In modern fiction, it is generally held that a hero is only as good as his, or her, villain.   Blaxploitation produced a fair number of memorable heroes, however, in reviewing the Black action movies of the 1970s, it is rather difficult to name a singular villain that the genre produced.  Personally, I believe this is a by-product of the audience for whom Blaxploitation movies were originally made:  disenfranchised, Black, urban audiences whose circumstances told them there was no single source of their misery.  They knew the crime and poverty that surrounded them was not caused by one single, scheming individual gleefully twirling his moustache.  Those audiences understood that their problems were systemic, and there were a lot of SOMEONES contributing to, and profiting from, their pain.

In this void of recognizable villains, the exceptional performances become particularly notable.  This week and next, WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM recognizes the Top Ten Villains of Blaxploitation.

So, without further ado, let’s start the countdown:

#10 – SHELLEY WINTERS as “MOMMY” in Cleopatra Jones (1973)

Standing at a gorgeous 6′2″ inches in stocking feet, decked out in the fly-est gear, and driving a tricked out sports car with secret compartments bristling with weaponry, Tamara Dobson’s Cleopatra Jones was a larger-than-life superhero.  However, if Cleopatra Jones was the silver screen’s first Blaxploitation superhero, then Shelley Winters’ “Mommy” was the Joker to her Batman.  Winters delivers a memorable performance as the wildly temperamental, foul-mouthed lesbian crimelord who took shit real personally when Cleopatra Jones called in a military airstrike on her Afghan poppy fields and destroyed $40 million worth of heroin.  The woman who had earned an Oscar nomination the year before in The Poseidon Adventure chews the scenery like a starving man tearing through a bag of beef jerky and throws caution to the wind with a wildly campy, yet tonally correct, bravura performance.  A running gag involves Mommy cursing out her goons for their latest failure, only to be interrupted by her some sexy, leggy, busty beauty who brings her some needed item.  Mommy always stops mid-harangue and says “Thank you [insert name].  You’re the only one around here who understands Mommy.”  The beauty of the joke is that it’s a different woman each time.

#9 JOSEPH MASCOLO as “GUS MASCOLO” in Shaft’s Big Score (1973)

Joseph Mascolo played Mafia don, Gus Mascolo, as the polar opposite of Shelley Winters’ “Mommy.”  Gus was a refined, dapper man of culture who seemed to view contract killings and numbers rackets as an ugly, but necessary way to finance his rarified tastes.  When we first see Gus, he is arriving at his penthouse apartment via helicopter.  Gus changes into a smoking jacket and ascot and has his henchman pour him a drink before sitting down to practice a bit of classical music on the clarinet.  Gus demands similar refinement from his thugs, who inevitably disappoint him.  He chastises them for interrupting his music and failing to appreciate the subtleties of fine cuisine.  If it weren’t for the killing and grave robbing Gus engages in later in the film, he’d be a pretty classy guy.

#8  DON GORDON as “HANK” in The Mack (1973)

Hank was the ultimate corrupt cop and I’m certain that for the audiences sitting in those darkened theaters in 1973, he was a perfect stand-in for every cop who had ever shooed them along, pulled them off the street for a line-up, or tried to cave their skull in for demanding the right to vote.  When the movie opens, Hank and his partner have just cornered the protagonist, Goldie (Max Julien), in a drug bust.  Goldie’s car flipped over during the shoot-out, trapping him inside.  Instead of offering assistance, or calling for help, Hank and his partner stand outside the car, spitting racial epithets at Goldie and casually debating whether arresting Goldie would result in less paperwork than shooting him in cold blood.  Hank might just be another dirty, celluloid cop if it weren’t for the depth and inner turmoil that Don Stroud invested in him, particularly in a scene involving an overweight Black prostitute he hired to blow off some steam.  The sight of the inebriated Hank baring his soul to the disinterested prostitute while he paws her breasts and confesses his fat fetish (”I like women of substance.  Big.  Meaty.”) using racially charged metaphors is creepy, repugnant, and pathetic in equal measure.

