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80-405: Black Dynamite is a 2009 American blaxploitation action comedy film starring Michael Jai White , Tommy Davidson , and Salli Richardson . The film was directed by Scott Sanders and co-written by White, Sanders, and Byron Minns, who also co-stars. 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

160-454: A sequel if the film did well. White hinted that a sequel was being written during an interview on G4 's Attack of the Show , and stated in an April 2012 interview that he hoped filming would begin at the end of that year. Black Dynamite 2 was slated for production in 2021 from Jaigantic Studios, with White writing and directing. In July 2023, the trailer for Outlaw Johnny Black was released,

240-438: A spiritual sequel to Black Dynamite that once again stars Michael Jai White. Reception for the film was mixed. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 65% of 26 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.20/10. Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Blaxploitation Blaxploitation

320-670: A 1930s twist. In 2004, Mario Van Peebles released Baadasssss! , about the making of his father Melvin's movie (with Mario playing Melvin). 2007's American Gangster , based on the true story of heroin dealer Frank Lucas , takes place in the early 1970s in Harlem and has many elements similar in style to blaxploitation films, specifically its prominent featuring of the song " Across 110th Street ". Blaxploitation films have profoundly impacted contemporary hip-hop culture . Several prominent hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg , Big Daddy Kane , Ice-T , Slick Rick , and Too Short , have adopted

400-481: A Jewish protagonist and was jokingly referred to by its director as a "Jewsploitation" film. Robert Townsend 's comedy Hollywood Shuffle features a young black actor who is tempted to take part in a white-produced blaxploitation film. The satirical book Our Dumb Century features an article from the 1970s entitled "Congress Passes Anti-Blaxploitation Act: Pimps, Players Subject to Heavy Fines". FOX 's network television comedy, MADtv , has frequently spoofed

480-474: A blaxploitation reference. He has an afro, sideburns, and a mustache. He carries swords, dresses in stylish 1970s clothing, and says that he hunts "Blaculas". A scene from the Season 9 episode of The Simpsons , " Simpson Tide ", shows Homer Simpson watching Exploitation Theatre. A voice-over announces fake movie titles such as The Blunch Black of Blotre Blame. Martha Southgate 's 2005 novel Third Girl from

560-481: A cinematic way to depict plantation slavery with all of its brutal, historical and racial contradictions and controversies, including sex, miscegenation, rebellion. The story world also depicts the plantation as one of the main origins of boxing as a sport in the U.S. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new wave of acclaimed black film makers, particularly Spike Lee ( Do the Right Thing ), John Singleton ( Boyz n

640-449: A cult following with black viewers. Dolemite , less serious in tone and produced as a spoof, centers around a sexually active black pimp played by Rudy Ray Moore, who based the film on his stand-up comedy act. A sequel, The Human Tornado , followed. Later spoofs parodying the blaxploitation genre include I'm Gonna Git You Sucka , Pootie Tang , Undercover Brother , Black Dynamite , and The Hebrew Hammer , which featured

720-516: A fictional character created for the video game series Fatal Fury , is a prime example of foreign black stereotypes. The sub-cult movie short Gayniggers from Outer Space is a blaxploitation-like science fiction oddity directed by Danish filmmaker, DJ, and singer Morten Lindberg . Jefferson Twilight, a character in The Venture Bros. , is a parody of the comic-book character Blade (a black, half human, half-vampire vampire hunter), as well as

800-481: 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

880-520: A less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin , the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s,

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960-555: A low budget that they had to "think in the same ways that they had to think" in the classic blaxploitation movies. Sanders and White had a difficult time keeping the modern world out of the movie. Sanders was worried about anything modern that could destroy "the whole illusion". White worked individually with actors to keep their tone correct. 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,

1040-1048: A major motion picture. His work in Spawn earned him a nomination for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award . White starred opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier: The Return , in 1999. A few years earlier, he acted in Full Contact, with Jerry Trimble . In 2001, he also starred opposite fellow martial artist Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds . In 2003, he starred in Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey 's music video " I Know What You Want ". Since 2003, in addition to his on screen roles, White has been doing voice work, including in Static Shock and Justice League . White showcases his martial arts skills in

1120-439: A mid-1970s blaxploitation television series. In the catalytic scene of True Romance , the characters watch the movie The Mack . John Singleton 's Shaft (2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson , is a modern-day interpretation of a classic blaxploitation film. The 1997 film Hoodlum starring Laurence Fishburne portrays a fictional account of black mobster Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson and recasts gangster blaxploitation with

