Rico brothers

Eddie Rico ( Richard Conte ) worked as an accountant for a major crime syndicate for many years, then stepped out of the criminal business and has owned a successful laundry company in Bay Shore, Florida for the past three years. One day in the middle of the night, Phil ( Paul Dubov ), an approximate syndicate leader Sid Kyubik ( Larry Gates ), calls him to ask him to hire a young mafia Joe Wesson ( William Phipps ). This call is of serious concern to Alice ( Diane Foster ), Eddie's loving and beloved wife, who fears that he will again be dragged into the affairs of the syndicate, and this may disrupt their child adoption plans. However, Eddie reassures his wife that everything will be fine. Nevertheless, in the morning a letter arrives from Eddie’s mother, informing that his two brothers - the middle Gino ( Paul Pickerny ) and the youngest Johnny ( James Darren ) - left somewhere, and for about two months there has been no news from them. On the way to work, Eddie sees Gino asking him to leave for a quiet place for a confidential conversation. Gino, who was previously involved in debt syndication in a syndicate, said that some time ago he was "promoted" to the position of hitman. A few months ago, he participated in the sensational assassination of Carmini, and Johnny was in this business as a driver. After the disappearance, Johnny Gino felt that his attitude towards him had changed. The other day he was ordered to arrive in St. Louis , and Joe Wesson from Kansas City was called to his place in New York. Gino fears that the syndicate has decided to deal with him, and asks Eddie to help him flee abroad. However, Eddie is sure that no one will touch Gino, convincing his brother to go to St. Louis, and gives him money. In the afternoon, Phil calls Eddie to work, saying that Kubik is flying from New York to Miami and wants to meet him immediately. Despite the sharp resistance of his wife, who objects to the fact that he will miss an interview at the orphanage, Eddie immediately flies to Miami. In his posh hotel room, Kyubik asks Eddie to contact him, as before, "Uncle Sid." He accepts Eddie as a close person, assuring him that the Rico family is almost family for him. He apologizes for Phil's request to hire Wesson, promising to fix it, and also congratulates Eddie on the upcoming adoption. Kyubik goes on to say that Johnny, who married two years ago, was involved in the assassination of Carmini. After this murder, Johnny contacted his wife’s brother Peter Malaks ( Lamont Johnson ), who, according to Kubik, met with the assistant district attorney to find out what would happen to the person involved in the serious crime if he told the authorities. After that, according to Kubik, Johnny hid in an unknown direction, and very influential people fear about his possible actions. The criminal boss wants to immediately find Johnny to save him from murder, sending him to Cuba for several years, where he will be safe. At parting, Kubik says that he will forever be indebted to the Rico family, since Mrs. Rico slept his life many years ago. Having supplied him with money and all the data on Malax, Kyubik escorts Eddie to the door, after which he enters one of the hotel rooms, where Gino is brutally tortured under the direction of Phil. Arriving in New York, Eddie finds Malax, who, knowing about the connection of the Rico family with the syndicate, categorically refuses to have anything to do with Eddie, claiming that he never approved of the sister's relationship with Johnny. In the evening, Eddie arrives at Rico's pastry shop, where his mother greets him joyfully, limping Mrs. Rico (Argentina Brunetti), who was once shot in the leg when she covered Kyubik. However, now she does not trust Kyubik, and, knowing that Eddie is acting on his instructions, she does not want to tell her son where Johnny might be. However, when Eddie warns that they could kill Johnny because of her, she cannot stand it and reports that Johnny last wrote to her from El Camino, California , from a farm owned by Marco Felici. Eddie takes the ticket for the next ticket to El Camino, not suspecting that he is being followed along the way.

