Ricco (1973)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Tulio Demicheli

Writers:

José Gutiérrez Maesso (screenplay)
José Gutiérrez Maesso (story)
(more)

Release Date:

April 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Pray it doesn't happen to you!

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Female Nudity | Rape | Female To Male Foot In Crotch | Sex

Cast

Christopher Mitchum	...	Ricco Aversi
Barbara Bouchet	...	Scilla
Malisa Longo	...	Rosa
Eduardo Fajardo	...	Cyrano
Manuel Zarzo	...	Tony
José María Caffarel	...	The Marsigliese
Ángel Álvarez	...	Giuseppe Calogero
Arthur Kennedy	...	Don Vito
Paola Senatore	...	Concetta Aversi
Luis Induni	...	Ricco's father
Tomás Blanco
Víctor Israel	...	Checana, the nightclub owner
José Canalejas
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	Concetta's husband
Rina Franchetti	...	Ricco's mother
Goyo Lebrero
Antonio Mayans	...	Nightclub bartender (as Juan Antonio Mayans)
Lorenzo Robledo
Domenico Maggio
Andrea Scotti	...	Policeman
Carla Mancini
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sergio Testori	...	Don Vito's Assassin (uncredited)

Directed by
Tulio Demicheli

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mario di Nardo		screenplay
Mario di Nardo		story
José Gutiérrez Maesso		screenplay (as José G. Maesso)
José Gutiérrez Maesso		story (as José G. Maesso)
Santiago Moncada		screenplay
Santiago Moncada		story

Produced by
Edward L. Montoro	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nando De Luca

Cinematography by
Francisco Fraile

Film Editing by
Ángel Serrano

Production Management
Faustino Ocaña	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Félix Fernández	....	assistant director

Other crew
Olga Moller	....	script girl

Production Companies

• B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l.
• Tecisa

Distributors

• Film Ventures International (FVI) (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Alpha Video Distributors (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Dark Sky Films (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Ajuste de cuentas (Spain)
Cauldron of Death
Gangland (USA) (video title)
Mean Machine
Ricco (USA)
Ricco the Mean Machine (USA) (DVD title)
The Dirty Mob
Un tipo con una faccia strana ti cerca per ucciderti (Italy)

Runtime:

Italy:83 min | USA:89 min | West Germany:91 min

Country:

Italy | Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (cut) | USA:R (cut) | UK:X (cut)

Company:

B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Exterminator (1980)

Looks a little Lean... to be too Mean.

Whoo-hoo, what a film! This film is lots of fun. Of course not in the masterpiece kind of way. Tulio Demicheli's "The Mean Machine" is a pretty bad flick indeedy. But it's such a perfect example of Euro-Trash, that I felt someone had to mention it. First off, it has Christopher Mitchum (where else can an a major actor's son find work? In Italy of course!) giving such a wooden performance, that my roomate mearly rolled his eyes, snickered, and walked out of the room shaking his head (c'mon Tony, you know you did). Christopher with his Dad's droopy eyes just stares off with that same blank expression through out the entire film. Of course he must have known it was a pretty bad script, so I won't fault him too much (I haven't seen his other artistic efforts). But it really cracked me up that on the video box there was this drawing of him looking handsome and muscular, which he definately is not. He was pretty wimpy looking, and evertime he tried to give a macho pose, or flex his authority, I nearly laughed myself silly. Though I excuse all of this, because the real reason I rented this flick was because of the wonderful and beautiful Barbara Bouchet! And this film delivers! She does this great little strip dance in front of these gangsters in a car, right before Chris (Rico the "Mean Machine") throws them into a lake! It's so funny, that Italy will take any oppertunity they can to show off Barbara's attributes. Of course it gratuitous, but it's just too much fun! And of course even after the big ambush, Chris looks to Barbara and she's still has no clothes on. She's having a good time tackling gangsters in the nude! Well, at least Barbara looks to be having fun. Another Euro-babe favourite Malisa Longo (as Chris' ex-girlfriend)also likes to spend her time flirting with Bodygaurds and sitting around in the buff. But unfortunately she meets with a very grizzly end, and becomes the film's sacrificial lamb (what else was gonna come of her character? Chris Mitchum was now with Barbara Bouchet.) in a tub of Acid! This film contains all the unnecessary violence (gory stuff as well), nudity (lots of it), macho posturing (Chris' Ricco is not opposed to giving a lady a smack if she's not behaving), and crummy acting that 70's Italian cinema is so famous for. Would I recommend it? Hardly! Did I laugh my fool head off? Yep! After this review, I'll let the reader make their own call. Barbara Bouchet is amazing!