I watched The Brothers Rico on TCM recently. From early on, specifically when Eddie Rico (Richard Conte) playfully tried to pull his wife into the shower with him it came across as a fairly contemporary movie. The bad guys who reenter the life of ex-gangster Eddie were not those Cagney-like fast-talking crooks that were seen in early 30s gangster films. These guys had a modern look to them in that they were cool and calm. When Eddie's brothers tried to exit mob life, they were ticketed for execution by the mob boss. One of the brothers was a new father.
With minutes left in the movie, mob kingpin (well played by Larry Gates) and Eddie meet. There is a shoot-out. Eddie is wounded but the mob boss gets his full comeuppance. Apparently there was no second-in-command or any thought of gangland retaliation because the last scene has Eddie, fully recovered from the bullet wound, and his wife happily entering an orphanage to adopt a child, something the couple were seen planning in the movie's first reel.
If the movie had a better ending free of Hollywood sugar, I would have given The Brothers Rico a solid 7. Apparently that was not in the cards, at least not in 1957. Still, not a bad film noir.
With minutes left in the movie, mob kingpin (well played by Larry Gates) and Eddie meet. There is a shoot-out. Eddie is wounded but the mob boss gets his full comeuppance. Apparently there was no second-in-command or any thought of gangland retaliation because the last scene has Eddie, fully recovered from the bullet wound, and his wife happily entering an orphanage to adopt a child, something the couple were seen planning in the movie's first reel.
If the movie had a better ending free of Hollywood sugar, I would have given The Brothers Rico a solid 7. Apparently that was not in the cards, at least not in 1957. Still, not a bad film noir.