IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.6K
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A retired mob accountant is drawn back in when his brothers, who have recently made a hit for the organization, decide to go to the authorities.A retired mob accountant is drawn back in when his brothers, who have recently made a hit for the organization, decide to go to the authorities.A retired mob accountant is drawn back in when his brothers, who have recently made a hit for the organization, decide to go to the authorities.
Mimi Aguglia
- Julia Rico
- (uncredited)
George Blagoi
- Restaurant Patron
- (uncredited)
Bonnie Bolding
- Stewardess
- (uncredited)
Nesdon Booth
- Burly Man
- (uncredited)
Marvin Bryan
- Ticket Clerk
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMimi Aguglia (Julia RIco), who plays Argentina Brunetti's (Mrs. Rico) mother, really is her mother.
- GoofsGino follows his brother Eddie and then gets in Eddie's car so that they can talk privately. Eddie then drives to the beach. When Gino gets in the car, the wide shot shows a rear view mirror on Eddie's windshield. During the closeup while they are driving, the rear view mirror is gone. As they pull up to the beach, the wide shot again shows that the rear view mirror is back on the windshield.
- Quotes
Johnny Rico: [to Eddie] Okay, okay, so nobody's blaming you. Let's just say something happened way back when, huh? So maybe I am gonna die, but Eddie, you've got even bigger troubles. You're gonna live.
- ConnectionsFeatures Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
- SoundtracksLet's Fall in Love
(uncredited)
Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler (1933)
Sung and hummed by Richard Conte in bathroom while shaving
Featured review
Pre-Godfather mobster violence with less theater and more grit
The Brothers Rico (1957)
With Richard Conte's role of a lifetime, and a harrowing mobster scene that presages the Godfather in its casual viciousness, this is one heck of a movie. It sometimes lacks good old fashioned drama with the lighting and the camera-work, and some people might find Conte a bit reserved for the leading man under the gun, but the writing is really solid, the story well constructed, and the movie as a whole feels believable and tragic.
At the core is a situation is Conte as Eddie Rico, formerly an accountant in a ruthless mob, now running a legit business in Florida and about to adopt a kid with his charming and playful wife. But right in scene one he gets a call from an old mob crony. They need his help. Or they say they do, at least, and a thug shows up to "work" at the business. Eddie's two brothers are still in the mob, and have been part of a hit, and there is an investigation closing in on them all unless Eddie can help get his brothers out of harms way. He takes this to mean out of the country, but it becomes clear to everyone else, and eventually to Eddie, that they mean to kill at least one of the two brothers.
So with the clock ticking over an adoption ready that very day, and with Conte flying all over the country in a desperate bid to sort this out, we see a growing menace in thug after thug, place after place, from Florida to New York, where Mama and grandmother live, to a ranch in Southern California where one brother is hiding with his pregnant wife. What makes it hold to together especially is how sympathetic the brothers are as characters, and how evil the main mob man is even though he insists he loves the Ricos, and loves their mother like his own mother, and he wants only the best.
In fact, the one long speech from this thug, played by Lamont Johnson, is a precursor to Brando's role in "The Godfather," with a chilling mixture of honorable love and threatening obligation and accountability. Eddie is at first taken by the honorable part, the love part, and events have to show him the brutal truth.
And who is director Phil Karlson? An underrated master of these kinds of gritty, and not quite film noirish, crime and mob films in the 1950s ("Kansas City Confidential" and "The Phenix City Story"). I say not quite noir only in the sense that his films lack the over-the-top dialog and punchy lines of classic noir, and the filming is not as theatrical with angles, shadows, and dark night scenes. And if you like me prefer those noirish noirs, you have to step back and say wow, this is something really convincing and powerful, too. Some of Karlson's films are, in fact, film noirs at the core, but late noirs, no longer dealing with the loner finding his footing in an alien America, but still with a man against the world, as Eddie Rico is here. And the cinematographer here is Burnett Guffey, who would later shoot "Birdman from Alcatraz" and the legendary "Bonnie and Clyde."
This is a seriously interesting film. Flawed, yes, sometimes obvious and clichéd, yes, but at its best it's penetrating.
With Richard Conte's role of a lifetime, and a harrowing mobster scene that presages the Godfather in its casual viciousness, this is one heck of a movie. It sometimes lacks good old fashioned drama with the lighting and the camera-work, and some people might find Conte a bit reserved for the leading man under the gun, but the writing is really solid, the story well constructed, and the movie as a whole feels believable and tragic.
At the core is a situation is Conte as Eddie Rico, formerly an accountant in a ruthless mob, now running a legit business in Florida and about to adopt a kid with his charming and playful wife. But right in scene one he gets a call from an old mob crony. They need his help. Or they say they do, at least, and a thug shows up to "work" at the business. Eddie's two brothers are still in the mob, and have been part of a hit, and there is an investigation closing in on them all unless Eddie can help get his brothers out of harms way. He takes this to mean out of the country, but it becomes clear to everyone else, and eventually to Eddie, that they mean to kill at least one of the two brothers.
So with the clock ticking over an adoption ready that very day, and with Conte flying all over the country in a desperate bid to sort this out, we see a growing menace in thug after thug, place after place, from Florida to New York, where Mama and grandmother live, to a ranch in Southern California where one brother is hiding with his pregnant wife. What makes it hold to together especially is how sympathetic the brothers are as characters, and how evil the main mob man is even though he insists he loves the Ricos, and loves their mother like his own mother, and he wants only the best.
In fact, the one long speech from this thug, played by Lamont Johnson, is a precursor to Brando's role in "The Godfather," with a chilling mixture of honorable love and threatening obligation and accountability. Eddie is at first taken by the honorable part, the love part, and events have to show him the brutal truth.
And who is director Phil Karlson? An underrated master of these kinds of gritty, and not quite film noirish, crime and mob films in the 1950s ("Kansas City Confidential" and "The Phenix City Story"). I say not quite noir only in the sense that his films lack the over-the-top dialog and punchy lines of classic noir, and the filming is not as theatrical with angles, shadows, and dark night scenes. And if you like me prefer those noirish noirs, you have to step back and say wow, this is something really convincing and powerful, too. Some of Karlson's films are, in fact, film noirs at the core, but late noirs, no longer dealing with the loner finding his footing in an alien America, but still with a man against the world, as Eddie Rico is here. And the cinematographer here is Burnett Guffey, who would later shoot "Birdman from Alcatraz" and the legendary "Bonnie and Clyde."
This is a seriously interesting film. Flawed, yes, sometimes obvious and clichéd, yes, but at its best it's penetrating.
helpful•263
- secondtake
- Apr 23, 2011
- How long is The Brothers Rico?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Hyänen der Straße
- Filming locations
- Coronado, California, USA(Street scenes when Eddie and Gino are driving)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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![Richard Conte, James Darren, Dianne Foster, Larry Gates, Kathryn Grant, and Paul Picerni in The Brothers Rico (1957)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODhkNzYxYjYtOGMxNC00NGJjLWJiNTQtMDljMDI3MDMwYjgwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxODE0MDY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,3,90,133_.jpg)