1200-640: A mock nonprofit organization called "Fight Smack in the Orphanage" (FSITO). 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. 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

1280-491: A monologue from Black Dynamite on his quest for justice as Gloria and Pat Nixon watch on rapturously. "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 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

1360-464: A new way, allowing black political and social issues that had been ignored in cinema to be explored. Shaft and its protagonist, John Shaft, brought African-American culture to the mainstream world. Sweetback and Shaft were both influenced by the black power movement, containing Marxist themes, solidarity and social consciousness alongside the genre-typical images of sex and violence. Knowing that film could bring about social and cultural change,

1440-525: A profit that those communities would never see, despite being the vastly misrepresented main focus of many blaxploitation film plots. Many film professionals still believe that there is no truly equal "Black Hollywood" as evidenced by the " Oscars So White " scandal in 2015 that caused uproar when no black actors were nominated for " Best Actor " at the Academy Awards. Slavesploitation, a subgenre of blaxploitation in literature and film, flourished briefly in

1520-581: 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

1600-465: A red boom microphone appears above his head (which was common in Rudy Ray Moore films, such as Dolemite ). Some of the actors recite their stage directions before their intended dialogue; in one scene, an actor verbalizes the stage direction written into a film script ("the militants turn startled"), and continues saying the scripted dialogue "How did you get in here?" (which causes Ferrante Jones,

1680-482: A similar scene in Foxy Brown , in which Pam Grier hides a small semi-automatic pistol in her Afro. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force series has a recurring character called "Boxy Brown" – a play on Foxy Brown. An imaginary friend of Meatwad , Boxy Brown is a cardboard box with a crudely drawn face with a French cut that dons an afro. Whenever Boxy speaks, '70s funk music, typical of blaxploitation films, plays in

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1760-574: A specific focus in Kyokushin Karate (although his style incorporates aspects of many different martial arts forms). White started training in the martial arts at the age of four in Jujutsu . He next took up Shōtōkan and moved on to other styles later. White holds seven legitimate black belts in Kyokushin Karate, Goju-Ryu Karate, Shotokan Karate, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Kobudo , and Wushu. White

1840-404: A staging of Mozart 's opera Don Giovanni in the manner of a blaxploitation film, set in contemporary Spanish Harlem, with African-American singers portraying the anti-heroes as street-thugs, killing by gunshot rather than with a sword, using recreational drugs, and partying almost naked. It was later released on commercial video and can be seen on YouTube . A 2016 video game, Mafia III ,

1920-500: Is Mandingo , a 1957 novel which was adapted into a 1961 play and a 1975 film . Indeed, Mandingo was so well known that a contemporary reviewer of Die the Long Day , a 1972 novel by Orlando Patterson , called it an example of the "Mandingo genre". The film, panned on its release, has been subject to widely divergent critical assessments. Robin Wood , for instance, argued in 1998 that it

2000-425: Is a former special education teacher and taught students with behavioral problems for three years. He cites his history in education as the reason why, despite his personal love for the music genre on "a lot of levels", he cannot "in good [conscience]" have a positive opinion on hip hop or "excuse some of [its] pervasive and destructive elements", mainly due to his experience with youngsters who had difficulty seeing

2080-546: Is a kind of blaxploitation Western . Some of the later, blaxploitation-influenced movies such as Jackie Brown (1997), Undercover Brother (2002), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), and Django Unchained (2012) feature pop culture nods to the genre. The parody Undercover Brother , for example, stars Eddie Griffin as an afro -topped agent for a clandestine organization satirically known as

2160-870: Is a remake of the 1995 film Sudden Death starring Jean-Claude Van Damme . On July 12, 2021, White laid out a vision for starting a film studio in New Haven, Connecticut called "Jaigantic Studios". He wants to create a studio district on New Haven's Quinnipiac River waterfront. From 2005 to 2011, White was married to Courtenay Chatman and together they have a daughter named Morgan. In addition, White has two sons. In February 2014, White announced his engagement to actress Gillian Iliana Waters. In April 2015, White penned an open letter via Facebook entitled "Apologies to My Ex's", where he credited Waters for helping him become "the very best version of myself." In July 2015, White married Waters in Thailand. They appeared together in