Staying at the central hotel of El Camino, Eddie finds the address of the Felici farm in the directory and immediately goes there. Eddie meets the landlady with her daughter, as well as the pregnant wife Johnny named Nora ( Catherine Crosby ), who is extremely scared of his appearance. Johnny, who appeared soon, happily hugs Eddie, after which the older brother convinces the younger brother to leave the country as soon as possible, since he is in real danger. However, Johnny no longer believes Kyubik and does not want to follow his instructions. He further claims that he left the syndicate because he wants his future son to grow up clean and not know the criminal life. From the experiences of Nora, she faints, after which the angry Johnny asks Eddie to leave. Returning to the hotel, Eddie meets in his room the head of the local syndicate organization Mike Lamotta ( Harry Bellaver ), who expressly declares that Kubik ordered Johnny to be killed, and despite his personal feelings, he cannot disobey this order. After that, Eddie finally realizes that Kyuubik just used him to find Johnny, which became a severe nervous shock for him. Kyubik tries to persuade Lamotta not to kill Johnny, but he assures that if he does not, then Johnny will still be found and killed, and he, like Eddie, will only get worse, because in this case they will be killed too. Mike dials Johnny and asks Eddie to convince his brother to leave the house and get into the car waiting for him. Taking the phone, Eddie hears the joyful voice of Johnny, which reports that Nora has just given birth to a boy whom they decided to name in honor of their father. Unable to cope with emotions, Eddie screams into Johnny’s pipe to run immediately, and at that moment receives a blow to the head, from which he faints. The phone is picked up by Lamotte, who in a calm voice asks Johnny to quietly leave the house, and then he promises that neither Nora nor the child will be hurt. Johnny fulfills Lamont's request and is killed.

After that, Lamotta sends Eddie back to New York under the supervision of his assistant Gonzales ( Rudi Bond ), from whom he learns that the syndicate killed Gino. During a transplant in Phoenix , in the toilet, Eddie cracked down on Gonzalez and took his weapon. Then he calls Alice, demanding that she take all the money from home, and, without attracting attention, immediately flew to New York. When Kyubik finds out that Eddie has escaped, he promises that he will deal with Lamotta, after which he instructs Phil to organize a large-scale search for Eddie. However, Eddie on a messenger gets to New York, where she meets with Alice at a designated hotel. He tells his wife that he considers himself guilty of the death of his brothers, and now he sees no other way out for himself how to deal with the syndicate to the end. Eddie again meets with Malax, who is convinced that he has entered the fight against the syndicate, and asks him to arrange a meeting with the district attorney, as well as help send Alice out of the country. The next morning, Eddie arrives at the bank, where he takes all his money from the cell, which he puts in three envelopes. After leaving the bank, Eddie gives one envelope to Malax with a request to hand it over to his son Johnny. He gives the second envelope to Alice, and she, accompanied by Malax, leaves for the airport. Eddie takes the third envelope in the evening to Mama Rico. Mom is in despair after the death of two sons, asking why she should live now. In response, Eddie tells her about the newborn son Johnny, who, he hopes, will be able to live without fear, as a worthy person. At this moment, the Kyubik appears to the apartment, accompanied by Phil, who is holding a gun in his hands. Mom Rico furiously pounced on the mafia leader, calling the animals. While Phil pushes her away, Eddie grabs his own gun and first kills Phil and then Kyubika, while he himself is injured. Some time later, newspapers published a report that, using the testimony of Eddie, the district attorney was able to defeat the criminal syndicate. After completing the case with a letter of recommendation from the district attorney, Eddie and Alice are sent to the orphanage to adopt the child.

More than three hundred films and television series, including 71 feature films, including “ Night at the Crossroads ” (1932), “ Panic ” (1946), “ Megret Places Networks ” (1958), “were put on the works of the famous Belgian detective author Georges Simenon. The Cat ”(1971),“ Watchmaker from Saint-Paul ”(1974),“ The Hatter ’s Ghosts ”(1982),“ Monsieur Ir ”(1989),“ Red Lights ”(2004) and“ The Man from London ”(2007) ^{[ 3]} .

As movie historian Richard Harland Smith writes, “since 1952, director Phil Carlson has created an impressive series of crime and gangster films,” including The Scandalous Chronicle (1952), The Secrets of Kansas City (1952), and 99 River Street ”(1953),“ Five against the casino ”(1955),“ Bottleneck ”(1955),“ History in Phoenix City ”(1955) and“ The Rico Brothers ”(1957) ^[4] .

