Friends Are Nothing But Trouble

 The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) – Eddie (Mitchum) is a small time criminal facing a jail term that he’d really like to avoid.  He turns to some of his friends on either side of the law to help him.  Their help may not be what he had in mind.

Directed by Peter Yates                                Starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Alex Rocco

Why I Liked It – Mitchum is pitch perfect as a man trapped by his own life.

Eddie Coyle just tries to be a “stand-up” guy to everyone.  His wife, his kids, his criminal associates, even the federal agent that might be able to make an unpleasant couple of years inside go away.  Mitchum brings an easy-going, everyman style to most of his roles, and it’s effective here.  Coyle got caught with a truckload of illegal whiskey and faces a prison sentence in New Hampshire.  That means his traditional Irish wife and kids will either have to go on Welfare or she will have to get a job.  And he doesn’t like either option.

So he starts working his friends.  The man who hired him for the truck job, other career criminals he’s known for years, and that federal agent he’s gotten to know.  What he doesn’t know is that they are all working their own angles, looking for ways to deal with their own issues.  It’s net that needs a catch.

“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” weaves all the pieces together without a dropped stitch.  The bank robbers, the wannabe bank robbers looking for machine guns, the Feds, the guy who sells Eddie guns for the first batch of bank robbers, they all move their way toward the net.  And they all start to look at Eddie as their way out.

This movie has a really good cast.  Mitchum as Eddie, Boyle is the guy who hired him, Alex Rocco leads the band of bank robbers, Joe Spanos, James Tolkan, even a quick appearance by Burt Young!  Each perfect for a gritty role in early ’70s Boston.  They carry a script that is long on character but offers little in shootouts or car chases.  This is about the people who are Eddie’s “friends”.   It just works.

Boyle plays a bartender here, but legend says he never mastered pouring a beer from a tap.  So watch when he serves.  For a second the beer will disappear out of the shot and then emerge.  The had properly poured glasses set for him, so he put his down, picked the other off.  If you don’t know to look for it, you’ll never notice it.

Director Peter Yates may not be a name that springs to mind for most, but if you’re a movie fan you know his work.  “Bullitt”, “The Dresser”, “Breaking Away” are all his.  The last two fit nicely into the character driven work in “Eddie Coyle”.  He takes into the down and dirty side of Boston, and you can feel it on your skin.

“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” is one of those movies the critics loved, and is highly regarded, but it’s not a title that shows up on many lists of movies to see.  That’s too bad, because it is wonderful story and a nice piece of filmmaking.

Rating – **** Recommended