Ricky 1

"Ricky 1", an amateurish Rocky spoof, is a misfire from beginning to end. It's not even fun in a campy sense; it's laborious to sit through. Even the moments which attempt comedy fall flat because of bad direction, sluggish pacing, and poor cinematography/lighting (besides conceptually not being very funny to begin with). The plot is simultaneously overly simple and hard to follow because it keeps cutting to random side plots like a Godfather parody and whatever's going on with Ricky's love interest's crisis center.

I know it's tempting to see the film out of morbid curiosity because of James Rolfe's review of it, but you should just stick to that. He highlights the quirkiest scenes and makes fun of them in less than ten minutes so you won't waste an hour and half watching the actual film.

"I'll say this Quadaro, he's all heart. *shows him in heart costume*" This line pretty much sums up this horrid movie. In this movie that was written in 5 minutes, we get a bunch of bad jokes, and gags that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. This is supposed to parody Rocky, but about half of it isn't even close to the Rocky movie. If you actually put effort into your film, you won't end up like this, even if the film sucks. At least people will give you credit for the effort. This film has no redeeming qualities at all. There is nothing of value or great remembrance in this movie. It is pure trash, and there is no wonder not many heard of it.

I personally never heard of this movie until AVGN reviewed it back in 2008. It's essentially a god-awful Naked Gun-esque comedy with a no-name cast. The so-called sight gags are just unfunny and painful, including a scene that parodies The Godfather with the Corelone look-alike just mumbling and groaning for the filmmakers to fool the audience into thinking he's just that hard to understand. Half of the film actually has nothing to do with the story. I can obviously tell why this was released straight to video, probably to avoid a lawsuit from ol' Sly himself.

This is whats frustrating about the academy award process in Hollywood...how Guy Hutchinson's performance could be overlooked..is astounding. This actor captures all of compassion and pity of the fool...that he is portraying. I guess because this was'nt a box office success...that sadly a good piece of work like this is overlooked again....just like Wayne in Genghis Khan and Nolte in the Hulk...we look at the revenue of a movie and not the quality. At times throughout this movie..... I just couldn't believe that it was actually a movie and not a reality show...thats how deeply this movie affected me and my family. Sometimes I think we as film goer's are more interested in the money spent on the film and not the overall movement in the bowels of depth that the actors are capable of accomplishing.

My review was written in November 1988 after watching the movie on Tapeworm video cassette.

"Ricky 1" is a cute spoof of the "Rocky" films, made five years ago and debuting on video cassette after failing to achieve theatrical distribution.

Helmer Bill Naud adopts the visual punning approach of the "Airplane" buys in limning the episodic tale of Ricky Wanero (played effectively by Michael Michaud, who doesn't resemble Sly Stallone but captures the aspiring fighter's mannerisms and vocal patter).

A perennial loser, he agrees to give up the fight game to please girlfriend Angela (Maggie Hughes), who works at a crisis center. Ricky gets a job working in a fish market, supplementing his income by working as a gigolo.

Pic builds to the big championship fight with the Silver Shadow, used as an excuse for goofy sight gags.

Enthusiastic cast, many of whom essay multiple roles, enlivens an okay low-budgeter.