#7 GEORGE MURDOCK as “FATMAN” in The Mack (1973)

You’ll recognize George Murdock the minute you see him.  He’s the type of reliable character actor that makes audiences say, “Oh!  THAT guy,” because he’s been in everything from Barney Miller (where he played recurring character Lt. Ben Scanlon) to The X-Files to Star Trek: The Next Generation. As Fatman, he plays Goldie’s former employer; a crime boss who fancies himself as something of a mentor to Goldie during his time in the drug game.  Although Goldie has carved out a comfortable niche for himself as a pimp, Fatman wants Goldie to come back into business with him.  I appreciate Murdock’s Fatman for his complexity, because his interest in Goldie is both profit driven and paternalistic.  Goldie earned a lot of money as a drug runner for Fatman and he dismisses Goldie’s earnings of “$2,000 a week” from his hookers as “chicken feed.”   However, when Goldie refuses to come back into his employ, Fatman is forced to confess that Goldie’s operation is drawing too much attention from the Powers That Be, so it may be best to fold his business and come back under Fatman’s protection.  Fatman turns out to be correct, but his Devil’s bargain was no deal for Goldie, who needed to make a clean break from the criminal life.

#6  KATHRYN LODER as “KATHERINE WALL” in Foxy Brown (1974)

Kathryn Loder playes Katherine Wall as a cool, calculating, drug dealing madame with a firm grip on her criminal empire.  The only weakness in her formidable, icy exterior are her feelings for her pretty-boy boyfriend, Steve Elias (Peter Brown), who offsets Katherine’s calmness with hot-headed bravado and bluster.  Foxy Brown is out to avenge the death of her boyfriend at the hands of Katherine’s men, so she engineers a perfect moment of poetic justice against Katherine by depriving the madame of her boyfriend…or at least the “boy” part of him.  Kathryn Loder’s Katherine becomes increasingly unhinged and erratic throughout the course of the film as Foxy’s plan unfolds, so in the final confrontation between the two women, Katherine’s primal wail at being left “to suffer” becomes a fitting metaphor for her fragile, unraveling mental state.

Next week, the countdown of the Blaxploitation’s Top Ten Villains continues with the top five fiends.  See you next week, and enjoy the opening weekend of college football.

- JEP

• Yesterday, I saw a guy texting while driving down the street on a moped, without a helmet. Come get your Darwin Award, fool! #
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Recently the traffic to the ol’ webcomic has been a little moribund.   However, it was to be expected, with Summer coming to an end and the pending Labor Day holiday here in the United States.  It’s also easy to take the drop-off in stride thanks to the great dialogue I enjoy with my regular readers. Heck, even I was logging on less than usual, since I had been out of town a lot recently with a vacation to Chicago and a weekend trip to Knoxville for the University of Tennessee football home opener. (GO VOLS!)

Imagine my surprise when I logged on this morning and discovered that site visits had spiked astronomically overnight.  I literally said, “What the fuck?” and checked to see where all the traffic was coming from.  My surprise turned to shock (I mean, someone-grab-the-defibrillator-’cause-I-think-my-heart-just-stopped shock) when I realized the readers were coming from Avatar Press’ site, Bleeding Cool.  Legendary comic book writer, Warren Ellis, had actually given WORLD OF HURT a shout-out in his regular column, Do Anything! I was in awe of Ellis and Bryan Hitch’s The Authority back in the day, and I lived for his ”pop comics” manifesto, Nextwave with Stuart Immonen, so this was..Wow!

I’m fairly certain Mr. Ellis is not one for treacly sentiment, but I would like to say that I am greatly humbled that he would take the time to read my webcomic, much less comment upon it in such a positive way.

In the time WORLD OF HURT has been active, other fantastic artists and creators, from Mr. Dwayne McDuffie to the inimitable Mr. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, have also been gracious enough to send comments or good thoughts my way, and each time I really don’t know what to say, because I’ve admired their work for years.  I can never say enough to thank them for their time and inspiration.   However, it does make me endeavor to work that much harder and try to improve as an artist.

Thanks so much to them, and to you, for stopping by and letting me share my webcomic with you.

