Just saw this movie and I gotta say it was a pretty fun hour and a half of goomba gore and senseless mafia shananagins. And although it's a little incoherent at times, overall it's not a bad B movie. It's a Grindhouse feature and it's straight out of the "exploitation" genre so its got all the guilty pleasures that you would expect (eg: naked women, Afros, bloody violence and lots of political incorrectness). If you're looking for an Oscar winning mafia film like the "Godfather", "Casino" or "Goodfellas" then "Fah git about it" but if you enjoy movies that inspired writers and directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to make their own films then you'll dig this one. After all who doesn't enjoy a senselessly violent B movie with questionable acting and naked broads once in a while...I know I do.
26 Reviews
Breaking Bread With Duke Mitchell
LeonLouisRicci23 December 2013
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 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.
Greasy Goombas stuff their faces, talk, and and shoot each other.
EyeAskance6 September 2007
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
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
borderline watchable
RanchoTuVu17 February 2015
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.
Blah blah blah & boom boom boom!
Coventry1 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
"The Executioner" a.k.a "Massacre Mafia Style" – which obviously is a much more apt title – was promoted to me by fellow genre fanatics as THE ultimate must-see cult exploitation classic of the seventies. It took me quite a while to track down (apparently it's also one of the most obscure cult exploitation classic of the seventies) but eventually I'm very glad that I took the effort. Not because this is such a great movie, quite the contrary in fact, but the least you can say is that "Massacre Mafia Style" is truly a unique accomplishment and definitely unequaled in terms of ineptitude and entertainment value. This is somewhat the one man project of a good old pal named Duke Mitchell. Duke produced, wrote the screenplay, composed the soundtrack, sat in the director's chair and depicted the anti-heroic lead character in this unsung grindhouse variation on the immensely popular "The Godfather". Duke Mitchell was a godfather, all right
The godfather of absurdity and sheer incompetence! The film is a non-stop series of pointless shotgun assassinations (the craziest you'll ever see), altered with incredibly overlong and wannabe philosophical monologues about how traditional Italian families in America are dishonored by the mafia's vicious reputation ("you see this old woman's hands? They smell of oregano and gave us pizza, lasagna and some of the most appreciated foods in the world! But what did we give her in return? We gave her violence, death and dishonor!"). What the hell, indeed! Mitchell's character Mimi Miceli returns to the US, many years after his father got exiled. Together with his childhood friend Jolly Rizzo he intends to work his way back to the top, but he merely only succeeds in becoming an efficient hit man and raising a couple of family feuds. The opening sequences of "Massacre Mafia Style" are legendary, with Duke Mitchell and his buddy Vic Caesar strolling around an office building and liquidating everyone in sight (including secretaries, black guys with immense Afros and a crippled man in a wheelchair) to the tunes of a cheerful Italian party song. This scene as well as all the other massacres in the film, are supposed to be extremely violent and nihilistic, but they're actually downright hilarious and the complete opposite of shocking. The poor people who volunteered to appear in this mess of a movie are just standing around, not looking the least bit surprised by the sounds of screaming and heavy shotgun fire, waiting to be killed next to the elevator or behind their desk, and the next shot shows their exaggeratedly bloodied body. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Duke Mitchell, because he made this movie even though he probably realized himself that it is spectacularly awful in all possible departments, but I can only recommend this to a very limited number of people. Crazy cult fans, rejoice!
Man, this movie
BandSAboutMovies23 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
As a well-raised Italian boy, I have watched plenty of mob-related movies, both domestic and foreign, from the expected films like The Godfather and Goodfellas to the poliziotteschi of the country of my origins, but I have to tell you, nobody who acts in those movies - with the exception of perhaps Lenny Montana - so seems like they came directly out of the real world of crime and violence as the man who wrote, produced, self-financed and directed this film, Duke Mitchell.
Supposedly written from all of his real-life run-ins, Mitchell had the kind of career that fascinates me. Born Dominic Salvatore Miceli in Farrell, PA - around twenty minutes from where I grew up - Duke started his career as the Dean Martin to Sammy Petrillo's Jerry Lewis in a nightclub act that drove Lewis near insane.
One reason was movie producer Jack Broder, who hired the team to star opposite Ramona the Chimp - who was Cheetah for a time in the Tarzan films - and Bela Lugosi in the low-budget high concept Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.
Man - that movie!
Gary Lewis, Jerry's eldest son, told the New York Times - in Petrillo's obituary no less - "When Sammy and the other guy played in that gorilla movie, I remember my dad and Dean saying, "We got to sue these guys - this is no good."
