The Human Tornado (1976)

Really Surprised!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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.

Rudy Ray Moore reprises his comic character creation, Dolemite, the hyperbolic, Mohammed Ali-jive-talking, rhythmic discoursing, man of the people. The sequel to 1975's Dolemite, the film offers nothing new to the series, or to blaxploitation cinema, but simply adheres to the generic signifiers, such as female nudity, car chases, and the ubiquitous kung-fu cross-over. But significantly for the stylistic variations of the sub-genre, the subject of racism is the most evident theme - despite the fact that blaxploitation is readily accused of reverse racism (a term I have never understood, as this would suggest that racism is a purely white condition - it's all xenophobia).Dolemite is caught in bed with the local red-neck sheriff Beaty (J. B. Baron)'s wife, who is then shot dead by his deputy. Escaping this situation, Dolemite flees to California, and the sheriff's crew follow, pinning the crime upon Dolemite. Lady Reed also reprises her role as Queen Bee, and she along with "her girls" have their club shut down by the mob, and it is up to Dolemite to settle the score.Undoubtedly taking into account the failings of Dolemite, the sequel increases much of what makes exploitation cinema exciting. The violence is more nuanced, there is a lot more naked flesh on display, but more significantly, the comedy is far more indulgently silly, over the top ridiculousness. It's those rhythmic one-liners that Moore produces that increase the enjoyability of the film. And of course (as previously stated), no blaxploitation film would be complete without that other ethnic sub-genre, kung-fu, and here we are enthralled by the ferocious work of the Central American Nunchuck Champion, plus an early role for future Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson. Marginally better than its predecessor, it has a strange ability to be both dull and exciting.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Whenever he is caught in bed with the wife of the local sheriff and events turn into a bloodbath, Dolemite decides it is time to head west, out to California. Once there he sets himself up with Queen Bee only to find that her primarily black nightclub is under threat from white criminal types. The success of Queen's club has robbed business from a mafia owned premises and they are keen to drive her out of business by whatever means necessary. Dolemite of course has other ideas.In a bit of a blaxploitation mood I watched this film after I watched Truck Turner – which I found to be an enjoyable film, being good for the genre. The Human Tornado immediately let me know that it was probably at the other end of the pack as the child-like credits roll over Rudy Ray Moore dressing "sexy" and performing the type of martial arts moves that can only be pulled off by someone who has learnt all their skills from watching it on TV and never having done a minute's training in their whole podgy life. This then gives way to only slightly amusing stand-up routine from Moore/Dolemite in which the audience loves every second of it. After a while we get into the "proper" film – and I use that word with inverted commas simply because there is almost nothing proper about this. While blaxploitation films always show the cool black characters putting one over on the (predominately racist, dumb or both) white characters, this film does it with even less class and effort than the previous Dolemite (itself not that great a film). What this means is that the plot rapidly becomes one of Dolemite beating up rednecks or sleeping with voluptuous and up-for-it white women. There is a vague story here but it is essentially just one scene after another of this and after a while you stop caring about the fact that it makes no sense and has no narrative flow to it.Indeed very quickly I stopped caring about the whole film and it was about this time that I started to realise it was a very poor film indeed. It lacks any real humour or likable characters. Dolemite is a real jerk throughout – and not even in a "look at him being cruel and cool" way – he just genuinely is an ass. Of course a massive part of this is Moore's performance which can only aspire to be as good as the dialogue bits in cheesy 1970's porn movies – he literally is not even that good. He has no charisma and no delivery – were it not for his bulk he would not really register in the film. The only thing he brings is unintentional laughter as he shows off his "awesome body" (awesome body meaning something different in the 70's it seems) and his amazing martial arts skills (which are laughably poor). If it was just this then maybe but the rest of the film is made up of lazy caricatures and cruel humour that isn't actually funny – all of it looking like it was made up on the spot by a cast who are awful at ad-libbing, shot on knackered cameras and lit by the crew putting their lighters up. Even the soundtrack is pretty weak considering this is normally a selling point of the genre. The various girls all flash flesh for the viewer but not even in a way that is able to make this film work as some sort of soft-porn titillation.Overall, whatever forgiveness I had for the first Dolemite film has clearly expired because I found the Human Tornado to be an awful film – even by the standards of a genre where "bad" can still be enjoyed as part of the experience. It is lacking in discipline, has no story worth following and is essentially one daft scene of excess after another, with no real respect for the viewer or the internal logic of the film. If it were trashy fun then perhaps it would work but it is such a selfish and indulgent mess that it is hard to even enjoy how bad it is. Truck Turner provided me with an entertaining example of the genre – this film only served to remind me how cheap and nasty that same genre could be.

The Human Tornado is a campy 70's Blaxploitation movie starring nightclub comedian Rudy Ray Moore in perhaps his most endearing role to date. The movie tells the tale of Dolemite, a bad ass pimpin' hustler who gets on the wrong side of a white, racist sheriff by sleeping with his wife. Dolemite barely escapes, and journeys to sunny California to visit an old friend, a nightclub owner (and Madam to Dolemite's 'ladies') named Queen Bee. However, it seems that a rival nightclub owner with Mob connections is trying to muscle in on her racket, so Dolemite takes matters into his own hands. Rudy Ray Moore showcases many diverse talents in this landmark film, including strong dramatic skills, a mastery of Kung Fu, an impressive singing voice (he provides two of the songs on the soundtrack), a touching, compassionate side with the ladies, and an overall compelling charisma and keen sense of comic timing. This film has it all, people: A deep plot, blistering action, laugh-a-minute comedy, beautiful women in distress, a slam-bang ending...what more could you ask from a movie? Run, don't walk, to your local video store and rent The Human Tornado today. And be sure to share it with your family.