included flutes and violins. Blaxploitation was one of
3760-456: The film three stars out of four, and said, " Black Dynamite gets it mostly right, and when it's wrong, it's wrong on purpose and knows just what it's doing." He added that the film meticulously reproduces 1970s blaxploitation and brings back much-needed gratuitous nudity. A.O. Scott of The New York Times considered Black Dynamite would be a better "five-minute clip on YouTube" than a feature film. Scott wrote, "A boom mike drifts down into
3840-591: The film won the Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival , beating The Hurt Locker among other films. On August 25, 2009, it was announced that Apparition, a new distributor headed by Bill Pohlad and Bob Berney, would handle the film's domestic release. A viral campaign was launched on the web prior to the film's general release, spearheaded by
3920-450: The film would not hold audience's attention because among all the detail there was no real story. Black Dynamite was released on February 16, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray . Both releases contain an audio commentary , deleted scenes , a "making-of" featurette, and a Comic-Con Q&A panel. The Blu-ray has an extra featurette and trivia track. An animated spin-off of the film was produced for Adult Swim , with animation production by
4000-452: The film. To record the score, Younge used vintage tape recording equipment and then sent it to be digitally transferred. The film's theme song is "Dynomite" by Sir Charles Hughes; its chorus plays nearly every time Black Dynamite appears or whenever a punch line is delivered. Black Dynamite premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival , where Sony Worldwide Acquisitions picked it up for distribution for "nearly $ 2 million". On June 14,
4080-590: The first film categories to have female leads portray brave, heroic, active protagonists. Actresses such as Pam Grier in Coffy and Gloria Hendry in Black Belt Jones opened the door for actresses to become action stars which inspired later films such as Kill Bill and Set It Off . Following the popularity of these films in the 1970s, movies within other genres began to feature black characters with stereotypical blaxploitation characteristics, such as
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#17327718578434160-496: The first films to incorporate black power ideology and permit black actors to be the stars of their own narratives, rather than being relegated to the typical roles available to them (such as the " mammy " figure and other low-status characters). Films such as Shaft brought the black experience to film in a new way, allowing black political and social issues that had been ignored in cinema to be explored. Shaft and its protagonist, John Shaft, brought African-American culture to
4240-669: The frame; an actor recites stage directions along with his lines. The camera zooms, pans and shifts focus as if it were being wielded by an optometrist on a cocaine binge. The acting is stiff, the dialogue painfully self-conscious, the action sequences choreographed and edited to look as cartoonish as possible. All of which is fun, for a while, in an academic kind of way." In a 2012 interview, "Black Dynamite" responded to Scott, saying "Well, obviously A.O. stands for 'asshole's opinion,' 'cause we here talking about it right now. Damn movie's been tweeted about every two minutes since 2009." James Greenberg writing for The Hollywood Reporter believed
4320-481: The genre's glorification of stereotypical "criminal" behavior. Alongside accusations of exploiting stereotypes, the NAACP also criticized the blaxploitation genre of exploiting the black community and culture of America, by creating films for a profit that those communities would never see, despite being the vastly misrepresented main focus of many blaxploitation film plots. Many film professionals still believe that there
4400-484: The genre's heyday in 1975. Coonskin was intended to deconstruct racial stereotypes, from early minstrel show stereotypes to more recent stereotypes found in blaxploitation film itself. The work stimulated great controversy even before its release when the Congress of Racial Equality challenged it. Even though distribution was handed to a smaller distributor who advertised it as an exploitation film, it soon developed
4480-439: The institutional oppression of African-American culture and history. Later films such as Super Fly softened the rhetoric of black power, encouraging resistance within the capitalist system rather than a radical transformation of society. Super Fly still embraced the black nationalist movement in its argument that black and white authority cannot coexist easily. The genre's role in exploring and shaping race relations in
4560-487: The invention of the blaxploitation genre, although Cotton Comes to Harlem was released the prior year. Blaxploitation films were also the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music . [S]upercharged, bad-talking, highly romanticized melodramas about Harlem superstuds, the pimps, the private eyes and the pushers who more or less singlehandedly make whitey's corrupt world safe for black pimping, black private-eyeing and black pushing. Blaxploitation films set in
