planktonrules

Graham Chapman was one of the members of Monty Python, though he also starred on a variety of shows before this such as "The Frost Report" and "At Last the 1948 Show". In each case, he acted and wrote for the various TV shows. Sadly, in his later years, alcoholism negatively impacted on his career. This is one of the projects he worked on following the final episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus".

The story begins with Arthur (Chapman) coming home from work...only to find that his wife is leaving him. Depressed about this, he decides to kill himself in a most unusual manner...to pay someone to murder him unexpectedly...such as in the Burt Reynolds film "The End". However, when his wife returns, he's unable to find the would-be killer to call off the contract!

If this seems like a familiar concept, it is. I have seen several films with similar ideas and it was remade as the Burt Reynolds film "The End". It also was originally by Chapman as an episode of "Six Dates With Barker"...starring Ronnie Barker instead of Graham Chapman.

The best thing about this film is the often strange dialog...not exactly hilarious but odd and striking. While I didn't adore the film, it is more enjoyable and more subtle than "The End". An interesting film...but not something you should rush to see.

The folks who made "Dexter's Lab" decided, for some unknown reason, to make an adult episode...one filled with language that NEVER would have made it acceptable to show on "The Cartoon Network". A few have seen it at various conventions, but if you want to see it, there's a copy on YouTube at this time.

Dexter is tired of Dee Dee's rudeness so he creates a machine which removes the rudenss in a person. However, instead, the machine manages to make two copies of both Dexter and Dee Dee...one nice and the others who spew explitives (which are bleeped out of the episode...though it's often obvious what they are saying). Naturally, chaos ensues!

This is a funny episode. While I wouldn't let little kids watch it, older kids will enjoy it and won't become little sociopaths as a result. A nice change of pace for this fun cartoon series.

Duke Mitchell was a very unusual sort of guy--the type who is probably legendary among select groups of people. He was a lounge singer with a decent voice. However, in a move that must have made sense at the time (it sure doesn't now), instead of just concentraing on his music, he decided to team up with Sammy Petrillo with a cheesy act. Their act was essentially a copy of Martin & Lewis...with Mitchell playing the Dean Martin type and Sammy Petrillo playing the Jerry Lewis type...but mostly concentrating on Lewis' most annoying qualities. Somehow the pair managed to star in a film...a horrible piece of 'art' called "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla". Trust me...it's worse than it sounds.

What I did NOT know is that Mitch went through a bit of a rennessance in the 1970s...reinventing himself as a violent mobster type in ultra-ultra-cheap movies...which he wrote, directed and starred in as well The first of these, "Massacre Mafia Style", is the film I'm reviewing here....but he also made an unfinished picture which was finished over three decades after it was found among his possessions after Mitchell died in 1981. "Gone With the Pope" is pretty bad and if you're curious, check out the reviews for it.

Mimi Miceli (Mitchell) is the son of a mafia boss who was exiled back to Italy. Now Mimi wants to return to the United States and reform his father's old crime empire. This, of course, means murdering a lot of folks and a lot of general not-niceness! However, oddly, he decides to move the mob to Los Angeles instead of New York City.

The film looks cheap. Much seems to have been made without sound and Mitchell does voice-overs to explain what is happening. It also appears as if the folks in the movie aren't actors...just a bunch of Mitchell's friends. In many ways, the film looks like one of Rudy Ray Moore's movies, such as "Dolemite", a film also written, directed by and starring a guy with little money but a lot of chutzpah!

So despite its many problems, is the overall movie worth seeing? Not really...unless you like cheesy, kitschy movies such as "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Not completely terrible...but also more like a home movie than a real film.