Richard Conte during his career played in nineteen films noir, among them “ Call Northside 777 ” (1948), “ Crying Big City ” (1948), “ Thieves Highway ” (1949), “ House of Strangers ” (1949), “ Under the gun "(1951)," Blue Gardenia "(1953)," Grand Ensemble "(1955) and" Secrets of New York "(1955). The film “The Rico Brothers” (1957) was the last noir in the career of Conte ^[5] .

Recognized cameraman Burnett Guffy was nominated for a Golden Globe for the film “ All the Royal Army ” (1949), twice won an Oscar for the films “ From Now and Forever ” (1953) and “ Bonnie and Clyde ” (1967), and three more times was nominated for an Oscar for the films “ The heavier the fall ” (1956), “The Birds of Alcatraz ” (1962) and “The Rat King ” (1965) ^{[6] [2]} .

As movie historian Jeff Mayer notes, unlike most 1940s noir films, which were mostly “permeated with the theme of personal suffering,” this film “thematically relies on the social context of the 1950s,” when the movie began to talk about as "nationwide crime syndicates operated in America" ^[7] . According to Smith, “Hollywood quickly decided to make some money on the growing public interest in organized crime, shifting its focus from atmospheric noir films of the post-war era to fact-based (or at least fact-like) stories about corruption as above so below. " The first release of a large studio on this subject was the film “The Enforcing Law ” (1951) of Warner Bros. with Humphrey Bogart , where "the producers exploited the relevance of the topic to the fullest, including the opening remarks of Senator Estes Kefover, " who led a large-scale investigation of the activities of nationwide crime syndicates in 1950-51. For a decade, such films as “ Mafia ” (1951), “ Racket ” (1951), “ Gangster Empire ” (1952), “ Great Heat ” (1953), “ System ” (1953), “ In the Port ” carried the banner of relevance "(1954)," Chicago Syndicate "(1955)," Massacre on Tenth Avenue "(1957)," Textile Jungle "(1957) and" The Underworld of the USA "(1961) ^[4] .

As Hal Erickson points out, “the film is based on the novel by the French detective author Georges Simenon” ^[8] . The novel was first published in the United States in 1954 under the title “The Rico Brothers” in a collection of three works by Georges Simenon under the general title “Tide Wave” ^[1] .

According to the American Film Institute , in September 1954, the right to stage a film from this book, which became a bestseller, was acquired by the production company William Goetz Productions ^[1] .

In July 1955, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Humphrey Bogart was originally planned for the lead role, the failure of which led to the suspension of the production of the film. Robert Parrish was approved as a director, but he was forced to leave the project because of his earlier commitments ^[1] .

Overall rating of the film

After the film was released, Variety magazine drew attention to the "hard action" created by director Phil Carlson ^[9] . Significant attention was paid to the film by modern film experts. In particular, in 1992, Karl Machek wrote: “Using the material of the French detective author Georges Simenon, Carlson creates this thriller, deeply rooted in the post-noir style of police thrillers, such as“ Ruler ”and“ History in Phoenix City, ” which skillfully filed violence and the gloomy atmosphere of the films of the previous decade transformed into paintings with a deliberate emphasis on brutal violence and a boring, inexpressive visual style ” ^[10] . According to Maciek, the picture is related to the noir genre only by “feelings of hopelessness and inability to change anything,” however, in the end, “The Rico Brothers” is “a simple thriller that offers very little noir atmosphere. Built around archaic rules and minor events ”, the film becomes a vivid testimony of the“ decline of the noir genre in the 1950s ” ^[10] . Hal Erickson agrees with him, who calls the picture “an interesting thriller deeply rooted in the post-noir style of police thrillers with an excessive emphasis on brutal cruelty and a boring, almost flat visual style. In fact, this is a simple thriller in which there is no genuine noir environment ” ^[8] . According to Denis Schwartz, Carlson staged this “well-played by the actors, but too talkative, topical, gloomy, fatalistic film noir”, in which “the action comes only in the last twenty minutes, and the crime drama comes to life after too long an introduction.” The critic believes that this "moderate thriller lacks a noir environment, but manages to reflect the change in passive mood in the 1950s, raising to the surface that latent anger that has long been hidden by those respectable citizens who refused to see or think about evil guys in power " ^[2] . Michael Keeney believes that in the film “little action, but Conte is different as always” ^[11] .

