Customer Reviews

The Pope Must Diet [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I want to view this hilarious video again, but few of us have the old equipment. Please, who ever has the authority, release in DVD.

This movie is not for the average american it is british dry humor. Being a huge monty python and faulty towers fan I found this movie a riot. Others find this movie dull I think they just didn't get the hummor.

THIS MOVIE IS GREAT, JUST WONDERFUL, I JUST WISH THOSE BOZOS IN CHARGE WOULD TRANSFER IT TO DVD AND STOP KEEPING FILM HISTORY IN THE VIDEO SECTION OR THE 8 TRACK SECTION.

GUITAR DIETY JEFF BECK PLAYS THE GUITAR FOR THE PICKIN PADRE AND EVEN HAS A CAMIO AS A LETTER CARRYIER ON A BYCICLE DELIVERING A LETTER TO PALO FROM THE NEW POPE.

VERY FUNNY, ONLY BAD PART IS THE CHEEP WIG HIS SON IN THE MOVIE WEARS.

VIDEO TO DVD, VIDEO TO DVD, VIDEO TO DVD NOW NOW SIS BOOM BAH!

This movie is both side-splitting and moving and tender. absolutely great. do not miss. i can't wait until it's available again.

Here's a fun little sleeper. A sly black comedy for those who aren't too impressed with Catholicism. I'm pretty darn impressed with the screenwriting and the excellent timing of the director. The movie is so well cast that instead praising the great performances of the actors, I should simply praise the casting director.

Its satirical jabs at the Vatican are goofy without being too much so or too heavy handed. The movie examines the old predictable theme of how the nice innocent original concept of Christianity has fallen prey to so much corruption through the centuries by Catholicism. But this tired old theme still succeeds in the capable hands of Richardson and his production crew.

This forgotten movie that never made it to DVD can still give you plenty of knowing snickers and chuckles. At the price it's being sold here at Amazon, it's well worth it. If you ever stumble upon it when browsing at your local video store, don't pass it up!

I really do like this film but I would critically state that it is "OK". The quality that could have gone into it simply isn't there is force, though the humor was too advanced for most people in 1991 anyway. Alex Rocco, a favorite of mine, as Cardinal Rocco, is a real hoot...well, the storyline's thin, the humor is a bit out of whack, and no one seems to have a friggin' first name in this thing!

What fascinates me is how this film fits snugly with the great SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN and Tom Conti's SAVING GRACE, both films about reluctant popes. Robbie Coltrane plays a bumbling village priest , Father C. David Albinizi, who is accidentally elected pope through Cardinal Rocco's evil machinations. He goes to the Vatican, chooses the name Pope David I, has to deal with an ill-fitting white cassock, Vatican corruption, plus learning not only to be pope but to be a normal human and not a bumbler. The reappearance of his old flame finally get shim back out on the street, where he is free. He didn't want to be a priest anyway. His old flame awaits, and after the death of their son, whom Pope David has just met, well....

It's been 13 years since I last saw this movie, OK??

I think Coltrane handles this crazy role very well, showing his gift for great humor, and Alex Rocco is always funnier than a barrel of monkeys. I absolutely love his irreverent portrait of a mob-related cardinal playing cards, drinking and smoking huge stogies. The shooting is a bit 1980s, even though this film is a 1991 release. The humor is fairly sure-fire, Herbert Lom is perfect as the scuzbag Vittorio Corelli, and though the credits say Baltazar Getty played the pope's son, I'd swear it was Rupert Friend. They don't resemble each other and I'd swear it in court that the actor was Friend.

What angered me is they seem to have run out of money or something, because the film flies at high speed toward a confusing, offensive (and incomplete) ending. AYWAY...

Interesting to note that this film, usually not listed by its original title THE POPE MUST DIE, went through an international stink--and, I believe, a boycott at some point. (I know there was a moratorium on this for years and years.) They quickly retitled it THE POPE MUST DIET because they couldn't really do anything except add an extra letter at that stage of the game. But the incredibly foul mood toward this film at the time killed it for sure.

If you hunt around here on Amazon, you will see the original VHS box (my review is listed under that...but that might change in future). It bears the title THE POPE MUST DIE, and the "o" in the word "POPE" is a Sarah-Palin-style gun-sight. Beneath it is the tagline: "They chose him by mistake, now they want him dead." The artwork is stunning: a beautiful photo of Coltrane in papal whites, hands clasped and looking upward in prayer. Where his gaze is directed are the menacing words "Our Father Who Art in Trouble". Beneath Coltrane are all sorts of shady figures looking like Mafiosi, and a couple of cardinals looking just as menacing.

What cover art! That could have belonged to a genuine documentary, by the looks of it. Scary. If you hunt more casually, you will see the re-do. The poster and VHS cover consist of a simple, moronic-looking Coltrane wearing his mitre. The title, in pink Monty Pythonesque lettering, is THE POPE MUST DIET. There is a fat little cartoon cherub floating around the top of Coltrane's mitre. Nothing else.

You can imagine the horror among the public, considering the year this film was released (1991) saw the publication of explanations regarding the charges against the Vatican for the assassination of Pope John Paul I. Goodness, what the Powers can do to a film! What fascinates, though, is that the pope is viewed with great affection. No one at any point tris to kill him, oddly enough.

Yet there you have the Vatican's power. They really sank this film, and I can tell you, it is still anathema. I cannot fathom how Ron Howard got away with the disgusting portrayal of a papal murder (and desecration of a pope's tomb) in ANGELS & DEMONS. If I am not in error, I think THE POPE MUST DIE and ANGELS AND DEMONS have been (ahem, quietly) anathematized by the Church. So much the better excuse to see these movies.

What I will put to you in the spirit of responsibility: NO work of art should bear a call to kill any public figure. Remember, this film's title was THE POPE MUST DIE. Can you imagine some propagandizing nut job (besides the Vatican) getting a hold of this thing?!

We won't be seeing this on DVD. More's the pity, so get the VHS while you can! Just beware that this thing is not going to be A-1 quality video transfer unless someone restores it.

I really enjoyed this film, and hope that it will be on DVD soon. Its definately Dry Humor, and does a comedy exploration of the Church, how they pick the pope (all the political menuvering), the rumored corruption within the church, and how a mistake can be heavanly ordained.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Robbie Coltrane must have been desperate at this stage of his career.