He requests the help of his childhood idol John Slade (Bernie Casey), and later enlists an army consisting of Hammer (Isaac Hayes), Slammer (Jim Brown), Flyguy (Antonio Fargas), and Kung Fu Joe (Steve James). Together, they seek to rid the neighborhood of both the gold chains and Mr. Big. Plenty of Lampshade Hangings and No Fourth Wall moments, as well as several folks involved with the Blaxploitation phenomenon.
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, also produced by and starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans, is a Spiritual Sequel.
These tropes are gonna get you, sucka!:
- Actor Allusion:
- At one point, Slammer asks Jack Spade what qualifies him to be a black hero, and Spade retorts, "I'm an ex-football player." In real life, Jim Brown was, of course, one of the leading running backs in NFL history.
- Kalinga's wife and two children are blonde and white. When they come out the TV in the other room is playing the theme to The Brady Bunch. Kalinga's wife is played by Eve Plumb, Jan Brady.
- Apron Matron: Ma Bell, who is also a Mama Bear. On two occasions she singlehandedly takes on several evil henchman at once to protect her (grown) son.
- Arch-Enemy: Jack Spade has Mr. Big, the crime boss responsible for his brother's gold chain overdose.
- Bar Slide: Actually more of a Counter Slide in a coffee shop.
- Big Bad: Mr. Big is in charge of all crime in the city and he doesn't like people asking questions about him. When they do, he sends his thugs around to shut them up.
- Blaxploitation Parody: This film hits pretty much all the classic Blaxploitation roadmarks, adds a few standard action-comedy tropes, and mixes it in with clever writing and some great acting.
- Bottomless Magazines: Lampshaded:Willie: Wait a second! Wait a second! You got a .45 revolver that holds six bullets! Now, I counted at least twenty shots and you never reloaded!Hammer: That's right.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: After an innocent bystander is killed by machine gun fire, John Slade grabs his body and uses it as a shield against the incoming fire.
- Butt-Monkey: Willie and Lenny. Every scene featuring them involves the two being humiliated and/or beaten before being thrown down a flight of stairs.
- Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Leonard and Willie (Damon Wayans and Kadeem Hardison) are two bad guys who work for Mr. Big and spend the movie trying to kidnap and murder, but they are mainly idiots. One is dumber than the other... but only slightly. They always end up getting beat up and having to decide between going out the window or down the stairs.
- The Cameo:
- Fishbone standing near a door Flyguy comes out of.
- Rap group Boogie Down Productions appear in a fourth-wall-breaking cameo playing Jack Spade's theme music.
- Cartoon Throbbing: A rare live-action variant with this scene
in which a character's big toe is swollen and throbbing after being shot. However, it is only seen swelling through the shoe, as the toe itself is never shown bare or red. - The Cavalry Arrives Late: The police arrive after our heroes have killed Mr. Big (and most of his Mooks).
- Compensating for Something: Brutally parodied and lampshaded during a gunfight later.
- Damsel in Distress: Cheryl after she's captured by Mr. Big.
- Diner Brawl: Jack would've gotten into one if it wasn't for his mother getting into it instead.
- Disco Dan: Fly Guy, a pimp who gets out of prison in the 1980s (after being a big shot in the 1970s), decides to hit his old stomping grounds in full pimp regalia: a white tiger-striped suit, a giant hat with a pink feather, six inch platform shoes with goldfish inside, and a jeweled cane. He gets laughed off the street in a second. He ditches his outdated pimp gear by the end of the film.
- Dragon Their Feet: Lanny outlasts Mr. Big. The heroes tell him again that there's two ways out, and before they even finish their sentence, he throws himself out the window rather than take the option he's always been taking. "Didn't he know about the elevator?"
- Fanservice Extra: While the protagonists are raiding a brothel, Jack Spade becomes interested in a well-endowed topless hooker who comes running out of a room. This trope is lampshaded somewhat by another hooker who is wearing a T-shirt that reads "Another Model Turned Actress".
- Fast-Roping: During the assault on Mr. Big's hideout, John Slade rappels down the side of a building from the roof with the intent of throwing a stick of dynamite through a window. Unfortunately, he misjudges the length of the fuse.
- Hand Signals: As Jack and friends enter one of Mr. Big's brothels, Slade signals to Jack and Kung Fu Joe to break into specific doors.
- He's Dead, Jim: After a man is shot multiple times, sad music starts to play. When the heroes ask his girlfriend how he is, she says "He's dead! Can't you hear the music?"
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Hammer is done in by the multitude of guns he shoved into his person after they go off after he slips on some fallen bullets.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Hammer, played by legendary musician Isaac Hayes.
- I Know Karate
- Subverted when Kung Fu Joe squares off against the cops. He's ready to show off his martial arts skills but he gets blown away by massed gunfire.
- And again later, when Hammer and one of the bad guys square off against one another minus their guns, the bad guy hesitates and says, "I don't know any of that karate shit." "Neither do I," says Hammer. "Want to fake it?" They then do just that.
- Large Ham
- The singer in the bar, who is revealed to be the director's sister.
- Kalinga. Clarence Williams III was probably picking scenery out of his teeth for days after filming his scene.
- John Vernon also owns every minute during his brief role as Mr. Big. The ham was lovingly prepared and thoroughly devoured.
