Executioner

A Sicilian mob hit-man winds up in Hollywood, shooting pimps, hookers, rivals, and lackeys in one of the most deliriously gonzo grindhouse epics of the 1970s. Much time is spent on dinner conversation, wherein gut-busting hilarious dialog is delivered with impeccably mislaid motivation(one memorably clamorous censure involving an old lady's hands is a howler of awkwardly earnest sentiment). Add to that a heaping helping of very nasty gun violence, and you've got yourself one flaming spitball of a movie-- it's point-blank brutal, occasionally somewhat poignant, and a treasure trove of unintentional laughs.

Produced with empty pockets and a whole lot of misguided enthusiasm, this is gimcrack amateur filmmaking wholly uncorrupted by Hollywood's questionable influence. No frills cheap thrills...a bonne-bouche for fans of nethermost cinema, capice?

7/10

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.

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.

"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.

The opening sequence of "Massacre Mafia Style" is truly unforgettable.Two cold-blooded mafia executioners stroll into a Los Angeles office and after electrocuting some poor chap in the bathroom urinal they shoot to death everybody in sight.The film follows the exploits of Mini(Duke Mitchell),son of a once great Sicilian mobster,who returns to America after his fathers exile to reclaim his families name as a top crime enforcer.What follows is a mafioso rise and fall awashed with blood and suffering.Mini never actually rises.He is just a mechanical killer,who has enough balls to start mob war.This sleazy and extremely violent mafia thriller truly deserves to be called a cult classic.9 out of 10.