ThiefHott
Too much of everything
Marketic
It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Spikeopath
The Brothers Rico is directed by Phil Karlson and adapted to screenplay by Lewis Meltzer, Ben Perry and Dalton Trumbo from a story written by Georges Simenon. It stars Richard Conte, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Crosby, Larry Gates and James Darren. Music is scored by George Duning and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.Retired from the mob and happy in his new found family life, Eddie Rico (Conte) is pulled back into the underworld when word comes that his two brothers, who are still working for the syndicate, are wanted men.Coming at the end of the film noir cycle, The Brothers Rico sits somewhere in between noir and pure crime drama. Conte's character is a classic noir protagonist, a man who is unable to shake of his past and gets drawn into the dark underworld by family ties. Waiting there for him is a surprise, and not a good one at that. The script is very well written, which in Karlson's hands paints a sinister mob underworld operating right under the noses of everyday folk. There's much talking and very little action for most of the running time, but the dialogue is strong, always imbuing the narrative with a sense of menace, background characters are always a threat and violence implied looms over proceedings.However, in spite of it being well written and acted with great skill by Conte, Gates and the support cast, it's a dull visual experience and crowned off by a ridiculous "aint life grand epilogue". Top cinematographer Burnett Guffey is wasted here, the film is very minimalist in production, with the film often feeling like an episode of some TV cop show. There's a brief glimpse in the last five minutes of what Guffey could do, but that's it. Conte's character provides the ticket to the noir universe, but ultimately this represents the changing of the guard, a winding down of true film noir. From a viewpoint of the film being a crime drama that provides an observation of a crime syndicate as a real presence, Karlson's movie scores a more than safe 7/10. As a film noir, though, it barely registers and noir fans should expect a flat 5/10 movie. Rounded out I make it 6/10.
kenjha
An ex-employee of the mob is forced to return to his old stomping grounds after his brothers get in trouble with the mob. This is an absorbing drama that takes a bleak, realistic look at mob life. Conte and Foster are fabulous as a married couple trying to distance themselves from his past as an accountant for the syndicate. They are especially good in their natural depiction of married life as they go about their morning routine. Also impressive is Gates as a mob boss. Conte appeared in a number of mob films, including "The Godfather." Curiously, Grant (who married Bing Crosby following this film) has a small role but is given equal billing with Conte and Foster.
clarkco1048
The synopsis mentions that the James Darren role was played by Bobby Darin. Wrong. The cast list has it right, but this synopsis for some reason has changed it to Bobby Darin. There is a difference between Bobby Darin and James Darren. This was probably some slip up by the writer who didn't bother to proofread his copy, and then it was then missed by an editor. But when you read a credit mistake like this of an actor in a pretty important role in a film and it goes uncorrected, then misinformation may be dispensed which may in turn distort the record. This could be a real problem in future generations where, for example, someone is doing research on this film.
bmacv
It's a long way from the Little Caesars, Public Enemies and Scarfaces of the earliest sound movies to the Godfathers, Goodfellas and Scarfaces Miami-style of more recent decades. Along the way, there were intermediate stages, and director Phil Karlson (99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential) tries his hand at one -- oddly enough, working from material by venerable French pulp-writer Georges Simenon. Richard Conte runs a commercial laundry and, with his new wife, is trying to adopt a child; after a tarnished youth, he's gone straight. The younger males in his family, it so happens, have not, and a syndicate kingpin sends Conte off to smoke out his youngest brother, in hiding, supposedly to save his life; the young squirt is played by 50s recording heart-throb Bobby Darrin. But Conte is just being used as bait.... The Brothers Rico introduces us to an all-American, corporate, impersonal view of organized crime, ranging from New York's Mulberry Street to palm-fanned Florida to the mobbed-up sunbelt of Phoenix -- and to a world where the terms "family" has lost all of its many meanings. Only the bottom line now counts.
