Anyone who does not think Robert Mitchum is a serious actor has never seen The Friends Of Eddie Coyle. All of Mitchum's considerable talents are working here including his fantastic ear for accents. You would think that Mitchum lived in Boston all his life.
Playing the title role in The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, Mitchum so submerges his own personality that you forget in fact you are watching Robert Mitchum and you really think you are seeing the downfall of a man named Eddie Coyle. How he was overlooked for an Oscar nomination here is a mystery.
The film is based on a novel by George V. Higgins who was both a prosecutor and defense attorney in his legal career and saw the system and all the system from both sides of the courtroom. The protagonist Eddie Coyle is a career criminal sliding into middle age and up for a sentencing in a transporting of stolen property charge in neighboring New Hampshire. He's a three time loser already and this would involve a much longer stretch in the joint. So he's looking to deal.
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle rather neatly disposes of the notion that there is honor among thieves. But thieves also don't like being informed on. When Mitchum rats out some old friends for a series of bank robberies where two people were killed, he's sealed his doom.
The obvious comparison to make with this film is the John Ford classic, The Informer. Although Coyle would probably scorn at being compared to a slow lug like Victor McLaglen's Gypo Nolan, in fact he's not a terribly bright man either. He's far down on the criminal food chain so that he is a very disposable man.
Another good performance from this film is that of Steven Keats as a gun runner who Mitchum does business with and decides to rat out when convenient. If he survives in another 25 years Keats will be in the middle aged position that Mitchum is in now with few options in life. Also take note of Peter Boyle as the bartender/criminal, Richard Jordan as a really smarmy cop and Helena Carroll who has a few, but some really well played scenes as Mitchum's long suffering wife.
The film was shot totally on location in the Boston area and I recognized quite a few locations from my travels there. No mention of the Red Sox, but towards the end of the film there are some nice shots of a Boston Bruins hockey game at the old Boston Gardens. Some very interesting comments there about star Bobby Orr and the bright future he has in the world of hockey from a man whose world is about to crumble.
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle is a classic from the Seventies one of the best films Robert Mitchum ever did and not to be missed, especially if one wants to see a different side of old rumple eyes.
Playing the title role in The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, Mitchum so submerges his own personality that you forget in fact you are watching Robert Mitchum and you really think you are seeing the downfall of a man named Eddie Coyle. How he was overlooked for an Oscar nomination here is a mystery.
The film is based on a novel by George V. Higgins who was both a prosecutor and defense attorney in his legal career and saw the system and all the system from both sides of the courtroom. The protagonist Eddie Coyle is a career criminal sliding into middle age and up for a sentencing in a transporting of stolen property charge in neighboring New Hampshire. He's a three time loser already and this would involve a much longer stretch in the joint. So he's looking to deal.
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle rather neatly disposes of the notion that there is honor among thieves. But thieves also don't like being informed on. When Mitchum rats out some old friends for a series of bank robberies where two people were killed, he's sealed his doom.
The obvious comparison to make with this film is the John Ford classic, The Informer. Although Coyle would probably scorn at being compared to a slow lug like Victor McLaglen's Gypo Nolan, in fact he's not a terribly bright man either. He's far down on the criminal food chain so that he is a very disposable man.
Another good performance from this film is that of Steven Keats as a gun runner who Mitchum does business with and decides to rat out when convenient. If he survives in another 25 years Keats will be in the middle aged position that Mitchum is in now with few options in life. Also take note of Peter Boyle as the bartender/criminal, Richard Jordan as a really smarmy cop and Helena Carroll who has a few, but some really well played scenes as Mitchum's long suffering wife.
The film was shot totally on location in the Boston area and I recognized quite a few locations from my travels there. No mention of the Red Sox, but towards the end of the film there are some nice shots of a Boston Bruins hockey game at the old Boston Gardens. Some very interesting comments there about star Bobby Orr and the bright future he has in the world of hockey from a man whose world is about to crumble.
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle is a classic from the Seventies one of the best films Robert Mitchum ever did and not to be missed, especially if one wants to see a different side of old rumple eyes.