“Top Gun: Maverick” is finally here (for real this time).
The supersonic sequel, directed by Joseph Kosinski and once again starring Tom Cruise in the lead role as Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, has occupied a handful of release dates since 2020 (it has been delayed numerous times due to the coronavirus and continued fears about the viability of the theatrical moviegoing experience). But it’s finally now playing exclusively in theaters.
Cruise’s original “Top Gun” was released a whopping 36 years ago and if you haven’t gone back to re-watch the aerial adventure recently (it’s currently streaming on Paramount+ and Netflix and recently played on CBS as their Saturday Night Movie), you might be a little fuzzy on the “Top Gun” particulars.
Have no fear, we are here to supply you with all the specifics. None of these are spoilers, just think of them as things that you...
The supersonic sequel, directed by Joseph Kosinski and once again starring Tom Cruise in the lead role as Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, has occupied a handful of release dates since 2020 (it has been delayed numerous times due to the coronavirus and continued fears about the viability of the theatrical moviegoing experience). But it’s finally now playing exclusively in theaters.
Cruise’s original “Top Gun” was released a whopping 36 years ago and if you haven’t gone back to re-watch the aerial adventure recently (it’s currently streaming on Paramount+ and Netflix and recently played on CBS as their Saturday Night Movie), you might be a little fuzzy on the “Top Gun” particulars.
Have no fear, we are here to supply you with all the specifics. None of these are spoilers, just think of them as things that you...
- 12/22/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
The stars of the excellent new comedy doc Joy Ride discuss some of their favorite two handers with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Cocoon (1985)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)
Crooklyn (1994)
Call Me Lucky (2015)
Shakes The Clown (1991)
A History Of Violence (2005)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Artists And Models (1955) – Tfh’s global trailer search
Joy Ride (2021)
Joy Ride (2001)
Stay (2005)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)
Capturing The Friedmans (2003)
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
Delicate Delinquent (1957)
Keyholes Are For Peeping (1972)
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Charlie...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Cocoon (1985)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Police Academy 3: Back In Training (1986)
Crooklyn (1994)
Call Me Lucky (2015)
Shakes The Clown (1991)
A History Of Violence (2005)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Artists And Models (1955) – Tfh’s global trailer search
Joy Ride (2021)
Joy Ride (2001)
Stay (2005)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006)
Capturing The Friedmans (2003)
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
My Friend Irma Goes West (1950)
Delicate Delinquent (1957)
Keyholes Are For Peeping (1972)
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Charlie...
- 10/26/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Arrow Offers Classic and Cutting Edge Cult Cinema June Lineup Highlights New Shorts, Genre Classics & Exciting Collections: "London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the June 2021 lineup of their new subscription-based Arrow platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The June lineup leads with a selection of short films curated by the creative team behind The Stylist, one of Arrow's most popular titles. The collection highlights the work of women in horror, in front of and behind the camera. These eight films include Tristan Risk's Reptile House, her take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alchemia, Ticks and Connor Sandheinrich's deeply unsettling Unsafe Spaces.
The exciting new shorts are joined by the Arrow premiere of a number of classic titles for horror fans: Chopping Mall, Witchboard, Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre, Twins of Evil, The Quiet Earth and the Daimajin trilogy.
June 1 will...
The June lineup leads with a selection of short films curated by the creative team behind The Stylist, one of Arrow's most popular titles. The collection highlights the work of women in horror, in front of and behind the camera. These eight films include Tristan Risk's Reptile House, her take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alchemia, Ticks and Connor Sandheinrich's deeply unsettling Unsafe Spaces.
The exciting new shorts are joined by the Arrow premiere of a number of classic titles for horror fans: Chopping Mall, Witchboard, Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre, Twins of Evil, The Quiet Earth and the Daimajin trilogy.
June 1 will...
