Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Dean "Dino" Martin in his last staring role is San Francisco attorney for the hopeless and downtrodden Joe Ricco who ends up getting involved in a double murder of two SFPD police officers by a former client of his black militant Frankie Steele, Thalmus Rusulala, that he earlier got off on a murder charge. Steele claiming innocence is on on the run and later tracked down at his headquarters in the Haven's Point district.That leads to a shoot out with Steele's friend Calvin Mapes, Oliver Givens, gunned down by policeman Tanner, Michael Gregory, as he was peacefully taking a dump in the john. Ricco who's not only hated by the police in letting the cop killer Frankie Steele go free in a previous case Steele's alleged victim Marie Justin's brother Justin, Robert Sampson, also has it in for Ricco in feeling that Steele murdered his sister Marie that he got off Scot-free on a technicality!Ricco who himself has become a target of the elusive cop killer in him trying to get Steele-The #1 suspect in the cops murder- to surrender himself to the police who's confronted by him at a local church who in the heat of the moment admits that he in fact did murder Marie Justin! That's after her catching him red-handed breaking into her apartment! That has Ricco flip out and slug it out with the much younger and stronger Steele that has him barley survive with his life. Now feeling that he let a murderer off the hook Ricco tries to apologize to Mr. Rustin who lets him have it in what a creep he is in him, a big shot lawyer, not realizing that his client was guilty!***SPOILERS*** It's at a party at the San Francisco Art Museum that the man who's been stalking Ricco all throughout the movie makes his grand appearance taking a number of pot shots at Ricco and hitting one of the visitors as well as tree security guards at the museum killing them. With Mister Ricco now taking it upon himself to catch the killer he ends up in a wild gun battle thus, after being hit himself, taking him down only to discover his true identity that shocks the living hell out of him! Not your usual Dean Martin movie but far better the the light comedies and self engaging drama he made throughout his long and successful career that showed that Martin can really act as well as sing and dance. P.S After the tragic death of son Dean Paul in a 1987 plane crash Dean Martin stayed away from the spotlight and became a virtual hermit living on a daily plate of pasta and a bottle of whiskey until he passed away on Christmas day 1995.

bkoganbing It's possible that Dean Martin might have taken the title role in Mr. Ricco because every player likes doing a courtroom drama and Mr. Ricco is a high priced San Francisco defense attorney. But other than the very beginning when Judge Harry Wingreen dismisses with prejudice the charge of murder against Dino's client Thalmus Rasulala we don't see a courtroom again.Right after that a rash of killings start breaking out and there is an attempt in fact a couple of attempts on Martin's life. Eyewitnesses identify the sniper with a rifle as Martin's own client. That doesn't make sense to Martin, why would the man he just got off be trying to kill him? But somebody is certainly using him for target practice.Dino looks pretty bored with the whole business, he's got an air of disinterestedness throughout the film. According to Nick Tosches's fine biography of Dean Martin, his co-star Thalmus Rasulala said he never was able to connect with him on any level during the production of Mr. Ricco. At the time Martin was going through a lot financial and romantic entanglements and the film was clearly one he did for the money.Geraldine Brooks plays a woman who Dean's friends try to fix up with and Cindy Williams plays a girl Friday assistant. Mr. Ricco has the look and feel of a television pilot and Dino had shown some spark might have been picked up as a series.As it is he saunters through the film like it was his nightclub act in Vegas.

the_great Dean Martin's final lead role has somehow managed to slip under the radar of his fans and 70s crime thriller aficionados. Watching this, I expected to find some critical flaw that accounts for it, but found none. Maybe playing against genre expectations hurt the reception. To me that is not a flaw.Like others have said, this is a very 70s movie. This time the renegade is not a cop but a defense lawyer. Cop is not the law, he's there to enforce it, is the running theme. There are delightful gags involving Ricco's dog that could be from Columbo, and Dino makes fun of his own golf playing. Cindy Williams plays a spunky aid that Ricco tries to help find a man. Philip Michael Thomas of Miami Vice fame has a memorable early performance.Inspite of the mellow insider group, pay attention to the case. The action is on the streets. Not much happens inside a courtroom. You may think you are about to see an open and shut case, but there are twists and turns. There are clues as well. To avoid spoilers, avoid Robert Ebert's review that misses the point.

Marco Trevisiol In its opening scenes and setup, this film had several enjoyable and potentially interesting aspects to it. Dean Martin as Ricco had a pleasing understated realism in his performance, a million miles away from the plastic phoniness of his Matt Helm persona.Even the small roles were acted well - ranging from Geraldine Brooks as the woman Martin hooks up with Ricco to Ella Edwards as Sally (who informs Ricco that her son was a witness to the killing of the two cops) who gives such a nice performance that its a shame we don't see her character again later in the film.Also the plot, while nothing astonishing, has enough potential and variables in it to keep us interested to the end. In addition, the music added nicely to the atmosphere.So why does the film end up as nothing better then mediocre? Because it really loses its way in the second half. Not only because the plot takes some ludicrous turns (more on that later) but of Ricco resorting to fighting with admittedly disreputable characters on more then one occasion. It's bad not only because Martin is too old for the physical stuff but it seems so out of character for the intelligent and considered person Martin portrays Ricco to be earlier in the film. The almost comical fight Ricco has with Frankie Steele is the film's lowpoint and when it descends from a potentially top-quality crime film to a mediocre TV-standard crime drama lazily resorting to violence as a resolution to scenes.(SPOILER) But it's the plot and its resolution that really let down this film. Roger Ebert's review (available in the External reviews section) is spot on - who the killer actually is is so arbitrary (not to mention unbelievable) that it makes a large portion of the film redundant.The killer is actually the brother of the woman murdered by Frankie Steele that Ricco got off the murder rap on technical grounds at the start of the film. There's a scene with the killer in the film but his appearance is so brief that when his mask is taken off some might not even recall who he actually is.It's a watchable film but it could've been so much better.