The Brothers Rico (1957)

Directed by Phil Karlson; produced by William Goetz and Lewis J Rachmil

Eddie Rico (Richard Conte) has a good life: a beautiful and loving wife (Dianne Foster), a successful business, and an adoptive child on the way. Then he receives a summons from an old acquaintance, a crime boss (Larry Gates), who is looking for Eddie’s brothers, Gino (Paul Picerni) and Johnny (James Darren): they had fallen much deeper into the Mob than Eddie ever had, and now, after an assassination, were on the run. Loyalties will be tested, and Eddie will find out what family – and not just his – means.

Adapted from a story by Georges Simenon, The Brothers Rico is a pretty straightforward tale of trust and betrayal, but well-told and well-directed. The script is good in that it creates suspense from the inevitable; it makes the viewer hope against hope that an outcome will be different than expected.

The bulk of the movie features Eddie’s cross-country search for his brothers, gone to ground after a murder for which they think they will be the scapegoats. The omnipresence of the Mob seems a bit exaggerated, but nonetheless is an element in the successful generation of suspense. The weakest link is the last: the ending seems rather too easy, too simple. But, while this is a disappointment, it is likely to disappoint writers, rather than viewers.

The acting is good. Conte is always strong when thrown into sudden family turmoil, and his anguish when he learns who he shouldn’t have trusted is credible, even though most viewers will regard him as a fool for his blind faith. (Such blindness is realistic, as well, and a reason why criminals and dictators get away with their actions.) Gates does is fine as the smooth and friendly crime czar, and a very young James Darren is convincing as a man who knows his desperate situation. As an interesting note, the brothers’ mother is portrayed by Argentina Brunetti, while her character’s mother is played by her own real-life mother, Mimi Aguglia, the daughter of a famous actress herself.

While The Brothers Rico is neither very imaginative nor original, it benefits from a cast and crew who are good at their jobs, and who show how to devise a small but entertaining film from less than promising material.