- JEP

Welcome to the second, and final, installment in WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM’s Countdown of the Top Ten Blaxploitation Villains.  I got really great feedback last week and I think the countdown was a big success, so I’ll be incorporating a few more into my roster of recurring features like The Unsung Badmother****** Awards and If You’re A Fan Of Blaxploitation, Then You Oughtta Know….  I think a few of the finalists in the Top Five might draw some debate, but I’d be glad to know who you guys would put on your lists.

Well enough jaw-jackin’.  Let’s get down with the countdown:

#5 – HEROIN

Drugs loomed large in Blaxploitation, because they dominated (and continue to dominate) the bleak social and economic landscape of America’s inner cities.  In the 1970s, the drug of choice among the poor and dispossessed was heroin.   At the time, cocaine still had cachet as an upscale recreational drug whose physically addictive qualities were still in doubt in some quarters.  For example, Blaxploitation hero, Youngblood Priest from Super Fly, dealt exclusively in cocaine.  However, heroin was rightfully recognized as a blight on the community. Heroin overdoses at the hands of ruthless dealers was the catalyst for action in films like Coffy (1973) and Gordon’s War (1973).

The new movie, Black Dynamite, a satirical homage to Black action movies of the 1970s which opens this October 16th, even references Blaxploitation’s focus on heroin with their online viral campaign to Fight Smack In The Orphanage (F.S.I.T.O.) At the above link you can find a  is a mock PSA created by the Black Dynamite team, featuring one of the film’s stars, Byron Minns as “Bullhorn” doing an uncanny, and hilarious, impression of Rudy Ray “Dolemite” Moore.  (WARNING:  This video may be NSFW.)

#4 – YAPHET KOTTO as “HARVARD BLUE” in Truck Turner (1974)

Ever read The Autobiography of Malcolm X?  In it, Malcolm X recounts his earlier life as a thief, a gambler, and a drug dealer plying his illicit trades in Harlem and Boston.  In the criminal underworld in which he operated, Malcolm X encountered an old school gangster named West Indian Archie, a numbers runner with a photographic memory.  Malcolm X lamented that, with his facility with numbers, in another time and another place, West Indian Archie could have been a doctor, a scientist, or an accountant.  Instead, with the limited opportunities at his disposal, West Indian Archie just became an exceptionally good criminal.  Yaphet Kotto’s Harvard Blue was West Indian Archie.  Yaphet Kotto played Harvard Blue, as his first name implies, as an smart man– a smart, ruthless businessman whose business happened to be pimpin’ hos.  There was something about Blue that suggested he was better than “The Life,” but if this was his destiny, then he was damn sure going to make the most of it.  Harvard Blue wasn’t aiming for legitimacy anymore, he was shooting for absolute domination of the game.

# 3 – NICHELLE NICHOLS as “DORINDA” in Truck Turner (1974)

Nichelle Nichols’ turn as Dorinda, a foul-mouthed, quick-tempered madame, is a revelation, because it explodes the viewer’s notions of Nichols as an actress.  For three seasons in the 1960s, Nichols portrayed Lt. Uhura, the steady, calm, regal communications officer of the USS Enterprise in the TV series, Star Trek.  (For more on this, see my earlier post “Trek Turner.”)  Dorinda was as far from Uhura as one could get.  After bounty hunter Truck Turner and his partner kill her boss, Gator, in an arrest gone wrong, Dorinda vows revenge, and offers her stable of call girls as the reward for the pimp with the balls to bring her Turner’s shiny, bald head on a platter.  Nichols struts, preens, purrs and hisses through her scenes with a wicked, profanity-laced abandon.  She’s like a Tourette’s-afflicted Eartha Kitt.  Dorinda is a force of nature who won’t be denied her vengeance, and Nichelle Nichols absolutely owns the screen anytime she’s on it.  Nichols’ larger-than-life Dorinda also plays well against the hulking, quiet intensity of Yaphet Kotto’s Harvard Blue.

