THE BROTHERS RICO [1957] [Limited Edition] [Blu-ray] [1957 / 2021] [UK Release] Written by the World’s Best-Known Suspense Master Author the famous Georges Simenon!
Eddie Rico [Richard Conte] is a former mobster who has turned straight to run a successful laundry business. When his two brothers disappear following a hit, mafia boss “Uncle” Sid Kubik [Larry Gates] assures him that the Rico’s are like his own family... But as Eddie Rico attempts to track down his wayward siblings, he realises that “Uncle” Sid Kubik is not the father figure he believed him to be.
Based on a novel by Maigret creator Georges Simenon, The Brothers Rico prefigures The Godfather in its exploration of the tensions between family and its criminal bonds within the Mafia.
FILM FACT: The staff at Variety magazine gave the film a positive review and lauded the acting in the drama, writing, and director Phil Karlson forges hard action into unfoldment of film. Performances are first-class right down the line, Richard Conte is standout as a man finally disillusioned after thinking of the syndicate leader who orders his brother's execution as a close family friend. Both females have comparatively little to do, Dianne Foster as Richard Conte's wife and Kathryn Grant make their work count. Larry Gates as gang chief scores smoothly and James Darren as younger brother handles character satisfactorily. The film was later re-made for television as “The Family Rico” [1972].
Cast: Richard Conte, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Grant, Larry Gates, James Darren, Argentina Brunetti, Lamont Johnson, Harry Bellaver, Paul Picerni, Paul Dubov, Rudy Bond, Richard Bakalyan, William Phipps, Mimi Aguglia (uncredited), George Blagoi (uncredited), Bonnie Bolding (uncredited), Nesdon Booth (uncredited), Marvin Bryan (uncredited), George Cisar (uncredited), Dean Cromer (uncredited), Walt Davis (uncredited), Patricia Donahue (uncredited), Darren Dublin (uncredited), Jane Easton (uncredited), Sam Finn (uncredited), Charles Fogel (uncredited), Raoul Freeman (uncredited), Mimi Gibson (uncredited), Sam Harris (uncredited), Pepe Hern (uncredited), Michael Jeffers (uncredited), Betsy Jones-Moreland (voice) (uncredited), Kenner G. Kemp (uncredited), Ethan Laidlaw (uncredited), Richard LaMarr (uncredited), Estelle Lawrence (uncredited), George J. Lewis (uncredited), Leota Lorraine (uncredited), Robert Malcolm (uncredited), Peggy Maley (uncredited), Rankin Mansfield (uncredited), John Marlin (uncredited), Mathew McCue (uncredited), Ernesto Molinari (uncredited), Maggie O'Byrne (uncredited), Monty O'Grady (uncredited), Don Orlando (uncredited), Jean Ransome (uncredited), Anthony Redondo (uncredited), Cosmo Sardo (uncredited), Stephen Soldi (uncredited), Bert Stevens (uncredited), Jerry Summers (uncredited), James Waters (uncredited) and Estelita Zarco (uncredited)
Director: Phil Karlson
Producers: Lewis J. Rachmil and William Goetz
Screenplay: Ben Perry (screenplay), Lewis Meltzer (screenplay), Georges Simenon (story) and Dalton Trumbo (uncredited)
Composer: George Duning
Music Department: Arthur Morton (Orchestrator) and Morris Stoloff (Conductor)
Make-up and Hair Department: Clay Campbell, S.M.A. (Make-up Artist) and Helen Hunt (Hair stylist)
Costume Design: Jean Louis (Gowns)
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black and White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Audio Description 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 91 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Powerhouse Films / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ [1957] is an engrossing mob drama directed by Phil Karlson. It stars one of the great kings of “film noir” which was Richard Conte.
‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ was based on a novel of the same name by Georges Simenon. It tells the story of Eddie Rico [Richard Conte], a one-time mob accountant who has spent a decade living a clean life as a Florida businessman. Eddie Rico and his adoring young wife, Alice Rico [Dianne Foster], are making plans to adopt a baby.
Things go south for Eddie Rico when his brother Gino Rico [Paul Picerni] shows up in town with two pieces of bad news: Gino Rico had carried out a mob hit and is now a murderer, and Gino Rico also fears the mob is out to get him and their youngest brother, Johnny Rico [James Darren].
Eddie Rico has trouble believing the mob would want to kill his own brothers, and, to his ultimate regret, Eddie Rico trusts top Mafioso “Uncle” Sid Kubik [Larry Gates], but when “Uncle” Sid Kubik tells Eddie Rico he wants him to find Johnny Rico and get him out of the country for his own safety.
