Why Did I Watch This? BUMM Part One
Episode 12
BUMM Part One
Mitchell
The real challenge of watching Mitchell is not the movie itself, but thinking about what to say about the movie. First off, I know that anyone reading this who has any kind of interest in bad movies has a certain acquaintence with the movie. It is, afterall, probably one of the top five classic episodes of Mystery Science Theater. And rightfully so. The episode is a great combination of semi-historic (being Joel's last), a great movie for riffing on, and a great job of riffing.
However, this is not about MST3K, this is about my own experiences with these movies.
Mitchell actually provides a great opportunity to explain just how bad some of these movies are. Mitchell is perhaps one of the better movies that I've included as part of my WDIWT series of posts.
That doesn't make it a good movies. I'd like to point out that my tastes in movies hasn't been that atrophied by my current quest to watch some of the worst movies that have been put to film.
So, I'm going to look at a few of the obvious questions that any rational person would have while watching this movie. Or, at least, questions that I had. My rationality obviously can't be taken as a given, since I am the one who voluntarily just watch Mitchell.
Why God why? Okay, that's not really a good question to start with, since it really emcompasses several aspects at once. So to continue...
Why Joe Don Baker? Baker is just one of those actors who is just always kind of there. He's perfectly servicable for certain kinds of roles. He's turned a pair of performances as Bond's CIA connection Jack Wade, and has even gotten a quartet of acting nominations for various award shows (though not, it should be pointed out, Oscars). Mostly, though, for supporting acting. And therein lies the rub. He's perfectly well suited for certain roles, but those roles are supporting roles. He's Jack Wade. He's never supposed to be James Bond. As the lead detective in a movie, there's just entirely too much Joe Don Baker, especially when he's rolling around between the sheets.
What was this movie meant to be? Perhaps I just don't understand enough about 70s movie making culture. Was this the kind of thing that people went to the theaters expecting? The problem is that none of the chase scenes really seem to go anywhere, the investigative plotline never quite makes sense, and the "romantic" subplot really just makes me feel kind of grimey and dirty. BABY OIL?? NOOOO!!
What's with the music? Come on. You've seen it. The music just does not fit. Oh, the dramatic score is alright, except that it keeps trying to sample the unnecessarily bad Love Theme From Mitchell (My My My My Mitchell). But the movie also hired singer Hoyt Axton to perform a pair of just oddly out of place semi-folk songs, one of which just fails for being entirely too self aware and meta. Hoyt Axton, if you're curious, is more famous for writing the song "Joy To The World" for Three Dog Night.
Here's the thing. First, this has been entirely too serious of a review for a movie that perhaps doesn't deserve it, which is also hurting WDIWT's street cred as a comedy series. Second, though, this movie just had a few major flaws, but could have actually been something interesting. Giving it to an actor who has the chops to be a heroic lead. Giving the movie to one more writer to clean up. Perhaps getting someone who could have directed action scenes a little better. I think it just comes down to if everything had been done differently, it might have been a decent movie.
That's not asking too much. Is it?
Coming later tonight: Eegah. Right now, I'm clensing my pallate by watching the Transformers movie.
BUMM Part One
Mitchell
The real challenge of watching Mitchell is not the movie itself, but thinking about what to say about the movie. First off, I know that anyone reading this who has any kind of interest in bad movies has a certain acquaintence with the movie. It is, afterall, probably one of the top five classic episodes of Mystery Science Theater. And rightfully so. The episode is a great combination of semi-historic (being Joel's last), a great movie for riffing on, and a great job of riffing.
However, this is not about MST3K, this is about my own experiences with these movies.
Mitchell actually provides a great opportunity to explain just how bad some of these movies are. Mitchell is perhaps one of the better movies that I've included as part of my WDIWT series of posts.
That doesn't make it a good movies. I'd like to point out that my tastes in movies hasn't been that atrophied by my current quest to watch some of the worst movies that have been put to film.
So, I'm going to look at a few of the obvious questions that any rational person would have while watching this movie. Or, at least, questions that I had. My rationality obviously can't be taken as a given, since I am the one who voluntarily just watch Mitchell.
Why God why? Okay, that's not really a good question to start with, since it really emcompasses several aspects at once. So to continue...
Why Joe Don Baker? Baker is just one of those actors who is just always kind of there. He's perfectly servicable for certain kinds of roles. He's turned a pair of performances as Bond's CIA connection Jack Wade, and has even gotten a quartet of acting nominations for various award shows (though not, it should be pointed out, Oscars). Mostly, though, for supporting acting. And therein lies the rub. He's perfectly well suited for certain roles, but those roles are supporting roles. He's Jack Wade. He's never supposed to be James Bond. As the lead detective in a movie, there's just entirely too much Joe Don Baker, especially when he's rolling around between the sheets.
What was this movie meant to be? Perhaps I just don't understand enough about 70s movie making culture. Was this the kind of thing that people went to the theaters expecting? The problem is that none of the chase scenes really seem to go anywhere, the investigative plotline never quite makes sense, and the "romantic" subplot really just makes me feel kind of grimey and dirty. BABY OIL?? NOOOO!!
What's with the music? Come on. You've seen it. The music just does not fit. Oh, the dramatic score is alright, except that it keeps trying to sample the unnecessarily bad Love Theme From Mitchell (My My My My Mitchell). But the movie also hired singer Hoyt Axton to perform a pair of just oddly out of place semi-folk songs, one of which just fails for being entirely too self aware and meta. Hoyt Axton, if you're curious, is more famous for writing the song "Joy To The World" for Three Dog Night.
Here's the thing. First, this has been entirely too serious of a review for a movie that perhaps doesn't deserve it, which is also hurting WDIWT's street cred as a comedy series. Second, though, this movie just had a few major flaws, but could have actually been something interesting. Giving it to an actor who has the chops to be a heroic lead. Giving the movie to one more writer to clean up. Perhaps getting someone who could have directed action scenes a little better. I think it just comes down to if everything had been done differently, it might have been a decent movie.
That's not asking too much. Is it?
Coming later tonight: Eegah. Right now, I'm clensing my pallate by watching the Transformers movie.
