Line #18 Film/MrRicco


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_ricco.jpeg]]
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3	''Mr. Ricco'' is a 1975 crime drama film directed by Paul Bogart and starring Music/DeanMartin in his last leading big-screen role.
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5	Frankie Steele (Thalmus Rasulala), leader of the San Francisco black militant group the Black Serpents, has been accused of murdering a white woman named Mary Justin, but his liberal defense attorney Joe Ricco (Martin) has managed to get the charges dropped. But then two cops are gunned down, and a boy identifies Steele as the killer. George Cronyn (Creator/EugeneRoche), the detective in charge of the case, is furious with Ricco and blames him for the murders. During a raid meant to capture Steele, Black Serpent Calvin Mapes (Oliver Givens) is killed and his brother Purvis (Creator/PhilipMichaelThomas) is arrested. Cal and Purvis's sister Irene (Denise Nicholas) asks Ricco to be Purvis's lawyer. As Ricco investigates on Purvis's behalf, he finds himself the target of a series of attempted murders by Steele. Not understanding why Steele would want to kill the man who got him off, Ricco determines to find out why.
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8	!!''Mr. Ricco'' contains examples of:
9	* AbandonedArea: Steele lives in the small undamaged part of a burned-out, condemned church.
10	* AccidentalMurder: Steele broke into Mary Justin's house, thinking it was unoccupied. Instead Mary saw him and started screaming. Steele tried to shut her up, killing her in the process.
11	* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Ricco accuses Steele of embezzling government money that was supposed to be spent on programs to help black people. Steele retorts that everyone steals government money and asks Ricco when he last volunteered for an audit.
12	* CanineCompanion: Ricco's dog Hank follows him almost everywhere, even to work. He's even trained to retrieve golf balls for his owner.
13	* DiegeticSwitch: Background music that plays over the end of one scene turns into the music played by a band at a bar where Purvis meets up with Steele.
14	* DrowningMySorrows: When George discovers proof that Cal was unarmed and Tanner planted the shotgun on him, he tells another officer, "Let's get drunk."
15	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Ricco is run off the road. He crashes into a tree, and his car starts to steam. As he walks away with Hank in his arms, the car explodes.
16	* FalseProphet: Steele may once have had genuine ideals, such as black people owning their own neighborhoods, but once he started getting media attention and government funding for his projects, he embezzled most of the money, leaving almost none for the people he was supposed to be helping. He strung along local blacks until almost everyone got sick of him, including the media, but he still has a handful of followers.
17	* FlippingTheBird: Purvis flips off a fellow detainee in the police station who makes a threat of PrisonRape. Later, a cop holds up a newspaper with a headline about the hunt for Steele and flips off Ricco.
18	* SmokingHotSex: After Ricco has sex with his girlfriend Katherine (Geraldine Brooks), he calls the secretary Jamison (Creator/CindyWilliams), who has just had sex with Mark (Joseph Hacker). Both men are shown smoking.
19	* StaircaseTumble: Ricco and Steele fall down a flight of stairs during their fight.
20	* ZippingUpTheBodybag: A blanket is pulled over [[spoiler:Katherine]]'s face after she's shot.

Context Film / MrRicco