- 6/3/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
MaltinFest is taking place this weekend at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and we have details on a special screening of Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. Taking place this Sunday at 8:30pm, the screening is an ultra-rare 35mm print that was donated to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by Bela Lugosi Jr. Here's what Leonard Maltin had to say about the under-seen film:
"Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is one-of-a-kind… a patently terrible movie that I find utterly fascinating. It features the great Lugosi playing a mad scientist opposite a nightclub duo named Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, who were the poor man’s Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis—at a time when Martin and Lewis were the hottest act in show business! It was directed by B-movie specialist William Beaudine and features Charles Gemora in his world-famous gorilla suit. It will only cost...
"Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is one-of-a-kind… a patently terrible movie that I find utterly fascinating. It features the great Lugosi playing a mad scientist opposite a nightclub duo named Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, who were the poor man’s Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis—at a time when Martin and Lewis were the hottest act in show business! It was directed by B-movie specialist William Beaudine and features Charles Gemora in his world-famous gorilla suit. It will only cost...
- 5/10/2019
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The Los Angeles Film Festival may have come to the end of its days after its final edition last fall, the TCM Classic Film Festival wrapped its 10th year last month, and AFI Fest waits until Oscar season to trot out contenders. But now the town has a brand new festival of a very different stripe, and it is taking place right in the heart of Hollywood.
MaltinFest, the brainchild of famed film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, his daughter Jessie (who pitched the idea to her dad) and wife Alice, is set to launch its first edition at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, and it will be running all weekend. It is sort of the West Coast answer to the venerable EbertFest in Chicago, which the late Pulitzer Prize-winning critic started to largely honor overlooked films he admired (it has been carried on in style by Ebert...
MaltinFest, the brainchild of famed film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, his daughter Jessie (who pitched the idea to her dad) and wife Alice, is set to launch its first edition at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, and it will be running all weekend. It is sort of the West Coast answer to the venerable EbertFest in Chicago, which the late Pulitzer Prize-winning critic started to largely honor overlooked films he admired (it has been carried on in style by Ebert...
- 5/9/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
With so many incredible films released worldwide each year, it's difficult to keep track of them over time. Leonard Maltin's Maltinfest aims to shine a light on some of those films, or as he puts it, "the films that got away." Some of the films in the lineup include Tim Burton's Big Eyes, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, The Death of Superman Lives, and more, and Joe Dante and Josh Olson will also be on hand to record an episode of The Movies That Made Me podcast, with Maltin as their special guest.
"World-renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin has spent over 50 years writing about and championing movies. Now he wants to showcase some of “the films that got away.”
Every year, good films are made and released but somehow fly under the radar, never finding the recognition they deserve. Alice, Leonard and Jessie Maltin created...
"World-renowned film critic and historian Leonard Maltin has spent over 50 years writing about and championing movies. Now he wants to showcase some of “the films that got away.”
Every year, good films are made and released but somehow fly under the radar, never finding the recognition they deserve. Alice, Leonard and Jessie Maltin created...
- 5/2/2019
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Back in the heart of London’s West End for its 18th ‘adults-only’ anniversary, the world renowned horror and fantasy film festival will take place at the Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema from Aug 24 – Aug 28 2017, taking over five screens to present 64 films including 20 World, 22 European and 18 UK Premieres. Fourteen countries are represented spanning five continents, reflecting the current global popularity of the genre.
The opening night attraction is the global premiere of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s criminally entertaining Cult of Chucky (pictured above), with writer and director Don Mancini and stars Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif in attendance, alongside the iconic deadly doll of destruction himself. Mancini said today:
It’s a true pleasure to be hosting the world premiere of Cult Of Chucky at FrightFest. I have fond memories of unveiling Curse Of Chucky there in 2013 so it’s great to be returning to the...
The opening night attraction is the global premiere of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s criminally entertaining Cult of Chucky (pictured above), with writer and director Don Mancini and stars Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif in attendance, alongside the iconic deadly doll of destruction himself. Mancini said today:
It’s a true pleasure to be hosting the world premiere of Cult Of Chucky at FrightFest. I have fond memories of unveiling Curse Of Chucky there in 2013 so it’s great to be returning to the...