Glenn Erickson believes that "if you cut off the last two minutes of the film, then he would be a prophetic masterpiece of modern paranoia." Further, the critic writes: “With resources not exceeding the average television show, director Phil Carlson turns the thriller of George Simenon into a vision of the underworld as an inhuman, all-pervasive social monster.” He shows, “how our benign, superficial world of the 1950s is completely unaware of the“ criminal empire ”located beneath it in the spirit of Mabuse , which does not respect any human values. Up to Francis Coppola 's gorgeous films about the Godfather, American films did not show with such power the degeneration of a criminal structure with traditional personal connections into an impersonal corporation ” ^[8] .

According to Michael Mayer, this film occupies an important place in the noir genre due to “a sense of helplessness of the person in the face of pervasive corporate corruption. Only a superficial ending, different from Simenon’s novel, weakens this film ” ^[12] . Mayer draws attention to the fact that Eddie’s suffering “takes the film away from the melodrama, which serves as the usual dramatic basis for noir films, in the direction of tragedy, and Richard Conte, in the role of a tormented brother, gives his best acting game, tangibly conveying the torment” of his hero ^{[7 ]} . On the other hand, “an extraordinary amount of time for a gangster movie was devoted to the initial episodes, showing in detail Eddie’s wife and her need for adopting a child. These home scenes involving husband and wife provide an unusual film noir orientation, introducing into it a positive idea of ​​family unity ” ^[12] .

The image of the mafia in the movie

According to Glenn Erickson, “if you do not take into account the absurdly joyful epilogue, the film looks even more adequate to the present than 1957. The mafia in it acts as a more or less modern corporation, which is independent of any serious government control, and its only goal is to make money. ” The organization “constantly establishes a strict internal hierarchy”, its members “do not have the right to talk about the“ business of the company ”and will come under suspicion if they do not demonstrate complete subordination to its policy. The only difference is that the mafia’s employees cannot quit ” ^[13] . As for the Rico brothers, they, according to Erickson, “are not innocent people, but they formed as part of the old mafia, which relied on loyal family ties. However, the “new” mafia does not value human relations. Absolute loyalty is required from its members, and each subordinate is a spending pawn. Personal freedom is impossible, since the mafia keeps its people under tight control ” ^[13] .

According to film historian noir Andrew Dicos, this film "made an important contribution to the genre of the revealing film noir, showing a change in the relationship in criminal management." If in the recent past personal relations were maintained at least formally, in the new conditions “a criminal enterprise has dehumanized its activities so much that it canceled all previous family loyalty” ^[14] . Carlson presents the viewer with a “cold, heartless, and possibly more cruel world where people finally become consumables.” Further, Dicos writes: “Carlson shows us, both in this and in his other revealing films, the noir landscape of organized crime in post-war American society, where the distinction between good and evil has been erased. And he shows us the disorientation of his characters, whose noir misfortune lies in the fact that they are forced to return to the sins of their past at a time when they are trying to escape from them into an uncertain future ” ^[15] .

Evaluation of the work of the director and creative team

As Smith notes, “screenwriters Lewis Meltzer and Ben Perry (with the help of Dalton Trumbo , who was blacklisted at the time and therefore not indicated on the credits), depart from the gloomy ending of Simenon, where the hero surrenders and accepts the fact that the Rico brothers got what they deserve. " In the film, Eddie forces the boss and godfather to pay for his crimes in the shootout, which takes place "in the claustrophobic cramped confectionery in Little Italy" ^[4] . According to Smith, "for the first film adaptation of this novel by Simenon, Carlson and cameraman Guffy take a uniform, prosaic approach to presenting the story." At the same time, “until the last act of the film, Carlson avoids screen violence, mainly to emphasize the routine of the crimes of the modern syndicate (personified in the good-natured uncle Kyubika), as well as the psychological consequences for the cornered Eddie, who is ultimately unable to save his brothers from their tragic fate ” ^[4] .