This is a terrific drama, with Richard Conte in virtually every scene. The movie initially sells the viewer that Eddie Rico is truly a good man, with charming and steamy love scenes with his beautiful, trusting wife. Just as the movie starts, Eddie Rico receives an unwelcome call from his past, and the movie follows Eddie Rico along on the journey as he learns the painful lesson that the man he has always trusted – a man whose life was saved by Eddie Rico's own mother Mama Rico [Argentina Brunetti] and has turned on the Eddie Rico family. Richard Conte, as always, is really outstanding.
Modern-day filmmakers could learn a lot from this film. There's no skin shown, yet some of the moments with Eddie Rico and his wife are undeniably hot, as the actors and director manage to communicate quite a lot to the audience about the couple's romantic relationship.
Likewise, there's no blood, other than a beating, yet the film contains moments which are both terrifying and very disturbing. Filmmakers who want to show everything too often mistake laziness for frankness, taking the easy way out instead of being creative. One more body lying in a pool of blood is easily forgotten, while Johnny Rico's brave, agonizing walk to his death is not.
Some reviewers found the film's ending too upbeat, but honestly, there's enough tragedy in the film as it is. I don't think I would have felt as good about the movie if it had ended on a downer note, and the ending is believable and makes sense. Indeed, there are some wonderful poetic justice as Mama Rico plays a significant role in Eddie Rico's final battle with “Uncle” Sid Kubik.
Georges Simenon is best remembered for his Inspector Maigret novels, and some of Georges Simenon’s novels concern middle-class protagonists who are derailed by fate from their lives of boring bourgeois respectability. Cast adrift and sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, they frequently embark on a life of crime or sink into the bowels of a lurid underworld. These protagonists seem to be “nice” respectable people simply because fate handed them certain cards, and some plots underscore the idea that these characters will take to a life of crime with zest if given the opportunity. So I was curious to see how Georges Simenon wrote about characters that chose the Mafia as a way of life.
THE BROTHERS RICO MUSIC TRACK LIST
LET’S FALL IN LOVE (uncredited) (Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler) (1933) [Sung and hummed by Richard Conte in the bathroom while shaving]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR presents us the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ with a 1080p image and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Like the other “film noir” films from Columbia Pictures, and ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ has been fully remastered and looks amazing on this Blu-ray release and especially the density levels could have been better, but overall the presentation is very convincing, and also the grey scale looked particularly impressive. Image stability is excellent and the entire film is spotless as well and I think this current master is very solid and because of that it makes watching this film a totally pleasurable experience. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR brings us the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ with a 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience and I did not encounter any age-related anomalies to report with my overall review. The audio is very clear, clean, and very stable. The audio balance is also really excellent. I thought that the dynamic audio intensity was really good as well, and of course having a good audio experience makes watching this film a really joyous audio experience, so well done Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary with Jason A. Ney [Audio only] [2021] [1080p] [1.85:1] [91:05] With this featurette, we get to hear this audio commentary with Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney and is here to talk about the 1957 Columbia Pictures film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and as the film begins Jason A. Ney introduces himself and informs us that he is a Professor of Literature and Film and for several years has worked as a staff writer for The Film Noir Foundation and the NOIR CITY Magazine and is very grateful to be talking to us about ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ which is a very good late “film noir” period from Columbia Pictures and a studio that excelled in keeping “film noir” genre alive and kicking in the mid to the late 1950’s, and this picture is a blend of family drama in more ways than one, and especially organised crime “film noir” which is reflected in what we get to see in the opening credits and the wonderful evocative composed score by the American musician and film composer George Duning who gives us a sense of melancholy, which isn’t surprising and especially with the experience of George Duning composing other film scores for other melodrama films, like the film Picnic [1955] which got an Academy Award nominations as well as for Jolson Sings Again [1949], No Sad Songs for Me [1950], From Here to Eternity [1953] and The Eddy Duchin Story [1956], and Jason A. Ney feels the George Duning composed movie score for ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ feels we get the underlying fear and the threat of violence with the blood splattered wall caused by a gunshot wound behind the white opening credits at the start of the film. Jason A. Ney now says that he will throughout the film, will be mixing together with lots of analysing the film in general, with a discussion on the career of Richard Conte and also comparing the novel by Georges Simenon and the screenplay by Ben Perry and Lewis Meltzer and the analyse the portrayal of the real life organised crime with the mafia in America in the 1950’s period the film is set in, and Jason A. Ney from then just waffles on endless about nothing of interest related to the story of the film we are looking at the same time as this audio commentary and also stating