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Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs  Has anyone seen The Friends of Eddie Coyle? And can you recommend it? |
Yes on both counts,a great crime thriller and a great performance from the great Mitchum,it is a slow burner but all the best films are.
Now I know The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) is not a Noir Movie as such,but rather a 1970's crime thriller set among the low level gangsters,bank robbers and stool pigeons of Bostons criminal fraternity. What does connect this film with the whole noir genre, is its lead actor Robert Mitchum,a man steeped in the world of noir and crime thrillers of the past.But like Mitchum Eddie Coyle is a man with a past of crime,who now faces another conviction which could see him being put in Prison,a prospect he realizes he is to old to face.Throughout the film Coyle (Mitchum) reminisces about his past ,whether its about marriage or his criminal associates.Its like one of Mitchum's old noir characters has finally managed to survive into the 1970's,Mitchum was at the time around 56 years old. In a conversation with Jackie Brown,played by the late Steven Keats (1945–1994),a much underrated actor,Mitchum's Coyle tells Jackie about the punishment that was dished out to him when some guns he was buying for a man got traced by the police and the man got fifteen years prison. So Eddie gets his knuckles smashed in a draw as punishment.Its this and seeing how he wasted his past while other people managed to make the big score,and in his words Next time, it's gonna be me goin' to Florida.Peter Yate's The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a very naturalistic and realistic portrayal of the not so glamorous life criminals and there associates.Even the bank robberies that Coyle supplies the weapons for are done in a fairly mundane and workmanlike manor,they all go like clockwork apart from when a bank teller sets the alarm off.Unfortunately when Coyle decides to become an informant,hoping to get himself off the hook,his days are numbered. Mitchum gives us one of his best performances of his later career .
Eddie 'Fingers' Coyle:
Count as many as you want. As many as you got, I got four more. You know how I got those? I bought some stuff from a man. I knew his name. The stuff was traced. The guy I bought it for, he's at MCI Walpole for fifteen to twenty-five. Still in there. But he had some friends. I got an extra set of knuckles. They put your hand in a drawer then somebody kicks the drawer shut. Hurt like a bastard.
Jackie Brown: Jesus.