It's Black History Month and I haven't done anything with Rudy Ray Moore in a long time. Time to rip off that band-aid with...
He's born as a fully-functional, English-speaking 8-10 year old!
That's the right face, yep.
So, naturally, we jump to him as a pre-Teen (which is how long after his birth?) and he's being bullied...until he learns Martial-Arts.
In the Present (of 1977), he's a popular Stand-Up Comedian who uses an obvious Stunt Double to do Karate.
If you want some of Moore's stand-up, you can see him call a lady fat and tell another guy to shut up. Hilarious.
A pair of Comedians/Promoters get money from Mr. White (the Token White Guy) to build a Club based on the idea that nobody is coming to Town.
Moore's coming to Town.
So, naturally, they go right to killing a child and then killing everyone at a Funeral.
Petey is brought to Hell by the Devil, who wants him to marry his Daughter (who's face is always covered). He agrees...but plans to back out of it.
He gets revenge on the Promoters by ruining their Show Carrie-style.
Later, he uses Satan's Magic Cane to do stuff like save a child, make a woman lose weight and turn a guy into a Dog.
Eventually, he has to honor his part of the bargain...but he doesn't want to.
Shockingly, putting a life-like Moore mask on a Hobo doesn't work.
Shocking, I say!
It all comes to a head with a big battle between Moore with the magic Cane and the Devil, who has the same powers (but is now shorter and weird-looking).
Shocking, I say!
This should be 100% even...so Moore wins and tosses the Devil off of the roof.
He breaks the cane and goes to his friends...only to learn that it was a trick and he's going to Hell. Yep, even Moore can't escape the Downer '70s Ending.
A pretty minimal tweak to the usual formula. So, it would be like if you ate normal Spaghetti and Meatballs once a week. One week, someone puts peppers into it. You're like 'Oh, that's kind of different...but it's still the food you normally have.'
Petey Wheatstraw gives you what you'd expect from a Rudy Ray Moore Film. He's rude to people. He complains about life in the Ghetto. He does comedy, as well as 'comedy.' He uses sped-up Film like Zack Snyder uses slow-down Film. He does fake Karate in close-ups and then better Karate in far-away shots.
To be fair, the stuff with the Devil and his minions here can be fun. It just doesn't really indulge in much of that until the 3rd Act. In the 1st Act, you get the prolonged child killing (which FYI is not undone). In the 2nd Act, you get him using his powers for revenge and later good. It's a bit random in tone, Plot and Theme, as you can see.
For being a mix of '70s Conventions (like Films about the Devil and Blaxploitation), it's a bit of a fun oddity, but it's no more enjoyable than most Moore Films. Is it based on a Book though?!?!?!?
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| It's not. |
Basically, it is a Dolemite Movie with some Horror in it. It's...as good as bad as that may sound to you.
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