The Human Tornado

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.

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.

Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) opens this movie with his stand-up. He donates to a boys' home. White hillbillies call up bumbling sheriff to take care of their problem. He raises up a posse to clear out Dolemite's party. He finds his wife in bed with Dolemite. There's a shoot out. Dolemite and his boys go on the run to California. Queen Bee and her Kung Fu fighting hoes battle a local white crime-lord with Dolemite's help.

It is utterly ridiculous and fun. It's weird and silly. It's also a bit of black cultural blaxploitation. After watch Eddie Murphy and then Dolemite, I had to check this one out. It does not disappoint. In many ways, it's better than Dolemite. Rudy Ray Moore is fully committed to the character. After a great start, it does get bogged down while trying to make the story work with way too many filler musical interludes. The movie is still at its best with Dolemite on the screen. Every time he shows up. He brings a smile to my face. He is a surprisingly charismatic performer in only his second movie.

As a lover of bad movies, I definitely hit paydirt with this one. The plot isn't really that bad, but there are a few instances where you really have to ask yourself "what the heck is going on here?"

There are many many things that make this the funniest bad movie ever. First off, Rudy Ray Moore had gotten so fat and slow when this movie was filmed that the special effects consist of speeding up the fight scenes to double time. There are also scenes where there is a slow-motion instant replay, jumping onto a ten foot high wall (by playing falling off of it backwards), naked men walking out of huge letters, and sex that literally brings down the roof (with the cable holding up the roof catching on fire).

Of course, no Rudy Ray Moore movie would be complete without a completely gratuitous and random comedy club scene where Rudy makes fun of all the customers, interposed with people doing some odd dance. There are so many things bad about this movie, but they're bad in an entertaining way, and if you take your eyes off the movie, you might miss another mistake.

Rating: 1/10 for actual value, 10/10 for cheese factor, 10/10 for picking out mistakes and goofs, averages out to 7/10.

Who said sequels suck? Not Rudy Ray Moore who IS the human tornado! You better hope you never meet Dolemite just before he drops one of his ass kickin', head beatin' rap soliloquay's, as this would warrant a reversed film jump onto a rooftop with a sloppy slap to the mouth, while his topless beauties sit in the background laughing it up in what must be the (intentionally) funniest Blacksploitation film ever (yes funnier than the original Dolemite film!)

You will not only laugh at the fight scenes, but the dialogue is hilarious! Forget competent filmmaking as that adds for all the enjoyment!. All serious expectations should be left at the front door when watching this.

A true gem that will never be recreated except in the music video's of Snoop dogg. (and thats a good thing!)