the obvious, but then suddenly Jason A. Ney says that this film is not the first film to deal with crooked characters who is trying to not get into or even stay on the straight and narrow and feels this Columbia Pictures film is quite remarkable, especially with the main couple Eddie Rico and Alice Rico in the film at the same time trying to secure an adopted child and especially with all the corruption happening around them and throughout the film, but Jason A. Ney feels the couple portrayed in the film are perfectly cast and bring in a comfortable lived in quality as their interaction as husband and wife. Jason A. Ney also mentions the Motion Picture Production Code in America and was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945 Under Hays's leadership, the MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out acceptable and unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States. Now Jason A. Ney wants to talk about the actress Dianne Foster and says the actress was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and began her career at the age of 13 in a stage adaptation of James Barrie's What Every Woman Knows. In London in 1951, Dianne Foster appeared on stage in Agatha Christie's The Hollow and Orson Welles's Othello. Although Dianne Foster’s film career continued, it was not on the same upward trajectory as before. In 1957, Dianne Foster co-starred in the biopic Monkey on My Back about boxer Barney Ross, Night Passage with James Stewart. In 1958, Dianne Foster starred with Alan Ladd in The Deep Six, and that same year, she appeared alongside Jack Hawkins in Gideon of Scotland Yard before her last really big picture, The Last Hurrah and it featured an all-star cast that included Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, and Basil Rathbone, and was nominated for a BAFTA award. In 1963, she made her last film appearance, in the Dean Martin vehicle Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Dianne Foster’s film career started out in 1951 and went right to 1963 her last film and sadly Dianne Foster died in July 2019 at the age of 90. Now Jason A. Ney for some unknown reason wants to talk about the car Richard Conte drove in the film and it was a 1957 Lincoln Premiere Convertible was a luxury car model sold by Lincoln in the 1956 to 1960 model years. Positioned below the company's Continental Mark II coupe during 1956 – 1957 and above the Capri which it shared from 1956 to 1959, it was produced in 2 and 4 door versions which could both accommodate up to six people. The Premiere was for a short time the largest, top level 4-door sedan Lincoln offered against rivals from Cadillac, Imperial and Packard during the mid-1950s while not being available as an extended length limousine and Jason A. Ney feels it gives Eddie Rico the impression he is a very wealthy person because the car was considered a very luxurious vehicle and was known for a stylish exterior, high-grade interior and some unique features, such as optional factory installed air conditioning being run through overhead ducts much like those in an aircraft. The cool air was directed to the roof via a pair of clear plastic ducts visible through the rear window at each side, connecting upward from the rear package tray. Four way power seats were standard. The front suspension was independent with a stabilizer bar, and for 1957 the driving light was relocated from the bottom edge of the front bumper and installed below the conventional sealed beam, two-way headlight while giving an appearance of having stacked dual headlights which Lincoln Premiere Convertible called “Quadra-Lite,” and the average retail price was $5,483 dollars and in 2022 they reckon it was worth $55,614 with inflation of course and says the Lincoln Premiere Convertible was a very popular vehicle, especially with very wealthy Americans and just 4 years after the release of this 1957 film, Frank Sinatra hit song “Nothing But the Best” began with the lyrics I like a new Lincoln with all of its class. Now Jason A. Ney wants to talk about the author of the 1952 novel The Brothers Rico by the author Georges Simenon who he says was a very prolific Belgian writer, and was born and raised in Liège, Belgium at 26 Rue Léopold to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll and of course most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels, 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies in 50 different languages. Georges Simenon lived for extended periods in France (1922 – 1945), the United States (1946 – 1955) and finally Switzerland (1957 – 1989) and was famous for writing his novels very quickly; in fact he could write 80 pages in one day. Georges Simenon published works include 192 novels written under his own name, over 200 novels written under various pseudonyms, four autobiographies and 21 volumes of memoir and also wrote a large quantity of short fiction. His novels had sold over 500 million copies by the time of his death, making him one of the highest selling novelists in history. Georges Simenon’s fiction novels are often classified into his early pseudonymous popular novels, the last of which was written in 1933; his fiction featuring police commissioner Jules Maigret (75 novels and 28 short stories);[81] and his 117 literary novels which he called romans durs (“hard novels”). Georges Simenon moved to America and settled in Lakeville, Connecticut where he wrote the novel The Brothers Rico and Georges Simenon thought the novel was hard hitting about the corruption of the Mafia in America. Now Jason A. Ney reads out some of the critic’s comments about the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and here is what was said about the film:
One critic said: “Conte’s strong physical presence being challenged by outside dark forces gives the film its noir look.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz: Phil Karlson directs this well-acted but too talky, reactionary and downbeat fatalistic “film noir” based on the novelette mystery author Georges Simenon. The action part kicks in during the last twenty minutes and the crime drama comes to life after the long setup.
