Black Dynamite
Black Dynamite | |
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Directed by | Scott Sanders |
Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Shawn Maurer |
Edited by | Adrian Younge |
Music by | Adrian Younge |
Production company | ARS Nova |
Distributed by | Apparition Destination Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.9 million |
Box office | $296,557[2] |
Black Dynamite is a 2009 American
The plot centers on former CIA agent Black Dynamite, who must avenge his brother's death while cleaning the streets of a new drug that is ravaging the community. The film is a
Plot
In the early 1970s, Black Dynamite, a
After discovering the government's involvement in the drug ring, Black Dynamite steals the ledger belonging to corrupt Congressman James which details illegal shipments to a warehouse. Black Dynamite and his team (consisting of close friend Bullhorn, street hustler Cream Corn, militant leader Saheed, and three militants) storm the warehouse to capture a big shipment. They learn of a top-secret operation called "Code Kansas", but there are no drugs in the warehouse. They find only "Anaconda" brand
Black Dynamite heads to Kung Fu Island, where he discovers that his old nemesis, Fiendish Dr. Wu, is responsible for creating the secret formula found in Anaconda Malt Liquor. In a protracted battle which kills Saheed, the three militants, and Bullhorn, Black Dynamite discovers the true identity of the mastermind of the entire operation - the White House.
Black Dynamite then travels to the White House (in the process, Cream Corn is killed by the Secret Service) and confronts President Richard Nixon, who has been giving the orders from the beginning. Black Dynamite engages Nixon in a kung-fu battle. Nixon gets the upper hand when he dishonestly pulls John Wilkes Booth's gun, but the ghost of Abraham Lincoln appears and disarms Nixon with kung-fu. After defeating Nixon in a fair fight, Black Dynamite threatens to expose Nixon as the subject of a series of bondage and cross-dressing photographs. The president begs to be killed but Black Dynamite refuses to give him "the easy way out" and has Nixon watch out for his people. The film concludes with a monologue from Black Dynamite on his quest for justice as Gloria and Pat Nixon watch on rapturously.
Cast
- Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite
- Jon Kent Ethridge as 12-year-old Black Dynamite
- Neil Lewis as 18-year-old Black Dynamite
- Salli Richardson as Gloria Gray[6]
- Arsenio Hall as "Tasty Freeze"
- Kevin Chapman as O'Leary
- Tommy Davidson as "Cream Corn"
- Obba Babatundé as Osiris
- Richard Edson as Dino
- Buddy Lewis as "Gunsmoke"
- Brian McKnight as "Sweetmeat"
- Nicole Ari Parker as Mahogany Black
- Byron Minns as "Bullhorn"
- James McManus as Richard Nixon
- Phil Morris as Saheed
- Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Mo "Bitches"
- Tucker Smallwood as Congressman Monroe James
- John Salley as Kotex
- Chris Spencer, Darrel Heath, and Jesse Lewis IV as Militants
- Mike Starr as Rafelli
- Patricia Nixon
- Kym Whitley as "Honeybee"
- Mykelti Williamson as "Chicago Wind"
- Bokeem Woodbine as Jack "Back Hand Jack" (misspelled in the end credits as "Black Hand Jack")
- Cedric Yarbrough as Chocolate Giddy-Up
- Roger Yuan as Fiendish Dr. Wu
- John Kerry as The Chief
- Phyllis Applegate as Aunt Billy
- William Bassettas Captain Yancy
- Baron Vaughn as Jimmy
- Cheryl Carter as Black Dynamite's Mother
- Pete Antico as Abraham Lincoln
- Stacy Adams as Nurse Jenny
- Lucas Gorham as Hagard
- Justine Joli, Charlotte Stokely, Charmane Star, and Erika Vuiton as Ladies of Leisure
Production
"It's just a little too badass. That's the tone of the movie. Our humor comes from the fact that the movie is just a little too badass."
Scott Sanders, director/writer[7]
Michael Jai White originally thought of the idea for Black Dynamite around April 2006, while listening to James Brown's "Super Bad". White had also held blaxploitation movie parties where he picked up the "funny inconsistencies" in the films. White rented costumes, photographed himself and showed it to Sanders who was attracted to the idea. The same blue costume on White's photograph was used in the final scene of the film.[8]
The original trailer was recorded even before the film went into production in order to raise money.
