The Brothers Rico Reviews

Conte is a businessman whose brothers are in the rackets. When he hears that rival gangsters have marked them for extinction, he begins searching for them. He finds brother Picerni, then learns that not rival gangsters but the syndicate boss himself, Gates, has ordered their deaths. It was Gates who tipped Conte about the danger awaiting his brothers. Now Conte realizes that he has been used, that Gates's goons have followed him in the hopes of tracking down Picerni, whom they later kill, and the younger brother Darren. Conte, in the kind of resignation that typified the 1950s belief that the syndicate was all-powerful, concludes that his brothers cannot be saved from a fate they more or less deserve (they have murdered one of their own and absconded with the funds); he returns to his family to keep his mouth and eyes shut. This is a brutal film that offers no hope of ever dismantling an omnipotent crime cartel. Conte's performance is tension-packed and carries an otherwise depressing film, though it is expertly constructed and paced by veteran film noir director Karlson.