Review of Mitchell (1975) by Will L — 16 Nov 2013

Mitchell is one of those movies where you sit back and say to yourself afterwards "why in the heck did they make this movie?" You may even ask yourself that a few times while you watch it. Joe Don Baker is no hero, nor is he relatable in any way.

He's a slob, he's not a very good cop, he treats people like crap and he sleeps with prostitutes and immediately arrests them afterwards. I can't say I find much appealing about that. He's also a bit of an idiot man-child to boot, going so far as getting into an argument with a little kid as if they were both children.

As far as the movie itself goes, it's not really that interesting. It tries to be sort of post-Dirty Harry like in a way, but it just fails on every level. The only other notable cast inclusions are Martin Balsam, Linda Evans and John Saxon, the latter of whom is barely in the movie.

Thankfully, the crew at Mystery Science Theater 3000 did a great job at making this funny, because otherwise, it's just an exercise in head-scratching cinema or just an excuse to be bored.