Wednesday, February 18, 2009

When Gordon from "Sesame Street" was a Pimp



The Soul Closet brings forth today "Willie Dynamite," a 1974 film starring Roscoe Orman as a pimp who finds himself squeezed after refusing to join a collective of other macks. Brother Orman is best known as Gordon on "Sesame Street."

"Dynamite" is Orman's first role on film and he clearly had the makings of being a real movie star. He's charismatic, intense---and he pulls off one of the most outrageous wardrobes committed to celluloid. In her final role, the late Diana Sands is excellent as a former streetwalker at odds with Willie. You just wish she, and the rest of the cast, where in a better movie.

The clip above is the best part of the movie. Roger Robinson steals the show with a Pimpspearean performance as Bell, the lead mack. You'll see Orman, Nathaniel Taylor who played Rollo in "Sanford and Son," and character actor Don DoQui who appeared in "Robocop" and countless other features (he died Feb 9th of this year).

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