Lewis knew Broder through the Friars Club and attempted to stop the movie from being released before a shouting match needed to be broken up. Paramount Pictures had Martin and Lewis under contract, so another Friars Club contact named Hal B. Wallis attempted to meet with Broder and purchase the negative to the film for no small amount of cash. They never agreed on a price, so instead of destroying the completed film, Broder released it and the two men never spoke again.
After they returned to nightclubs, Mitchell and Petrillo went back to the clubs but found themselves blackballed by Martin and Lewis; they were even blocked from an appearance on the Colgate Comedy Hour, which was hosted by Abbott and Costello. The team would break up briefly and then reteam until they decided to call it quits directly after Martin and Lewis did the same thing.
Petrillo would go on to become head of production for the Network Film Corporation owned by Dick Randall and made Shangri-La, as well as an unfinished superhero movie called Gas Is Best shot in Pittsburgh (!) as well as Keyholes Are for Peeping with Doris Wishman. In the 70s, Sammy also worked as a distributor for the Transcontinental Film Corporation, which allowed him to rekindle his friendship with Duke before settling down in Pittsburgh (!!) where he ran the comedy club The Nut House and also was a host that introduced nearly any adult star who came to the Steel City*.
Let's get back to Duke (and eventually this movie).
Going solo, Duke played spots like New York, Las Vegas, Seattle, Palm Springs, Chicago and Los Angeles before dubbing himself the King of Palm Springs and popularized Sunday brunch shows in which talent in town would nosh and sing a few tunes or have a conversation with the man himself. People like Liza Minnelli, David Janssen, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra Sr. And Jr., Lucille Ball, Red Skelton and many more.
Somewhere in here, Duke was also the singing voice of Fred Flintstone.
Before dying of lung cancer in 1981, Mitchell started making his own films. This one and Gone with the Pope are the only two that have survived, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone of Grindhouse Releasing, who found that second film as a work print in Mitchell's son's garage.
To the words of a Duke song, the movie begins with he and his partner Jolly (Vic Caesar) killing an entire office full of victims (check out the commitment from the guy who gets blasted and dies face first in a scuzzy urinal people!) before a Duke voiceover explains the way of the mob world. This movie is pretty much owned by his long rambling narratives which I think I may record on my phone and Kenny Powers-style listen to for power and inspiration before I have to interact with normal people.
Duke is Mimi Miceli, the son of a high-powered mafia don who has been exiled back to Sicily for his crimes in America and who is raising our hero's son while he lives his dreams in Hollywood, which mainly consist of killing people, hanging on porn shoots and crucifying pimps that get in his way. And oh yeah - getting to lie in bed next to Cara Peters, which is like the real American dream, as she's absolutely fabulous in this.
I loved every frame of this movie, filled with shocking violence and made by a man who had the utter balls to send out real wedding invitations for the scene in this movie, then sell the gifts that people brought to raise more money for the making of the rest of the picture.
The world should have more people like Duke Mitchell. And more films like Massacre Mafia Style.
While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic. I beyond love the fact that Duke somehow has a movie in the same category as Fulci. But hey - hooks through faces, dead dogs, multiple bullet wounds and even a slow mo Pickinpah ending aren't going to make this a G rated movie.
You can watch this on Tubi or buy it from Grindhouse Releasing.
*One last Jerry and Sammy story: On October 5, 1982, the Today Show was airing a series of Lewis' career highlights and the very first one wasn't Jerry. It was Petrillo. Jerry said, in his usual mock sincerity, "It was Sammy Petrillo, a kid that I found walked on 53rd Street here in New York, and I brought him out to Hollywood to work on a sketch with Dean and I, and then he worked with Eddie Cantor two weeks later." I bet he was fuming.
Supposedly written from all of his real-life run-ins, Mitchell had the kind of career that fascinates me. Born Dominic Salvatore Miceli in Farrell, PA - around twenty minutes from where I grew up - Duke started his career as the Dean Martin to Sammy Petrillo's Jerry Lewis in a nightclub act that drove Lewis near insane.
One reason was movie producer Jack Broder, who hired the team to star opposite Ramona the Chimp - who was Cheetah for a time in the Tarzan films - and Bela Lugosi in the low-budget high concept Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.
Man - that movie!
Gary Lewis, Jerry's eldest son, told the New York Times - in Petrillo's obituary no less - "When Sammy and the other guy played in that gorilla movie, I remember my dad and Dean saying, "We got to sue these guys - this is no good."
Lewis knew Broder through the Friars Club and attempted to stop the movie from being released before a shouting match needed to be broken up. Paramount Pictures had Martin and Lewis under contract, so another Friars Club contact named Hal B. Wallis attempted to meet with Broder and purchase the negative to the film for no small amount of cash. They never agreed on a price, so instead of destroying the completed film, Broder released it and the two men never spoke again.
