The blaxploitation era brimmed with larger-than-life icons, but even in a genre where outrageousness was the norm, Rudy Ray Moore stood out like a pimp at a Promise Keepers convention. The self-appointed King Of The Party Records and Godfather Of Rap, Moore attained ghetto superstardom for his trademark blend of raunchy humor and rhythmically delivered rhyming routines, but by the mid-'70s, he longed to strut his stuff on the big screen. His '70s vehicles have long been cult classics and home-video favorites, and Xenon's The Dolemite Collection combines his most beloved vehicles with two concert films—Rude and Live At Wetlands—and an expanded version of the 1994 documentary The Legend Of Dolemite. More than just genre pictures, Moore's films are rowdy, uninhibited extravaganzas that burst with music, comedy, action, sex, violence, and anything else people enjoyed that didn't cost much. Dolemite (1975) introduced audiences to Moore's patented cinematic formula, which was loose enough to include everything from low-budget Grand Guignol to angel-dust freak-outs to stiffly filmed roller-disco routines to accelerated Benny Hill-style antics. Accordingly, Dolemite doesn't offer much plot, characterization, camera movement, or competent dubbing. Instead, it opts for ineptly choreographed action, clumsily integrated stand-up routines, uproariously stiff performances, fighting babes, and the blaxploitation era's unlikeliest kung-fu-fighting super-stud. Dolemite's plot has something to do with Moore squaring off against crooked cops and a crooked politician, but as in all of his movies, the story is less important than the cheap entertainment. The same is true of The Human Tornado, a.k.a. Dolemite II, which was released a year after Dolemite became a surprise success. Following Moore from Alabama, where his womanizing ways have gotten him into hot water with a redneck sheriff, to California, where he helps protégé Lady Reed protect her kung-fu-fighting lovelies from a scurrilous nightclub owner, the film is at once regressive and progressive. It's faster-paced and more kinetic than its predecessor, and it boasts some of the worst dubbing this side of a Godzilla sequel. But like the film's crumbling sets and homemade special effects, the haphazard sound just adds to its entertainment value. Perhaps the most ambitious of Moore's films, Petey Wheatstraw finds Moore playing a rising comedian whose familiar, rhythmic shtick is so popular that it threatens to put comedians and nightclub owners Leroy and Skillet (playing, appropriately enough, "Leroy" and "Skillet") out of business. After the duo has Moore killed, he agrees to marry the devil's daughter in return for an opportunity to avenge his murder. More stylistically competent than any of Moore's other films, Petey Wheatstraw crackles with the trashy, unpredictable energy of his most sublimely silly work. Like Russ Meyer and Ed Wood, two filmmakers he periodically brings to mind, Moore tends to go way over the top and just keep going. That's certainly the case with his last proper vehicle, Disco Godfather, a memorably misguided attempt to introduce a new, more socially progressive Moore while hopping on the already-waning disco bandwagon. In a role that contrasts with the anti-authoritarian antiheroes he played before, Moore stars as an ex-cop turned avenging disco godfather who learns firsthand about the tragic effects of angel dust. A surreal combination of Reefer Madness, Saturday Night Fever, and Shock Corridor, Disco Godfather ended the most prolific period of Moore's career on an appropriately bizarre and enjoyable note. The rest of The Dolemite Collection is far less essential. Rude is notable mainly for dubbing so bad it practically qualifies as an avant-garde sonic experiment. The Legend Of Dolemite: Bigger And Badder offers a standard-issue look at Moore's life and times, while Wetlands gets up close and personal at a recent concert showcasing his singing as well as his comedy. Even without audio commentaries or similar perks, The Dolemite Collection still provides a terrific opportunity to get lost in the strange, unpredictable world of hip-hop's crazy uncle and blaxploitation's clown prince.