Best movie of this year hands down!

hyped garbage

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is a film that, yes, was technically released for the first time in 2010. But it's also a kind of Grindhouse example of Metropolis, another movie that was restored this year. New footage was found and meticulous care was put to editing something that people had never seen before. One was a testament to man and his inner quest for self-knowledge set against an oppressive world, and the other was Metropolis.But I jest. This was shot by real (and I mean REALLY) no-budget director Duke Mitchell, who made only one other film in the 1970s, and did shoot the footage for this film (you can tell, all HUGE warts and out-of-focus shots and all). But it was never finished due to lack of funds. Years later (as in two years ago) some former friends and people at the Grindhouse DVD company, got together and took all the footage Mitchell had shot and made a movie as competently as they could.Frankly, that it turned out as well as it did is something of a miracle because, quite frankly, this stinks. But it stinks in a way that is friendly to fellow bad-movie lovers. The craftsmanship is so terrible, the acting so non-existent, the story so WTF, that I wondered at certain points if Torgo from Manos the Hands of Fate would make an appearance. All I could really gather about anything relating to a "story" was that Paul (also Mitchell) is released from jail, kills some gangsters, and then takes a boat trip with some friends from California to Rome to kidnap the Pope and hold the world hostage: every Catholic pays 1 buck. That's a lot of bucks.From the dialog that is at best decent street-tough stuff to at worst really racist and sometimes just dull dialog - and the racist stuff especially, as Paul makes wisecracks (and not the subtle kind) to a black prostitute who, somehow, takes it in stride, is hilariously painful to hear spoken - to the cinematography that gives cinematography a bad name (FOCUS, goddamn it, FOCUS!), to the one or two actors such as Paul's wife or Giorgio, who both look like they were picked up from the local deli counter, to the very mixed messages sent about religion (a very *nice* Pope who somehow gets everyone except Paul on his side! and a polemic speech by Paul at one point that rivals ANY of the preachifying in Machete), this is trash cinema at its base level.It's not a good movie really. If you're looking for things like, say, motivation on the character's part, be it things like killing lots of other people we haven't seen before (sometimes with telephones) or to a random "prank" scene with a huge fat woman getting naked and surprising one of Paul's friend asleep and proceeding to lock her in the room for a good, it's more than absent. It's almost like Mitchell seemed to forget what a movie makes - albeit he is awe-inspiring at making montages, such as one with him and his wife frolicking at a park - and was more transfixed by his own sideburns than anything else. When he tries to get genuine laughs, such as the fat woman scene, it feel so awful that you just recoil in your seat. The movie also disappoints, if in one major way as a Midnight Movie, in not having more craziness with the religious angle. Without saying too much, the film needed to be more like the last scene, which did leave me with a big smile and almost clapping with the rest of the audience.But for all of the dull moments, and believe you-me there are plenty, and the cringe-worthy performances, it's a very funny movie without knowing that it is. It's also commendable to the editors and producers of this finished version that there are some scenes and transitions that move to a cool beat, maybe in ways Mitchell himself never envisioned. Song selections vary; some are genuinely fantastic, while others go along with the hokey nature of the film. It frustrates and entertains, and it actually has a sense of admiration for the Pope (!) in all his cardboard-performing glory. Then again, his dead-pan is just what's needed on the flip-side of Mitchell's mugging.

Saw a midnight screening of Gone with the Pope at the New Beverly. They usually screen it once a month and I hope it's a mainstay there for a long time. It is a BLAST! It's not Goodfellas so leave your cynicism at home. Gone with the Pope is grindhouse/independent filmmaking at it's best. It's a gritty, don't give a toss mobster masterpiece that is hilarious on so many levels. Loaded with unforgettable scenes and quotable lines that I'll leave up to you to go out and experience for yourself. You can see how much love and effort went into making this film outweighing any of it's imperfections. Big thanks to Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone for tracking down this gem and getting it out to the masses.

