Disjointed, perverse, and surreal, this sequel to Dolemite (1975) is a blaxploitation movie on acid.
The plot has something to do with Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore, who also produced the film) fleeing the south after getting caught in bed with a white woman who paid him for sex because her husband is a crazed redneck sheriff.
Dolemite decamps to Los Angeles where he renews his romance with sexy singer Hurricane Annie (Gloria Delaney) and helps his friend and former partner, Queen Bee (Lady Reed) who runs a thriving prostitution ring and is being shaken down by the local mob, who have kidnapped two of her girls and are holding them prisoner in a Pasadena torture chamber (complete with racks and rattlesnakes).
Meanwhile, the Southern sheriff arrives in town to get Dolemite, aided by a local detective (Jerry Jones). They converge on the scene where Dolemite and his gang are wiping out the local bad guys and join the final confrontation, which delivers some of the “brain battering” and “mind splattering” promised in the ads for the film.
In addition to profane dialogue and tragic ’70s fashions (wall-to-wall jumpsuits), The Human Tornado features several genuinely bizarre scenes: Half-naked hookers are tortured by a woman wearing grotesque wicked-witch makeup straight out of H.R. Pufnstuf; Dolemite services a woman with such intensity that he literally causes the house around them to disintegrate; cunnilingus is intercut with Dolemite eating chicken; and after Dolemite jumps off a steep cliff, the movie freezes, the text “instant replay” appears on screen, and Moore’s voice intones: “Some of y’all don’t believe I jumped, so watch this good shit!” Then the jump replays.
Moore periodically returned to the Dolemite character, starring in Shaolin Dolemite (1999) and The Return of Dolemite (2002), before passing away in 2008.
Dolemite
Rudy Ray Moore
Queen Bee
Lady Reed
Mr Motion
Jimmy Lynch
Howard Jackson
Himself
Hurricane Annie
Gloria Delaney
Pete
Jerry Jones
Java
Lord Java
Sheriff Bently
J.B. Baron
Captain Ryan
Jack Kelly
Cavaletti
Herb Graham
Mrs Cavaletti
Barbara Gerl
Jimmy
James R. Page (as James Cromartie)
Bo
Ernie Hudson (as Louis Hudson)
Dough
Ed Montgomery
T.C.
Peaches Jones
Maitre d’ No. 1
Freddie DeFox
Maitre d’ No. 2
Billy Nighten Gale
Madam
Kathyn Hayes
Director
Cliff Roquemore
