Retro Trailer Trashin’: The Baddest Man Alive is Named Black Dynamite!

With the end of the summer movie season, I’ve decided it’s time to debut Retro Trailer Trashin’, which I hope will become a recurring occasional supplement to the main Trailer Trashin’ column. In these columns, I’ll be taking a look at the trailer for an older movie, and give my in-hindsight take on how successful that trailer was in selling the movie. To kick this new column off, I’m going to take a look at one of my favorite trailers of all time: the theatrical trailer for the 2009 action/comedy Black Dynamite.

Premise: This is the story of 1970s African American action legend Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White). The “Man” killed his brother, pumped heroin into local orphanages, and flooded the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor. Black Dynamite was the one hero willing to fight the Man all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of the Honky House.

My take: There are some movies that you just fall in love with the first time you see the trailer. For me, Black Dynamite is one of those movies. I had never heard of the film before I saw the trailer, but as soon as I watched the trailer, I knew I had to see the movie, and when I did see it, I was not disappointed. As I said, this is one of my favorite trailers of all time, and I also think it’s a textbook example of the right way to make a movie trailer. It showcases the cast, the humor, and the style of the film in a great way, and you clearly know the kind of movie you’re in for after you see this trailer.

In terms of the cast, the big focus is obviously on Michael Jai White as the eponymous hero Black Dynamite. White is a great actor who, unfortunately, has never really achieved the level of stardom he deserves. As you can see here, he is quite skilled at the comedy, in addition to being a totally believable action star. Salli Richardson is Gloria Gray, the young political activist who is both Black Dynamite’s love interest and the most “normal” person in the film, which makes for great moments where she plays off against the more absurd characters. Byron Minns plays Black Dynamite’s close friend Bullhorn, who talks almost entirely in rhyme, and he also narrates the trailer in-character. Also spotlighted here are Mykelti Williamson as Chicago Wind, Kevin Chapman as O’Leary, Tommy Davidson as Cream Corn, Arsenio Hall as Tasty Freeze, and Buddy Lewis as Gunsmoke. The trailer voice-over also sets up one of the more amusing meta jokes: that the real-life modern actors are playing fictional 1970s actors, and those fictional actors are the ones playing the characters in the movie. For example, Michael Jai White is playing “All-Star running back Ferrante Jones,” and Jones is the actor playing Black Dynamite.

I really like the style of humor the movie goes for, which is shown really well in this trailer. Rather than being completely silly and farcical, the characters are playing it straight, and much of the humor comes from the fact that they find themselves in these bizarre situations without acting like anything’s out of the ordinary. I love the little humorous details, like the mentions of Black Dynamite’s “five thousand dollar car” and “hundred dollar suit.” The juxtaposition of narration and the onscreen footage and audio is really expertly done. In particular, the moment where Bullhorn narrates “The CIA needs Black Dynamite now more than ever,” followed by O’Leary saying “We need you, Black Dynamite, now more than ever” still makes me laugh every time.

The trailer also shows off the film’s visual style, which really looks straight out of the 1970s. Cinematographer Shawn Maurer worked to give Black Dynamite the high-contrast, saturated look that was common in many low-budget blaxploitation movies of the period, and the results speak for themselves. In addition, the filmmakers used stock footage from actual 1970s films and TV shows for things like wide shots of car chases that were outside their budget range. I could totally see someone coming across this movie on television and, unless they recognized some of the actors, thinking it was actually a movie from the 1970s.

I really don’t think there’s anything to complain about here. This trailer does a great job of capturing the feel, look, and humor of the movie. And even with as much stuff as they show here, there’s still plenty that was saved for the film itself. All in all, this is a textbook example of what a movie trailer should be.

SUCCESS: We got a real winner here, jive sucker!

Original Release Date: October 16th, 2009

Starring: Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Byron Minns, Kevin Chapman, Obba Babatunde, Richard Edson, Buddy Lewis, Brian McKnight, Phil Morris, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., John Salley, Kym Whitley, Mykelti Williamson, Bokeem Woodbine, Cedric Yarbrough, Roger Yuan, Baron Vaughn, Nicole Sullivan, and James McManus
Director: Scott Sanders
Writers: Scott Sanders, Michael Jai White, and Byron Minns

P.S. What other old trailers would you like to see me write about? If you have any suggestions, be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

P.P.S. I was very saddened to learn about the death of actor Michael Clarke Duncan yesterday morning. He’s been a favorite actor of mine for a long time, and he always brought something special to a film by being in it. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Duncan’s family and friends.