Disco Godfather (1979)

What makes it different from others?

Highly Overrated But Still Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Another blaxploitation home run from Rudy Ray Moore, star of Petey Wheatstraw and the Dolemite films. Cheap, amateurish, often unintentionally hilarious film about one man's crusade to rid of the streets of "the whack" -- aka angel dust or PCP -- after his nephew Bucky freaks out on the drug. If you've seen a Rudy Ray Moore film before, you know what kind of craziness to expect. If you haven't, you're in for a treat.First, take whatever you know about movies and throw it out the window. There is no professional filmmaking going on here. It's all crudely staged, badly acted, and poorly written. Well, assuming it's actually written at all. I get the feeling with Moore's films a large amount of the dialogue is made up on the spot. Now this sounds fairly terrible and on an artistic and technical level it is. But you don't watch these movies because they're actually good films. You watch them because they are so bad they're funny.The action scenes are a farce. Grown men pretending to use kung-fu on one another, emulating what they saw in Bruce Lee movies. Hands and feet supposedly striking but not coming within a foot of their target. There's a hilariously bad sex scene between Moore and a woman that should come as a surprise to no one, given Moore's somewhat effeminate mannerisms.One of my favorite scenes is where the frustrated doctor cries out to God: "Where are you Mister? Are you with us or just in our minds?" Who would have thought you would find religious metaphysics in a movie called Disco Godfather? But the highlights of the movie for most people would be the PCP hallucination scenes, as well as just about any line Moore delivers in his trademark amateur style. If you enjoy blaxploitation films or if you enjoy poorly made films that are good for unintended laughs, then give Disco Godfather a shot. While you're at it, try out some of Moore's other movies. Especially Petey Wheatsraw, the Devil's Son-in-Law.

45 minutes of stupefying disco awfulness followed by 45 minutes of brain busting psycho angel dust drama = 90 mins of DISCO GODFATHER. Here I was gleefully looking forward to an epic of THE APPLE proportions and what did ah git? Angel Dust baby! Angel dust on da disco floo-wah. Call me an am boo lance....... Rudy Ray Moore certainly is a one of a kind..and I struggled to get me thru the final sequence of hallucinatory kung fu warehouse fights and dungeon ghastliness because I never have seen a film lose it's way so completely. DISCO GODFATHER needed to stay firmly on the roller disco floor with all the other dancing wannabees and leave the drug lecture outside with Bucky, the 7ft he-man nephew. Rudy Ray Moore is terrific as the caring sharing flab-man in blue silk jump suit and silver shoes of the title... and the music for the most part is great, but oh dear, once the action leaves the dance floor, this dancing dictating Godfather becomes a religious revival meeting bore. Watch the first half only. Stop after the roller disco dude in his underpants does his spin thing.

Rudy Ray Moore is back doing what he does best, kickin' ass and takin' names (even though he doesn't seem to do as much of either in this film). He's the owner of a successful disco, who gets involved in tracking down a dope kingpin after his nephew goes nuts from using Angel Dust. As per usual RRM fare, he beats up the bad guys while dispensing elaborate put downs.Just to get this out of the way, I am a fan of RRM's other films, but this one didn't seem to be quite up to the same level of his previous pictures. I don't think that it was the fact that there wasn't any profanity or nudity or that the violence was toned down, but it seemed like they were trying to make a street smart after school special. I'm not saying that this can't be done (hell, lots of flicks deal with adult issues in terms that can be considered family friendly), but they missed the mark here. RRM is OK (in my humble opinion something was lacking in his performance) and there is a plot, but that's about as far as it goes. It didn't seem to have the same street rep. that Moore's other films had. In addition, the Dolemite films were better because they weren't trying to play with kid gloves.Recommended only to die hard RRM fans.

In college, my friends and I would have "Bad Movie Night" once a week with the goal of finding the worst movie possible and watching it over beer, chips, and popcorn. While there were good challenges from Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon, Cycle Vixens, and Cheerleaders Wild Weekend, Avenging Disco Godfather was so bad, it was actually good. Well, in a bad sort of way. Too serious to be a parody and too ridiculous to be a morality play, AVD was putrid throughout. The 10-minute acid trip scene would only be interesting if you were actually on acid...and then only maybe.