Killer Dill (1947)

On August 2, 1947, Max M. King Productions released Killer Dill (1947), a crime film that professional wrestler Mike Mazurki plays “Little Joe”, a henchman playing both sides of a gang feud.

 

Stuart Erwin stars as Johnny “Killer” Dill, a lingerie designer and salesperson, who people mistake for a gangster. After accidentally involving himself in a gang war, his friend and lawyer William T. Allen defends Dill against murder charges.

 

Frank Albertson plays Allen. With friends like Allen, Dill does not need enemies. Besides owing Dill money going back to elementary school, Allen actively tries to steal Dill’s love interest Judy Parker. Anne Gwynne plays Parker.

 

The seemingly slow-witted “Little Joe” is the culprit. In a plot twist that mirrored real life, “Little Joe” is manipulating both sides to obtain pay offs from the rival gangsters and brothers running a funeral home. The brothers pay “Little Joe” for the increased business the garish gangland funerals bring. Because of his large size, everyone assumes Mazurki is stupid.

 

Mike Mazurki was a lawyer by training but producers and directors type cast Mazurki into the role of the big, dumb thug after Mazurki played “Moose” Malloy in Murder, My Sweet (1944).

 

Mazurki wrestled professionally from 1931 to 1963 because Mazurki could make much more money wrestling professionally than practicing law. While Mazurki was serving as a bodyguard to Mae West, Josef von Sternberg discovered Mazurki and gave him a small role in one of his films.

 

Before his career was over, Mazurki played in one hundred seventy-four productions. Mazurki, who played “Splitface” in Dick Tracy, Detective (1945), had a cameo in Dick Tracy (1990). Mazurki died in December 1990 at eighty-two years old.

 

Killer Dill runs seventy-two minutes. It is an entertaining “B” film of that era. Wrestling fans may enjoy watching it for Mike Mazurki’s performance.

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