The Human Tornado

I've seen Dolemite and Disco Godfather as well as Human Tornado...I'm something of a Rudy fan. I must say, however, that Human Tornado is the most competant Rudy Ray Moore movie I have seen (admittedly I have not seen Petey Wheatstraw or Monkey Hustle). The direction, camera work, and acting, while still substandard is no where near as atrocious as in Dolemite or Godfather. The story is simple and routine, but the dialogue and rapping is high-larious. My favorite scene for all out ridiculousness was when Rudy and "Miss Wonderful" get naked and....excercise in bed. Literally. I must say, however, if you're looking for the highlarious incompetency of Godfather, it won't be found here.

Picked this up with Dolemite on Bluray and gotta say, both movies were very entertaining. Yeah, the acting is wooden, the fight scenes are ridiculous, and there's almost no plot, but it's all part of the fun. It still has the kung-fu, scantily clad girls and of course, plenty of Dolemite rap.

However, the movie is severely lacking a lot of the things that made the first movie what it is. I keep seeing things stating that Dolemite is back with his army of kung-fu girls, but never once do we ever get to see any of that. Most of the girls are just around for looking at, save for a couple like Java. Dolemite himself seems to have lost his many wonderful outfits and even more of his quirky one-liners. Literally only one "rat soup eatin' MF-er" in the entire movie.

The plot is really slow to move in this one too. They end up with two separate plots that actually come together about half way through the movie and neither of which are really sure what they want to do. You have the ultra racsist Alabama sheriff who caught Dolemite in bed with his wife and the second plot of Queen Bee and her girls being taken by another club owner, mob boss type character. Most of the action doesn't come until nearly two thirds of the way through the movie, which is kind of a bummer because you come to expect a lot of over the top action like the first one.

Speaking of action, more badly choreographed fights, but this time they (mostly) look like they're actually hitting someone with punches and kicks looking like they actually have some power behind them. The problem is that some of the fights are sped up and it makes it hard to see anything. Not sure why they decided to do that, but they could have done without it. The only car chase scene is also sped up and doesn't really do anything except drive down a dirt road, a mud puddle and eventually a cave... which just so happens to be the entrance to the Adam West Batcave.

All of the acting is just as you would expect. If they aren't talking like they're reading their lines off the back of their hands, they're acting so over dramatic that it somehow balances it all out. The sheriff alone is just a hoot to watch, it makes you wonder how someone like him even got to be a sheriff... maybe that's how they do things in Alabama?

So, not nearly as good as the first film, but to be able to see both films only days apart was a great experience and I highly recommend you do the same if you can!

A must for any film buff of any era. How can you ignore Ernie Hudson's motion picture debut. Rudy Ray Moore, did so much, with so little. Some studio needs to put him to work again.

The film is great, Jimmy Lynch is amazing. Lady Reed is wonderful. Rudy is at his best. Bring in Howard Jackson was a great move to see real, authentic martial arts.

Far ahead of its time.

The Human Tornado (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Comedian Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) has to defend his black people when a racist white sheriff starts trouble. Soon Dolemite and his clan are on the run and going after a white gangster who is taking black women are selling them.

This sequel to DOLEMITE is actually a better movie. Well, let me put that another way. The first film was a fun and somewhat well-made movie that became a box office hit so a sequel had to follow. This sequel is incredibly silly from the opening credit sequence to the final moment and everything in between is just rather nutty and over-the-top. There's not a single second where anything you're watching should be taken serious and as long as you're in for a good time then you're bound to have one here.

To me THE HUMAN TORNADO is just one of those films where the director, writer and producers just throw everything on the screen and hope that something sticks. The great thing for fans is that quite a bit sticks here and the end result is a campy but fun action picture. I mean, just check out the opening sequences, which catches Dolemite doing a stand up routine where he throws countless jokes at the crowd ala Don Rickles. From here we're treated to non-stop big-breasted women, crazy kung fu fights and one of the craziest sex scenes that you're ever going to witness.

Rudy Ray Moore was certainly a personality and that leaps off the screen here. I'm not going to call him a brilliant actor but there's no question that the camera loved him and his spirit just makes it impossible to take your eyes off of him. The supporting cast of players are fun but special mentions needs to go to J.B. Baron who plays the redneck sheriff. You've even got a young Ernie Hudson playing a small role.

THE HUMAN TORNADO is a wild little gem that fans of blaxploitation should enjoy.

Dolemite, you heard me!!! That's right he's back, and meaner than ever as the Human Tornado. The Human Tornado doesn't have anything on the original Dolemite, although I don't really see how this is a sequel. How is Dolemite all of sudden a rich pillar of the black community? Why does Blakeley the cop from the original (he's credited as Detective Pete, but they call him Blakeley) not know who Dolemite is? Other than that, all of the new characters are instant classics, from the gay guy on down to the sheriff, and even the new "creeper" wanna-be. But no one can ever replace Mitchell and White. They should have escaped from prison and helped the sheriff hunt down Dolemite. Now can you dig that? The best part of the movie has got to be Ernie Hudson's dramatic scene when his brother is shot. "He's just playin'! He's just playin'!" Other greats include the intro and Rudy's theme song, and the brief second Dolemite is shown eating chicken during sex. Hilarious Blaxploitation. So all you no business baring, insecure, rat soup eating motha's better watch out for Dolemite!!