Mr. Big: I'm sorry, boys, but THERE AIN'T GONNA BE A SEQUEL TO THIS ONE! - Lint Value: Chris Rock appears at Hammer & Slammer's BBQ joint. Since an order of ribs costs $2.50 and you get 5 ribs, he orders 1 rib for 50 cents. They reluctantly agree, then Rock asks for change for a $100 bill.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: A parody version occurs as the team prepares to attack Mr. Big's hideout. Isaac Hayes' character preps for the final battle by holstering more than a dozen guns under his long coat. He then trips and falls while leaving the building, causing all the guns inside his coat to go off.
- Lonely Funeral: Parodied. A crowd of people show up for Junebug's funeral. When they realize they're at the wrong funeral, they all leave, taking all of the funeral decorations as they go. The only people left are Junebug's immediate family.
- Medium Awareness: "Who are these guys?" "They're my theme music. Every good hero should have some."
- Menstrual Menace: Cheryl takes off work early one night because of her period. Lenny tries to kidnap her on her way home. When her pleas for mercy go unheeded, she goes Exorcist and almost kills him. Only Willie's timely intervention saves his ass.Lenny: You must got the Devil in you!Cheryl: No! Cramps! I asked you nicely, now I'm gonna rip your balls off!
- Minor Injury Overreaction: While Jack Spade is fighting Mr. Big's men, he gets a splinter in his finger. He goes though a prolonged bout of self-applied first aid, including crying out in agony as he removes it.
- Mouthing the Profanity: During the First Annual Youth Gang Competition, one of the events is a gang of teenagers stripping a car down to its parts. A referee uses a stopwatch to time the event and when they're finished, he mouths the word "fuck" and then says "It's a record!"
- My Beloved Smother: Ma Bell, Jack Spade's mother, who insists that he put on a sweater before he goes out and fights against men twice her size to protect him. When he goes up against Mr. Big, she shows up with a shotgun to join in. Her son eventually breaks free by locking her in a closet until the fight's over — which pisses her off no end.
- Obvious Stunt Double: Played for Laughs. When Jack's mother fights Mr. Big's toughs in the diner, she's replaced by a blatantly obvious stunt double - a guy in a wig, with a mustache. You can watch the scene here.
- Phallic Weapon: Bad guy to partner:Willie: How come their guns are so much bigger than ours?
Thug: It's a phallic thing, I don't know. - Pimp Duds: Flyguy after getting out of prison. But having been in prison for so long, his outlandish outfit gets openly mocked by thepeople on the street. Towards the end of the movie, he shows up again with a more modern style.
- Prosthetic Limb Reveal: Jack meets a beautiful woman named Cherry in a bar and goes back to her place to have sex with her. Once there, she reveals that most of her is artificial, including her hair, breasts, behind and lower left leg.
- Putting the Band Back Together: John Slade reassembles the team of black heroes who once took down Mr. Big.
- Rapid-Fire Comedy: The film features a long string of gags, usually several per scene and a quick change to the next scene and more gags.
- Reliably Unreliable Guns: Heavily lampshaded with Hammer when he slips, falls and end every single revolver he is packing discharges 'all' the ammo loaded.
- Retirony: Two extras (a man and a woman) are talking, with the man holding the woman's hands. A minor villain opens fire with a machine gun, killing the man. Later the woman pulls a box (with a ring inside) out of his pocket and puts the ring on her finger, saying "I waited 12 years for this!". He had been proposing marriage to her: the ring was an engagement ring.
- Returning War Vet: Jack. Subverted, as he never actually saw any combat.
- Running Gag
- How DID Junebug go to the bathroom with all those gold chains on?
- "You can go out the window, or you can take the stairs."
- Sequel Snark: During the climax, Mr. Big acknowledges that his character is an exploitation villain in a movie.Mr. Big: I'm sorry, boys, but there ain't gonna be a sequel to this one.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: Jack wears his Army uniform.
- The Stinger: An injured Kung Fu Joe finally makes it to the scene of the final battle long after everyone's gone. When a bystander tells him this little fact, a shocked Kung Fu Joe says "Yo, brother, you got a Band-Aid?"
- Suicide by Cop: Subverted. When Kung Fu Joe is surrounded by police, he cockily challenges these extreme odds as if he has the advantage, but the police promptly fire away with everything they have and predictably shoot him full of holes. He does get away barely alive.
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: When Kung Fu Joe calls Slade, Slade's answering machine lets him talk for a while before revealing that it was the answering machine talking and not Slade himself.
- Those Two Guys: Hammer and Slammer.
- Token Evil Teammate: Arguably Flyguy. He's not exactly evil but he is a notorious pimp, he has a friendly relationship with Slade and helps them out at the end due to his own ax to grind against Mr Big.
- Tap on the Head: Willie to Cheryl with a wrist cast and Slade to one of Mr. Big's guards with a punch to the jaw.
- Title Drop: Several times, although some instances are slightly modified to fit the context.
- Walking Armory: Which unfortunately all go off when Hammer falls over.
- Walking in Rhythm: Flyguy.
- Wimp Fight: A bad guy and a protagonist square off sans weapons, but the bad guy immediately confesses he doesn't know martial arts. The good guy admits neither does he. "Want to fake it?" "I don't care." Cue hilarious movements that look like involuntary muscle spasms.
- The Window or the Stairs: Willie and Lanny are always being told by other characters that they can leave the building via "the window or the stairs". Each time, they choose the stairs and each time they get thrown painfully down a long flight of stairs. The trope is subverted at the end of the film when the protagonist says "There's two ways outta here..." at which point Lanny screams and jumps out the window. This prompts one of the heroes to say, "Didn't he know about the elevator?"