2240-573: Is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement , the black power movement , and the Black Panthers spurred African-American artists to reclaim the power of depiction of their ethnicity, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for African-American students to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting

2320-493: Is funny enough for the frat house and clever enough for film buffs." On Metacritic , Black Dynamite has a 65/100 rating, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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. Roger Ebert awarded

2400-528: Is set in the year 1968 and revolves around Lincoln Clay, a mixed-race African-American orphan raised by "black mob" . After the murder of his surrogate family at the hands of the Italian mafia , Lincoln Clay seeks vengeance on those who took away the only thing that mattered to him. The notoriety of the blaxploitation genre has led to many parodies. The earliest attempts to mock the genre, Ralph Bakshi 's Coonskin and Rudy Ray Moore 's Dolemite , date back to

2480-672: Is the "greatest film about race ever made in Hollywood , certainly prior to Spike Lee and in some respects still". Blaxploitation films have had an enormous and complicated influence on American cinema. Filmmaker and exploitation film fan Quentin Tarantino , for example, has made numerous references to the blaxploitation genre in his films. An early blaxploitation tribute can be seen in the character of "Lite", played by Sy Richardson , in Repo Man (1984). Richardson later wrote Posse (1993), which

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2560-518: The "B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D." . Likewise, Austin Powers in Goldmember co-stars Beyoncé Knowles as the Tamara Dobson / Pam Grier -inspired heroine, Foxxy Cleopatra . In the 1977 parody film The Kentucky Fried Movie , a mock trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz depicts another Grier-like action star married to a rabbi . In a scene in Reservoir Dogs , the protagonists discuss Get Christie Love! ,

2640-492: The Indiegogo campaign not reaching its goal, he was still able to secure enough backers and additional donors to get the project off the ground. In July 2023, its trailer was released. Its theatrical release date was September 15, 2023. In October 2020, White's latest film Welcome to Sudden Death debuted on Netflix and became one of the most watched films on the platform. The Universal Pictures Home Entertainment release

2720-521: The Rudy Ray Moore -created franchise Dolemite , with a series of sketches performed by comic actor Aries Spears , in the role of "The Son of Dolemite". Other sketches include the characters " Funkenstein ", " Dr. Funkenstein " and more recently Condoleezza Rice as a blaxploitation superhero. A recurring theme in these sketches is the inexperience of the cast and crew in the blaxploitation era, with emphasis on ridiculous scripting and shoddy acting, sets, costumes, and editing. The sketches are testaments to

2800-405: The black nationalist movement in its argument that black and white authority cannot coexist easily. The genre's role in exploring and shaping race relations in the United States has been controversial. Some held that the blaxploitation trend was a token of black empowerment, but others accused the movies of perpetuating common white stereotypes about black people . As a result, many called for

2880-484: The "Annual Players Ball ", has become an often-referenced pop culture icon—most recently by Chappelle's Show , where it was parodied as the "Playa Hater's Ball". The genre's overseas influence extends to artists such as Norway's hip-hop duo Madcon . In Michael Chabon 's novel Telegraph Avenue , set in 2004, two characters are former blaxploitation stars. In 1980, opera director Peter Sellars (not to be confused with actor Peter Sellers ) produced and directed

2960-438: 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. The original trailer was recorded even before the film went into production in order to raise money. It incorporated scenes from old blaxploitation movies with old voice overs from Adolph Caesar . The trailer

3040-481: The 1960s and 1970s was influenced by the Black Power movement . Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was one of the first films to incorporate black power ideology and permit black actors to be the stars of their own narratives, rather than being relegated to the typical roles available to them (such as the " mammy " figure and other low-status characters). Films such as Shaft brought the black experience to film in

3120-551: The 1970s. The film was then converted to digital for editing. The filmmakers supplemented their shoot with period stock footage from Sony Pictures Stock Footage, using films such as Missing in Action , Charlie's Angels , and Police Woman . Black Dynamite was shot in the Leimert Park , Ladera Heights , and Angeles Vista sections of Los Angeles over twenty days, with several green-screen days and one reshoot day. The film had such

3200-535: The 1970s. They also often feature a rich orchestration which included flutes and violins. Blaxploitation was one of the first film categories to have female leads portray brave, heroic, active protagonists. Actresses such as Pam Grier in Coffy and Gloria Hendry in Black Belt Jones opened the door for actresses to become action stars which inspired later films such as Kill Bill and Set It Off . Following

