I’ve caught up on a lot of films over the past weeks, including 1973’s Ricco the Mean Machine—also known as just plain Ricco, or Cauldron of Death, or a particularly bizarre title as seen in this Italian-language trailer . The DVD got a nice repackaging from the Dark Sky label, with bonus features that include an interview with star Christopher Mitchum.

The star of Ricco—and the spawn of Robert Mitchum—had a busy early career that included roles in Chisum, Rio Lobo, and Big Jake. Those were three John Wayne films. Mitchum would win the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best New Actor in 1972. As the amiable actor notes in his Ricco interview, that would mark the end of his American stardom:

The phone never rang. I couldn’t get an interview, nothing. I finally—months, months later—went on an interview for a thing called Steelyard Blues, and the casting director took one look at me and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t interview you.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Well, you starred with John Wayne. I can’t interview you.” And basically, what it was, because Duke was very outspoken against guys burning the flag and the people throwing urine on our troops when they came back from Vietnam—it’s not that he was pro-war, but these are American kids dying for their country. He felt that we should support our boys. Because he was so outspoken about that, liberal Hollywood didn’t want anybody else with a strong voice. So anybody who starred with Duke, that was it. They were blackballed.

Mitchum is probably being polite by not noting that Steelyard Blues starred Jane Fonda.

He would later find work by doing foreign exploitation films like Ricco. A lot of those were huge hits, but that only helped to make Mitchum an instant B-lister in Hollywood. Of course, those who watch Ricco might have their own suspicions as to what stalled Mitchum’s career. It’s not a particularly dynamic performance. Just keep in mind that Ricco is really Hamlet vs. the Mob, and Mitchum’s blonde prince doesn’t have much enthusiasm for anything. You can find the actor having a lot more fun going after a mad doctor in 1987’s Faceless .

Also consider that there were plenty of other John Wayne films from the ’70s with promising young actors whose careers suddenly stalled. Bruce Dern did okay, but that’s probably because he killed Wayne in 1972’s The Cowboys.

 

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