Other critics said: At time melodramatic but we’ll made. Phil Katlson always shoots his movies in a unique way that stands out. He’s almost like b-lost don Siegel. This also had an interesting clash of western meets mafia.
This is an absorbing drama that takes a bleak, realistic look at mob life. Despite odd casting, it's a very good noir movie.
Now Jason A. Ney now comments about the actor Richard Conte driving his Lincoln Premiere Convertible vehicle and the film and says that what we are watching right now is a process shot (back projection) and it suffers from something that has bugged him since he was a child watching these old Columbia Pictures “film noir” and why can’t Richard Conte hold the steering wheel straight, to match the shot that is being projected behind the actor, but to his credit, Richard Conte does a better job than a lot of other actors that could not stop moving the steering wheel backwards and forwards, even though they appear to be driving on a straight road, but Richard Conte still can’t help himself moving the steering wheel backwards and forwards. Now Jason A. Ney wants to talk about the film compared to the 1952 novel The Brothers Rico by the author Georges Simenon and feels the film is a very lose adaption, because with the movie Eddie Rico attempts to leave the mob behind him forever and go straight and legitimate, whereas with the novel Eddie Rico is very much into the crime organisation and is in charge of a huge territory in Florida especially at the start of the novel, and in the novel Eddie Rico has three daughters and near the end of the film, it does follow the narrative in the novel. In the film Eddie Rico defends the mob throughout the film, until the end of the film where he changes his mind dramatically, because Eddie Rico is ready to rebel against the mob in finding how corrupt they are. Now Jason A. Ney comments on the character Alice Rico who is married to Eddie Rico where Alice Rico gets very emotional about Eddie Rico not caring about getting the adopted child, because Eddie Rico has to go and meet face to face the mob boss “Uncle” Sid Kubik and shuts down his emotions 100% and feels this scene is the better for it compared to the same scene in the novel and feels the script is very tight, and of course Eddie Rico is being put under a lot of pressure in choosing where his loyalty lies between two very difficult situations. At one point, Jason A. Ney talks about Phil Karlson the director and feels his influence in “film noir” genre is quite prominent, and especially between 1952 to 1968 and some of those films between that period were Kansas City Confidential [1952]. 99 River Street [1953], Hell's Island [1955], The Phenix City Story [1955], 5 Against the House [1955], The Silencers [1966] and The Wrecking Crew [1968] and Phil Karlson said about his career and especially talking about the first film he directed, and cannot understand how he got to direct his first movie, as it was one of the big miracle for my career, and he could not believe how he continued to direct that first film is another miracle, and that picture was probably the worst ever picture I ever directed and that was the film A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine which was an American 1944 musical comedy film. Now Jason A. Ney talks about the two other female actors in the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and they were Argentina Brunetti (who was born on August 31, 1907 in Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina) who played Mama Rico who of course was Eddie Rico’s mother and Mimi Aguglia (who was born on December 21, 1884 in Catania, Sicily, Italy) who played Julia Rico who was Eddie Rico’s grandmother. Now Jason A. Ney says with this 1957 “film noir” film you have to show some violence of the mobsters, even when the mobsters themselves get shot in a destructive way, and says that director Phil Karlson knows personally about the mobsters, especially growing up in Chicago and of course was around when the notorious Al Capone was running his infamous and insidious Mafia organisation. Jason A. Ney talks about the lack of security in real life when flying aeroplanes in America when the film was set in and how eventually they brought in the Federal Aviation Administration agency which was the U.S. federal government agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation which regulates civil aviation in the United States and surrounding international waters which was created because between the 1950’s and the 1960’s there was a massive upsurge in hijacking and Jason A. Ney also comments about the scenario of the 1950’s “film noir” films in that there were characters in those films where no one around you could trust, because you could never know who is genuine that you could trust. Now Jason A. Ney wants to talk about the character Johnny Rico that James Darren played of in the 1957 film and of course he was fondly remembered that in the mid 1960’s he appeared in the surfing movie Gidget [1959] and its sequels, but also appeared in All the Young Men [1960], The Guns of Navarone [1961], and Diamond Head [1962]. Now Jason A. Ney wants to talk about the character Eddie Rico and finding out in the 1957 film that he has become powerless against the mobsters and “Uncle” Sid Kubik which is not the surrogate family he was seeking, but has found out it is