After they returned to nightclubs, Mitchell and Petrillo went back to the clubs but found themselves blackballed by Martin and Lewis; they were even blocked from an appearance on the Colgate Comedy Hour, which was hosted by Abbott and Costello. The team would break up briefly and then reteam until they decided to call it quits directly after Martin and Lewis did the same thing.
Petrillo would go on to become head of production for the Network Film Corporation owned by Dick Randall and made Shangri-La, as well as an unfinished superhero movie called Gas Is Best shot in Pittsburgh (!) as well as Keyholes Are for Peeping with Doris Wishman. In the 70s, Sammy also worked as a distributor for the Transcontinental Film Corporation, which allowed him to rekindle his friendship with Duke before settling down in Pittsburgh (!!) where he ran the comedy club The Nut House and also was a host that introduced nearly any adult star who came to the Steel City*.
Let's get back to Duke (and eventually this movie).
Going solo, Duke played spots like New York, Las Vegas, Seattle, Palm Springs, Chicago and Los Angeles before dubbing himself the King of Palm Springs and popularized Sunday brunch shows in which talent in town would nosh and sing a few tunes or have a conversation with the man himself. People like Liza Minnelli, David Janssen, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra Sr. And Jr., Lucille Ball, Red Skelton and many more.
Somewhere in here, Duke was also the singing voice of Fred Flintstone.
Before dying of lung cancer in 1981, Mitchell started making his own films. This one and Gone with the Pope are the only two that have survived, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone of Grindhouse Releasing, who found that second film as a work print in Mitchell's son's garage.
To the words of a Duke song, the movie begins with he and his partner Jolly (Vic Caesar) killing an entire office full of victims (check out the commitment from the guy who gets blasted and dies face first in a scuzzy urinal people!) before a Duke voiceover explains the way of the mob world. This movie is pretty much owned by his long rambling narratives which I think I may record on my phone and Kenny Powers-style listen to for power and inspiration before I have to interact with normal people.
Duke is Mimi Miceli, the son of a high-powered mafia don who has been exiled back to Sicily for his crimes in America and who is raising our hero's son while he lives his dreams in Hollywood, which mainly consist of killing people, hanging on porn shoots and crucifying pimps that get in his way. And oh yeah - getting to lie in bed next to Cara Peters, which is like the real American dream, as she's absolutely fabulous in this.
I loved every frame of this movie, filled with shocking violence and made by a man who had the utter balls to send out real wedding invitations for the scene in this movie, then sell the gifts that people brought to raise more money for the making of the rest of the picture.
The world should have more people like Duke Mitchell. And more films like Massacre Mafia Style.
While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic. I beyond love the fact that Duke somehow has a movie in the same category as Fulci. But hey - hooks through faces, dead dogs, multiple bullet wounds and even a slow mo Pickinpah ending aren't going to make this a G rated movie.
You can watch this on Tubi or buy it from Grindhouse Releasing.
*One last Jerry and Sammy story: On October 5, 1982, the Today Show was airing a series of Lewis' career highlights and the very first one wasn't Jerry. It was Petrillo. Jerry said, in his usual mock sincerity, "It was Sammy Petrillo, a kid that I found walked on 53rd Street here in New York, and I brought him out to Hollywood to work on a sketch with Dean and I, and then he worked with Eddie Cantor two weeks later." I bet he was fuming.
Grindhouse Godfather Exploit Film
pete1-214 July 2021
This film is funny. It starts out with 2 goons walking into an office building and wasting all the folks inside, guns blazing. Now in the real world once gun shots are heard everyone scrambles for cover and hides or tries desperately to get out of that building. But in this movie victims hear the gunfire and see bodies dropping like flies but they continue to casually stand around drinking cocktails or hanging out by the hallway water coolers, or going for a whiz at the urinals despite of all the carnage. Only when the bad guys are right in front of the victims do they get scared.... a hilarious goof. A laughable, low budget crime movie. An unintentional comedy.
Wow Wow Wow, I Cannot Believe What I Just Watched!
surgeonsgirl@hotmail.com5 July 2004
Oh my. It has been so many years since I saw that preview, but I never forgot it. Three minutes of non-stop violence, no dialog (not that it needs any), the infamous "urinal scene" and all accompanied by a VERY catchy little song about being in love?! Finally I get to see The Executioner, on a Danish-subtitled bootleg of all things (and FYI I guess certain bad words don't translate well into Danish; ha ha) and I'm just blown away. I won't write a "spoiler" of the plot as, to be honest, I don't completely understand it . Not that it matters, I was still very very entertained and find Duke Mitchell completely fascinating. He's gotta be THE sleaziest non-porno person I've EVER seen on screen and was apparently a lounge singer prior to making the film; he contributes some unbelievably schmaltzy tunes to the soundtrack too. Someone, PLEASE dig up the negative or a nice print and release a proper DVD of this classic film! And while you're at it maybe write a biography of Duke Mitchell too!