Inspired by THE GODFATHER, director, writer, and actor Duke Mitchell tried his own hand at a gangster film, and in 1978, his violent THE EXECUTIONER was released (the film is more commonly known as MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE). The low-budget Video Gems label released THE EXECUTIONER on VHS in the mid-80s, while a double-disc DVD came out a few years ago and sold out of its limited edition. Hence, few people can actually say they've seen this film. Flash forward to 2009: The always-seeking-for-another-classic psychos at Grindhouse Releasing manage to get in touch with (the late) Duke Mitchell's family and are granted access to his archives. Among the goodies was a never-released sequel (of sorts) to MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE, titled GONE WITH THE POPE. Currently on a 35mm-print tour of the U.S.A., I attended a midnight screening in NYC with a few buddies, and needless to say, the entire audience seemed to love this lost underground mobster movie. When life-long criminal Paulie (played by Mitchell) gets out of prison (the film claims he did 15, then later 20 years, so take your pick), he goes to Vegas (I'm assuming they shot most of these scenes without permission) and manages to take out 7 guys (who I'm assuming were part of a rival family…the audio in the theater was ridiculously low for some reason) and then spends one last night with his wife before going on a lengthy trip to Rome. With 3 members of his crew, Paulie sets out (on his wife's yacht) on a 48-day cruise from California to Italy, mapping their course with nothing more than an atlas and an ancient piece of nautical equipment (which we see him use once). While having espresso at a bistro in Rome, Paulie explains why they're here: They're going to kidnap the pope, then charge a dollar from every Catholic in the world as ransom (when his buddy tells him, "But what about all the Chinese?", Paulie agrees to drop the fee to 50 cents). But before doing their task, Paulie tries to get one of his prison-partners laid (and brings an obese woman back to their hotel room in one of the most disturbing—and hilarious—scenes I've ever seen). After dressing as priests and abducting his holiness, the men keep the pontiff on their yacht as their ransom message goes out. During this time, The pope manages to talk sense into the whole crew, except for Paulie, who tells the pope he thinks the Catholic church is a scam, citing reasons such as all their not doing enough to help all the poor children in the world and the Catholic church's silence over the slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War 2 (hey—even Vito Corelone didn't get this deep!). Paulie agrees to let the pope go back to Rome with his two friends, but swears that if he doesn't take care of them, he'll kill 100 priests "as revenge for the Jews!" (Folks---the quotability of this movie is endless). Paulie manages to get back to America where he finds one of his best friends has been whacked. He takes out those responsible, then keeps his promise to the pope of lighting a candle on Christmas Eve. The film ends where a couple of supernatural occurrences go down as Paulie keeps his promise in a local church, and Paulie runs out in terror—leaving the audience to debate if Paulie has seen the light or has been rejected by the church. GONE WITH THE POPE is a lost, "authentic" grindhouse film. It's a fine example of everything we, the lovers of trash cinema, love about trash cinema: the plot is all over the place, there's enough bad acting to rival anything H.G. Lewis or Ed Wood has done, it's chock full of horrible 70s staples (polyester suits, bad make-up on the ladies, an acid-rock soundtrack, plenty of super-politically incorrect dialogue which, again, had the audience in hysterics). I'm now on a mission to find the first film, MAFIA MASSACRE STYLE (which one article I read said is a stand-alone film and not a prequel to GONE WITH THE POPE). Duke Mitchell has only left behind these two Godfather-esquire films, and although I've only seen the second one, he has managed to muscle his way into my exploitation film hall of fame. This sucker's PRICELESS.

I got a chance to view this film on 35mm in Rochester New York with my brother. Bob did a Q&A after the screening to explain how he acquired the film and the editing process. I love gone with the pope. It is very funny, a little bit of violence, very charming and I must say one of best undiscovered films out there. Highly recommend checking it out on 35mm - heads up to Grind house with the 35mm film print. Very clean print and crisp audio. I've seen many of the grind house releases on 35mm and Gone with the Pope is absolutely the best, considering the sources grind house had to work with. If you are a fan of 70'S grind house/mobster type of movies then def check this out on its road show tour on 35mm film.