- 6/30/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Late this summer, West London's Horror Channel FrightFest 2016 will host an eclectic collection of horror films, including Rob Zombie's 31, Sean Byrne's The Devil's Candy, Darren Lynn Bousman's Abattoir, Jackson Stewart's Beyond the Gates, and Adam Wingard's The Woods:
Press Release: From grindhouse to art-house, feel-good to squeal-good, blockbuster to ghostbuster FrightFest returns in all its gory glory, now housed at the 12-screen Vue Cinema at Shepherd’s Bush, West London, from Aug 25 - Aug 29.
In its 17th year, the world renowned genre film festival will present 62 new feature films, embracing sixteen countries and bringing together established filmmakers, British first-timers and emerging international visionaries from six continents.
The opening night attraction is the European Premiere of My Father Die, Sean Brosnan’s brutal and beautiful feature debut – an ultra-stylish, uber violent revenge thriller that’s a calling card for Brosnan’s brilliant talents. And our...
Press Release: From grindhouse to art-house, feel-good to squeal-good, blockbuster to ghostbuster FrightFest returns in all its gory glory, now housed at the 12-screen Vue Cinema at Shepherd’s Bush, West London, from Aug 25 - Aug 29.
In its 17th year, the world renowned genre film festival will present 62 new feature films, embracing sixteen countries and bringing together established filmmakers, British first-timers and emerging international visionaries from six continents.
The opening night attraction is the European Premiere of My Father Die, Sean Brosnan’s brutal and beautiful feature debut – an ultra-stylish, uber violent revenge thriller that’s a calling card for Brosnan’s brilliant talents. And our...
- 7/1/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
After the announcement of the Fightfest’s opening and closing films a week ago, the UK’s premiere horror festival has announced its complete line-up… And they’re not making it easy for us to bring you reviews of the majority of the films screening this year!
Yes, not only is Frightfest taking over the Vue cinema on Leicester Square again this year but they’re also taking over an extra screen, Screen 1, at the old home of Frightfest, The Prince Charles Cinema – which will be the location of Another “Discovery” screen strand.
From the press release:
Bigger, bolder, bloodier…Film4 FrightFest 2015 marks its 16th year with its largest line-up ever. From Thurs 27 August to Mon 31 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will return to the Vue West End, Leicester Square to present seventy-six films across five screens, plus a host of special events. There are eighteen...
Yes, not only is Frightfest taking over the Vue cinema on Leicester Square again this year but they’re also taking over an extra screen, Screen 1, at the old home of Frightfest, The Prince Charles Cinema – which will be the location of Another “Discovery” screen strand.
From the press release:
Bigger, bolder, bloodier…Film4 FrightFest 2015 marks its 16th year with its largest line-up ever. From Thurs 27 August to Mon 31 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will return to the Vue West End, Leicester Square to present seventy-six films across five screens, plus a host of special events. There are eighteen...
- 7/2/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Shadow people, sharp-fanged co-workers, and insistent sinister spirits will just be a few of the monsters haunting the theaters at this year's Film4 FrightFest. The full lineup for the upcoming event is packed with 76 films aimed to unforgettably frighten audiences.
Press Release: "Film news (UK): Film4 FrightFest serves up a fearsome feast with a record 76 films, embracing 20 world and 42 UK & European premieres
Bigger, bolder, bloodier…Film4 FrightFest 2015 marks its 16th year with its largest line-up ever. From Thurs 27 August to Mon 31 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will return to the Vue West End, Leicester Square to present seventy-six films across five screens, plus a host of special events. There are eighteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking sixteen European premieres and twenty-six UK premieres. In addition, there is a further ‘Discovery’ strand at The Prince Charles Cinema, signalling a welcome return to FrightFest’s spiritual home.
