The Brothers Rico **** (1957, Richard Conte, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Grant, James Darren, Larry Gates, Paul Picerni) – Classic Movie Review 8014

Director Phil Karlson’s excellent 1957 black and white film noir crime thriller The Brothers Rico is taken from a Georges Simenon novel called Les Frères Rico, and stars Richard Conte, James Darren, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Grant, Larry Gates and Paul Picerni.

Conte stars as retired mob business accountant Eddie Rico who tries to save his two gangster brothers, Johnny (Darren) and Gino (Picerni), from death at the hands of the mob boss (Gates) in this sharp and realistic Mafia tale.

The Brothers Rico gets spare direction from Karlson, who handles the bleak mood and brutal action effectively, and there is solid acting from Conte and Darren, looking and sounding just right in their roles.

Also in the cast are Harry Bellaver, Lamont Johnson, Paul Dubov, Rudy Bond, Richard Bakalyan, William Phipps and Argentina Brunetti.

The Brothers Rico is directed by Phil Karlson, runs 92 minutes, is made by William Goetz Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Lewis Meltzer and Ben Parry, based on Georges Simenon’s novel Les Frères Rico, is shot in black and white by Burnett Guffey, is produced by William Goetz and Lewis J Rachmil, and is scored by George Duning.

Mimi Aguglia plays Argentina Brunetti’s mother, which she is in real life.

It was released in the US in a double bill with Interpol [Pickup Alley] in September 1957.

The Brothers Rico is remade in 1972 as the TV movie The Family Rico.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 8014

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