Mitchell (1975)

User Rating:

2.1/10   

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

Ian Kennedy Martin (written by)

Release Date:

10 September 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Action | Drama

Tagline:

Murder...Cops...and Corruption

Plot:

A detective goes after big-time drug dealers.

Plot Keywords:

Shotgun | Unintentionally Funny | Burglar | Skateboarding | Anti Hero

Cast

Joe Don Baker	...	Mitchell
Martin Balsam	...	James Arthur Cummings
John Saxon	...	Walter Deaney
Linda Evans	...	Greta
Merlin Olsen	...	Benton
Morgan Paull	...	Salvatore Mistretta
Harold J. Stone	...	Tony Gallano
Robert Phillips	...	Chief Albert Pallin
Buck Young	...	Det. Aldridge
Rayford Barnes	...	Det. Tyzack
Todd Bass	...	Child
Jerry Hardin	...	Desk sergeant
Lillian McBride	...	Rich lady (as Lilyan MacBride)
Rob Narke	...	Customs officer (as Robin Narke)
Sidney Clute	...	Rudy Moran

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (theatrical rating) (cut) (1984) | Norway:(Banned) (1976-1984) (cinema release) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | USA:R | Norway:16 (video) (1983)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: The Cadillac that Mitchell picks up the old lady in is a 1975 model. When he later blows the car up, it turns into a 1967 model.

Quotes:

Cummings: Watch out for falling rocks.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Wild World of Batwoman (#6.15)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Mitchell

Any given episode of The Rockford Files is better than this.

Joe Don Baker plays a police detective with an affinity for booze and blondes and not much else. His life is miserable. One finds oneself wondering why anyone would want to tell the story of someone so unhappy and why we the audience are spending 90 minutes of our lives being exposed to his misery.

Despite his lack of personal morals in his own life, and his inability to engender anything more than disdain from his fellow coworkers, somehow Baker has acquired a near zero-tolerance for any criminal behavior among other people. He's simultaneously amoral and noble, and we the audience are left wondering why, because the script never manages to explain it for us. There's very little to love about Mitchell, but Baker manages to muddle through the script nonetheless; not an easy job for any actor. Baker should have received an award for tolerating the terribly written script that was given him.

The film is more like a failed pilot for television than an actual silver screen cop action movie. The plot is difficult to describe without the use of censorable and colorful adjectives. There appears to be at least two different plots going at the same time, and the plot with John Saxton in it starts the film but then peters out about halfway through. The other plot involves Baker sitting outside a rich guy's house because he's somehow involved in drug smuggling, and eventually finding himself being beat up and shot at. He's even accosted verbally by a young child on a skateboard. Attempts at humor abound, but nothing seems to really engender a good laugh. Linda Evans uneventfully plays a prostitute who is hired to make love with Mitchell, and for some strange reason falls in love with him despite the audience's inability to comprehend why.

Mitchell features what is perhaps the slowest car chase in the history of cinema, and that alone is worth watching the film for true action flick fans, if nothing more than to see what film makers should never do. Mitchell acquired a renewal of sorts in the form of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the mid-90s, when the film was featured as the form of torture used by mad scientists on an innocent Joel Robinson and his lovable robots. This particular episode of MST3K is the turning point of that series, because it's the one where Joel Hodgson left the series and was replaced by head writer Mike Nelson. So all fans of MST3K hold a special place in their hearts for this, the worst cop flick ever.