Press Release: "Film news (UK): Film4 FrightFest serves up a fearsome feast with a record 76 films, embracing 20 world and 42 UK & European premieres
Bigger, bolder, bloodier…Film4 FrightFest 2015 marks its 16th year with its largest line-up ever. From Thurs 27 August to Mon 31 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will return to the Vue West End, Leicester Square to present seventy-six films across five screens, plus a host of special events. There are eighteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking sixteen European premieres and twenty-six UK premieres. In addition, there is a further ‘Discovery’ strand at The Prince Charles Cinema, signalling a welcome return to FrightFest’s spiritual home.
- 7/2/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Grindhouse Releasing completes a journey of nearly 20 years with the recent Blu-ray releases of Duke Mitchell's Massacre Mafia Style and Gone With the Pope. Co-founders Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone began this saga back in the mid-'90s with the help of Anchor Bay/Blue Underground head honcho Bill Lustig. That's when they were introduced to the insanity of Massacre Mafia Style, courtesy of a rare VHS copy of a forgotten independent mafia film then titled The Executioner. After using their theatrical distribution arm to give new life to Massacre Mafia Style, Grindhouse began a quest to restore the film to the glory it deserves, and the final product is something quite special. Duke Mitchell's left no real film legacy to speak of until Grindhouse took control...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/10/2015
- Screen Anarchy
There is no direct attribution to Duke Mitchell in regards to the titular quote. However, when it comes to the lounge lizard crooner-cum-multi-hyphenate Diy film guru, it’s often best to print the legend. The self-anointed “King of Palm Springs” could’ve easily been born a Mercer County mafia kid, except his parents moved him to Brooklyn…
The post ‘The Godfather is a Piece of Sh*t': Duke Mitchell and Massacre Mafia Style appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post ‘The Godfather is a Piece of Sh*t': Duke Mitchell and Massacre Mafia Style appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 3/18/2015
- by Samuel Zimmerman
- shocktillyoudrop.com
The 17th annual Boston Underground Film Festival is set to explode all over the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square on March 25-29.
Opening Night: The fun kicks off on the 25th at 7:30 p.m. with the exciting new flick from the always amazing Astron-6 collective, The Editor, an homage to the brutal Giallo movies of the ’70s and ’80s directed by Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy. This will be followed by the restored version of the legendary cult classic Gone With the Pope by the notorious Duke Mitchell.
Closing Night: Goodnight Mommy the debut feature film by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, will screen at 8:30 p.m. on the 29th and is a nightmarish vision of familial dread when twin brothers believe their cosmetically altered mother is literally not the woman she used to be.
Other features include a mix of horror, like Matt O’Mahoney’s...
Opening Night: The fun kicks off on the 25th at 7:30 p.m. with the exciting new flick from the always amazing Astron-6 collective, The Editor, an homage to the brutal Giallo movies of the ’70s and ’80s directed by Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy. This will be followed by the restored version of the legendary cult classic Gone With the Pope by the notorious Duke Mitchell.
Closing Night: Goodnight Mommy the debut feature film by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, will screen at 8:30 p.m. on the 29th and is a nightmarish vision of familial dread when twin brothers believe their cosmetically altered mother is literally not the woman she used to be.
Other features include a mix of horror, like Matt O’Mahoney’s...
- 3/12/2015
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Shot in 1971, released in 1972, and almost immediately forgotten, Amos Sefer's An American Hippie in Israel was a cult classic just waiting for a rebirth when the film was found by Grindhouse Releasing co-founder, Bob Murawski. Murawski is best known outside of the cult film world as an Academy Award winning editor (The Hurt Locker), but his apparent passion is cultivating a new crowd for lost classics like this film. Through the creation of Grindhouse Releasing with the late Sage Stallone, Murawski has helped to put films like this, Lucio Fulci's The Beyond, and the unique, indiosyncratic oeuvre of Duke Mitchell (Massacre Mafia Style, Gone with the Pope) back on cinema screens where they belong for nearly 20 years.An American Hippie in Israel is...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/6/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Those groovy exploitation dealers at Grindhouse Releasing are finally releasing Duke Mitchell’s Gone With The Pope. I have been waiting to see this film for some time and missed the only theatrical showing in St. Louis because it was shown at a different theater on the same nights I did a Late Nite Grindhouse show 5 years ago. This is awesome news for fans coupled with the release of Duke Mitchell’s later film, Massacre Mafia Style, hitting Blu-Ray later this month.
