A tough-guy cop pursues two drug runners across the city to bust a large syndicate. Very much an anti-hero, Mitchell often ignores the orders of his superiors and demonstrates disdain for by-the-book development work as well as normal social graces.
Joe Don Baker Martin Balsam John Saxon Linda Evans Morgan Paull Harold J. Stone Merlin Olsen Robert Phillips Buck Young Rayford Barnes Todd Bass Jerry Hardin Lilyan McBride Rob Narke Sidney Clute Carole Estes Vicki Peters Duffy Hambleton John Ashby Bill Sullivan Jim B. Smith Charles Glover Charles A. Tamburro Gary Combs Stan Stone Tom Lawrence Alan Gibbs Dick Ziker Phil Altman Show All…
Gary McLarty Paul Nuckles Bob Orrison Paul Stader Bob Yerkes Alan Gibbs Stephanie Epper Duffy Hambleton Paula Crist Gary Combs Roydon Clark Denny Arnold
Narcóticos, Maten a Mr. Mitchell, Tappakaa Mr. Mitchell, Liquidez l'inspecteur Mitchell, O epitheoritis Mitchell, Kill Mr. Mitchell, Uccidete Mister Mitchell, Byens staeste purk, Força de Intervenção Antidroga, Dogruyolda tek basina, 誓不两立, Mitchell – Ein Bulle dreht durch
USAR
USA
I'm going to do something rarely anybody who has seen Mitchell has done: defend it. Because I feel Mitchell is misunderstood. The movie currently holds a 2.4/10 on IMDB, which is bad enough for it to be the 81st worst film ever rated on the site. Which I believe is unfair. Yeah there are better 70's cop movies you could be watching, but this certainly isn't 81st worst movie levels of bad. Hell I don't even think it's the 81st worst movie I've ever seen.
Mitchell boasts a good cast of Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall) as the titular Mitchell, bad guys played by Merlin Olsen (former NFL star and actor best known for Father John), Martin Balsam (12 Angry…
As the final movie of original Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Joel Hodgson, Mitchell became one of the most popular episodes of the series’ ten year run. What’s funny about the MST3K iteration is that they covered the television edit, making it seem like a normal, albeit goofy, cop movie. The actual R-rated version feels almost like an entirely different film. The cussing is restored, brief glimpses of nudity are given, the violence is shockingly nasty and there’s strange little bits of comedy interjected randomly, making me think this was originally cooked up as a satire. Without the aid of Joel and his robot pals, the audience is forced to witness Baker uncut, making them take in his depressing, misanthropic,…
A great entry in the schlubby 70s detective cannon headlined by the always loveable Joe Don Baker. Features a great song halfway through which sums up the plot.
And now its claim to fame is as an episode of MST3K where they cut out all the best scenes (Dune buggy chase with John Saxon!), trimmed out all the violence, and made fun of the fact that Joe Don Baker plays a schlubby detective in a film designed as a schlubby detective movie.
Okay.
I did what almost nobody since 1975 has done: watched the uncut version of Mitchell, without the MST3K commentary. Of course, I've seen the MST3K version about 500 times, so it was impossible not to hear the phantom voices of Crow and Tom Servo every five seconds.
Though widely regarded as a terrible movie by people who have only seen it with robot silhouettes, Mitchell in its uncut, 97-minute form is... well, nothing special, but not terrible either. The biggest revelation is, simply, that they made it this way on purpose. Joe Don Baker's Mitchell is supposed to be a slob asshole. Maybe this should have been obvious, but the truth can be obscured when you've got Joel and the…
Cop films, the 1970s was a good decade for them. In addition to The French Connection, we had Dirty Harry, McQ and The Seven-Ups just to name a few more.
And then we have Mitchell, a rather lousy example of the genre that would have largely been forgotten if not for it's appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (serving as Joel Robinson's swan-song before Mike Nelson came on the scene). However, is it really as bad as many say? I'd hardly say, but it's certainly not great either.
While most movie cops are tough, street-smart and resourceful, Joe Don Baker as Mitchell is a different case. A chubby and gormless LA police detective with a penchant for booze and hookers,…
Joe Don Baker is Mitchell, he's brute force with a badge, according to the poster anyway, even has his own theme, which sounds like the less than stellar opposite of Shaft. He's really just a big old slob that gets the job done, but of course he's a maverick so nobody likes him. Mitchell is on two cases, the first trying to prove an asshole trade union lawyer (John Saxon), murdered a burglar and staged it to look like self defence and second, stuck on a surveillance of heroin importer/exporter(Martin Balsalm). Mitchell will impatiently bust some heads to get things done.
So according to IMDB, this has a rating of 2.7, which is really low, in amongst the real dross,…
mst3k
"Hey, guys, wasn't John Saxon in this movie?"
Watching the original Cape Fear put Mitchell on my brain because Telly Savalas' private investigator character was recast as Joe Don Baker in the 90's remake. Coincidentally, Martin Balsam - who played the police chief in Cape Fear ‘62 - showed up in Mitchell as the lead villain. Mitchell, by the way, is one of those few movies that has become inseparable from its MST3k episode so of course that's the version I chose to watch.
And what movie did Joel and the Bots decide to reference for a joke during the climax of the movie which takes place on a boat?
CAPE FEAR
After Walking Tall scored big at the box office in 1973, Joe Don Baker was cast in several lead roles in action and crime films. Most fizzled and Baker’s future as a Charles Bronson or James Coburn-like action star did too. Baker found significant character roles, though, turning up in movies like Fletch and The Living Daylights in the 1980s. Two more Bond films followed.
Baker is probably enjoying a comfortable retirement today just on Bond residuals. I doubt there are many rewards from Mitchell, one of the justly forgotten movies from his earlier period. It’s a 70s cop number, with Baker starring as a lone-antihero detective in the Eastwood-McGarnagle mold. This take on Dirty Harry never works, though: It’s…
MST3K
i have never seen this one!!! I’m a certified Mike HATER and I couldn’t bear to watch Joel leave the satellite of love but it was finally well worth it — a batshit movie torn to pieces by the MST3K editors and thank god for that
love the bots love joel this marks the end of the series in my eyes MITCHELL
Certainly not as bad as it's reputation, but it is certainly a 1970s B-movie. Don't expect more than that. With Joe Don Baker, John Saxon, Martin Balsam, and Linda Evans. Baker is Mitchell, or as the poster has it, "MITCHELL"! He's a cop that everyone hates, even his co-workers. Saxon is a rich guy who kills a burglar in cold blood and Mitchell suspects it. However, Mitchell is sent to tail Martin Balsam. He doesn't hide and even tells Balsam why he is tailing him when asked. It has to do with some heroin. Most of this movie is spent in cars. I swear, only about 15 minutes are not in some 1970s land yacht, until the end which is an actual yacht and a helicopter. Mitchell beats people up and gets beat up. I had a great time watching this, but I'm a big fan of genre films.
[MST3K Version] I have seen this particular episode twice now, and while it’s hailed as a fan-favorite, outside of the first third, it was very hit-or-miss. Much of the riffs at Joe Don Baker’s expense would be executed better in Final Justice, but there’s enough to laugh at here to get past the sloppy, terrible action film that is Mitchell.
Joel’s exit from the series is kinda awkward and sudden, but it is what it is. Truthfully, I’ve always been more of a Mike fan.