an impersonal multi-layered soulless bureaucracy that wants to perpetrate its own existence, regardless to its senseless human cost. Jason A. Ney also says, that the 1957 film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ was an independent production that Columbia Pictures distributed and that Columbia Pictures more than any other studios that kept the “film noir” genre alive well into the 1950’s and especially in the “B” noir genre and feels this 1957 film straddled the line between an “A” film and a “B” picture and take this 1957 film for instance, and about 91 minutes it runs for is log enough where a theatre could run an “A” film in the same programme and could also run two “B” movies together. Jason A. Ney now comments about the real life corruption with the Mafia that had infiltrated in all aspects of American life when this film was set in, because the American Mafia and commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, was a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group and eventually all parts of the Mafia decided to come together and become more insidious and had their fingers in every aspect of public life, though the majority of the Mafia's activities are contained to the North-eastern United States and Chicago, they continue to dominate organized crime in the United States, despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups. But behind the scene the Mafia controlled the Judges, and did deals with the police force that benefited both parties and also got involved with the US Government contracts from trash collection and the construction companies and getting kick back at the same time from US Government employees and doing sub-standard work in the construction building industry and is any worker spoke up against the Mafia, they would either get beaten up very seriously and even worse, be killed. The Mafia was also involved with the heroine epidemic and also the drug trafficking operations, and of course Hollywood started producing films about the Mafia like The Man With The Golden Arm [1955] that starred Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin, but getting back to the Mafia infiltrating into all aspect of society in America and especially in schools, where roofs were falling in with shoddy reconstruction of buildings and even shoddy constructed floors and in one incident, sewage was leaking into the drinking water system, especially in the USA High schools, or senior High schools, and the Mafia caused outbreaks of dangerous electrical fire hazards, and of course any profits went into bogus unregistered companies and of course no one was willing to testify against the Mafia mobsters, because it they did, people would mysteriously disappear and would never be heard of again and of course the Mafia felt they were invincible, and of course in the 1957 film Eddie Rico has to go to someone he can trust 100% to recruit that person to finally stand up against the Mafia boss man “Uncle” Sid Kubik and to finally eliminate him forever and end the run of the insidious Mafia, and of course you will ave to watch the film to see what eventually happen to “Uncle” Sid Kubik and the evil people behind him. As we get near to the end of the film, Jason A, Ney comments that the message of the film matter more than the “film noir” genre of the film and feels a happy ending can still happen with this 1957 film and it does, and is an honest end to the film, and hopes this film has many strengths to enjoy and hopes this audio commentary has shed some light on the cultural aspect to the film the way it was directed and hopes this Blu-ray disc is helping to pull this film out of obscurity and not to allow the film to be relative obscure in its place in the “film noir” history, because of the films stand against the mafia theme genre, but how compelling the film is presented, but feels it is not a perfect film, but also feels it was a high quality effort and the message is still very relevant today, and that makes this a story that deserves to be continued to be studied and to be enjoyed at the same time, and that point, thank goodness this audio commentary with James A. Ney comes to an end.
Special Feature: ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ Introduction by Martin Scorsese [2010] [1080p] [1.78:1] [3:31] With this featurette, we get to meet director Martin Scorsese and is here to talk about the 1957 Columbia Pictures ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ film and mentions the Belgium author Georges Simenon who wrote the novel The Brothers Rico and as Martine Scorsese talks some more, we get to view a few clips from the 1957 film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and of course talks the basic plot of the film where Eddie Rico no longer wants to be deeply involved with the general running of the Mafia and the mobsters and especially the insidious “Uncle” Sid Kubik played by Larry Gates, and at the same time is trying to help his two other Rico brothers to keep the out of trouble, but unfortunately things go from bad to worse and Martine Scorsese talks in general about other Mafia films of the same genre as this 1957 film, and feels this 1957 film could of cut even deeper if it had been filmed more photographically beautifully and also beautifully composed, and at that point this featurette with Martine Scorsese comes to an end.