Misses the Target
timothygartin13 January 2020
I did not think this was a very good movie, even for an exploitation movie. It is supposed to be shocking and gory. It does not come off that way. It seems cheesy, poorly acted and unrealistic. I know Grindhouse needs to be over the top, but this is just ridiculous.
It isn't the worst exploitation movie, but it isn't very good either.
It isn't the worst exploitation movie, but it isn't very good either.
One of my personal Favoites!
NickNameNotAllowed-22 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
First off, this movie has the greatest opening ever! Its a classic B-movie and I can't believe it is so neglected by modern audiences.
Duke Mitchell's wrote, directed and starred in this mafia classic. Mitchell is mostly know for his pairing in comedy group where he was the Dean Martinish character. He appeared as this character in the horrible B-film Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. A must see for those who love films so bad, they're good.
But The Executioner (aka. Massacre Mafia Style) isn't a horrible film that is good. The movie itself is fun. And seems not to take itself too serious. The acting isn't good, but its enjoyable. The clichés are full blown. And ultimately, the story is a tragedy.
The son of a mafia boss (Who was exiled from America) returns to California, to reclaim his family's honor and position in America. he is ruthless and starts wars with reigning mafia, At first planning to gain control of the pimps and pushers. Later getting involved with the porno industry.
Spoiler: I enjoyed the motif of Italian tradition involving the breaking of bread with items in it. Its use at the end, hiding the gun that will kill our hero in the bread, was a great touch. Representing the tradition and tragedy within one family .
i can't wait to see Gone with the Pope. its trailer looks amazing.
Duke Mitchell's wrote, directed and starred in this mafia classic. Mitchell is mostly know for his pairing in comedy group where he was the Dean Martinish character. He appeared as this character in the horrible B-film Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. A must see for those who love films so bad, they're good.
But The Executioner (aka. Massacre Mafia Style) isn't a horrible film that is good. The movie itself is fun. And seems not to take itself too serious. The acting isn't good, but its enjoyable. The clichés are full blown. And ultimately, the story is a tragedy.
The son of a mafia boss (Who was exiled from America) returns to California, to reclaim his family's honor and position in America. he is ruthless and starts wars with reigning mafia, At first planning to gain control of the pimps and pushers. Later getting involved with the porno industry.
Spoiler: I enjoyed the motif of Italian tradition involving the breaking of bread with items in it. Its use at the end, hiding the gun that will kill our hero in the bread, was a great touch. Representing the tradition and tragedy within one family .
i can't wait to see Gone with the Pope. its trailer looks amazing.
Utter Trash, Good For Bad Movie Fans, Better When Riffed
verbusen25 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The film is amazingly bad. So bad that it is a good film to see in a riffed version which is how I watched it. It's on the Roku channel OSI74 (and online at Vimeo) under its alternative title "The Executioner" on the show "Sleazy Pictures After Dark" hosted by GWAR heavy metal rock band manager character Sleazy P Martini. If you have never watched his shows and like terribly made exploitation films you may like his channel. The only thing is these are riffed meaning Sleazy pops up in a picture in picture mode during the film and makes some lewd joke comments. So, for bad film purists who can stand watching these trash films by themselves that may be a distraction, for me it's the only thing that keeps me interested in watching. The film itself starts out entertaining enough with some stupid violence of our protagonist and his buddy blowing away an office building full of people. Along the way they blow away what seems to be dozens of others and then play back the office building massacre for good measure. There is a noticeable absence of any police so this is a very libertarian society where anything seems to go. With that in mind, if I lived in this alternate reality, I would be wearing an armored vest and carrying big heat which nobody is doing. The effects are terrible but the mindless violence and occasional boob shot will carry the film through and garner the high ratings it does for those looking for the worst in cinema. For me, I give it a 4 in its straight up form, it's really bad but I didn't find it that entertaining by itself, but I'll give it a 7 when riffed by Sleazy, he had some pretty funny joke comments during the "films" absurdity.
