Avenging Disco Godfather
(1979)
Reviewed by Jason Coffman
Rating: 10 Beans

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n the annals of Blaxploitation, Rudy Ray Moore is universally known as Dolemite, icon for rap artists and indie rock kids who buy Jon Spencer albums. However, no Rudy Ray Moore retrospective would be complete without "Avenging Disco Godfather," without a doubt the best movie of 1979.

Moore plays Tucker Williams, but his friends call him "Godfather." He is introduced during the incredibly long opening scene, which is made up completely of dancing and about two measures of finely-performed disco music. The only discernible lyrics are "He's the Godfather of the Disco." Plus, Godfather's dialogue after he shows up is a rap to the audience. Never has the phrase "Put yo weight on it!" been used so many times.

At any rate, after about ten minutes, Godfather's nephew hooks up with some devious fellows and wigs out on "angel dust," a phrase which makes up approximately 89% of the film's total dialogue ("Put yo weight on it!": 8%, all other words: 3%). Soon, the Godfather is on a mission to "bust dust," employing the help of his former co-workers (he's an ex-cop, see) and joining up with the "Angels Against Dust," presumably a precursor to M.A.D.D. After all this, Godfather doesn't do much but hang out in his club; however, the criminal elements are running scared and serious precautions.

The plot also involves a corrupt basketball team owner named Stinger Ray (James H. Hawthorne). The name of his team? The Stingrays, of course. Stinger is recruiting players who weren't quite good enough to make other pro basketball teams, and also he has an angel dust operation. Chances are good that if you find a copy of "Avenging Disco Godfather" in a video store, the sound isn't going to be too hot. From what I could gather, Stinger wanted Godfather's nephew on his team. At any rate, he's a bad guy, this Stinger.

"Avenging Disco Godfather" has absolutely everything you could ask for in a movie: bizarre hallucinations (the people on angel dust apparently have identical hallucinations about some weird devil-woman), heavy jive, crudely choreographed action sequences, and Rudy Ray Moore in the performance of his life. If you are even remotely interested in Blaxploitation, seek out this film. You will not be disappointed.

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