Trailer From Grindhouse Releasing’s website:
Lost for over 30 years, Gone With The Pope stars famed nightclub performer Duke Mitchell as Paul, a paroled gangster with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the Pope and charge “a dollar from every Catholic in the world” as the ransom.
Shot in 1975, Gone With The Pope was unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell’s death in 1981. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski...
Trailer From Grindhouse Releasing’s website:
Lost for over 30 years, Gone With The Pope stars famed nightclub performer Duke Mitchell as Paul, a paroled gangster with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the Pope and charge “a dollar from every Catholic in the world” as the ransom.
Shot in 1975, Gone With The Pope was unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell’s death in 1981. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski...
- 2/4/2015
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
Next week at Tfh we're featuring a modest tribute to Bela! ... Lugosi, of course. The films include Invisible Ghost (helmed by Gun Crazy's Joseph H. Lewis), 1947's Scared To Death, and the subject of today's Saturday Matinee, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. The sole reason for the existence of Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. If anything, that considerably narrows down the blame for this 74 minute pleasure-killer from 1952. It was at the height of Martin and Lewis' extraordinary success in the early fifties (each appearance was a near riot, on stage and off, a bobbysoxer's version of Beatlemania) that a motley collection of crooners and comics rushed in to steal some of the limelight. None were so brazen (or motley) than the team of Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo. Mitchell was an erstwhile lounge singer with a predilection for imitating smooth...
- 8/23/2014
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Evrim Ersoy and Alex Kidd have been conducting the Duke Mitchell Film Club for six years now, showing obscure trailers, bizarre shorts, mind-boggling music videos and strange features to a captive audience. Now, they've expanded it to the first ever 4-day DukeFest Zero! From Sunday June 30th to Wednesday July 2nd, at the Prince Charles Cinema and the Phoenix Artists Club, there will be music, a program of crazy trailers, the European premiere of My Name is Jonah, and a 30th anniversary screening of that one-and-one sci fi Nazi musical Strangers in Paradise. Details and schedule are in the press release below, and there are some trailers to wet your appetite.Welcome to DukeFest Zero, the first-ever Duke Mitchell Film Club film festival! We've assembled 4-nights...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/8/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Prepare to be corrupted and depraved once more as Nucleus Films releases the sequel to the definitive guide to the Video Nasties phenomenon – the most extraordinary and scandalous era in the history of British film. Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Part 2, a three-disc collector’s edition box set, is being released on DVD on July 14th 2014, to tie in with the 30th Anniversary of the Video Recordings Act 1984.
For the first time ever on DVD, all 82 films that fell foul of the Director of Public Prosecutions “Section 3” list are trailer-featured with specially filmed intros for each title, alongside a brand new documentary – Video Nasties: Draconian Days (review), directed by Jake West.
And to celebrate the release, Film4 FrightFest is hosting a special event – the world exclusive London Premiere of the finalised unseen extended 97 minute cut of Video Nasties: Draconian Days at The Prince Charles Cinema on Thurs 3 July, 8.30pm. The...
For the first time ever on DVD, all 82 films that fell foul of the Director of Public Prosecutions “Section 3” list are trailer-featured with specially filmed intros for each title, alongside a brand new documentary – Video Nasties: Draconian Days (review), directed by Jake West.
And to celebrate the release, Film4 FrightFest is hosting a special event – the world exclusive London Premiere of the finalised unseen extended 97 minute cut of Video Nasties: Draconian Days at The Prince Charles Cinema on Thurs 3 July, 8.30pm. The...