Once financing was secured, writing the script took about three weeks.[8] During the writing process, Minns' almost "encyclopedic knowledge" of blaxploitation helped them produce the script more quickly.[7]
Filming
Cinematographer Shawn Maurer shot Black Dynamite on
As an homage to the low production values and "one take only" style of blaxploitation films, many filming errors were done on purpose. For example, in one scene where Black Dynamite stands up from his desk, a red
During casting, White sent Arsenio Hall the script, and "when he read that there's a Captain Kangaroo pimp in this thing," he accepted the role.[8]
Score
Adrian Younge plays all instruments and wrote the lyrics to every song on the soundtrack except "Shine", "Cleaning Up The Streets", and "Gloria". His influences on the score were Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Ennio Morricone and Wu-Tang Clan. Morricone greatly influenced Younge from the classical European funk music, while Wu-Tang Clan helped him focus on making music they would want to sample. Sanders gave Younge almost complete leeway, but he still had to work hard to impress others working on the film. To record the score, Younge used vintage tape recording equipment and then sent it to be digitally transferred.[10]
The film's theme song is "Dynomite" by Sir Charles Hughes; its chorus plays nearly every time Black Dynamite appears or whenever a punch line is delivered.[13]
Release
Black Dynamite premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where Sony Worldwide Acquisitions picked it up for distribution for "nearly $2 million".[14] On June 14, the film won the Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival, beating The Hurt Locker among other films.[15] On August 25, 2009, it was announced that Apparition, a new distributor headed by Bill Pohlad and Bob Berney, would handle the film's domestic release.[16]
Marketing
A viral campaign was launched on the web prior to the film's general release, spearheaded by a mock nonprofit organization called "Fight Smack in the Orphanage" (FSITO).[17]
Box office
Black Dynamite had a limited release to only 70 theaters and a run time of two weeks. The film grossed $131,862 in its opening weekend, and its two-week total was $242,578. This placed it at number 264 for all films released in 2009.[2]
Critical reception
Black Dynamite received positive reviews and currently holds an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A loving and meticulous send-up of 1970s blaxploitation movies, Black Dynamite is funny enough for the frat house and clever enough for film buffs."[18] On Metacritic, Black Dynamite has a 65/100 rating, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[19]
Owen Gleiberman wrote in Entertainment Weekly, "Black Dynamite blends satire, nostalgia, and cinema deconstruction into a one-of-a-kind comedy high", noting Sanders captured the language and feel of blaxploitation.[20] Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, and said, "Black Dynamite gets it mostly right, and when it's wrong, it's wrong on purpose and knows just what it's doing." He added that the film meticulously reproduces 1970s blaxploitation and brings back much-needed gratuitous nudity.[21]
James Greenberg writing for The Hollywood Reporter believed the film would not hold audience's attention because among all the detail there was no real story.[24]
Home media
Black Dynamite was released on February 16, 2010 on
Legacy
Animated series
An animated spin-off of the film was produced for Adult Swim, with animation production by the same team behind The Boondocks.[26] The series was cancelled after two seasons.
Web series
In 2013, Chris Hardwick's Nerdist News released a series of short videos titled Black Dynamite Model Citizen on their YouTube channel. The video series is a parody of Japanese variety show sketches, featuring a Japanese-speaking Black Dynamite mannequin teaching the value of respect among other things to former WWE wrestlers, MMA fighters and American Gladiators athletes. Special guests include Roddy Piper, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Chris Masters, Daniel Puder, John Hennigan, Tank Abbott, Josh Barnett, and Kimo Leopoldo.[27]
Sequel
Director Sanders said that he and White had ideas for a
Spiritual sequel
In July 2023, the trailer for Outlaw Johnny Black was released, a
References
- ^ "BLACK DYNAMITE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. June 30, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
- ^ a b "Black Dynamite (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ "Blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite may be witty, but is it racist?". the Guardian. August 16, 2010. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "'Black Dynamite' pays homage to blaxploitation films - CNN.com". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ Filmstarts (June 29, 2012). "Blaxploitation-Hommage "Black Dynamite" bekommt zwei Fortsetzungen". FILMSTARTS.de (in German). Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "Fight Smack in the Orphanage - About Us". Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Rabin, Nathan (October 23, 2009). "Michael Jai White and Scott Sanders". avclub.com. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Kelly, Kevin. "Michael Jai White and Scott Sanders Interview, Black Dynamite, Sundance 2009". Spoutblog.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Nunziata, Nick (October 14, 2009). "Interview: Michael Jai White & Scott Sanders (Black Dynamite)". chud.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ^ a b Boyle, Christopher (November 17, 2009). "Interview With Black Dynamite Composer/Editor Adrian Younge". NewsLI.com. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
- ^ Topel, Fred (October 14, 2009). "Scott Sanders directs Black Dynamite". Crave online. Archived from the original on October 18, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ^ "Black Dynamite: Movie production notes". Apparition. Retrieved March 11, 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Rhapsody.com - Sir Charles Hughes
- ^ Nelson, Rob (January 20, 2009). "Black Dynamite Moview Review From The Sundance Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ "Seattle International Film Festival 2009 Award Winners". siff. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- ^ Knegt, Peter (August 25, 2009). "Apparition Takes 'Dynamite'". indieWIRE. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ "Fight Smack in the Orphanage". fightsmackintheorphanage.org. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
- ^ "Black Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- ^ "Black Dynamite Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 14, 2009). "Black Dynamite". EW.com. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (October 14, 2009). "Black Dynamite". Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (October 16, 2009). "Movie Review - Black Dynamite". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ blackbookmedia (July 19, 2012). "Black Dynamite Finds Hisself". BlackBook. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ Greenberg, James (January 22, 2009). "Film Review: Black Dynamite". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ Strowbridge, C.S. (February 16, 2010). "DVD and Blu-ray Releases for February 16th, 2010". The Numbers. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
- ^ a b Latino Review - Exclusive: Black Dynamite Cartoon Coming Soon to Cartoon Network
- ^ Simon, Perry Michael (February 8, 2013). "Life Lessons from Black Dynamite". Nerdist News. Archived from the original on October 6, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
- ^ Toro, Gabe. "Tribeca: 'Freaky Deaky' Star Michael Jai White Says 'Black Dynamite 2' Will Shoot At The End of The Year". IndieWire. SnagFilms Co. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
- ^ Bosselman, Haley (May 13, 2021). "Michael Jai White to Launch Jaigantic Studios in Connecticut". Variety. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
- ^ Fuge, Jonathan (July 13, 2023). "Outlaw Johnny Black Trailer Sees Michael Jai White Wage War in the Wild West". MovieWeb. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ^ "Outlaw Johnny Black". Samuel Goldwyn Films. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ^ "Outlaw Johnny Black". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- Fandom, Inc.Retrieved September 19, 2023.