Willie Dynamite

1973

Action / Crime / Drama

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 69% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 69% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 1425 1.4K

new york city prostitute pimp cop blaxploitation cinema

Plot summary

Willie Dynamite is a pimp who operates in New York City. Willie was a big success as a pimp, but now, just as fast as he rose to the top, he has hit bottom. A former prostitute who has become a social worker tries to get Willie to clean up his life while it is still possible.

Director

Gilbert Moses Photo
Gilbert Moses

Top cast

Robert DoQui Photo
Robert DoQui as Baylor the Pimp
Ken Lynch Photo
Ken Lynch as Judge #1
Bob Harks Photo
Bob Harks as Bailiff
Thalmus Rasulala Photo
Thalmus Rasulala as Robert Daniels
720p.BluRay
943.64 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by tomgillespie2002 7 / 10

One of the blaxploitation genre's most impressive works

As all fans of exploitation cinema will know, there were many, many blaxploitation movies released during the 1970s after Melvin van Peebles left an incredibly impression on black audiences with Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song in 1971. While many are rather enjoyable in a comical way, few works of blaxploitation were actually any good. Tony Award-nominated Broadway director Gilbert Moses' Willie Dynamite is incredibly under-seen, but is one of the genre's most impressive works, shunning the usual hyper-stylised, lightly comic beats in favour of something more serious and dramatic, while also touching on themes such as black identity, racism and police corruption.New York pimp Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman) has built himself a mini-empire, training his girls to work like a production line to maximise profits and keep his many customers happy. While his clothes are utterly outlandish (there are some of most ridiculous outfits ever seen in the genre here), Willie ain't no lovable scamp like Super Fly (1972), but a real piece of s**t; he regularly threatens his girls with violence, underpays them, and fails to offer any help when they get themselves arrested. When he's late to turn up to court for his most recent arrival Pashen (Joyce Walker), prostitute-turned-social worker Cora (Diana Sands) takes a particular interest, and becomes intent on rescuing Willie's girls and ending his reign of terror.For a genre normally so rich in exploitative traits, Willie Dynamite contains no nudity and little violence, earning its adult rating instead for language and drug use. The lack of sex and action scenes leaves plenty of room for drama and character building, and Willie's journey to discovering his place in society and ultimately redeeming himself is all the more engrossing for it. Anyone familiar with Sesame Street will be left shocked at the sight of Orman wearing some of the most garish costumes ever committed to celluloid and trying to keep his bitches in check, and it's a very convincing performance. But it is in fact Diana Sands, who sadly died shortly after filming, who steals the film as the force of nature with a gentle side. Ripe for re- discovery, there's much more to Willie Dynamite than I would have ever expected. Now, bring me some scratch.
Reviewed by lastliberal 6 / 10

Bring me some scratch

A classic 70's Blaxploitation film. Pimps as colorful as peacocks with land cruisers dressed in chrome.Roscoe Orman (Gordon from Sesame Street) plays Willie, a pimp who has the patter down pat and the clothing that rivals anything that your imagination can come up with. He runs afoul of a determined social worker and the police, both determined to bring him down. They use every trick in the book to make his life hell and bring on him the wrath of his fellow pimps.Diana Sands, who was one of the top black actresses of the 50s and 60s, shined as the social worker. This was one of her last films as she died of cancer before its release. She was 39.Like Al Capone, Willie's downfall was the IRS.
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