Executioner

Massacre Mafia Style (1978)

** (out of 4)

Duke Mitchell's middle finger to THE GODFATHER has him playing a mafia guy who goes to America to get in on all the action but soon realizes that things have changed since his father was running the business. However, he realizes way too late and before he does so there's a bloody gang war. MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE has become a cult classic over the years and it's very easy to see why. This film has so many awful moments but that is what makes the film so special and so darn funny at times. The movie opens up with a couple mafia guys walking through a packed office and just blasting people away. What makes this rather long sequence so funny is that people just stand there pretty much posing and waiting to be shot. There's a part where four or five men are just lined up and the mafia guys go through them one at a time. Umm...ever think of running? This entire sequence is without question one of the funniest moments you're ever going to witness in a film that isn't a comedy. There are other hilarious moments scattered throughout the film but for the most part nothing comes close to being as funny. With that said, the entire message that Mitchell is trying to give off is rather ridiculous and especially towards the end when he goes on a "sad" rant to his father about how the times have changed. Hey, we at least get to hear Mitchell sound off about dirty hippies and their pot. The performances are all pretty bad and that includes Mitchell but you've still got to love his work because he's trying so hard. Here recently a lot of movies are purposely made bad so that they can try and gain some cult attention. I think the key to great cult movies like this, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and even THE ROOM is that the filmmakers really did try to do something "serious" but it just didn't work. There's obviously love on the screen but none of it works. From the laughable dialogue to the questionable screenplay to the wild violence, nothing here works except for those who love bad movies.

This mega cheapo budget film has all of the plot devices of The Godfather and none of the acting, directing, writing, cinematography, special effects, choreography, camera work, or general feeling. I haven't seen the Plan 9 From Outer Space but this easily has to compete with it for worst acting. Every word, every line sounds as forced out as every line in Pink Flamingos. Getting the actors to time their movements even was disaster. This movie also has the distinguishment of being one of the most racially challenged movies ever. The only black man in the film is called Super Spook!!!!! Super Spook is actually crusified!! The Italian American community is portrayed as dumb mob hoods who revel in Spaghetti! The movies mob bosses are weaklings who forgive having relatives killed and body parts cut off. The only worth in watching this is knowing you could easily do a better job. How bad is the writing? When a mob boss is kidnapped his finger his cut off and mailed home with a ransom note, a friend upon reading the note and seeing the thumb utters the stupid line "That's Chucky's thumb all right, I've seen it on him a million times" A THUMB!!!!! Give this movie a three out of ten, for hilarious stupidity and a wacked out soundtrack!

"You see these hands? Know what they smell of? Oregano! Pasinigol! Beautiful herbs! They gave you mostaccioli, lasagna, pizza--some of the most appreciated foods in the world! But what did we give her, Chucky, eh? We gave her violence. We gave her death. We gave her dishonor!" So says the hero, actor/writer/director/producer Duke Mitchell of his sainted paisan grandma in MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE, the greatest of all forgotten American grindhouse movies of the nineties. It's almost impossible to evoke the impassioned lunacy of this movie, which suggests a low-low-budget version of GOODFELLAS directed by Sam Fuller after sharing a speedball with Richard Pryor. Let's just say that the movie opens with a paraplegic being electrocuted using a desk lamp and an office urinal; soars ahead to a scene where a black pimp is crucified while the L.A. Philharmonic plays Handel's Messiah at the Hollywood Bowl; and climaxes with the remorseful hero saying, "The Italian wasn't disgraced, Chucky--we disgraced it!" Somewhere, Jade Stallone, son of the great man and proprietor of Grindhouse Releasing, has Duke Mitchell's final masterwork, GONE WITH THE POPE, discovered in Duke's bedroom closet after his demise. Bring on THE POPE! And, God be prasied, some day bring MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE--a bootleg favorite--to the public's eye. Even Master Sam himself never went quite so cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Ed Wood comparisons are inevitable. A truly Personalized, Visionary Style emanates from the Id of Writer/Director/Producer/Actor/Singer/Lounge Performer, Duke Mitchell. This Movie one of two He helm-ed, the other Gone With the Pope (that was shot but not edited before His death) finished by Fans and Friends and finally released.

The Thing is, like Ed Wood, Duke Mitchell had much more Energy and Aspirations than Talent. But that didn't stop Him from making a Living doing what He Loved. Performing as a Martin and Lewis Rip-Off with Sammy Partillo that was stopped by a Lawsuit before it could cause much Damage, singing at a Lounge in Palm Springs, and making Movies.

This one is a sight to behold and Fans of Grindhouse, Bad Movies, and Inept over the top Fun Films, have touted this very Personal Film as an Underground Masterpiece. It is straight-faced (tongue nowhere near the cheek) and in your face, Didactic Dumbness, Ultra-Violent, almost incomprehensible in Plot, and full of one Bizarre Scene with Dizzying Dialog after another.

It is almost Breathless if not Breathtaking watching this Thing unfold in all its Audacious Splendor. The Opening Scene is enough to Hook the Curious and the rest is nothing Less than Mind Altering in its Display of almost incompetence. But it is Ultimately Magnetic and Magnificently Moronic.

The travails and exploits of a Sicilian hit-man, one could accurately refer to The Executioner as a classic example of deservedly obscure and very sleazy 70s exploitation. It's poorly written and it's badly acted. Thus, what this film really needed was more action and fewer lines. The story takes into account the rise of XXX pornography, as the main character in The Executioner considers entering into the porn industry as its taking off with the success of Deep Throat, which kind of connects the film's violent content to sex, both prime exploitation ingredients. As a 70s exploitation film, The Executioner has too much of the downside and not enough of the upside that that term carries with it. Still, for fans of borderline bad movies, it may not be a total disappointment.