POPE-SNATCHING CAPER LIVES AGAIN The latest curiosity on the "so bad it's good" midnight movie circuit is "Gone With the Pope," a mid-1970s exploitation film restored meticulously by film editor Bob Murawski, who cut "Spider-Man 2" and "3" and co-won an Oscar on "The Hurt Locker." Murawski, who is part owner of the specialty distributor Grindhouse Releasing, spent 16 years restoring "Pope," a zilch-budget vanity project starring Palm Springs lounge singer Duke Mitchell as a kidnapper with a plan to snatch the pontiff. The film was unfinished, and the rescue project became a labor of love for Murawski. In an interview with the film website Movieline, he praised its "raunchy," "salacious," "politically incorrect" humor, calling it "a mixture of religious struggle and sexploitation movie!" "Gone With the Pope" was unavailable for preview, but with advance word like that you've got to be curious. (Unrated by the MPAA. Midnight Friday and Saturday, Uptown Theatre, 2906 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. $9. 612-825-6006.)
Colin Covert
