The Friends of Eddie Coyle

I had heard the title before, but when a friend talked about this movie, I sat down and watched it the following day. The subject of this week is The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). Based on the debut novel of the same name by George V. Higgins, this movie stars Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan and Steven Keats. It's directed by Peter Yeats who also directed the Steve McQueen classic Bullit.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a study in tense atmosphere. We follow the titular Eddie (Mitchum), a small time crook who is getting both old and nowhere fast. He is connected but unimportant. He knows how the game is played but isn't successful. He is known to be solid and is mostly used to supply guns to those who need them, but now he's looking at prison time and he's not sure he can do it. The question is what he can do to stay free.

His main clients are a trio of disciplined and clever bank robbers, one of whom is played by Alex Rocco, best know as Moe Greene in The Godfather. The other important character is the young hotshot gunrunner Jackie Brown. If the name is familiar it is because The Friends of Eddie Coyle had a big influence on Quentin Tarantino, who named one of his movies Jackie Brown.

This movie is pretty slow in many ways, but never boring. Don't go into this expecting a lot of fast paced action. It's a slow intense burn, and it burns all the hotter for it. The tension is thick enough to carve with a knife in several scenes and even when the movie relaxes a bit, it is still strained. You can never really relax and everyone is constantly guarded and ready for the worst.

Set and shot in Boston during the fall, everything feels cold, tired and miserable. Add to this Mitchum's wonderful portrayal as Eddie, who goes from tough and intimidating to cajoling and almost but not quite pleading. The end result is a movie that should be absolutely depressing but somehow isn't.

Even without the Hays Code I have a feeling that The Friends of Eddie Coyle would be just the same. This is one of those movies that really makes crime seem unattractive. It has no glamour or cool, only pragmatic business in a business where you can't trust anyone. To quote Jackie :”This life's HARD man, but it's HARDER if you're stupid!”

If I have managed to paint a picture of unrelenting depression and miserable suffering, don't worry, The Friends of Eddie Coyle isn't that gloomy, but it is extremely well made.

Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! I would have hated it as a teenager, but being (hopefully) more mature, I found it fascinating. It wasn't well received when it released, but Roger Ebert gave it four stars, it has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.5/10 on IMDB. I suggest you give it a shot, I'm glad I did.

 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have great and safe week!