- 5/21/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The name Duke Mitchell may not be recognizable to a lot of our readers, but fans of exploitation have probably heard of his first film as a writer/director, 1974’s Massacre Mafia Style, aka The Executioner. The next year he started filming a follow-up, then called Kiss the Ring, later given the awesome title of Gone with the Pope; however, Mitchell died before finishing the flick. Enter Grindhouse Releasing, which has undertaken a painstaking restoration.
In an interesting twist, in the same week that Gone with the Pope is having its world premiere (March 12th at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre), Grindhouse Releasing's co-owner, Bob Murawski, is up for his first Oscar as editor of The Hurt Locker. Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous!
While most folks up for the Academy Award this year have “skeletons in their closets” that they have tucked away in that dark, dark eternal...
In an interesting twist, in the same week that Gone with the Pope is having its world premiere (March 12th at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre), Grindhouse Releasing's co-owner, Bob Murawski, is up for his first Oscar as editor of The Hurt Locker. Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous!
While most folks up for the Academy Award this year have “skeletons in their closets” that they have tucked away in that dark, dark eternal...
- 3/6/2010
- by Heather Buckley
- DreadCentral.com
The joy of cruising the movie margins is that one thing leads to another. So, a few years back, after I'd suffered through the 1952 Poverty Row comedy Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla for my bad-movie book, I couldn't help but get Googling to find out what happened to its leads, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, whose comic act in the movie aped Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to the very limits of copyright infringement. Turned out that Sammy did not much moviewise after that (he died last year), but Duke burned bright in the last years of his life. Mitchell's first film as writer-director was 1974's Massacre Mafia Style, aka The Executioner. While it didn't make him a household name or set the box office aflame, in 1975 Mitchell set about making a second flick, then called Kiss The Ring, later given the awesome title of Gone With The Pope.
- 3/4/2010
- Movieline
If ever there were a better reason for Quentin Tarantino to have saved the New Beverly Cinema, it was to be able to premiere this long lost artifact. B-movie star Duke Mitchell -- auteur of Massacre Mafia Style -- died during the post production of his grindhouse bound-to-be-epic-legend Gone With the Pope. Editor of the Hurt Locker Bob Murawski had been working on this treasure and Grindhouse Releasing has rescued it from the ashes of 1975.
The premise of the flick is that a hood kidnaps the Pope in order to claim a ransom of $1 from every Catholic in the world. If this gets released, he can have my lapsed buck. Funded by Mitchell's nightclub act as Dominic Miceli, the King of Palm Springs, this is everything that is sublime and ridiculous about filmmaking.
For your benefit, enjoy the following trailer, courtesy of that magnificent motherfucker over at Filmdrunk. It is assuredly Nsfw,...
The premise of the flick is that a hood kidnaps the Pope in order to claim a ransom of $1 from every Catholic in the world. If this gets released, he can have my lapsed buck. Funded by Mitchell's nightclub act as Dominic Miceli, the King of Palm Springs, this is everything that is sublime and ridiculous about filmmaking.
For your benefit, enjoy the following trailer, courtesy of that magnificent motherfucker over at Filmdrunk. It is assuredly Nsfw,...
- 3/2/2010
- by Brian Prisco
Heh: Funny jungle cultures is funny. Ah, for the good ol’ days, when racism and the assumption of cultural superiority were safe places for pop culture to go.... What’s that? We’re still going there today? Should we alert the media? Ah, but you remember Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo (appearing here as, respectively, Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo), don’t you? And their hilarious -- for very small values of “hilarious” -- South Sea Island adventure? They were superstars in their day, which was, as far as I can determine, the two weeks immediately surrounding September 4, 1952, when this classic was released in New York City. Oh, and Duke sings! *swoon* And he’s not at all to be mistaken for Dean Martin!
- 10/24/2009
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
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