With DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, Eddie Murphy gets his mojo back. In this colourful biopic, we see that Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) was born in the wrong era for his style of performance: “Vaudeville is dead. I don’t need an all-in-one”. So he listened to stories from local characters (“I ain’t no hobo – I’m a repository of Afro-American folklore!”) and used them to inspire a whole new personality. Moore was a roaring underground success among his limited passionate fanbase, but he was an African-American performer who wanted to break into movies but who unfortunately wasn’t young or good-looking enough for Blaxploitation. Why would you see a movie with “No titties, no funny and no Kung-fu”? Dolemite’s unexpected smash movie debut had all three. “You’re not supposed to make a movie for the five square blocks of people you know”. But he did, and he’s affectionately remembered for it. SSP