3280-463: The Black Hand Side ), coming-of-age ( Cooley High / Cornbread, Earl and Me ), and musical ( Sparkle ). Following the example set by Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song , many blaxploitation films feature funk and soul jazz soundtracks with heavy bass , funky beats and wah-wah guitars. These soundtracks are notable for complexity that was not common to the radio-friendly funk tracks of

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3360-490: The Black Power movement seized the genre to highlight black socioeconomic struggles in the 1970s; many such films contained black heroes who were able to overcome the institutional oppression of African-American culture and history. Later films such as Super Fly softened the rhetoric of black power, encouraging resistance within the capitalist system rather than a radical transformation of society. Super Fly still embraced

3440-552: The Hood ) , and Allen and Albert Hughes ( Menace II Society ) focused on black urban life in their movies. These directors made use of blaxploitation elements while incorporating implicit criticism of the genre's glorification of stereotypical "criminal" behavior. Alongside accusations of exploiting stereotypes, the NAACP also criticized the blaxploitation genre of exploiting the black community and culture of America, by creating films for

3520-554: The Left is set in Hollywood during the era of blaxploitation films and references many blaxploitation films and stars such as Pam Grier and Coffy . Michael Jai White White is a martial artist in nine different styles : Shōtōkan , Goju-Ryu (for which he studied under Master Eddie Morales where he learned to sharpen his Goju karate technique), Taekwondo , Kobudō , Tang Soo Do , Wushu , Jujutsu , Kyokushin and Boxing , with

3600-458: The actor playing "Black Dynamite," to break character and look offscreen to see if the director will realize the error and call "cut" - which the unseen director does not do). 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. Adrian Younge plays all instruments and wrote the lyrics to every song on

3680-496: The artist entails exploitation of the very people to whom they owe their artistic existence." Films such as Super Fly and The Mack received intense criticism not only for the stereotype of the protagonist (generalizing pimps as representative of all African-American men, in this case) but for portraying all black communities as hotbeds for drugs and crime. Blaxploitation films such as Mandingo (1975) provided mainstream Hollywood producers, in this case Dino De Laurentiis ,

3760-472: The audience. The films usually portray black protagonists overcoming " The Man " or emblems of the white majority that oppresses the black community. Blaxploitation includes several subtypes, including crime ( Foxy Brown ), action/martial arts ( Three the Hard Way ), Westerns ( Boss Nigger ), horror ( Abby , Blacula ), prison ( Penitentiary ), comedy ( Uptown Saturday Night ), nostalgia ( Five on

3840-609: The background. The cardboard box also has a confrontational attitude and dialect similar to many heroes of this film genre. Some of the TVs found in the action video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne feature a Blaxploitation-themed parody of the original Max Payne game called Dick Justice , after its main character. Dick behaves much like the original Max Payne (down to the "constipated" grimace and metaphorical speech) but wears an afro and mustache and speaks in Ebonics . Duck King ,

3920-435: The blaxploitation era, such as Rudy Ray Moore , Antonio Fargas , Dick Anthony Williams and Pam Grier all make cameo appearances. In one scene, Martin, in character as aging pimp "Jerome", refers to Pam Grier as " Sheba, Baby " in reference to her 1975 blaxploitation feature film of the same name. In the movie Leprechaun in the Hood , a character played by Ice-T pulls a baseball bat from his Afro. This scene alludes to

4000-476: The bottom of Jimmy's murder, he finds out that his brother was actually working undercover for the CIA. Black Dynamite also discovers the shady organization is filling the black orphanages with heroin . He declares war on local drug dealers and successfully cleans up the streets, earning him the affection of Gloria, a Black Power activist who works at the local orphanage. After discovering the government's involvement in

4080-516: The community. The film is a parody of and homage to 1970s action and blaxploitation films. It had a trailer and funding even before a script was written. Black Dynamite was shot in 20 days in Super 16 format. The film was released in the United States on October 16, 2009, for only two weeks (with an "official" premiere at the Toronto After Dark film festival) and was well received by critics. It

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4160-457: The difference between it and real life. He graduated from Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1982. White's first major starring role and breakout performance was in the 1995 HBO film Tyson , as heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson . He portrayed the eponymous character in the 1997 film Spawn , making him the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in

