When antiheroes and pimp suits ruled

Is there a filmmaker out there who will do the right thing and make a movie about the Ed Wood-like wonder that is "Dolemite?" A so-bad-it's-great compendium of blaxploitation movie cliches that surely stirred the fire inside the young Quentin Tarantino, 1975's "Dolemite" has it all: steely antihero, leering gangsters, corrupt cops, gratuitous sex and violence, outlandish pimp suits and an all-girl kung fu squad.

It would be a story well worth bringing to the big screen, a la Tim Burton's loving treatment of an earlier era's famous film fiascoes in his 1994 biopic "Ed Wood." It's packed with similarly fascinating ingredients, starting with a cult hero of epic proportions in the movie's star and producer (and set decorator), maverick black comedian Rudy Ray Moore. There's also cinematic ineptitude and irrational confidence to spare, and a setting to savor in the down-on-its-heels underbelly of the mid-1970s black entertainment world.

And finally there could be redemption, since Moore is now widely (if still not sufficiently) recognized as a seminal figure in black culture -- a link between its pre-tech urban oral traditions and the flow and personas of such rap figures as Ice-T and Snoop Dogg.

Moore, Alabama-born but long a Los Angeles resident, started as a singer but turned to comedy and in the 1960s and 1970s released a succession of ribald, plain-brown-wrapper albums whose graphic language meant he'd remain isolated from mainstream success. (The character of Dolemite originated in one of his routines.)

But he also had the cachet of the outside, and his influence extended beyond the African American world, informing the voices and attitudes of singer Tom Waits and the late comedian Sam Kinison, to name two prominent disciples. Moore has remained active as a performer, often appearing at in-the-know rock music venues.

The cult classic "Dolemite" -- whose plot involves the title character's efforts to free the ghetto from the stranglehold of a drug-dealing kingpin played by the film's director, D'Urville Martin -- has been available on video and DVD for years.

But the "Dolemite" archive has had a glaring gap that will finally be filled on Tuesday, when the soundtrack that propels the action and sweetens the too-much-information love scenes is released on CD for the first time. In keeping with "Dolemite's" incongruous nature, the 21-track collection comes from a Philadelphia-based independent label known for extreme metal, Relapse Records.