Meyer emphasizes that the painting "demonstrates the stylistic and thematic consolidation of the trend in the film noir genre, which dominated the 1950s. In terms of style, this picture, like most other films of the 1950s, rarely uses spectacular expressionist techniques, especially in terms of lighting solutions, which they loved to use in many films of the 1940s. ” According to Mayer, due to the purely functional nature of the shooting, “visually the film is not much different from the average television series of the late 1950s” ^[7] . And although "in terms of subject matter, he shares the concern of other films of the 1950s with the activities of nationwide crime syndicates," nevertheless, "this is a fairly restrained film with a small amount of violence typical of Carlson. Even the murder of Johnny by the mafia takes place behind the screen, and Carlson prefers to show only how it affected Eddie ” ^[12] .

Andrew Dicos notes that “the film uses full-scale shooting in Miami and New York, and the noir camera work is more visible here than in other syndicate-revealing films of the 1950s,” in particular, in the scene when gangsters drive Johnny into death trap, "close-up shows all the horror that reflected on his sweaty face." The contrasting effect of this scene is contrasted with the brightly lit modernist décor of the house of Eddie and his wife, as well as the luxurious Kyubik in the hotel. At the same time, they are in sharp contrast with Mama Rico’s apartment, located behind her confectionery in Little Italy, where she trembles over her new “ice box” from Eddie, and Grandma admires the new TV " ^[14] .

Schwartz believes that the film “suffers from a boring visual style (uninteresting, reminiscent of television, pictures), from the unconditional belief in the Eisenhower era that the law is beyond suspicion, and that violence is so cruel” ^[2] . Glenn Erickson notes that “to the end, this intimidating film does not show any excessive violence: the implied threats are enough for him.” The critic also draws attention to the “pure minimalist work” of production designer Robert Boyle, calling it “minimalism in the best sense of the word” ^[13] .

Actor rating

Variety Magazine Evaluates "The Game of All Actors as First-Class." According to the magazine, Conte is especially distinguished as a person who “loses his last illusions when he learns that the head of the syndicate, whom he perceived as a close family member, orders his brother to be executed. Both ladies have relatively little work to do. However, both Diane Crosby as Conte’s wife and Catherine Grant as his brother’s wife are played in such a way that you pay attention to their work. Larry Gates in the role of the head of the gang is achieving unconditional success, and James Darren is good in the role of the younger brother ” ^[9] .

According to Maciek, “Conte provides the only connection with the noir model that developed in the 1940s. In this film, he seems to create the image of a man who is one step behind society. His senseless search and inability to control events was atypical for the heroes of the late 1950s ” ^[10] . Schwartz also notes that “Conte’s significant screen presence, which opposes external dark forces, gives the film a noir appearance. His hero is bewildered and unable to save his brothers from ruthless gangsters, whom he has ceased to understand ” ^[2] . Glenn Erickson believes that “Conte is ideal as a cog from the old mafia, who believes that the mafia will allow him to live a free and legitimate life” ^[13] , and Hal Erickson highly appreciates “Conte’s strong play as a person who doesn’t go keeping up with the rest of society, ”while noting that his game“ is lost in this essentially simple thriller ” ^[8] .

Mayer also draws attention to the game of Larry Gates , which shows "the evolution in the image of a Hollywood gangster from a bandit from a working environment to a sleek, seemingly harmless corporate manager" ^[12] .

• Alain Silver (Editor), Elizabeth Ward (Editor). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition . - Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, 1992 .-- ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 .
• Michael F. Keaney. Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940–1959 . - Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003. - ISBN 978-0-7864-1547-2 .
• Geoff Mayer and Brian McDonnell. Encyclopedia of Film Noir . - Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007 .-- ISBN 978-0-3133-3306-4 .
• Andrew Dickos. Street With No Name: A History of the Classic American Film Noir . - Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. - ISBN 978-0-8131-2243-4 .

• Rico Brothers at IMDb  
• Rico Brothers at Allmovie  
• Rico Brothers at the American Film Institute website
• Rico Brothers at Turner Classic Movies