How Would You Rate This MST?: MITCHELL!!!

[Jack Burton]

10+. My 4th favorite ep. behind only brain that wouldnt die, the movie(Which i consider an episode) and manos. I remember getting misty eyed when joel left. i remember not wanting another guy on the show. i remember "Heart Pounding" MITCHELL "Vein Clogging" MITCHELL. i remember "Sidewalk kinda looks like ice cream if you squint hard." I remember JDB. "MITCHELL", and since it' my Christian name, I have to love the fact that Joels last movie was named after me.....

[Detective Mitchell]

MITCHELL

The Evidence: A great episode, a nice way to send off Joel. Almost all of you know the plot, but for newbies, I'll reiterate it: Joe Don "Buford Pusser" Baker plays Mitchell, a hard drinking, hard livin', hard workin', hard breathin' detective. After an investigation into the shooting of a burglar (Johnny Mathis? "It's not for me to sayyyyy....") by millionaire/drug dealer Walter Deaney (John Saxon), Mitchell is sent to stake out the home of millionair/drug dealer James Arthur Cummings (Martin Balsam) and his lousy butler Benton (Merlin Olsen). He discovers the connection between Deaney and Cummings (a deal of heroin) and decides to put an end to their drug deal once and for all. Meanwhile he (horrifyingly) boinks Linda Evans, particpates in some of the slowest car chases ever filmed (Crow says he's seen faster funeral processions), guns down Cummings, sends Benton overboard, and participates in a dune buggy chase (only in the unMSTied version) with Deaney.

Yes, I own both versions of MITCHELL, and I must say the print BBI got was really butchered, as the unMSTIed version makes a hell of a lot more sense. You see what happens to Deaney, plot points are made clearer, and more violence is used.

Now, onto the episode itself: the riffing is top notch. As said in the ACEG, no fat joke, nor drunk joke, or staggering idiot of a backwards ass redneck joke was spared, plus you get digs at Johnny Mathis, Fame, Jaws, 3M commercials, Star Trek, EISCHIED, and pretty much everything else in between. The host segments are great, such with Gypy's attempts to get Joel off the ship and the introduction of Mike to the SOL. The perfect MST3K to get people hooked.

The Verdict: A+

[Bart Fargo]

Actually, like Robot Holocaust, Mitchell was edited for television, from what I've heard.

As for the episode itself, I think Linda Evans really earned her hazard pay when she had to make out with the bloated Joe Don Baker. This was kind of a low spot in Joe Don's career, as he had done Walking Tall (which is being remade starring the Rock) and went on to Eischied later on. He's the pride of Grosebeck, Texas, being really the only thing ever to come out of that city. Even today, Grosebeck is just a spot in the road town. Well, as for the movie, it was kinda predictable and a bit sloppy. The MiSTing itself was pretty good, and Joel really put it out in his swan song. I do have to agree with them on one thing, however; nobody in their right mind would touch a hamdinger!
Overall: 9.23 of 10

[hypochrismutreefuzz]

Lets see ... I think I'll break down the score thus:
5 pts for the movie/riffing in the theatre
4 pts for host segments, skits, songs, inventions, gadding about, etc
1 gratuitous pt for whenever I fell like it.

Thus for MITCHELL:
5 out of 5 pts for the in theatre riffing. Watching the unabashed glee as the bots and Joel rip into the pasty white underbelly of this movie is a joy. Not until Zap Rasstower would anther film's star so richly deserve the full Mark Twain's hatchet job on Fennemore Cooper routine.

3 out of 4 for the host segments. Daktari stool? Um ...

1 gratuitous pt for it being Joels farewell episode for a grand total of

9 out of 10.

[lisalovelace]

oh how many times I wished I were Linda Evans in the love scene. hookers get all the best guys. 10 out of 10. One of my favorites.

[impr3ssion]

ewwwwww to the above post.

10. I've found this episode to be a good episode to show non-Misties, too. I'm truly looking forward to downloading Final Justice from the DAP-DVD so I can have myself a double feature.

[Cerrita]

torgo said:

What makes this movie bad?: Quick off the top of your head name three good Joe Don Baker movies.

Three? Don't you think you're being a bit gracious? Actually, I did see a movie a while back that was pretty decent, and Joe Don was in it! It was called Felony, and I kinda-sorta cheered when the drug lord blows him away in the parking garage. (too bad he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Mitchell would never have thought of that!)

Anyway, this is one of my favorite episodes. One of the few I can easily sit and watch all the way through. I love Gypsy, so the host segments were golden for me. The actually movie was worthless, but all of the riffing was a laugh riot from start to finish. A solid 10, just like Overdrawn, Space Mutiny, Manos, and Time Chasers. ;D

[Mitchell]

It's an absolute 10. I find myself integrating quotes from it in my everyday speech, and I CANNOT see a piece of lattice without saying CEDAR LATTICE: WORKS EVERY TIME. It's been 10 years since I first saw it and I still laugh at it.

The most telling reason why this is one of my highest-rated episodes, though, is that I have converted more people (including my 60-year old father and my wife) to watching MST3K by introducing them to Mitchell than any other episode. Yes, the host segments were not great, but the riffing was absolutely top-notch.

For bonus points (and I know I've mentioned this before) when my wife and I went to see GoldenEye in the theatre back in '95, she blurted out 'MITCHELL!' when Joe Don first appeared on screen and a full third of the theatre laughed.

One of the top five episodes as far as I am concerned. Hence my namesake

TAXI!! TOUCHDOWN!!!