Mitchell.

Review #2383: Mitchell.

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), and Jerry Hardin (Desk Sergeant) Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (#1414 - McLintock!)

Review: 

Sure. You may notice a bit of familiarity with knowing the film was written by Ian Kennedy Martin. Well, okay, he created exactly one other notable thing with the TV series The Sweeney, but Martin actually is the brother of Troy Kennedy Martin, and it was Ian who came up with the original idea of a robbery film set near traffic that Troy liked enough to buy the rights to then make the screenplay that became The Italian Job (1969)*. The director was Andrew V. McLaglen, who you might remember as the director behind McLintock! (1963), but he made a wide variety of movies for hire, which mostly involved Westerns as is the case with Shenandoah (1965) and The Way West (1967) but also stuff like Fools' Parade (1971). McLagen actually directed into his seventies, closing with Eye of the Widow (1991) Apparently, the best version of the film came out on DVD (i.e. one that isn't just pan and scan) came out as late as 2013.

Honestly, the movie is funny to experience late at night. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a good movie, but if you watch the full version (so no, not the MST3K version that doesn't even bother to show the whole thing), you get a sense of a really, really, weird movie. Sure, on the level, it basically is a film that sounds destined for television on the level of say, Rockford Files Jr., but there is something really funny about the way the lead character is so abrasive to everything around him that you'll laugh at the idea the movie has a title sequence (where you get to see Baker with bulging eyes carrying an object that you will find out is a rock) and a song. One minute you see a hooker try to hook-up with our hero and later on he'll decide, no, the temptation is over and proceeds to bust her for weed. I especially like how the revenge the hooker gets is to simply write "BASTARD" on the windshield of his car (in the edit, it's just "JERK") - ooh, that'll show him. You could call him the Diet Dirty Harry, but really he might as well be the proto-Homer Simpson in folks who underestimate exactly what he is willing to do as a cop, but popping in and out of cars takes up a good chunk of the runtime before it eventually comes down to him being around in leading to the death of, say, seven bad guys. Mr. "Brute Force With a Badge" does shoot folks, don't get that twisted, he also gets chased around in a dune buggy sequence where the best way to get someone trapped in the buggy when they can't go up and just bash 'em with a rock a few times. He's also good enough with a dune buggy where the other guy can't even drive it right before it rolls over and just explodes. The acting, in comparison to the mayhem, is not exactly as exciting, but for a B-movie, it just, well, "is what it is". Baker is best remembered for Walking Tall (1973) and Charley Varrick (1973) more so than this movie and that is probably for the best, because this is a movie that does not suit him (the plaid suit in particular doesn't help). It almost sounds like the character is supposed to be a parody of the tough cop, at one point Baker tells a kid to go to hell after bickering with him. But alas, he just seems adrift when trying to be anything other than the formidable authority, because you can't help but chuckle. Sure, I like Saxon, and I suppose there is something to Balsam (yes, an Academy Award winner), but they are mostly going through the motions because you know it's only a matter of time (97 minutes) before the inevitable happens. This actually was the last film appearance by Olsen, the football player-turned-actor-turned-broadcaster/businessman, and it probably says something that he does more in the whole climax than Balsam does for probably the whole movie (seriously, the latter just stands there when the last fight happens, as if he was doing meditation). It's the kind of B-movie that you might find something to spot out there and chuckle at a movie at the strange qualities that come with cliches and old habits**. It isn't a big winner or big loser, but a palate cleanser with familiar names can't all be that bad.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

*Fun coincidence: Troy wrote for a variety of television programs, ranging from Ian's The Sweeney to the BBC serial Edge of Darkness...which featured Baker as an authority figure. I should mention that Baker (who passed away just a few days ago) actually appeared on television as a cop with Eischied in 1979-80.

**Hey hey, a small role for Jerry Hardin, who I enjoyed seeing as Deep Throat in The X-Files