The Film (4/5)

    Willie Dynamite (Roscoe Orman) is a pimp who according to the theme song has “Seven Women in the Palm of his Hand”.   Willie is a pimp, and a coke dealer, and aspires to be the number one pimp in the city. Unfortunately, the District Attorney, cops, and a social worker who happens to be dating the DA, have other plans for Willie, and work to take him down.

    Willie Dynamite has never been recognized as one of the great blaxploitation films from the 1970's, and while I can't make an argument why it should be I will say it is a ridiculously fun time.  The screenplay by Ron Cutler picks up on the trends of Blaxploitation cinema of the period, and with the stylish direction of Gilbert Moses creates something that is both a loving homage to the era (even though this was created during the Blaxploitation boom), and a serious action/drama.

    Willie Dynamite as a character has some of the most elaborate, colorful, and over the top costumes of any blaxploitation character in my memory. He drives around in a purple and gold Cadillac that is in keeping with his style, and ends up being quite memorable. The visual style of Moses brings the whole film to lush visual life. The action sequences are handled exceedingly well, and overall I can't help but find Willie Dynamite to be a hugely successful and entertaining film. 

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

    Willie Dynamite is presented by Arrow Video in a splendid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film.  This transfer taken from materials provided to Arrow Video by Universal looks stunning. Detail is excellent, colors pop, and I can't find much in the way to complain about. Even damage from the source material is minimal.

    Audio is handled by an LPCM 1.0 track in English. This track is quite excellent bringing the film's over the top score and dialogue to life in a clear and concise manner.

Extras (2/5)

    Not much in the way of extras here. We get a commentary track by film critic  Sergio Mims that goes in depth on the film, and also a HD theatrical trailer for the film.

Overall

    Willie Dynamite is a blaxploitation cinema blast. The Blu-ray from Arrow looks and sounds amazing, but is limited in extras. Still it's good to have this one on Blu-ray, and the release comes RECOMMENDED.