4640-519: The late 1970s contributed to the genre's demise. Literary critic Addison Gayle wrote in 1974, "The best example of this kind of nihilism / irresponsibility are the Black films; here is freedom pushed to its most ridiculous limits; here are writers and actors who claim that freedom for the artist entails exploitation of the very people to whom they owe their artistic existence." Films such as Super Fly and The Mack received intense criticism not only for
4720-519: The liquor's effect, is killed to put him out of his misery. Returning to the warehouse, Black Dynamite finds O'Leary is part of the evil plan but is just following orders. He kills O'Leary before acquiring his next lead to find the source of the "Code Kansas" plan. Black Dynamite heads to Kung Fu Island, where he discovers that his old nemesis, Fiendish Dr. Wu, is responsible for creating the secret formula found in Anaconda Malt Liquor. In
4800-507: The mainstream world. Sweetback and Shaft were both influenced by the black power movement, containing Marxist themes, solidarity and social consciousness alongside the genre-typical images of sex and violence. Knowing that film could bring about social and cultural change, the Black Power movement seized the genre to highlight black socioeconomic struggles in the 1970s; many such films contained black heroes who were able to overcome
4880-419: The money for this." Once financing was secured, writing the script took about three weeks. During the writing process, Minns' almost "encyclopedic knowledge" of blaxploitation helped them produce the script more quickly. Cinematographer Shawn Maurer shot Black Dynamite on Super 16 Color Reversal Kodak film stock to get the high contrast and saturated look common in many low-budget Blaxploitation films of
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#17327718578434960-568: The no-nonsense pimp persona popularized first by ex-pimp Iceberg Slim 's 1967 book Pimp and subsequently by films such as Super Fly , The Mack , and Willie Dynamite . In fact, many hip-hop artists have paid tribute to pimping within their lyrics (most notably 50 Cent 's hit single " P.I.M.P. ") and have openly embraced the pimp image in their music videos , which include entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewelry (known as " bling "), and luxury Cadillacs (referred to as " pimpmobiles "). The most famous scene of The Mack , featuring
5040-504: The plantation as one of the main origins of boxing as a sport in the U.S. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black film makers, particularly Spike Lee ( Do the Right Thing ), John Singleton ( Boyz n the Hood ) , and Allen and Albert Hughes ( Menace II Society ) focused on black urban life in their movies. These directors made use of blaxploitation elements while incorporating implicit criticism of
5120-520: The poor production quality of the films, with obvious boom mike appearances and intentionally poor cuts and continuity. Another of FOX's network television comedies, Martin starring Martin Lawrence , frequently references the blaxploitation genre. In the Season Three episode "All The Players Came", when Martin organizes a "Player's Ball" charity event to save a local theater, several stars of
5200-526: The president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters , or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with
5280-452: The rethinking of race relations in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films were originally aimed at an urban African-American audience but the genre's audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. Hollywood realized the potential profit of expanding the audiences of blaxploitation films. Variety credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and the less radical Hollywood-financed film Shaft (both released in 1971) with
5360-696: The same team behind The Boondocks . The series was cancelled after two seasons. In 2013, Chris Hardwick 's Nerdist News released a series of short videos titled Black Dynamite Model Citizen on their YouTube channel. The video series is a parody of Japanese variety show sketches, featuring a Japanese-speaking Black Dynamite mannequin teaching the value of respect among other things to former WWE wrestlers, MMA fighters and American Gladiators athletes. Special guests include Roddy Piper , Chavo Guerrero Jr. , Chris Masters , Daniel Puder , John Hennigan , Tank Abbott , Josh Barnett , and Kimo Leopoldo . Director Sanders said that he and White had ideas for
5440-475: The slavesploitation genre, observes that slavesploitation films are characterized by "crassly exploitative representations of oppressed slave protagonists". One early antecedent of the genre is Slaves (1969), which Gaines notes was "not 'slavesploitation' in the vein of later films", but which nonetheless featured graphic depictions of beatings and sexual violence against slaves. Novotny argues that Blacula (1972), although it does not depict slavery directly,