# 2 – DON STROUD as ” KIRK” in Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off (1973)

In Slaughter, Jim Brown traveled to Mexico to bust up the mob ’s operations after they blew up his parents with a car bomb.  In Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, the mob comes back for revenge.  They should have left well enough alone, because their botched assassination attempt on Slaughter, which involved a bi-plane outfitted with machine guns and the exploding head of Punky Brewster’s dad, only puts “The Baddest Dude That Ever Walked The Earth” back on their trail, and he’s not stopping ’til he delivers “The Big Payback”.*  Since his first attempt to kill Slaughter failed,  the Los Angeles crime boss, Duncan (played quite effectively by the late Tonight Show sidekick, Ed McMahon) calls in Kirk, a heavy-hitter from back East, to finish the job.  Duncan introduces Kirk to his hangers-on and minions at a pool party, and Kirk quickly proves his worth.  Kirk’s first order of business is to deliver the message that Duncan will not tolerate failure.  After clearing out the pool with just a hard stare to the assembled guests, Kirk slips into the water behind the failed assassin and strangles him with a deflated pool toy.  A POOL TOY!  Later in the film, Kirk recovers the film’s MacGuffin from Slaughter by threatening to kill Slaughter’s main squeeze, Marcia (Gloria Hendry), whom he was holding hostage.  Slaughter agrees to turn over the information if Kirk releases Marcia.  Kirk concedes to his demands and lets Marcia go.  However, Kirk’s men recapture Marcia, and Kirk sadistically turns Marcia into Slaughter’s executioner by forcing the poor woman to drive herself and Slaughter over a cliff into the Pacific Ocean.

What I loved about Don Stroud’s performance, is that he plays Kirk with such cunning cruelty.  Although he’s not above getting his hands dirty to get what he wants, he obviously enjoys getting inside the head of his opponents, too.  From the minute he is introduced, you know Kirk is a restless, backstabbing manipulator.  Although Kirk kills his predecessor at the pool party to secure his place in the organization and prove his loyalty to Duncan, Kirk is obviously not content with playing second fiddle for long.  Toward the end of the movie, there’s a scene where Kirk silently observes Duncan’s runners dropping off briefcases filled with cash into Duncan’s headquarters, before sidling into Duncan’s inner office.  He then makes an offhand comment about the obscene amount of cash moving through the operation.  The scene was obviously written as an expository scene so Ed McMahon could explain money laundering to the audience, but Don Stroud plays it with a disarming casualness that actually underscores that fact that Kirk is merely biding his time until he can safely bump off Duncan and claim his criminal empire for himself.

#1 – “THE MAN”

You know who “The Man” is.  If you don’t know, I’d like to remind you of the joke about the loudmouthed, annoying relative who’s at every family reunion.  If you don’t think your family has one, chances are that it’s you.  OK, it may seem like a cop-out, but as I stated at the beginning of the first part of this series, Blaxploitation, in part, was a cinematic response to very real issues that couldn’t be easily capsulized, or personified, in one person.  The intended audience knew there was something within the political, cultural, and economic power structure that was weighted against them.  It was something that could not be easily capsulized, or personified, in a single person.  The very fact that so many of the villains weren’t very memorable is less an indictment of the actors in those roles, or even the writing, and more an indication that it didn’t really matter to the movie-goers.  THEY knew who the enemy was.  Consider the fact that in Super Fly, the audience didn’t even see the real mastermind of Priest’s misery, the Deputy Commissioner Riordan, until the last five minutes of the film, but they still cheered like mad when Priest revealed his trump card. Like the faceless hordes of Nazis in World War II films who were mowed down under the guns of charismatic, square-jawed American heroes, Blaxploitation’s equally faceless legions of corrupt cops, unscrupulous sell-outs, crooked politicians, and racist mobsters represented ideas, attitudes, and institutions that needed to be taken down by some resolute, and righteous, brother or sister.

That’s it for today.  Again, thanks for making this such a big week at WORLD OF HURT.  I’d like to send a special thanks to the legendary Fred “The Hammer” Williamson who started my week on a major, major high note when I discovered that he had accepted my request to join the WORLD OF HURT Facebook fan page.  Mr. Williamson is a role model for how a man should conduct his business.  He always set his own terms and refused to back down from his core beliefs.  When the other party refused to budge, he raised the capital and the  resources to do it himself.   The man hit hard on the field, on the screen, and in the board room.  My hat’s off to you, Mr. Williamson.

