Ricco the Mean Machine

And those two reasons are Barbara Bouchet and Malisa Longo. They both look incredible in the 70`s clothing when they are dressed, and even more intoxicating when they aren`t, which is a fair amount of their screen time. Barbara does an irresistable, iconic striptease at one point, worthy of watching for this scene alone, and Malisa looks scrumptiously shagadelic with a great tan and see-through lingerie while seducing the crimelord`s hired gorilla. Otherwise, this flick`s a joke - Chris Mitchum looks just like his dad, but posesses none of his acting ability, and fights like a girl. He`s tedious to watch, and if your leading man`s no good, and has the machismo of Liberace, you`re done right there. The rest of the cast is inept as well, and the dubbing makes it even painful at points. But we do have acid baths, rifle-butt dentistry and switchblade castrations to look forward to, for the crimedrama gorehounds. Me? I already gave my two stars for the only redeeming reasons to watch - Barbara and Malisa, otherwise this machine grinds to a squeaky halt.

Director Tulio Demicheli's 'RICCO THE MEAN MACHINE' gets a first class release from Dark Sky Films. I first saw this film badly edited about 20 years back but it still retained power and now , this transfer brings it on in all of its blood soaked glory. American actor Christopher Mitchum (son of Robert) plays the title character who is released from prison for a frameup committed by Mafioso capo Arthur Kennedy in an over the top saliva spewing performance. Revenge is on his mind because Kennedy also stole Ricco's girlfriend played by the stunning Malisa Longo and after you see her, you'll know why Ricco is pissed. Meeting up with a beautiful con artist played by another gorgeous babe, Barbara Bouchet, he plans on taking down the entire syndicate. The film reeks of sleeze and is incredibly nasty in the violence department including an extremely graphic castration scene so it's a relief when you see the eye candy supplied by the female cast. Bouchet was a staple in Euro cinema at the time and also like actress Raquel Welch was never used properly for her acting abilities, however , she has a great nude dance on top of a cars engine hood which gives a new definition to the term Lap Dance. Demichelli keeps things moving at breath taking speed making this one of my favorite guilty pleasures. The transfer is fine in a clean 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and is totally uncut. Highly recommended for fans of Euro Exploitation cinema and for Psychotronic film lovers everywhere. Also check out Mitchum in 'THE SUMMERTIME KILLER' just released by Wild East Productions which has the same revenge motif but a bit more restrained.

"Ricco The Mean Machine" was just recently released on DVD by DarkSky Films. The film follows a young man (Ricco) who has been released from jail after two years. He returns home to find that his father has been killed and his girlfriend has now become property of the local drug kingpin. Ricco decides to reclaim his woman and avenge his father's murder.
I loved this movie for several reasons. This is a foreign film which has been dubbed in English. Sometimes a dubbed film can become annoying, but you just have to live with it when you are watching a 70's film that is in Italian. It actually wasn't that bad. There aren't many if any special effects and the fight scenes are horribly weak. They are almost comical due to the way they are filmed. Sometimes that is what makes a film like this great. A decent amount of action considering the low budget film category. Simply put this is a classic and I would recommend it to anyone who can appreciate a 1970's crime drama.