Massacre Mafia Style- Better than The Godfather -even today
gavcrimson14 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
A DVD release of this has been promised for a longtime, though old video releases can still be found (usually under the a.k.a. title The Executioner) for those who want to see what all the fuss is about. More than living up to both its name and reputation, Massacre Mafia Style opens with two tough guys played by Vic Caesar and the film's director Duke Mitchell electrocuting a wheelchair bound mob boss in a urinal. Just for the hell of it they also shoot everyone who happens to be in the same building at the time, and I do mean everyone, office workers, secretaries, even the cleaners, all of which is scored to a Dean Martin-like song about being in love.
It transpires that Mitchell's character, nicknamed 'Mimi', is the son of a mob boss who wants revenge on the American Mafia for exiling his old man 16 years earlier. Teaming up with buddy Vic to form "a small army of guts, balls and trust", in order to raise cash they kidnap a mobster and demand a ransom, sending his thumb through the post to show they mean business ("That's Chucky's thumb all right, I've seen it on him a million times"). The pair also make money by shooting porno films on a boat, a subplot that seems to be a sly reference to a certain Italian family's involvement in porno smash hit Deep Throat. To say that Vic n' Duke's exploits are action filled is putting it mildly, they go on to impale a gangster on a meat hook (which comes out of his eye!), crucify a black pimp on Easter Sunday, as well as numerous reprises of the 'Vic and Duke shoot everyone and their barber' opening. A particularly hilarious moment occurs when during a montage of people being gunned down we cut to someone minding their own business reading a newspaper (headline "13 LA Bookmakers and Procurers slain!") who is then also shot, presumably making it 14 LA Bookmakers and Procurers slain.
To give a bit of background on Director/Lead man Mitchell, he had began his career as a singer, Americanizing his real name Dominic Miceli to Duke Mitchell, then teamed up with comedian Sammy Petrillo to form an act that was errr not dissimilar to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis'. The duo were immortalized on screen in the career end Lugosi vehicle "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla", though by the time he made Massacre Mafia Style, Mitchell looked less like Dean Martin and instead bears a curious resemblance to the notorious Porn/Broadway actor Zebedy Colt. Mitchell wasn't a bad actor actually, and equally shifty and violent on screen one of the films main strengths is his no nonsense persona. At one point threatening to not only strangle one character's entire family but everyone in the phonebook with the same name. Suffice to say, after seeing the film, you probably wouldn't want to spill Duke Mitchell's drink.
Making up for its lack of professionalism (as well as a sneaky sense of family members/buddies being passed off as cast members), with admirable low budget energy. There are even moments that take Massacre Mafia Style from simply being a blood and guts B-Movie into something more personal. A far more complex character than the 'rise and fall' narrative suggests, Mitchell's Mimi ruthlessly murders his way to the top but seems haunted by disillusionment every step of the way. By the end the pride and respect for the old ways he was brought up to believe in have been eradicated by a sense that contemporary society is sufficiently depraved to render the Mafia antiquated. Especially powerful is Mimi's speech about his mother "What did we give her, We gave her violence. We gave her death. We gave her dishonor!" and the back story about his father's impoverished beginnings in America in which he even lends his own Miceli/Mitchell names to the character. A true labour of love, as they say. Mitchell also made a follow up called Gone with the Pope, which has never been released though a trailer for it has surfaced on the internet. Do try and watch it, given the premise (Duke kidnaps the Pope), a scene where Duke gets it on with massively obese woman, and THAT opening line of the trailer its looks as if may even outdo Massacre Mafia Style for outrageousness.
It transpires that Mitchell's character, nicknamed 'Mimi', is the son of a mob boss who wants revenge on the American Mafia for exiling his old man 16 years earlier. Teaming up with buddy Vic to form "a small army of guts, balls and trust", in order to raise cash they kidnap a mobster and demand a ransom, sending his thumb through the post to show they mean business ("That's Chucky's thumb all right, I've seen it on him a million times"). The pair also make money by shooting porno films on a boat, a subplot that seems to be a sly reference to a certain Italian family's involvement in porno smash hit Deep Throat. To say that Vic n' Duke's exploits are action filled is putting it mildly, they go on to impale a gangster on a meat hook (which comes out of his eye!), crucify a black pimp on Easter Sunday, as well as numerous reprises of the 'Vic and Duke shoot everyone and their barber' opening. A particularly hilarious moment occurs when during a montage of people being gunned down we cut to someone minding their own business reading a newspaper (headline "13 LA Bookmakers and Procurers slain!") who is then also shot, presumably making it 14 LA Bookmakers and Procurers slain.
