Well, it took two movies for Rudy Ray Moore and his team to go from ‘Never held a camera before’ to producing not only what I consider to be the best film these guys ever made, but arguably a STRONG contender for one of the best ‘weird’ movies ever made. and given just HOW strange that list is. That’s saying something!

This film marks the start of Rudy experimenting with new characters on film. After two outings with Dolemite, despite how popular the character was…I do feel like Rudy had kind of mined the character to death by this point. And so, the world is introduced to ‘Petey’ who is essentially just ‘Dolemite’ again, but much MUCH less visibly angry and leaning much more into humour and comedy scares.

‘Petey’ is an oddity. Born during a storm, he arrives as a full size 10 year old boy and just…keeps growing from there, as a kid he gets bullied for his strange circumstances, until he meets a strange old man who, over several years, teaches him fluent kung-fu.

Petey grows up to become an entertainer, and a VERY successful one at that. TOO successful quite honestly…Because; when news that Petey is planning to return to his local city to play the clubs. He catches the attention of Leroy & Skillet. a couple of bumbling night club owners who are in MASSIVE debt to a financier, and were banking on a quiet weekend in the city to hold a huge launch party for their new nightclub, in order to pay off their debts.

With Petey back on the scene, and more importantly, with Petey NOT playing their club on their opening night. Leroy and Skillet are feeling the squeeze and staring down the barrel of potential legal action…So they start to plan on how they could get Petey out of the picture, even if its just for the one night. After several attempts to delay/shut down Peteys shows. The pair essentially hit the ‘nuclear’ option, and ask their door staff to intimidate some Peteys friends to try and get him to stop.

This backfires MASSIVELY however when the first person they go to intimidate DOESNT back down and in fact tries to attack the doorstaff, resulting in the kid brother of one of Peteys gang getting gunned down. This action seemingly lifts some kind of taboo, because a few days later at the kids funeral, the doormen turn up again and waste the entire congregation of mourners, including the priest and Petey.

and its here really that the film ACTUALLY starts. as, while dead, Petey is visited cosmically by the Devil (here going by the name Lou Cifer) who offers Petey a proposition. He will ressurect all the mourners (including Petey) and rewind time back to just before the doormen killed everyone, ensure that the doormen arnt there AND give Petey a magical pimp caine with unrelenting power to do whatever Petey wishes…But in exchange, Petey has to marry Lou’s daughter and give her a son.

Petey was hesitent…then he sees a picture of her and its a flat no because she’s absolutely hideous. But the opportunity to try and restore some justice to the situation is just too much for Petey to resist, so he reluctantly accepts, and the rest of the film is just a playground, with Petey simultaineously getting justice for the killings while also slowly trying to figure out how he can double cross Lou to not end up married to an ugly bugly…thats…literally this whole movie.

And here? we really do have the best of all worlds. We have the vibe and tone of the more ‘off the cuff’ moments of ‘Dolemite’ combined with an even further improved technical level from ‘The Human Tornado’ AND they manage to tone down or finally nail the elements that i felt didnt work from those last two movies.

The films an hours and 39 minutes long, but it really doesnt feel it. The script isnt particularly doing anything new broadly speaking, but its all the smaller details that seem to have had a massive overhaul. the shift from blacksploitation action comedy to blacksploitation horror comedy I think works incredibly well. the pacing feels like its finally been nailed, with each act getting *about* 30 minutes to do its thing, and non of it ever really feels like it drags because everyone here is just so animate and always up to something strange. Do I wish Petey got the magic pimp caine 20 minutes earlier than he does? absolutely. But I also appreciate that the build up to that moment is what only makes the back half of the film all the more surreal and enjoyable.

They seem to have finally managed to nail the tone of the production, ‘Dolemite’ seemed a bit all over the place, ‘The Human Tornado’ picked a lane (comedy) but was still a bit inconsistent. This films clearly an out and out comedy horror, and it absolutely KNOWS its identity, and more importantly, it isnt trying to be something its not capable of duel weilding.

The moment I knew this film was onto a good thing was probably when I realised that they were going to redo the ‘Nightclub’ scenario from the last two movies again…But rather than it just being awkwardly crammed into a film with NO business doing that…here it was specifically woven into the story, with an actual reason to be there, and MOST importantly, its significantly toned down, we arnt made to sit and watch a 10 minute bad comedy routine in order to see Dolemite smash a guy with a chair…Here the routines are kept to a minimum, and the actual PLOT of the film IS centered around the running of the nightclub, rather than the acts involved in it.

The characters all have a LOT more depth and complexity compared to the last two films, they basically actually HAVE range to work with here, rather than just having one drive and 3 moods. most importantly, the script gives all the characters at least 2-3 genuinely fun moments. So it doesnt feel like Rudy Ray is carrying the entire production.

I suppose for me, the thing that really ultimately won me over is this seems to balance the sincerity of a film maker wanting to make a solid end product with the charm of seeing a slightly ramshackled production ACTUALLY trying to be the best it can be AND the comedy IS actually funny…CONSISTENTLY.

There are HUGE leaps in the quality of the direction and cine. scenes seem considerably better planned out, theres more B-roll being filmed, they play around with special effects and sound effects here. Cliff Roquemore seems to have had a strong eye for visuals and has taken this strange vision and manifested something truely distinct. his work with the cast as well is next level, really bringing the best out of all involved.

Yes, some of the make up effects are a bit hokey, yes, some of the practical set effects are a bit naff…But again, the sincerity of this production, the genuine unflinching drive to ensure that this is a movie people can go to to have a good time WHILST ALSO being able to just enjoy the film for being fairly competent. totally neutralises anything bad I could really say about them.

The shots are all decently composed with only a few minor wobbles along the way, the film isnt afraid to experiment with shot composition, editing styles and probably the most significant jump in quality for me, they really seem to have nailed the lighting kits, as several scenes have really nice moody lighting, and the use of coloured lighting gels only adds to the surreal and strange environment.

The edit isnt the *tightest* in the world, but they seem to have got most of the continuity errors under control. they have an effective use of consistent colour choices throughout which helps create a bit of a uniform end product

Performance wise, Rudy here is joined by ‘Wildman’ Steve, and honestly its a perfect match, they play a straight man/foil pairing perfectly and the fact that theres a surface level screwball comedy performance masking a deep dark bubbling malevolence on BOTH sides, only further enhances the viewing experience. they’re both amazing her and by the end, I think I honestly preferred the exploits of ‘Petey & Leroy’ over any of Rudys previous solo efforts.

The soundtracks kickass too! a definite improvement over ‘Human Tornado’ for me, this one has a slightly choral element to it, but is true funk combined with just a smidge of the motown/disco scene. its on a par with the ‘Dolemite’ score for me as being really quite memorable, with the title track posing a definite earworm.

After 3-4 years of developing skills, Petey Wheatstraw to me feels a bit like a lightning in a bottle moment. a film where all involved are aware enough to what to make a quality end product, but still limited enough IN their ability to realise it fully. The result is a slightly ramshackled, but very charming end product that has genuine laughs, a solid soundtrack, dedication (for better or worse) on the direction and cine front, BIZARRE performances and a script that starts strange and keeps getting stranger. not the ‘deepest cut’ in the world, but i’d definitely say its a hidden gem, if you havent seen ‘Petey Wheatstraw’, your missing out!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/petey-wheatstraw/1/