Special Feature: A Bracing Brutality: Nick Pinkerton on director Phil Karlson [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1] [29:54] With this featurette, we get to hear from Author and Critic Nick Pinkerton considers the tough, no-nonsense cinema of director Phil Karlson and of course the 1967 Columbia Pictures film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and Nick Pinkerton goes into the history of the director and mentions that the director was not followed avidly and passionately like other very well-known directors by film students. Now Nick Pinkerton starts talking about how director Phil Karlson started out in 1944 in directing his first his first feature film with Columbia Pictures which was the comedy A WAVE, a WAC, and a Marine and the movies during the rest of the decade included the comedy G.I. Honeymoon [1945], the musical Swing Parade of 1946 [1946], and the westerns Adventures in Silverado and Thunderhoof (both 1948). Nick Pinkerton also says that Columbia Pictures liked the director Phil Karlson because he was very efficient when directing films and got the films done fast and especially reasonable competence. Nick Pinkerton now talks about a very important period for the director Phil Karlson was involved with The Kefauver Committee broadcast on television on the 5th January, 1950, where Senator Estes Kefauver introduced a Senate resolution calling for an investigation of organized crime on the 10th May, 1950, the freshman senator from Tennessee became chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, and the “crime committee was in business.” “By the time the probe was completed America knew that organized crime had become Big Business.” According to Estes Kefauver, the annual revenues of organized crime circa 1950 were estimated to be “$17 to 25 billion, almost as large as the annual appropriation for defence.” The reference to the US government because the precedent for the crime committee was the House Judiciary subcommittee that Estes Kefauver had chaired in 1945 as a congressman and that had discovered “links between the underworld and the judiciary.” A series of hearings held by a special U.S. Senate committee in 1950 and 1951 changed that perception. The hearings made it clear to a lot of people that there was a national Mob, and that it had a lot of power. Those hearings became known as the Kefauver Hearings after the committee’s chairman, Senator C. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Nick Pinkerton now talks about the Bracing Brutality in movies in the 1950’s period and especially films directed by Phil Karlson and of course mentions the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ which we get to view a few clips from and in the dictionary they say that Bracing Brutality is a “behaviour that is very cruel or violent and showing no feelings for others, or an act of this type: the brutalities of war is extreme cruelty, deliberate violent meanness.” But Nick Pinkerton also mentions other foremost films directed by Phil Karlson and they were Scandal Sheet [1952], 99 River Street [1953] and three 1955 films: Tight Spot; Five Against the House; and The Phenix City Story (in which the lead actor wore the actual clothes of the murder victim on whose story the film was based). As we get near to the end of this featurette, Nick Pinkerton mentions that the character Eddie Rico by the end of the film, he realises that he has been sticking up for the wrong people all along and on top of all that, Eddie Rico has been “played” for a ducker, and director Phil Karlson really shows this in a very professional way, in showing corporate crime on a grand scale with the Mafia with the period the film is set in that was so prevalent right across America in such a very big way, and the film captures the insidious way so perfectly and so well-articulated, and of course this is all down to one man, the brilliant director Phil Karlson. Finally, I could not wait to see the end credits to this featurette by Nick Pinkerton, because not only was he so totally boring, but did not help that he had such a horrible boring droning voice that drove me up the wall, and most of the time Nick Pinkerton just had a personality that was without any kind of emotion in the way he talked about the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ and of course the way he talked about the director was so none plus and so to sum this featurette, it was one of the worst special feature I had to endure for 29 minutes and 54 seconds.
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 36 wonderful dramatic 1080p black-and-white and colour publicity and promotional material related to the 1957 Columbia Pictures film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO.’ Please Note: To advance the images, you have to press the right hand NEXT button on your remote control. To EXIT this featurette, you have to press either MENU or TOP MENU on your remote control.
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1957] [1080i] [.78:1] [2:25] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE BROTHERS RICO.’
Special Feature: A Merry Mix-Up [1957] [1080p] [1.78:1] [15:55] With this featurette, we get to view The Three Stooges play three sets of brothers, there reunion causes and creates all manner of chaos, confusion, and violent misunderstandings.
Finally, ‘THE BROTHERS RICO’ [1957] was directed by Phil Karlson and the adapted screenplay was by Lewis Meltzer, Ben Perry and Dalton Trumbo from a story written by the Belgium author 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. Richard Conte does a great job as Eddie Rico, who trusts all the wrong people. This was his kind of role, playing the tough son of an immigrant, mixed up with the wrong people, but with a good heart. James Darren, now 67, hasn't changed much except in recent years he has let his hair go grey. Everyone is very good in this film, and as a point of interest, the woman playing Argentina Brunetti's mother was, in fact, her real-life mother. Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