To give a bit of background on Director/Lead man Mitchell, he had began his career as a singer, Americanizing his real name Dominic Miceli to Duke Mitchell, then teamed up with comedian Sammy Petrillo to form an act that was errr not dissimilar to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis'. The duo were immortalized on screen in the career end Lugosi vehicle "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla", though by the time he made Massacre Mafia Style, Mitchell looked less like Dean Martin and instead bears a curious resemblance to the notorious Porn/Broadway actor Zebedy Colt. Mitchell wasn't a bad actor actually, and equally shifty and violent on screen one of the films main strengths is his no nonsense persona. At one point threatening to not only strangle one character's entire family but everyone in the phonebook with the same name. Suffice to say, after seeing the film, you probably wouldn't want to spill Duke Mitchell's drink.
Making up for its lack of professionalism (as well as a sneaky sense of family members/buddies being passed off as cast members), with admirable low budget energy. There are even moments that take Massacre Mafia Style from simply being a blood and guts B-Movie into something more personal. A far more complex character than the 'rise and fall' narrative suggests, Mitchell's Mimi ruthlessly murders his way to the top but seems haunted by disillusionment every step of the way. By the end the pride and respect for the old ways he was brought up to believe in have been eradicated by a sense that contemporary society is sufficiently depraved to render the Mafia antiquated. Especially powerful is Mimi's speech about his mother "What did we give her, We gave her violence. We gave her death. We gave her dishonor!" and the back story about his father's impoverished beginnings in America in which he even lends his own Miceli/Mitchell names to the character. A true labour of love, as they say. Mitchell also made a follow up called Gone with the Pope, which has never been released though a trailer for it has surfaced on the internet. Do try and watch it, given the premise (Duke kidnaps the Pope), a scene where Duke gets it on with massively obese woman, and THAT opening line of the trailer its looks as if may even outdo Massacre Mafia Style for outrageousness.
Narcissistic, sentimentalized, racist GARBAGE
Gangsteroctopus21 March 2008
If any movie ever made Italians look bad, this is it.
Duke Mitchell - what an A--HOLE. Duke Mitchell, I s--t on your grave. Seeing as practically every person gunned down in this film by the cowardly Mimi is either black or of some other racial or ethnic minority, it's hard not to become convinced that the guy ultimately owes his allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan or skinheads. Awww, but he doesn't shoot the little black kid in the elevator in the opening sequence, so that means he can't be all bad, right? WRONG. Typical softheaded sentimental tripe.
While I do understand why some people might be struck by and even, to a certain extent, admire the film's audacious, totally un-PC verve (it's certainly unashamed of its own hatefulness and sense of self-involvement), this doesn't change the fact that the main character, Mimi (and, by extension, Duke Mitchell), is thoroughly loathsome human being who earns not one iota of empathy or interest, especially given that Duke Mitchell is such a COMPLETE BORE as a performer. But what do you expect from a guy whose main claim to fame (apart from this dog t--d of a movie) was being a second rate Dean Martin imitator?
Duke Mitchell - what an A--HOLE. Duke Mitchell, I s--t on your grave. Seeing as practically every person gunned down in this film by the cowardly Mimi is either black or of some other racial or ethnic minority, it's hard not to become convinced that the guy ultimately owes his allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan or skinheads. Awww, but he doesn't shoot the little black kid in the elevator in the opening sequence, so that means he can't be all bad, right? WRONG. Typical softheaded sentimental tripe.
While I do understand why some people might be struck by and even, to a certain extent, admire the film's audacious, totally un-PC verve (it's certainly unashamed of its own hatefulness and sense of self-involvement), this doesn't change the fact that the main character, Mimi (and, by extension, Duke Mitchell), is thoroughly loathsome human being who earns not one iota of empathy or interest, especially given that Duke Mitchell is such a COMPLETE BORE as a performer. But what do you expect from a guy whose main claim to fame (apart from this dog t--d of a movie) was being a second rate Dean Martin imitator?
The only that looked real was the nude scenes and even those scenes could be fake
jordondave-2808523 April 2023
(1978) Duke Mitchell's Massacre Mafia Style/ Like Father, Like Son
DUBBED
CRIME DRAMA
Low budget film produced, directed, and starred Duke Mitchell which at the opening, showcases 2 cronies going on a killing spree on a high rise building using only small hand gun revolvers. It's like no one in the other rooms can't even hear the shooting. After this fake-looking massacre was done, we're then placed back in time introducing us to one of the two characters that was doing all that shooting. His name is Mimi played by Duke Mitchell who was intending to settle some scores after his mafia don dad was deported back to Italy. And upon flying to Los Angeles, he searches for his old friend again named Jolly(Vic Ceasers), who works at a bar, and the first thing they do is kidnap one of the head mob named Chucky Tripoli(Lou Zito) so that both of them can extort some money. The next thing you know, it's one fake looking massacre after the next with no mentioning of any cops or other mob-ish cronies arming themselves with any guns either. It's so dumb and looks so fake that it almost appears that those revolvers were probably the only two guns used throughout the entire movie- it's that low budget. The only thing that looked remotely real are probably the female nude scenes which they can also be implants I was looking at.
