Ricco The Mean Machine

Ricco The Mean Machine offers an unusual variation on the Italian crime film(*). It's not as exciting or precision-crafted as its better-known brethren but it has other interesting attributes that make it worth a look to the Eurocult fan. Along the way, it delivers some eye-opening fun in its own funky style.

The story starts in bracing style with a prologue that depicts Ricco's father (Luis Induni) fighting off an ambush before being gruesomely dispatched with a bullet to the forehead. Cut to two years later: Ricco (Chris Mitchum) emerges from a two-year jail stint for attempting to avenge his father's death and finds the world around him has changed. His mother and sister have lost their former wealth and live a meager life in the sticks, his dads rival Don Vito (Arthur Kennedy) has taken over all his father's rackets and, worst of all, his former lover Rosa (Malisa Longo) has become Don Vito's moll.

It's the kind of situation that demands revenge - at least to everyone except Ricco. He regards his circumstances with a cool detachment, showing a cool defiance to those oppose him while he considers his options. Ricco soon finds allies in a sexy pickpocket named Scilla (Barbara Bouchet) and Cyrano (Eduardo Fajardo), a crook who used to work for his father, as he begins to develop a plan. Unfortunately for all involved, Don Vito wants things settled on his timetable and doesn't mind getting nasty about it. Thus, the stage is set for Ricco to fill his old man's shoes, whether he likes it or not.

Is Ricco The Mean Machine a slam-bang actioner in the grand poliziotteschi tradition? Not exactly. Like its main character, the film deals with things in its own style. It's got a solid pace and a diverting story but it doesn't deliver the emotional whallop of a Street Law or the visceral of rush of a film like Rome Armed To The Teeth. Ricco The Mean Machine is also a bit rough around the edges: Chris Mitchum makes a likeable lead but he's a bit unsteady in a few dramatic moments and there's also a fight scene that features some of the wonkiest martial arts choreography this side of a Rudy Ray Moore flick.

That said, Ricco The Mean Machine shouldn't be rejected over a few flaws. In fact, the film is fascinating because it replaces the usual angry cop or cynical crook hero one usually sees in these films with the kind of authority-rejecting free thinker one would expect from a post-Easy Rider counterculture film. Make no mistake, Ricco is tough enough to deal with the bad guys but he's likely to do it in a way that questions the whole enterprise or takes the piss out of their macho front. Thus, when circumstances force him to be a traditional hero later on, the change has an odd poignance to it - not to mention an effective bit of commentary on how the establishment can force non-conformists to 'play the game' against their will.

More importantly for fans of exploitation and Euro-sleaze, Ricco The Mean Machine delivers the goods. The writers and director Tulio Demicheli balance their desire to do things in a left-field style with an understanding of what the audience is watching for. Thus, the film is laced with fun sleaze - like a bit where Bouchet does a striptease to get a few of the Don's men out of a car - and some intense shocks, including some bloody shootouts, a few acid baths and a show-stopping, squirm-inducing bit of cuckold's justice dealt out to a henchman dumb enough to fool with the boss's girl. The resulting film has some unpredictable shifts of tone that give it that distinct Eurocult flavor.

Ricco The Mean Machine further benefits from a strong cast: Kennedy, sporting a sleazy mustache and dye job here, has fun with his coldly brutal mob-boss role and Fajardo (who some viewers might remember from Django) adds solid support as Ricco's business friend. Better yet, the film offers a trifecta of Eurocult lovelies: Bouchet is a charismatic (and occasionally nude) presence as Ricco's partner in crime, Longo is the picture of ice-queen beauty as the social-climbing ex and Paola Senatore adds some bonus eye-candy as Ricco's sex-crazed sis. Finally, Mitchum does a solid job despite the aforementioned bits of underacting: his cool, withholding presence perfectly fits the ambivalence of the character.

The final piece of the puzzle is Demichelli's direction, which lends a comfortably Italo-exploitation style to the material without ever calling attention to itself. He pushes the film's complex mix of sleaze and unexpected messages along at a confident pace, with nice support from Francisco Fraile's sharp cinematography and a deliciously lounge-y score by Nando DeLuca. In short, Ricco The Mean Machine is a worthwhile addition to the Italian crime genre and adds enough wrinkles to the formula to intrigue Eurocult fans new and old.

(*) this is actually a Spanish/Italian coproduction, but the cast, score and direction give it an unmistakably Italian feel.

(Trivia Note: in the U.S., Ricco The Mean Machine received a notorious release under the title Cauldron Of Death. This retitling's misleading publicity campaign was designed to make it look like a horror flick, complete with nasty poster art of a woman half-melted in an acid vat. The culprit behind these shenanigans was Edward 'Big Ed' Montoro, who also gave us flicks like Grizzly, The Dark, Great White and Beyond The Door through his distribution company, Film Ventures.)

Video	3.5/5

Audio	3.5/5

Extras	3.5/5

Overall	3.5/5