Some movies aspire for greatness but are hampered by their limitations. Other movies can have all the money, talent and other resources necessary for a quality film but are inert, lacking that certain spark that brings a story to life. Then there are movies that are so great that they transcend all known rules of judgment and common sense. In this category few stand as tall and proud as Dolemite.

Pulled from the stand-up routine of Rudy Ray Moore, Dolemite is the story of one man's crusade to define and justify his existence in an uncaring, corrupt world. Hmm, let me try that again since I think I'm overstating the theme of the film. Dolemite is the story of one man's crusade to show that he's the baddest, most stylish mutha around. Along the way there are kung-fu fights, dance numbers, inept lip synching, girls, guns, and random stand-up performances. Why watch a dozen regular movies when you could get all your entertainment in one package? Dolemite is the movie equivalent of a power snack. Even during the loose, loopy heyday of blackspoitation movies few films dared to do so much without any real concern about whether or not it was going to work.

Dolemite opens with our hero unfairly incarcerated. We see in a flashback that despite an amazing display of kung-fu Dolemite was captured and framed by some crooked officers and his nemesis Willie Green [D'Urville Martin]. After the authorities finally realize they have the wrong man, Dolemite is released in order to bring the real criminals to justice and to get back to his pimped out lifestyle. Most heroes would blaze a trail of revenge the moment they were released from prison if they were given the free reign that Dolemite is suddenly handed. Dolemite instead stops right outside the prison gate, strips out of his prison togs and dons a more appropriately pimptastic outfit. If you are going to seek vengence you should always dress properly. This sense of style over impulse influences everything that Dolemite does. Even though he's constantly being pursued by killers Dolemite still finds the time to re-open and revitalize both his nightclub and cat house. While it was awfully nice of the police to let Dolemite go when they realized he wasn't responsible for what they had arrested him for weren't they concerned about the prostitution ring he was running? Anyway, when getting back in the good graces of the numerous women in his life gives Dolemite the chance to prove that he's as good a lover as he is a fighter. He also gets several opportunites to take off his shirt and show off his ample back fat. Although it would be difficult to prove that Dolemite had some sort of master plan he wraps up the movie with a musical revue/kung-fu fight that leaves his enemies as dazed as the audience. I know that summary is scattershot and hard to follow but that just means that it's an appropriate summary of how it feels to watch Dolemite.

You may balk at the romanticization of pimp culture that permeates the movie. The more technical, orderly audience members may wince at how frequently the boom mike wanders into the shot. But any minor problems with the film are over-ridden by Dolemite himself. Average looking and built like a sack of potatoes, Dolemite hardly looks like "The Human Tornado" he claims to be. His martial arts abilities mostly consist of him slowly and awkwardly raising a leg up and watching the stunt man spin away as if they had been hit by a truck. Even his jokes, which should be his forte, aren't particularly funny. All that should work against him but in the end it doesn't matter because he somehow become greater than the sum of his parts and becomes entertaining. The spirit Dolemite projects -this absolute conviction that he's a suave, sexy, badass in spite of all the evidence to the contrary- is infectious. It's almost inspiring how Dolemite plunges ahead, convincing the world he's as great as he claims he is through nothing more than willpower.

One thing Dolemite does have going for him is his ability to swear. There are those that claim that obscenities are a crutch for a simple mind that is unable to properly articulate itself. I suspect that line of reasoning comes from people who don't know how to swear correctly. Dolemite wields obscenities with the skill and conviction of a master. His barrage of blue bellowing may not always make sense but it occasionally fits the circumstances and is always funny. It's the sort of dialogue you find yourself wanting to quote even though there are a limited amout of social situations where you can belt out a torrent of curses.

But it's not the swearing that makes Dolemite so great. It's not the action scenes. It's not the nudity that is more likely to inspire giggles or screeches of terror in lieu of anything else. While it's amusing that everybody in the movie, including Dolemite, talks about how great Dolemite is that personality cult is not enough to convince an audience to play along. In the end Dolemite is great because it's great. It doesn't matter that the movie doesn't make any sense, it's Dolemite's world, the rest of us just live in it.

Questions, comments and rat soup recipies can be sent to gleep9@hotmail.com. If you can't take the dazzling presence of Dolemite any more head on back to either the Fourth Movie or Main page.