Low budget film produced, directed, and starred Duke Mitchell which at the opening, showcases 2 cronies going on a killing spree on a high rise building using only small hand gun revolvers. It's like no one in the other rooms can't even hear the shooting. After this fake-looking massacre was done, we're then placed back in time introducing us to one of the two characters that was doing all that shooting. His name is Mimi played by Duke Mitchell who was intending to settle some scores after his mafia don dad was deported back to Italy. And upon flying to Los Angeles, he searches for his old friend again named Jolly(Vic Ceasers), who works at a bar, and the first thing they do is kidnap one of the head mob named Chucky Tripoli(Lou Zito) so that both of them can extort some money. The next thing you know, it's one fake looking massacre after the next with no mentioning of any cops or other mob-ish cronies arming themselves with any guns either. It's so dumb and looks so fake that it almost appears that those revolvers were probably the only two guns used throughout the entire movie- it's that low budget. The only thing that looked remotely real are probably the female nude scenes which they can also be implants I was looking at.
Two tough mafia executioners!
HumanoidOfFlesh14 August 2009
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.
More cojones than The Godfather.
Thom-P20 April 2002
Duke Mitchell's THE EXECUTIONER looks like it was shot for fifty bucks over a long weekend. That said, it is still one of the very best American gangster films ever made. Alternately mean-spirited, tragic, poetic and downright hilarious, it pushes the envelope beyond the bounds of acceptability and offers no apologies. This is about as raw and honest as it gets, folks. An absolute must-see.
Required viewing for lovers of truly bad movies
nirvana1874 March 2002
Duke Mitchell. Genius? Possibly. Great Actor? No. B-Movie God? Absolutely. This movie has it all. Urinals, desk lamps, crucifixion, pimps, and massive killing sprees. The opening scene pulls you in and makes you want to vomit. Throughout the film are choice lines of dialogue like, "Anyone can carry this piece. It takes a man to use it," "Hey Mimi. long time no see," "Cut another slice," and "Makin' these jive-ass superhuman movies, super human this, super human that" voiced by people who are clearly not actors. Maybe robots, but not actors. The score is composed by the Duke himself, who also directed, produced, and starred in this masterpiece. In conclusion, this is the best movie anyone will ever see in his or her life and it is a pity that the only way to get it is in bootleg form. Hopefully, someone will release it on DVD so I can watch Duke Mitchell and his buddy Vic Caesar in all their glory.
You Certainly Won't Forget This One
Michael_Elliott23 December 2013
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.
** (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 Executioner=Amazing Film
Misfit74 March 2002
The Executioner is quite possibly the greatest film to be put out in the last 100 years. In my opinion, it should be mandatory viewing for every person in the world. This movie tour-de-force was directed, produced, and starring Duke Mitchell. It's a pity that their are no more geniuses in Hollywood with minds like Duke's.
American exploitation masterpiece of the seventies
matt-20117 March 1999
"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.
Just like Godfather minus the cast, writing, acting, cinematography, or plot.
mreliminator617 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
In essence way WAY better than The Godfather.With such priceless one liners as "If I could get him on my side, we would be a small army of guts, balls, and trust", what more do you really need to know? It took me a long time to track this film down, but boy oh boy was the end result worth it. This film is so bananas I really don't know where to begin. Its chock full of low rent mafia types with pointy collared shirts and polyester slacks, no nonsense tough guys who aren't afraid to use a gun, and so much wooden acting you might have a hard time keeping a straight face the first time through. The all around best part about this cinematic journey would have to be the fact that you can second guess every even in the movie right before it happens. Enjoy!
Astounding
Woodyanders5 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Duke Mitchell's uniquely crazed virtual one man cinematic show celebrates Italian life, culture, honor, and tradition pertaining to that legendary organized crime institution the Mafia with a joyously crude micro-budget vigor and vulgarity that's truly something to behold. Sure, this tale of ruthless mobster Mimi Miceli's rise to power through the most brutish means possible might be incredibly inept, but star/writer/director/producer Mitchell tackles the whole thing with a genuine heartfelt sincerity that's perversely admirable in its sheer giddy audacity. Moreover, the unapologetically upfront elements of virulent racism and misogyny give this movie's depiction of the inner workings of the Mafia a certain coarse authenticity more sanitized mainstream takes on the same subject tend to lack.