5520-434: The soundtrack except "Shine", "Cleaning Up The Streets", and "Gloria". His influences on the score were Curtis Mayfield , Isaac Hayes , Ennio Morricone and Wu-Tang Clan . Morricone greatly influenced Younge from the classical European funk music, while Wu-Tang Clan helped him focus on making music they would want to sample. Sanders gave Younge almost complete leeway, but he still had to work hard to impress others working on
5600-512: The stereotype of the protagonist (generalizing pimps as representative of all African-American men, in this case) but for portraying all black communities as hotbeds for drugs and crime. Blaxploitation films such as Mandingo (1975) provided mainstream Hollywood producers, in this case Dino De Laurentiis , a cinematic way to depict plantation slavery with all of its brutal, historical and racial contradictions and controversies, including sex, miscegenation, rebellion. The story world also depicts
5680-538: The streets of a new drug that is ravaging the community. The film is a parody of and homage to 1970s action and blaxploitation films. It had a trailer and funding even before a script was written. Black Dynamite was shot in 20 days in Super 16 format. The film was released in the United States on October 16, 2009, for only two weeks (with an "official" premiere at the Toronto After Dark film festival) and
5760-426: The streets while trying to get back his "Total Experience" club from the hands of Willie Green. He enlists the help of Queen Bee, a Black nationalist preacher hoarding guns for a revolution, and his own stable of kung fu -trained prostitutes to settle the various scores, while an undercover FBI agent (Jerry Jones) lurks in the shadows, following the proceedings and supporting Dolemite's quest. Moore first developed
5840-403: The warehouse. They find only "Anaconda" brand malt liquor , a government-produced brand that, according to the advertising slogan, "Gives You Ooooooo!". In a diner, they decipher the slogan and uncover "Code Kansas" as a plan to literally emasculate African-American men through Anaconda Malt Liquor, which is formulated to "give (you) a little dick". The militant Gunsmoke, who has fallen victim to
5920-568: The white majority that oppresses the black community. Blaxploitation includes several subtypes, including crime ( Foxy Brown ), action/martial arts ( Three the Hard Way ), Westerns ( Boss Nigger ), horror ( Abby , Blacula ), prison ( Penitentiary ), comedy ( Uptown Saturday Night ), nostalgia ( Five on the Black Hand Side ), coming-of-age ( Cooley High / Cornbread, Earl and Me ), and musical ( Sparkle ). Following
6000-533: Was directed by D'Urville Martin , who appears as the villain Willie Green. The film received middling reviews from film critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 5/10. On Metacritic , the film received a score of 67 based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Dolemite was released on VHS in 1987 by Xenon Home Video (#X-006), 91 minutes Dolemite
6080-501: Was released in 1976. A second sequel, The Return of Dolemite , was released in 2002 and was later re-titled The Dolemite Explosion for DVD release. A quasi-sequel, Shaolin Dolemite , starring Rudy Ray Moore as Monk Ru-Dee , was released in 1999. The action comedy movie Black Dynamite (2009) parodies Dolemite and other blaxploitation films. A biographical film about Moore and the making of Dolemite , titled Dolemite Is My Name and starring Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore,
6160-517: Was released theatrically and on Netflix in October 2019. In the 1990 film House Party , Pops ( Robin Harris ) mentions the film as he laments the fact that Kid ( Christopher Reid ) would rather go to an unattended house party being thrown by Play ( Christopher Martin ) than stay at home and watch a movie that Kid "grew up on". The song "Glare" on Big Chief's album Drive It Off (1991) opens with
6240-420: Was released to DVD on September 13, 2005, by Xenon Pictures and also as part of a boxed set ( The Dolemite Collection ) on the same date. A widescreen, high definition remastered version, from an original print of the film, was released on Blu-ray disc on April 26, 2016, by Vinegar Syndrome . The prior VHS and DVD releases from the early-1990s were incorrectly transferred with an open matte , which revealed
6320-479: Was shot on Super 8 mm film for around $ 500 and contained numerous cultural references that placed the film in the 1970s, such as referring to the star of the film as a Baltimore Colts running back (the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984) and marveling at Black Dynamite's "five thousand dollar car" and "hundred dollar suit" . White and Sanders showed it to Jon Steingart, who told them "Oh my God. Okay, we can raise
6400-485: Was well received by critics. It was released on home video on February 16, 2010. In the early 1970s, Black Dynamite, a Vietnam War veteran and former CIA officer, skilled in kung fu, vows to clean up the streets of drug dealers and gangsters after his younger brother Jimmy is killed by a shady organization. O'Leary, Black Dynamite's former army and CIA partner, reinstates him into the agency because they do not want him seeking vengeance by himself. While trying to get to
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