Criterion Collection: Friends of Eddie Coyle [DVD] [1973] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Films about losers are not generally as popular as those about winners, and this certainly proved to be the case with "The Friends of Eddie Coyle". Those people that watched Martin Scorsese's lauded crime epic "The Departed", which scooped the 2006 oscar would be excused in thinking it was the best Boston crime movie ever made. They would be wrong! That accolade should go to "The Friends of Eddie Coyle", which was forgotten almost immediately on its release in 1973. By the time of the Oscars that year it had already slipped into complete obscurity, and over the years it became as grey as the tone of the film. The film was more depressing than exciting and was unable to gain an audience. Which was a great shame for a film that is surely one of the best examinations of the criminal fraternity ever made.

The film follows the dialogue driven fortunes of a small time hood turned informant through the seedy underbelly of the Bostonian underworld. The criminals are authentically portrayed as small time low life. The height of Eddie's ambition is simply to stay out of jail. He is not overly bright, and escape from this world he inhabits is not an option for him. Survival is! If you are looking for a happy ending then watch "The Wizard of Oz" and not this film! Robert Mitchum gives a magnificent understated performance in the lead, and should have received at least an oscar nomination. He was often accused of sleepwalking through films, but in this film he proves what a fine actor he was. His previous experience working in a chain gang and being busted for possession of marijuana obviously stood him in good stead for the role. The Boston portrayed is a dark and grimy place, infested with petty criminals and is far removed from the same place depicted in the earlier glossier film "The Thomas Crown Affair".

It is rumoured that the director Peter Yates was often pestered by friends for copies of this film which were very difficult to obtain. It is simply amazing that it has only recently been released onto DVD, and even then only on Region 1 format. I note that VHS copies are unobtainable on Amazon. But class will almost always eventually win through. Great films stand the test of time, and new younger audiences often rediscover them. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is one such golden nugget awaiting new admirers, that already has a small band of appreciative older generation fans which includes me. A great film and one to cherish in your collection. Highly, highly recommended.

"Eddie doesn't rob banks...He's about this high in the bunch but he gets around more than any man I've ever seen," says Dave Foley (Richard Jordan), a baby-faced Boston cop about as amoral as the wiseguys he hunts. Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) is a worn out, two-bit gunrunner. He provides untraceable revolvers when required. He draws the line at machine guns. Eddie is honorable in his way. He loves his family. He's just a low life who isn't all that shrewd. The fix he's in, because he can't take any more jail time, is what this superb Peter Yates' movie is all about.

"Look. I'm gettin' old, y'hear?" Eddie tells a young hood who deals in machine guns. "I spend most of my life hangin' around crummy joints with the punks drinkin' the beer, eatin' the hash an' hot dogs and watchin' the other people go off to Florida while I'm sweatin' how I'm goin' to pay the plumber. I done time when I stood up but I can't take no more chances. Next time it's goin' to be me goin' to Florida." Now he's facing more prison time for foolishly agreeing to drive a getaway car when he should have asked his friends some questions. He'll do just about anything to cut a deal for no jail time. He's nearly 50. He doesn't want his wife to go on welfare, doesn't want his three kids made fun of because their old man is doing time. He's squeezed by Dave Foley to inform...and Eddie decides he'll rat a little. He's too believing to understand he might be tagged for ratting big time. It's all betrayal, but Eddie doesn't really understand betrayal. All those friends of Eddie's make us wary every time we meet them: Scalise (Alex Rocco), who robs banks, sometimes violently; Jackie (Steve Keats), the dangerous dealer in stolen machine guns; Dillon (Peter Boyle), owner of a low-life bar who knows more about things than Eddie does.

The movie looks as hopeless as the Boston weather. It's the cold end of fall, filled with drab, chill days where parking lot asphalt is always wet. We're into Eddie's life in the low lane, where the anchors in the crummy strip malls are a tired Woolworth's and Barbo's Furniture Store. It's a lousy life and it belongs to Eddie Coyle. "Have a nice day."

Director Peter Yates sets up scenes -- an exchange of machine guns, a bank robbery, a family held hostage, a stakeout in a commuter train lot, a night on the town -- that are so naturally established that we might miss how skillfully they build the story and show us Eddie's life. We're never sure if things are as hopeless for Eddie as they seem. Yates keeps us on edge, and he adds layers of Eddie Coyle's sad and foolish trust.

This is one of Robert Mitchum's best performances. Mitchum still looks like he might be a tough guy, but his Eddie Coyle is a man who has had the force of his life wrung out of him. He's been in the life forever. He does the jobs others ask him to. He doesn't ask very many questions. He's just not smart enough. Mitchum takes all the hard edges off his usual persona and gives us an aging loser whose life is on the skids, and who doesn't understand just how badly off he is.

The Criterion release looks just fine. There is a commentary by Peter Yates.

A rare film in a superb transfer on dvd.
The film itself is a low-key masterpiece, perhaps the finest moment in Yates' filmography.
Robert Mitchum's performance resonates with the character's personal dead-end.
It is well worth purchasing the dvd.