The Human Tornado

• Directed by Cliff Roquemore
• July 23, 1976 (Atlanta)

After getting caught in bed with a Sothern sheriff’s wife, Dolemite flees to California where he and Queen Bee along with her her Kung Fu prostitutes go against a local gangster.

I don’t think too many people realize that the Cult Classic Dolemite had a sequel. I rarely hear it mentioned, but then again Dolemite is a Cult Classic and not necessarily a mainstream Classic. And that’s despite its ability to transcend its poor quality and become something enjoyable. Enter The Human Tornado…

The Human Tornado is the further adventures of super comedian and lady’s man Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore). In comparison to the original movie, The Human Tornado is much better technically done. The ‘kung fu’ that’s featured is much more (at least on the part of Rudy Ray Moore) there for comedy than it is meant to be serious. Moore had no illusions this time around that he could actually fake kung fu.

This reality is both a good and bad thing. The original Dolemite had a certain charm in large part because of its flaws due to a lack of professional experience. It was so bad it became good which is a difficult thing for any movie. The Human Tornado attempts to be bad on purpose and thus become good on purpose. Happy accidents are not achievable with intent. This is a movie with a more sensible plot (such as it is) than its predecessor yet doesn’t quite get to the guilty pleasure enjoyment of the original. That’s not to say it’s bad.

Dolemite is on the run from super bigoted southern cop Sheriff Beatty (J.B. Baron) whose deputy caught Dolemite in bed with the sheriff’s wife and got framed for her murder. That’s pretty much it. Other than that the sheriff really does not play that big of a part in things for Dolemite. He lingers in the background of the story while Dolemite helps Queen Bee (Lady Reed) and her Kung Fu prostitutes who have been forced to work for mob boss Joe Cavaletti (Herb Graham). And that there is more a series of misadventures than an actual story.

If you look closely you will see a very young Ernie Hudson (credited as Louis Hudson) here in his second film appearance. He plays Bo who is a sidekick/employee/friend/something else of Dolemite. I think he has all of 10 words in this entire movie despite being in numerous scenes and doing multiple different things. He plays a major character with minimal dialogue.

We get heavy use of sound effects which often highlight moments that happened a second or two earlier along with accelerated footage to make things a little funnier. This film goes for slapstick realizing that nobody in this cast can really do a serious production. And while there is very little that will make you hold your sides with laughter, the movie on the whole is just entertaining. The definite moments of laughter largely come from the over-the-top ridiculous Sheriff Beatty. He’s a cartoonish representation of Southern Racism that does a good job of mocking racism in the spirit and style of hoe Mel Brooks handled the topic.

It looks as if Moore took the time out to rehearse and showed up to set sober. I noted in my early earlier review that at least, at one point Moore looked like he was stoned with his eyes barely open while he was performing. None of that here. Since his character is the lynchpin to this all that effort elevates this to enjoyable though not great.

While nothing spectacular The Human Tornado is entertaining. If you like bad movies or enjoyed Dolemite this is worth a look. But it’s a very niche appeal so be wary when you go in.