4240-529: The direct-to-DVD film Undisputed II: Last Man Standing . He also appears in Michelle Yeoh's Silver Hawk in 2004. He appeared in Kill Bill: Volume 2 , although his role was cut from the theatrical release. His film Why Did I Get Married? opened at number one at the box office on October 12, 2007. White played the role of the mob boss Gambol in the 2008 film The Dark Knight . He also starred in

4320-404: 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

4400-589: The end of the genre. The NAACP , Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Urban League joined to form the Coalition Against Blaxploitation. Their influence in the late 1970s contributed to the genre's demise. Literary critic Addison Gayle wrote in 1974, "The best example of this kind of nihilism / irresponsibility are the Black films; here is freedom pushed to its most ridiculous limits; here are writers and actors who claim that freedom for

4480-425: The film Blood and Bone and the blaxploitation homage Black Dynamite , both released in 2009. White wrote the scripts for both Black Dynamite and 3 Bullets in which he stars with Bokeem Woodbine . On March 30, 2010, White appeared on The Mo'Nique Show to promote his film Why Did I Get Married Too . The two joked about the acclaim that comes with winning an Oscar . In May of that year he appeared in

4560-455: 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. A.O. Scott of The New York Times considered Black Dynamite would be a better "five-minute clip on YouTube" than a feature film. Scott wrote, "A boom mike drifts down into

4640-561: 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. 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. A viral campaign was launched on the web prior to the film's general release, spearheaded by

4720-448: The film would not hold audience's attention because among all the detail there was no real story. Black Dynamite was released on February 16, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray . Both releases contain an audio commentary , deleted scenes , a "making-of" featurette, and a Comic-Con Q&A panel. The Blu-ray has an extra featurette and trivia track. An animated spin-off of the film was produced for Adult Swim , with animation production by

4800-449: The film. To record the score, Younge used vintage tape recording equipment and then sent it to be digitally transferred. 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. Black Dynamite premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival , where Sony Worldwide Acquisitions picked it up for distribution for "nearly $ 2 million". On June 14,

4880-667: The frame; an actor recites stage directions along with his lines. The camera zooms, pans and shifts focus as if it were being wielded by an optometrist on a cocaine binge. The acting is stiff, the dialogue painfully self-conscious, the action sequences choreographed and edited to look as cartoonish as possible. All of which is fun, for a while, in an academic kind of way." In a 2012 interview, "Black Dynamite" responded to Scott, saying "Well, obviously A.O. stands for 'asshole's opinion,' 'cause we here talking about it right now. Damn movie's been tweeted about every two minutes since 2009." James Greenberg writing for The Hollywood Reporter believed

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4960-446: The genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters , or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s. Blaxploitation films were originally aimed at an urban African-American audience but the genre's audience appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. Hollywood realized

5040-419: The genre is Slaves (1969), which Gaines notes was "not 'slavesploitation' in the vein of later films", but which nonetheless featured graphic depictions of beatings and sexual violence against slaves. Novotny argues that Blacula (1972), although it does not depict slavery directly, is historically linked to the slavesploitation subgenre. By far, the best-known and best-studied exemplar of slavesploitation

5120-479: The genre's heyday in 1975. Coonskin was intended to deconstruct racial stereotypes, from early minstrel show stereotypes to more recent stereotypes found in blaxploitation film itself. The work stimulated great controversy even before its release when the Congress of Racial Equality challenged it. Even though distribution was handed to a smaller distributor who advertised it as an exploitation film, it soon developed

5200-407: The late 1960s and 1970s. As its name suggests, the genre is characterized by sensationalistic depictions of slavery. Abrams, arguing that Quentin Tarantino 's Django Unchained (2012) finds its historical roots in the slavesploitation genre, observes that slavesploitation films are characterized by "crassly exploitative representations of oppressed slave protagonists". One early antecedent of

5280-510: The liquor's effect, is killed to put him out of his misery. Returning to the warehouse, Black Dynamite finds O'Leary is part of the evil plan but is just following orders. He kills O'Leary before acquiring his next lead to find the source of the "Code Kansas" plan. 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

5360-622: The martial arts thriller movie Take Back (2021), with Gillian White starring as the female lead. In 2014, White was honored with the Fists of Legends Decade Award at the Urban Action Showcase & Expo at HBO. In 2015, he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame . On November 8, 2019, he assumed the "Mantle of The Black Dragon" from Ron van Clief , Don "The Dragon" Wilson , Cynthia Rothrock , and Taimak , in

