Dolemite (1975) & Dolemite is My Name (2019)

Recently I had the experience of seeing both the 1975 Blaxploitation flick Dolemite, and the brand new bio-pic / making of movie Dolemite is My Name at the Tower Theater in downtown Salt Lake. I had first intended to just see just the original film but after watching it and a retrospective video about it on YouTube, as well as seeing the very high rotten tomatoes score Eddie Murphy's Dolemite movie has received, I went back to the theater the next day to see that newer film. While I watched the films in chronological order as to when they were made, to better make sense I will be talking about the newer 'behind the scenes' movie before talking about the original finished product.

The Netflix produced Dolemite is My Name is being given a limited theatrical run in order to qualify for awards. The Ruddy Ray Moore (1927-2008) bio-pic is an unusually well received Eddie Murphy vehicle, at least by the standard of his 21st century work, and the star does seem to be having fun, which reportedly is often not the case on set for him anymore. Moore was the son of an Arkansas tenant farmer who left home in his teenage years in search of fame and fortune, he spent a lot of time more or less wandering, working various jobs and trying to get some kind of break in show business. After a stint in the army during the 1950's Moore eventually made his way to Los Angeles and became an assistant manager at a popular record store catering to black audiences. While working there he recorded some albums which he could hardly sell, and became a regular MC at a local club.

Though the film speeds up events some it was around 1970 that Moore first started to hear obscene stories about a character called "Dolemite" told by a local homeless man named Rico. The film indicates that these stories were circulating as a kind of urban folk tale and Moore made an amateur study of them, refinded them some and then decided to make what turned into a long series of comedy albums, and unlike his musical efforts these sold, though they the had to be kept 'behind the counter' at stores do to their obscene content and racy covers. Some of these albums even made the billboard charts and Moore had a new career as a sort low rent Richard Pryor or Red Foxx. He toured the country to some success but felt their must be an easier way to get his content to the masses, so he hit upon the idea of making his own movie.

Estimates for the final cost on Dolemite range between $90,000 and $140,000. The money came from Moore's tour earnings and royalties on his albums, essentially mortgaging his rights to those albums to the record company, and ultimately he was able to swing some loans. Moore had no experience as a film maker, and almost none of his cast had appeared in a movie before. He was able to rope semi-successful black actor D'Urville Martin (in the film played by Wesley Snipes) to appear in the movie by agreeing to give him directors credit, something D'Urville felt would help his resume though he was openly contemptuous of the film he was directing on set. The film crew was chiefly made up of UCLA film student, including the son of the great silent screen direct Josef von Sternberg.

Due to its extremely low budget there was a lot of gorilla film making involved here, shooting on locations without permits, hiring a local junkie to play a junkie on film, and shooting most of the interiors in an abandoned art deco hotel that Moore was allowed to shot and live in by the property owners on the condition that he keep squatters and druggies out of the place. The crew even stole electricity for the building by hacking local power lines.

A very rough feature to put it mildly Moore had a hard time finding a way to market and distribute the film at first, but some early self financed screenings were unexpectedly very successful, thus finally attracting a distributer. In the movie there is an earlier scene where Moore is shown calling through a list of low rent distributers and crossing off their names as they turn him down, one such distributor was Crown International Pictures, a company with something of a reputation of not paying their film makers, even they turned 'Dolimite' down, it's pretty bad as I'll get to. However once a distributor was able to find the right audience the film did tremendously well. While we lack exact figures it is estimated the film made around $10-$12 million dollars at the box office in the mid 70's. That is easily at lest 100 times what the movie cost to make. Suddenly Moore was a movie star, a nitch movie star but a movie star, who would go on to make a half dozen or so other movies of his own and appear in film and television into the early 21st century.

The film is a fun watch, crude at times because Moore was crude, his humors not really my own, in fact I simply don't understand good portions of it. 'Dolimite is My Name' is in the tradition of other 'making of a horrible movie films' such as 'Ed Wood' with' Plan Nine From Outer Space' or 'The Disaster Artiest' with 'The Room'. Both those making of movies are I think better then this, but 'Dolimite is My Name' is a very well made film, unlike its source material, and well cast, Keegan-Michael Key and Craig Robinson are also in this, amongst others. You can't help but admire Moore's persistence, and Murphy's performance. ***

'Dolemite' is bad movie, but I found that it grew on me and I got more in sync with its rhythms as it progressed. It was kind of painful at first but by the end I was kind of enjoying it, it is just ridicules. The story doesn't make much sense, no one in it can act, there are at times jarringly bad edits, the lake of budget is evident throughout, the sets are often silly, that wardens office is a joke. There are a couple of times in the film when the action basically stops so that Dolimte can delivery, for little to no reason, some of his comedy routines, which are basically spoken word poems, which are apparently bawdy but which I couldn't understand enough to say for sure.

Dolemite is a pimp and a club owner who is sent away to prison for possession of drugs and stolen furs. Those items were planted in his car as a frame job, after two years in the joint he is released to go undercover to prove his innocence, when evidence, which is never explained, apparently surfaces to indicate he is innocent of those crimes, but not enough to just release him release him, but rather to conditionally release him so that he, not the cops, can further prove said innocence. He is told only himself, his right hand woman Queen Bee, the warden, an FBI man whose identify is secret, and the governor of California, who when this was filmed in 1974 would have been Ronald Reagan, are aware of the reasons for his release. I  just don't think governor Reagan would have passed off on this plan.

Anyway once released from prison Dolemite is picked up but several of the prostitutes who work for him, Queen Bee has been maintaining the brothel in his absence. In front of prison guards he openly changes into his pimp regalia, gets in a car with the ladies and within an hour has murdered several assassins sent to get him. Having lost the club in the intern Dolemite sets about getting it back and ultimately getting revenge on Willie Green (D'Urville Martin) the man who set him up, and the mayor of Los Angeles who was also involved, and who seems to Italian but is named Daley like the mayor of Chicago. Oh and while Dolemite was in clink Queen Bee made sure his "girls" were trained in martial artists so that he could have an "all girl kung-fu army", which can be helpful to have. Had I gone into this movie not knowing that it was considered a camp classic and that Eddie Murphy was going to be in a movie about its production, I don't know what I would have thought. Despite how crazy it is the film does have some real flat spots, but ultimately is saved as a viewing experience but how strangely "off" the whole thing is. Hard to rate this, I'm gonna give it **.