Mitchell truly puts his proverbial all into the juicy lead role of a dangerous loose cannon and delivers several priceless philosophical monologues with lip-smacking gusto (the one about the Italian woman in particular is a real doozy!). The excessive bloody violence comes through with the gory goods: An opening office building massacre sequence set to an infectiously jaunty Italian tune, a vicious pimp named Super Spook (!) gets crucified on Easter Sunday, and a guy winds up being impaled through the eye on a meat hook. Vic Caesar contributes an engaging performance as Miceli's loyal partner Jolly Rizzo, Lorenzo Dodo shines as the wise Don Mimi, buxom brunette 1960's pin-up model Cara Peters burns up the screen as scrumptious moll Liz, Fred Otash cuts a fearsome figure as the savage Bones, and George "Buck" Flower pours on the smarm as oily worm Vince Baccari. Essential viewing for hardcore aficionados of 70's grindhouse schlock.
Mitchell truly puts his proverbial all into the juicy lead role of a dangerous loose cannon and delivers several priceless philosophical monologues with lip-smacking gusto (the one about the Italian woman in particular is a real doozy!). The excessive bloody violence comes through with the gory goods: An opening office building massacre sequence set to an infectiously jaunty Italian tune, a vicious pimp named Super Spook (!) gets crucified on Easter Sunday, and a guy winds up being impaled through the eye on a meat hook. Vic Caesar contributes an engaging performance as Miceli's loyal partner Jolly Rizzo, Lorenzo Dodo shines as the wise Don Mimi, buxom brunette 1960's pin-up model Cara Peters burns up the screen as scrumptious moll Liz, Fred Otash cuts a fearsome figure as the savage Bones, and George "Buck" Flower pours on the smarm as oily worm Vince Baccari. Essential viewing for hardcore aficionados of 70's grindhouse schlock.
You can actually hear Don Corleone roll over in his grave!
PIST-OFF23 July 1999
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!
Grisly gangster gang-banger 'The Executioner' hits you like a double-barrelled shotgun blast to the head!
Weirdling_Wolf7 February 2021
In the funky anals of far-out filmdom very few Grindhouse features are able to arouse the kind of unruly clamour among celluloid cultists like Duke Mitchell's terminally deranged 'The Executioner', witnessing the exhilarating explosion of uncompromisingly violent, unexpurgated bullet-shredding carnage during the credits doing little to prepare the agape, blood-spattered viewer for the ceaselessly gratuitous salvo of malevolent, mob-handed mega-deaths to follow!
Leaving behind a suspiciously Californian-looking Sicily, Mimi Miceli Jr. the bellicose, pistol-happy son of 'Capo dei tutti' Don Mimi (Lorenzo Dodo) aims to build a criminal empire in L.A to rival that of New York and when he hooks up with epically-named childhood compadre 'Jolly Rizzo' (Vic Caesar) they join their not inconsiderable forces and bloodily hatch an altogether nefarious plan to destabilize local mobster's Chucky Tripoli's (Lou Zito) 'legitimate' business and via brute force rather than guile in order to re-establish their own far from 'legitimate' retrograde mafia in the city of angels, and the diabolical, death-dealing duo of Mimi & Rizzo very soon confront a worthy adversary in 'Super Spook' (Jimmy Williams), a towering pimp who refuses to acquiesce to their rather inflexible demands, and the tumultuous bloodshed subsequently unleashed as their monstrous lust for power inevitably places them dead bang in the retaliatory crossfire of a singularly sanguineous showdown that raises ''Massacre Mafia Style' vertiginously aloft upon the corpse-strewn celluloid pantheon of all-time hardcore B-Movie bad assery!
At any given moment during the hysterical swathe of hypertrophic gun violence it frequently felt as though one were witnessing an especially gruesome missive from some benign grindhouse god, ''Massacre Mafia Style' is far more than just a trashy gangster flick, it is a mayhemic mantra to outrageous Mafioso-style murder madness and lurid visionary Duke Mitchell's cinematic legacy is assured by having unleashed one of the more sensationally seismic 70s grindhouse extravaganzas ever conceived for serially sin-seeking, sewer-dwelling cinephiles. Ending on a somewhat metaphysical note, after recently experiencing the aforementioned film I was left with the profoundly unsettling sensation that the indomitable vanguard spirit of Duke Mitchell had been reincarnated in the eerily sound-alike figure of fellow thespian Mickey Rourke!
Hey!! And if you are not 'in' with The Executioner you are in the way!...As Tonight we eat, tomorrow we shoot!' This Duke cat sure 'aint kiddin', folks!
Hey!! And if you are not 'in' with The Executioner you are in the way!...As Tonight we eat, tomorrow we shoot!' This Duke cat sure 'aint kiddin', folks!
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