See y’all soon.

- JEP

* James Brown wrote the motion picture soundtrack for Slaughter’s Big Rip-Off, for which he delivered the classic funk track “The Payback.”  Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know this if you saw DVD version released through MGM’s Soul Cinema line.  Apparently, they did not, or were unable to, secure the rights to James Brown’s music, therefore it has all been replaced with generic funk music that is the musical equivalent of clip art.

• @BrianDenham Re: The diversity of the US comics market – Testify, brother!! in reply to BrianDenham #
• @tbtjuice – All of the above. She'll be a "Mommy Dearest" calibre mom, due to her backbiting, chain-smoking, shrewish ways. in reply to tbtjuice #
• They're bad as in "bad," not "bad" meaning "good. The countdown of Blaxploitation's Biggest Villains continues… http://bit.ly/1lOsXW #
• @BrianDenham -Thanks for the link-love for "World Of Hurt!" #
• @russbynum – Because they're SORRY excuses for human beings. in reply to russbynum #
• @tbtjuice -Heigl should be a great mom. She can pass along the art of being an ungrateful, chain-smoking harpy to a whole new generation. #
• Bleeding Cool: http://bit.ly/15RN9q #
• Righteous! Blaxploitation legend, Fred Williamson, graciously agreed to join the WORLD OF HURT Facebook fanpage over the weekend. #
• Holy cow! Warren Ellis gave a shout-out to WORLD OF HURT: "It looks like blaxploitation, but it’s not homage so… http://bit.ly/WYXRj #

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I just wanted to point out that my man, David Walker, is offering a sale on back issues of his magazine, BadAzz Mofo, on his site, BadAzzMofo.com. 

The magazine offers some of the most comprehensive, insightful, and hilarious analysis of the Blaxploitation movement that I’ve ever come across.   People use the term “LOL” a lot on the Internets, but I promise that you will literally laugh out loud on many occasions with BadAzz Mofo.  Throughout the history of the magazine (which, sadly, is no longer being published) I believe David Walker and his crew managed to actually review every single one of the nearly 300 Blaxploitation movies produced.  David scored some fantastic interviews with stars like Gloria Hendry and Fred Williamson.  The intense gauntlet he had to run to score an interview with Jim Brown is like something out of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, with Brown even growling his version of “You chose…wisely,” before consenting to begin the interview. 

Within the pages of BadAzz Mofo, you’ll also find some exclusive Jim (Grrl Scouts) Mahfood art, music reviews, and discover which asshole from Magnum, P.I. made David’s mother cry.  (His mom, Bonnie, is a real sweetheart, too, which makes his assholitry even more disgusting).  That’s another thing: through the bits of autobiographical information interspersed throughout the magazine, you quickly learn that David is every bit as insane, badazz, and fascinating as the fictional characters he covers, and by the time you finish reading these issues, the term “foot-to-ass,” will be firmly entrenched in your daily vocabulary.  Although BadAzz Mofo the magazine has ceased publication, David regularly updates his site, BadAzzMofo.com with reviews and commentary of pop culture with the same biting, acerbic wit and insight that was a hallmark of the print version.

David’s got a fantastic sale going on right now for a 5-issue combo pack, but supplies are limited, so get ‘em while the gettin’s good!

LINKS:

BadAzz Mofo – homepage

BadAzz Mofo Online Store

- JEP

You guys may not know this, but Blaxploitation will be making a return to the theaters next month when Sony Pictures releases the new movie, Black Dynamite, starring Michael Jai White, on October 16, 2009.  Black Dynamite is a satirical take on the Blaxploitation action hero, and the film’s official site describes the plot of the movie as follows:

When ‘The Man’ murders his brother, pumps heroin into local orphanages, and floods the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor, Black Dynamite is the one hero willing to fight all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of the Honky House.

