''Hot Tamale'' is a 2006 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Michael Damian Michael Damian Weir (born April 26, 1962) is an American actor, recording artist, and producer, best known for his role as Danny Romalotti on the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', which he played from 1980 to 1998 and again in 2002-2004 ...

, co-written by Janeen Damian. It stars

Randy Spelling Randall Gene Spelling (born October 9, 1978) is an American life coach and former actor. He is the brother of Tori Spelling and the son of Candy and Aaron Spelling. Early life Spelling was born in Los Angeles. He has an older sister, actress a ...

Diora Baird Diora Lynn Baird (born April 6, 1983)Baird at Maxim.com
Retrieved on 2011-07-26. ...

and

Carmen Electra Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...

. The film opened on April 23, 2006, and the DVD was released on August 29, 2006. The film is Michael Damian's feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

Plot

Harlan Woodruff (

) is a Salsa musician from Wyoming, on a road trip to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

to realise his dream of making it big as a percussionist. It is revealed that Harlan had a troubled childhood, having found his dead father frozen in a fishing hole. En route to Los Angeles, he runs into Jude (

Jason Priestley Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor and television director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000), as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in t ...

), a career criminal on the run from two hit men, Al and Dwayne ( Mike Starr and

Sean Blakemore Sean Blakemore (born August 10, 1967) is an American actor who is portraying Shawn Butler on the ABC daytime drama ''General Hospital'', a role he began playing on January 21, 2011 on a recurring basis. Blakemore was nominated for a Daytime Emm ...

), who want to retrieve stolen merchandise from him. Desperate, Jude dumps the merchandise into Harlan's bag and escapes. Harlan, meanwhile, stays over at his Puerto Rican friend Carlo's apartment. He meets Tuesday (

Diora Baird Diora Lynn Baird (born April 6, 1983)Baird at Maxim.com
Retrieved on 2011-07-26. ...

), a friend of Carlos there. Carlos leaves town on an assignment and Tuesday and Harlan have the apartment to themselves. Harlan discovers that Carlo is a marijuana cultivator, growing the plants at his house. When trying to smoke the substance, he has a panic attack and lands in the hospital. After making a recovery, Tuesday brings him back to the apartment, where they sleep in. Meanwhile, Al and Dwayne catch up with Jude, who spills his guts that the bag the hit men are looking for is with Harlan. Jude's partner Riley (

) is also hot on Harlans trail. The hitmen and Riley have their own demands and want the stolen merchandise, which turns out to be diamonds. A shoot out ensues and finally the hitmen are nabbed and Harlan walks away from the fire fight unharmed with Tuesday.

Cast

as Harlan Woodriff, the naive salsa musician from Wyoming. *

Diora Baird Diora Lynn Baird (born April 6, 1983)Baird at Maxim.com
Retrieved on 2011-07-26. ...

as Tuesday Blackwell, the damsel in distress. *

as Riley, a con woman and thief. *

as Jude, Riley's partner in crime. * Mike Starr as Al *

James Best Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...

as Hank Larson *

Richard Riehle Richard Riehle (born May 12, 1948) is an American character actor. He portrayed Walt Finnerty on '' Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005) and The Warden on ''The Young and the Restless'' (2007). He also appeared in over 200 films, including '' Glory' ...

as Sheriff Pinkham *

as Dewayne Longfellow *

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy '' The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her role as Gracie ...

as Dori Woodriff *

Christian Boewe Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

as Young Harlan *

Matt Cedeño Matt Cedeño (born November 14, 1973)"POP CULTURE". ''Soap Opera Digest''. August 5, 2013. p. 65. is an American actor and former male fashion model, known for his roles as Brandon Walker on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' (1999 ...

as Caesar Lopez *

Kristen Caldwell Kristen may refer to: *Kristen (given name), includes a list of people with the name *ITC Kristen, a typeface created by George Ryan for the International Typeface Corporation (ITC) *"Kristen", the alias used by Ashley Alexandra Dupré Ashley is a ...

as Bitsy *

Sandy Martin Sandy Martin is an American actress, playwright, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles in the film '' Napoleon Dynamite'' and the TV series '' Big Love'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Ray Donovan''. Career Mart ...

as Ed the Diner Cook

Reception

Critical response

The movie was mostly panned by critics, with a few exceptions. Positive takeaways were performances of Randy Spelling and the debut direction effort of Michael Damian.

Awards

The film won the Boston International Film Festival Best Narrative feature Award for Michael Damian and Janeen Damian. It also won the Festival Prize at the Dixie Film Festival.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hot Tamale 2006 films 2006 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films directed by Michael Damian 2006 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films