Dean Martin plays a serious, straightforward lawyer in "Marlowe" director Paul Bogart's "Mr. Ricco," a predictable but violent crime thriller set in contemporary San Francisco. "Mr. Ricco" constituted something of a change of pace for the "King of Cool." Unlike his frivolous Matt Helm espionage comedies, this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release followed the efforts of a conscientious lawyer to obtain justice for an African-American accused of murdering a white woman. Actually, nothing that Joe Ricco does on behalf of his client, Frankie Steele (Thalmus Rasulala of "Cool Breeze"), proves his innocence. Later, when Steele is on the run and Ricco catches up with him, Steele admits to him that he did indeed murder the white woman, but he explains that he didn't set out to kill her. Nevertheless, this revelation comes as something of a shock to Ricco. As it turned out, Steele won his freedom because the police had tampered with evidence in the case. Unfortunately, we're never told who was responsible for the tampering. No sooner has Steele been released that two uniformed policemen are gunned down by an African-American wielding a shotgun. A young African-American adolescent spots the shooter as he is fleeing the scene of the murder. The child goes to the police and gives them a description of the shooter that fits Steele's description. Later, Ricco finds himself the target of this same African-American shooter. This individual attempts to kill Ricco three times without success. Naturally, Captain George Cronyn (Eugene Roche of "Newman's Law") assigns a man, Lieutenant Barrett (George Tyne of "Sands of Iwo Jima"), to shadow the lawyer. Meantime, the police pursue a lead and nearly capture Steele at his place where he serves as an activist. It seems Steele has attained legitimacy as an outspoken racial activist with an organization that he created known as 'the Black Serpents." There isn't a trace of altruism in Steele's bones, and he wastes the funds that Washington provided him with to help poor, disadvantaged African-Americans. Moreover, when the San Francisco police raided his headquarters, they found two of his underlings on the premises, Purvis Mapes (Philip Michael Thomas of "Miami Vice") and his brother Calvin (Oliver Givens of "Trader Horn"), and Detective Tanner (Michael Gregory of "Total Recall") shoots Calvin in the head. Unfortunately for the gung-ho Tanner who is a dyed-in-the-wool racist, he discovers too late that Calvin was unarmed. Tanner grabs a shotgun and plants the weapon on Calvin. Initially, Captain Cronyn believes Tanner. Our hero defends Purvis in court and the charges against him are dropped. Consequently, Purvis tells Ricco where Steele is holed up and hiding. Ricco has to throw the police off his tail; he has his rental Mustang repainted to complicate their efforts to track him, and he finds Steele. Steele confesses about the murder, and Ricco punches him out.
This crime melodrama taps into the racism of the day. Tanner believes that he should have been given a commendation for tampering with the evidence and later shooting Calvin Mapes. Meanwhile, Ricco is set up by his Cupid of a secretary, Jamison (Cindy Williams of "Laverne & Shirley"), with a woman, Katherine Fremont (Geraldine Brooks of "Johnny Tiger"), who is twice divorced. They sleep together after one date. Later, they attend an art auction for the ACLU that Purvis's sister Irene (Denise Nicholas of "Capricorn One") has set up. The shotgun-toting assailant strikes again, killing three police as well as shooting Katherine in the back and Lieutenant Barrett. Earlier that evening after the police arrested Steele, Ricco left a snub-nosed revolver in a drawer at his residence because he felt like he no longer needed the gun. He retrieved Lieutenant Barrett's revolver and shot the killer to death. The catch here is that Bogart wanted audiences to think that Steele was out to ice Ricco. Of course, why would Steele want to kill the man who got him cleared of a murder charge. Everything comes out of the wash during the final twenty minutes. "Mr. Ricco" is a believable, conventional, but entertaining crime mystery, and Martin gives a restrained but convincing performance. Lenser Paul Stanley who photographed "Mr. Ricco" makes it look smooth and elegant at the same time. The film's only stab at humor involves Ricco's horny dog Hank who eventually knocks up a neighbor's dog. Altogether, "Mr. Ricco" qualifies as an above-average movie.
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