Gone with the Pope

Duke Mitchell was an Italian Rudy Ray Moore, a popular nightclub performer, singer, actor, and self-proclaimed "Mr. Palm Springs" whose long-running Martin & Lewis-style comedy act with partner Sammy Petrillo was featured in 'Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla.' Mitchell went on to use his talents and show business connections to produce two of the most entertaining films of the Seventies, which he wrote, directed, produced, scored and starred in.  'Gone with the Pope' stars Duke Mitchell as Paul, a gangster with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the pope and charge "a dollar from every Catholic in the world" as the ransom. Shot in 1975 as 'Kiss the Ring,' Gone with the Pope' was unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell's death in 1981.  Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski of Grindhouse Releasing rediscovered Gone with the Pope in 1995 and vowed to save it from obscurity. Academy Award-winning film editor Murawski ('The Hurt Locker,' Spider-Man 1,2 & 3) spent 15 years completing 'Gone with the Pope' from the surviving film elements.