Earlier today we received a press release from Grindhouse Releasing, always a good thing, right? When has GR ever released a bit of news that wasn’t all kinds of cool. The good news was that we are finally going to get CORRUPTION and AN AMERICAN HIPPIE IN ISRAEL on Blu-ray/DVD in addition to some kind of theatrical run. However, buried in that release announcement was this:

“Four additional titles will follow in late 2013 and late 2014: Sergio Sollima’s THE BIG GUNDOWN, THE SWIMMER, starring Burt Lancaster, Duke Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE POPE and S.F. Brownrigg’s SCUM OF THE EARTH (a.k.a. POOR WHITE TRASH PART 2). According to Murawski, the company’s entire back catalog will also appear in new Blu-ray editions soon thereafter.”

Which lead us to do this:

And once read again made us say this:

GONE WITH THE POPE stars Duke Mitchel who was a comedian, crooner (he provided the singing voice for Fred Flinstone), and would eventually become a film director. Mitchel started shooting GONE WITH THE POPE (GWTP) in 1976 but went down for the dirt nap before it was completed (though he did complete his second film THE EXECUTIONER in 1978). Grindhouse Releasing’s Sage Stallone and his partner, film editor Bob Murawski (THE HURT LOCKER), discovered the negatives of GWTP on a tip from Mitchel’s son in 1995. Murawski then spent the next 15 years completing the film and prepping it for it’s long overdue release. I will never think of a brillo pad the same way.

This is monsterous and amazing news for fans of cult cinema. Not sure why this was buried in the announcement but it’s hands down the kind of news that makes me want to bump Murawski a solid. There’s a handful of other films mentioned in that same paragraph and each one the those titles are nice to haves (special mention for THE SWIMMER) but GONE WITH THE POPE is the Kool and the Fucking Gang of cool, Bastards!

LOCKED AND LOADED,
MR. SIX

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Jon Abrams

Editor-In-Chief at Daily Grindhouse

Jon Abrams is a New York-based writer, cartoonist, and committed cinemaniac whose complete work and credits can be found at his site, Demon’s Resume. You can contact him on Twitter as @JonZilla___.

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Tags: Bob Murawski, duke mitchell, gone with the pope, grindhouse releasing, sage stallone