Massacre: Mafia Style, aka The Executioner is a 1974 movie written and directed by Duke Mitchell.
Massacre: Mafia Style tells the story of Mimi Miceli, Jr., the son of an exiled Mafia Don. Mimi leaves Sicily and heads to Hollywood, where he attempts to take over the city’s organized crime activity. With the help of his partner, Jolly, Mimi succeeds in decimating both high ranking Mafia members and a successful street pimp. Mimi later returns home to Sicily where he faces the reckoning of his actions.
For those of you who like to get to the point, here’s a quick review: Duke Mitchell tries to make his version of The Godfather.
Or at least he wanted to make a grittier, more authentic version of The Godfather. Growing up around the Mafia and hearing their tales as a lounge singer, Mitchell decided Coppola’s epic was closer to Hollywood than the streets he knew. Rejecting the movie’s themes of honor and family, Mitchell produces a truly unique, if not conflicted vision.
Massacre: Mafia Style is perhaps best known for its opening scene, where Mimi and his longtime friend Jolly (Vic Caesar) shoot up an office. The production is sparse and the overacting abundant but you can immediately sense Mitchell’s DIY ethos – he’s the writer, director, lead actor and his way too catchy Italian wedding crooning serenades this cinematic bloodbath.
Legend is Mitchell culled a lifetime of stories told to him by Mafia types to create his work. At times, Massacre: Mafia Style feels like a collection of these greatest hits – literally. We see toilet electrocutions, hangings, a meat hook through an eye, a funeral bomb and an elaborate crucifixion. The effects of these techniques – the staging of blood and makeup – on Mimi’s various victims is highly stylized and visually impressive.
However, the action of the murder scenes is a different story.
Mitchell and Caesar are essentially two lounge singers trying to make a movie – and it shows. Each are charismatic but their acting contributions consist of walking, shooting and delivering long-winded monologues. The shooting scenes are clumsy and strangely edited and Mitchell’s pivotal fight scene is embarrassing. Throughout the movie, victims are either comatose in their responses or wildly overreaching.
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