Rent The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

American gem - The Friends of Eddie Coyle review by dl

Another great low key American crime drama featuring Robert Mitchum as the too old for this sh*t low level gangster whose desperately trying to get his upcoming sentence quashed, your soon thrown into a world of bank robbers, gun runners and double dealings a plenty, but this is not your usual run of the mill gangster shoot em up saga this one thankfully is more restrained by giving its downbeat world a set of believable characters to work with and ones that come equipped with smart engaging dialogue thats played out so realistically given the situation and predicaments that unfold along the way.The only downside for me was it was over to soon i could have easily spent a bit more time in this 70’s dog eat dog crime world.8/10

It Is old hat but it has to be said - With Friends Like This Who Needs Enemies? - The Friends of Eddie Coyle review by Strovey

The Friends of Eddie Coyle stands up against any gritty, ‘realistic’ crime thriller, made today and thrashes it.

The first thing you notice from the opening shots is the grubbiness and the authentic look of the characters. With no ill-intent, it has to be said, every actor, including Robert Mitchum could be said to not be handsome hunks that would stick out like a sore thumb in the locations the film is set in. For me, they look like the people they are playing. A bit scruffy and ordinary looking. The magnificent Peter Boyle, playing a role he could do in his sleep, may not have leading man looks or hair, indeed much hair at all, but it has to be said he was made for parts like Dillion and he absolutely brings the nasty, unpleasant, criminal to life every moment he is on the screen. He is Dillion.

What makes the film, and I believe the book, which I have but have yet to read, is it deliberately makes sure there is no glamour in this world. The criminals are working full-time in a blue-collar way, if that makes sense, at their low-paying, high-risk crimes, and they are not getting a great life out of it. Which is the whole point of the film.

The law, the authority? Well, there are no glow-in-dark teeth, perfect-haired male models here, they are as scruffy and unassuming as the people they are chasing and, in the end, the main way of catching anyone seems to be getting low-level criminals to 'grass-them-up'.

The whole film seems to have been filmed using old fluorescent lights to illuminate every scene, so it seems as if we really are in Dillion’s bar, everywhere looks dark and in shadows. It is perfect for the story.

The dialogue, warning there is some racism in there but it has to be said that is almost certainly what men like this would say and believe, seems to my inexperienced ear to be spot on. No one sounds like a well-educated poet, but interestingly neither to they sound like four braincell dumbbells either.

If you are looking for all-out cops and robbers action, you are not going to get it. Aside from a few robbery scenes which are tense rather than action-packed and the capture of one of the characters this film is very much dialogue and narrative-driven. Despite modern sensibilities in film-watching the whole thing is so much better for this.

The main four actors are superb and believable, Mitchum and Boyle should need no more praise from anyone who really is into film-watching but the supporting cast of Steven Keats and Richard Jordan more than match those stalwarts. How sad that both men never got past their mid-fifties and died way too early.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle deliberately avoids the family or personal lives of the characters, there are more or less no women in this film, apart from bank staff, Coyle’s wife, played by Scottish actress Helena Carroll, who has a few lines of dialogue and the attractive women who the lead bank robber is shacked up with. A weakness, even for the 70s I would say yes, but I can see the reasoning as the tight run time and story concentrates on the dilemma and ‘work’ of Eddie and those in his immediate circle.

Peter Yates here proves what a fine director he was, the screenplay uses dialogue from the novel and keeps things moving and relevant, it is very economical in a terrific way. The music is sparse and perfect, the cinematography dark, grubby and on point.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle was released in 1973. It is still an incredibly good film.