Now you all know how I generally feel about Blaxploitation parodies.  WORLD OF HURT largely exists as a response to films like I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Undercover Brother, whose biggest laughs (if that word can be used for Undercover Brother) seemed built around jokes about giant Afros and platform shoes.  However, despite the humorous direction, Black Dynamite seems to take, from everything I’ve seen and heard, the film’s creators have a deep respect for the genre, so I’ll reserve my final judgment until I’ve had the chance to see the movie myself.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a vested interest in Black Dynamite’s success.  The bigger their audience, the more people will be out there looking for information, or content, concerning Blaxploitation, and as “The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic,” I’d like to think that I’m in a position to provide them with that.   I admire the fact that Black Dynamite is bringing an excitement and awareness to Blaxploitation that I’ve never seen before.  These cats have obviously done their homework on this long-overlooked, and underrated, film movement.  All the details of the movie, from the costumes, the music, the trailers, and even the film stock, look right and feel right.

The film’s creators have also done a fantastic job in marketing and promoting Black Dynamite.  Their grind has been nothing less than impeccable.  They built strong word-of-mouth by becoming regular fixtures at various film festivals this year, where Black Dynamite earned “Official Selection” status at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.  The movie’s director, Scott Sanders, has developed a strong presence on Facebook, and Black Dynamite himself has built solid followings on Facebook and Twitter by posting status updates and tweets in character: (Typical tweet: “Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez? Black Dynamite does not want to tweet about preteen cartoon shit.” or “Gotta remember to pack my travel nunchucks for Comic-Con this weekend.”)  Additionally, a viral ad campaign and website has been introduced around Black Dynamite’s mission of fighting drug dealers who try to push dope on children, appropriately titled: Fight Smack In The Orphanage (FSITO).  I mentioned this briefly in last week’s blog entry about The Top Ten Blaxploitation Villains.

Recently, I received a media kit from the Black Dynamite staff that included a DVD featuring all three (3) FSITO public servics announcements, “FIGHT SMACK” stickers, a syringe-shaped pen (clever), and a black “FIGHT SMACK IN THE ORPHANAGE” t-shirt.   The t-shirt is a size “Large,” with a suggested retail price of $30.  You can see what it looks like here.  (It’s the black one that Michael Jai White is rockin’ on the left.)

Now, where other cats would be content to send out endless tweets or Facebook status updates about Black Dynamite, like broken homing beacons, if I’m gonna hustle for something, then I’ve gotta keep my hustle RIGHTEOUS, ya hear?  Therefore, I’m offering my readers a chance to win the “Fight Smack In The Orphanage” t-shirt with the first ever WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM HARD-ASS TRIVIA CONTEST!*

All you have to do to win is answer the following questions and e-mail your responses to me at worldofhurtonline@yahoo.com by Monday, September 28, 2009, under the subject heading “Hard-Ass Trivia.” I will draw the winner from the first five (5) correct entries I receive by that date.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009.  Here are your questions:

1.  In 1994, this Black Dynamite cast member played one of the leads in an Academy Award-winning film.  The name of the  character he played was later used to launch a successful restaurant chain.  Name the actor and the restaurant.

2.  Which of the cast members of Black Dynamite had a recurring role as “God,” and on which television show?

3.  Which Black Dynamite cast member has portrayed two (2) separate DC Comics characters?  Name the actor and the two characters.

4.  Which Black Dynamite cast member starred opposite Blaxploitation legends Pam Grier, Robert Hooks, Isaac Hayes, Melvin Van Peebles, and Spartacus‘ Woody Strode, all in the same film?  Name the actor and the movie.

BlackDynamiteMovie.com has a convenient “Cast” page with the names and photographs of each actor, and the characters they play. (Look under the “About” tab.)  After that, you’re on your own, my friends.

Good luck!

- JEP

* (DISCLAIMER: Neither this contest, nor WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM are affiliated with, or officially endorsed by, the makers of Black Dynamite, Black Dynamite, LLC, BlackDynamiteMovie.com, Sony Pictures,  Apparition, Ars Nova, or Destination Films.  All responsibility for selection of the winner and distribution of prizes rests solely with Jay Potts and WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM.   It’s just my way of giving away free swag.)