5440-416: The money for this." Once financing was secured, writing the script took about three weeks. During the writing process, Minns' almost "encyclopedic knowledge" of blaxploitation helped them produce the script more quickly. Cinematographer Shawn Maurer shot Black Dynamite on Super 16 Color Reversal Kodak film stock to get the high contrast and saturated look common in many low-budget Blaxploitation films of

5520-597: The music video for Toni Braxton 's new song "Hands Tied" from her album Pulse , as well as the Nicki Minaj music video for " Your Love " as Nicki's sensei and love interest. He also starred in Kevin Tancharoen 's short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth , as Jax Briggs , and reprised the role in Mortal Kombat: Legacy , a webseries from the same director. He posted on Twitter that he would not be returning to

5600-568: The no-nonsense pimp persona popularized first by ex-pimp Iceberg Slim 's 1967 book Pimp and subsequently by films such as Super Fly , The Mack , and Willie Dynamite . In fact, many hip-hop artists have paid tribute to pimping within their lyrics (most notably 50 Cent 's hit single " P.I.M.P. ") and have openly embraced the pimp image in their music videos , which include entourages of scantily-clad women, flashy jewelry (known as " bling "), and luxury Cadillacs (referred to as " pimpmobiles "). The most famous scene of The Mack , featuring

5680-688: The pimps, the private eyes and the pushers who more or less singlehandedly make whitey's corrupt world safe for black pimping, black private-eyeing and black pushing. Blaxploitation films set in the Northeast or West Coast mainly take place in poor urban neighborhoods. Pejorative terms for white characters, such as " cracker " and " honky ", are commonly used. Blaxploitation films set in the South often deal with slavery and miscegenation . The genre's films are often bold in their statements and use violence, sex, drug trafficking and other shocking qualities to provoke

5760-509: The poor production quality of the films, with obvious boom mike appearances and intentionally poor cuts and continuity. Another of FOX's network television comedies, Martin starring Martin Lawrence , frequently references the blaxploitation genre. In the Season Three episode "All The Players Came", when Martin organizes a "Player's Ball" charity event to save a local theater, several stars of

5840-716: The popularity of these films in the 1970s, movies within other genres began to feature black characters with stereotypical blaxploitation characteristics, such as the Harlem underworld characters in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), Jim Kelly 's character in Enter the Dragon (1973) and Fred Williamson 's character in The Inglorious Bastards (1978). Afeni Shakur claimed that every aspect of culture (including cinema) in

5920-508: The potential profit of expanding the audiences of blaxploitation films. Variety credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and the less radical Hollywood-financed film Shaft (both released in 1971) with the invention of the blaxploitation genre, although Cotton Comes to Harlem was released the prior year. Blaxploitation films were also the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music . [S]upercharged, bad-talking, highly romanticized melodramas about Harlem superstuds,

6000-528: The role for the second season, but would return for the 2013 film. White made his directorial debut and starred in Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown , which was released on home video on September 13, 2011. White also provided the voice of Green Lantern in the video game Justice League Heroes . In October 2019, White announced that the spiritual successor to Black Dynamite titled Outlaw Johnny Black had officially entered pre-production. Despite

6080-694: The same team behind The Boondocks . The series was cancelled after two seasons. 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 . Director Sanders said that he and White had ideas for

6160-434: 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

6240-403: The warehouse. They find only "Anaconda" brand malt liquor , a government-produced brand that, according to the advertising slogan, "Gives You Ooooooo!". In a diner, they decipher the slogan and uncover "Code Kansas" as a plan to literally emasculate African-American men through Anaconda Malt Liquor, which is formulated to "give (you) a little dick". The militant Gunsmoke, who has fallen victim to

6320-452: Was released on home video on February 16, 2010. In the early 1970s, Black Dynamite, a Vietnam War veteran and former CIA officer, skilled in kung fu, vows to clean up the streets of drug dealers and gangsters after his younger brother Jimmy is killed by a shady organization. O'Leary, Black Dynamite's former army and CIA partner, reinstates him into the agency because they do not want him seeking vengeance by himself. While trying to get to

6400-474: Was shot on Super 8 mm film for around $ 500 and contained numerous cultural references that placed the film in the 1970s, such as referring to the star of the film as a Baltimore Colts running back (the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984) and marveling at Black Dynamite's "five thousand dollar car" and "hundred dollar suit" . White and Sanders showed it to Jon Steingart, who told them "Oh my God. Okay, we can raise

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