Rudy Ray Moore was born on March 17, 1927 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Black comedian and a pioneer of sexually explicit humor. He was an also an actor and writer, known for Dolemite (1975), and its sequel, The Human Tornado (1976), and Disco Godfather (1979). Moore lived in a decrepit hotel as a way of keeping squatters out of the place, which later became the shooting location for every film Rudy produced in the 1970s. He was portrayed by Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name (2019). He died on October 19, 2008 in Akron, Ohio.
This film is a noted influence on the works of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, rapper Snoop Dogg and comedian Eddie Murphy. At one point, the New York Times called the film as the "Citizen Kane" of Blaxploitation (Black Exploitation films). The script called for a "penny hustler," but Rudy Ray Moore and Jerry Jones were unable to find a suitable actor through Moore's acquaintances or among Jones' acting class students. After filming began, Moore and Jones were traveling down Western Avenue in Los Angeles when they spotted the exact type of character they were looking for hustling on the street. They pulled over, Jones got out and talked to the man, and Vanius Rackstraw was hired as "The Creeper / Hamburger Pimp" on the spot.
The boom mic is visible in many shots of original Xenon VHS-to-DVD transfer from the 1980s. The film was originally transferred without the proper ratio "gate" of 1.85:1, revealing more of the top and bottom of the frame than the film makers originally intended. The 2016 Vinegar Syndrome Bluray release was re-transferred from an archive print of the film, at the proper ratio, so the boom mics are hidden in many shots. The Bluray release also includes a "boom mic" version of the new transfer, intentionally revealing the boom mics for comic effect.