The Human Tornado (1976)

Oh, Rudy Ray Moore. What a character that guy was. The undisputed king of the 70s blaxploitation action flick. He made a bunch of them, often times as Dolomite, his karate-choppin’ crime-fightin’ persona, throwing down rhymes at all times. What’s his most well known? This one or Disco Godfather?

Where to even start to describe a Dolomite flick? These things pretty much defy description or explanation.

So basically, Dolomite is a force of nature. He’s the unofficial mayor of every town he’s ever swept through. When some bad shit goes down, he’s gonna be the one to clean it up, bedding a bunch of women along the way, dropping a bunch of raps along the way, and karate chopping the bad guys, in fast motion, Benny Hill style.

OK, so some ridiculously racist white cops break up a party with Dolomite and a bunch of other black people. The ridiculously racist white sheriff catches his wife in bed with Dolomite, and the bullets start flying. Dolomite makes it out alive and bolts with a few of his friends, and now they’re on the run. So they carjack a flamboyantly gay white guy, who is actually excited about the prospect of being carjacked and kidnapped, and drive off to California.

Dolomite has a friend in California, Queen Bee. Queen Bee owns a nightclub which is very popular, and the rival nightclub down the street is not so popular, so the people who run that place hatch a plan to ruin Queen Bee and her nightclub. They take a couple hostages, so Dolomite is on the case to kick some honky ass and rescue some damsels in distress.

Complications arise, however, as the ridiculously racist white sheriff follows Dolomite to LA, and is still out for blood.

There is absolutely zero acting skills among all the people in this movie*. But that’s not really the point. Every Rudy Ray Moore movie is basically a vehicle for Rudy Ray Moore. As long as he does what he does and they get it on film, that’s what he wants. As long as he’s on screen 100% of the time, or as close as he can get to that. There are no production values at all, either. But, at least the cameraman knew what he was doing, as nothing is underexposed or overexposed, and everything is in focus, too. They even have a dream sequence with some soft focus / lens filter effects. And the audio is useable, so he found somebody who knew how to work a Nagra. They even do a couple musical numbers, so they had to figure out how to do the sync thing.

And I have no idea what that rope pulley system thing in the bedroom scene was all about. Anybody wanna explain that one to me?

*No, wait. The bald guy actually shows some emotion, has some skills. Hopefully that guy went on to make more movies.

Abby (1974)

Commonly called the blaxploitation Exorcist. Let’s check it out.

A preacher goes off to Nigeria to study some religious artifacts. He comes across a small vessel, about the size of a shoebox, which he says is hundreds or thousands of years old. When he opens it, a maelstrom sweeps through the cave, an unholy tempest.

Meanwhile, back in the US, his son, also a pastor, moves with his wife into a new house. They’re both in great spirits. But the wife, Abby, starts having hallucinations and starts having accidents. Things go downhill quickly, and she goes off the deep end, which is pretty awesome. The marriage counseling scene is pretty amazing.

One thing that makes The Exorcist so great is that Reagan is the innocent victim, a child no less, but also the Devil at the same time, the thing that must be destroyed. The people who made this one really play this up with Abby, giving her a split personality thing. One minute being a docile, loving wife, the next being a vicious hellcat, foaming at the mouth and spewing obscenities that would make any longshoreman blush.

The father, played by William ‘Blacula’ Marshall, cuts his trip to Nigeria short and catches the first plane back to the US, where he, his son / Abby’s husband, and Abby’s brother team up to rid her of her possession.

Her possession is an odd one, though. She doesn’t want to kill anybody or destroy anybody or anything. Turns out the demon which has taken her body only wants to have sex. She’s now a nympho-demon.

This movie could have been a ridiculous joke. But, a few things save it from that- all the actors play it all very seriously. And the woman playing Abby acts her part with mucho gusto. Plus, William Marshall has some serious acting chops, and a captivating baritone voice. Other actors are decent. The story is a bit silly, plot is way far-fetched. But the serious tone of it all keeps it together and keeps it moving. Ending isn’t earth-shattering, but it’s a perfectly OK movie.