Mystery Science Theater 3000: MITCHELL
June 27, 2016 11:56 PM - Season 5, Episode 12 - Subscribe

"Brute Force With a Badge" "Joe Don Baker IS 'MITCHELL'!" Our lead is not so much an anti-hero as an un-hero. Police Detective (really?) Mitchell has little social skill, no friends besides his beer, and a disdain for the rules some would call incompetence. But sometimes, a man like Mitchell is just the cop we need to drunkenly stumble through the case. One of the funniest episodes of the show. Our hero is hilariously inept, but ends up being heroic mostly because, the movie seems to suggest, he's too stupid to be corrupt. Joel and the bots are at the top of their game here. This is show creator Joel Hodgson's final episode as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. YouTube, with annotations (1h32m). Premiered October 23, 1993.

Episode 512 MITCHELL
Satellite News - MST3K Wikia - Mighty Jack's MST3K Review - War of the Colossal Fan Guide - Annotated MST3K (text)

Movie
Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt - Wikipedia - Rotten Tomatoes (31% Fresh)
IMDB (1975, 2.4 stars)
"A sleazy, incompetent detective tries to simultaneously take down heroin dealers and a socialite who murdered a burglar."
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Written by Ian Kennedy Martin. Starring Joe Don Baker IS Mitchell, also with Martin Balsam, John Saxon, Linda Evans and Merlin Olsen.
posted by JHarris (23 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Even his name says, "Is that a beer?"
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:16 AM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


JOE DON BAKER IS MITTENS!
posted by wittgenstein at 9:11 AM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


JOE DON BAKER IS MARTHA MITCHELL
posted by SansPoint at 10:11 AM on June 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


My, my, my, my... apartment
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 12:39 PM on June 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'm just about to go to the MST3K Reunion show! (It's always a good idea to arrive early to a Rifftrax kind of thing, they tend to have preroll stuff going.)
posted by JHarris at 3:59 PM on June 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Contains my favorite subtle bad joke when Merlin Olsen is knocked overboard.

"So long, chum!"
posted by stevis23 at 4:29 AM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


JHarris, my friend and I were at the reunion show last night in Rockville, MD. This was my first one; I had no idea how packed the theater would be. My neck is still stiff this morning because we were in the front row on the far right, in the only two adjacent empty seats available.

Anyway, amazing. 10/10 would do again.
posted by duffell at 6:42 AM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


duffell, I thought it was a particularly good one, although I also love shorts so that helped. Husband and I were Frankenstein-ing each other's hair all morning.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:48 AM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


The angry-grandpa jalopy in the first short will give me nightmares.

Also, duh-dunnah-DOW-na-nuh-nowwww...
posted by duffell at 6:59 AM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


BTW, for those of you who were at the show last night, http://cornisgrass.com is real.
posted by hobgadling at 7:35 AM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


You guys watch Joe Don Baker movies?
posted by valkane at 10:17 AM on June 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


Re the reunion, 1) did anyone else think Joel seemed incredibly emotional once he got out on stage and 2) joel and jonah killed it on the Barber short- it gives me some real excitement about the new MST3K.

I love how anytime Mike and Bridget are on stage together they mention the marriage in a funny way-" before the show you were telling me that we are actually married?"
posted by wittgenstein at 11:01 AM on June 29, 2016


I wish I had the positive experiences you guys had, but the theater I was seeing it in experienced heavy rain that blocked the satellite signal for three lengthy periods, the last one going through to the end of the show, so I missed large portions. (The management of the theater offered free admission to the encore show in two weeks, but considering I drove over an hour to get to the place and will have to do so again for the encore, I am kind of annoyed with the whole matter.)
posted by JHarris at 11:26 AM on June 29, 2016


John - I would vote for doing the drive. They riff At Your Fingertips:Grasses with everyone taking part, and it's quite good.
posted by wittgenstein at 12:26 PM on June 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


The evening was pretty good, though I could have done without the transphobic jokes and the one about Koreans and dogs. Everything else was pretty good, so those just stuck out like a sore thumb.

The secret to a better kitchen is to buy a whole new house! Automatic ice circles for everybody!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:48 PM on June 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


Sigh, my wife and I bonded over an old chs copy of that film, fiber during Turkey Day. We still quote it.

"Big buttery moon, sidewalk kinda looks like ice cream..."

"Word on the street is, you're a jerk."

"My my my MY GOD!"

I don't like you Mitchell, you wanna know why?"
"Our brief but bitter affair?"

So very bad, so very quotable.
posted by happyroach at 6:57 PM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Every week, some of us in MST3K Club get together and watch that week's episode online in a chat room together! You should come with!

This week the viewing is in the usual place, the MeFi MST3K room at cytu.be, and at the usual time, which is 9 PM US Eastern/6 PM US Pacific time on Thursday. More information can be found in the updated Club FAQ.

For the preroll this week, I aim to complete some unfinished business. The one cable MST episode we've had to skip to date....
posted by JHarris at 12:15 AM on June 30, 2016


So sorry I missed it! I got hired on as Dockmaster of Fairport, NY, and was celebrating with the pirate crew of the Colonial Belle (My mom says I can't play with those kids anymore). Hope you guys had fun!!!
posted by valkane at 5:52 AM on July 1, 2016


So can I buy a download of the reunion show stream?
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:19 AM on July 1, 2016


PG: You can pre-order it
posted by hobgadling at 9:30 AM on July 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


FGHJGKFL

I should have gotten a refund on the show, then used that money to buy the downloadable it's the same price!
posted by JHarris at 1:12 PM on July 1, 2016


Wasn't John Saxon in this movie at one point?
posted by Chrysostom at 7:40 PM on July 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


And the oh-so-memorable slow-speed car chase, which inspired the line "This makes Driving Miss Daisy look like Bullitt!"
posted by HillbillyInBC at 12:19 PM on July 8, 2016


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