Gone with the Pope: The Players

Gone with the Pope: The Players (2015)

**** (out of 4)

Wonderful 67-minute documentary covers not only the making of GONE WITH THE POPE but it also shines the spotlight on its writer-director-actor Duke Mitchell. We get interviews with several people who worked on the film as well as friends of Mitchell who talk about how this film got made, how it was shot and why it was eventually never finished. The documentary does a fantastic job at really giving you everything you'd want to know about the movie as well as its production. We learn that Mitchell wasn't overly impressed with THE GODFATHER so he made MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE and we learn about this movie as well. We learn about how he got it into theaters and also the fact that friend Frank Sinatra wasn't too happy with it.

From here we learn about GONE WITH THE POPE and the type of filmmaker Mitchell was. It's clear he was just hiring his friends to have some fun and people debate on whether or not there was even a script or if Mitchell was just making everything up as they went along. There's also some talk about a few controversial moments in the film including a scene involving a black woman. There's no doubt that this documentary gives you all you'll want to know but I'm glad it went a step further and talked about what Mitchell was like outside the movies. It's clear that he was a one-of-a-kind character and we're told some great stories about him. We also hear why some think the movie was never completed and then of course Mitchell got very ill due to cancer.

Fans of GONE WITH THE POPE are certainly going to love this documentary but it's clear over the past few years that Mitchell has become a cult figure thanks to his two movies as director. This documentary talks about that but also tells you the type of person Mitchell was.