In one of the best performances of his legendary career, Robert Mitchum plays small-time gunrunner Eddie “Fingers” Coyle in Peter Yates’s adaptation of George V. Higgins’s acclaimed novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle. World-weary and living hand to mouth, Coyle works on the sidelines of the seedy Boston underworld just to make ends meet. But when he finds himself facing a second stretch of hard time, he’s forced to weigh loyalty to his criminal colleagues against snitching to stay free. Directed with a sharp eye for its gritty locales and an open heart for its less-than-heroic characters, this is one of the true treasures of 1970s Hollywood filmmaking—a suspenseful crime drama in stark, unforgiving daylight. —The Criterion Collection
Yates began staging plays in the British provinces at the age of 19 and worked as an assistant to J. Lee Thompson and Tony Richardson in the early 1960s. He then alternated between film and TV work and made his feature debut with “Summer Holiday” (1963). Yates’ early work exhibited a talent for fast-paced action, reflected in such films as “Bullitt” (1968), which included one of the most harrowing car chases ever filmed, and “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1973). In a change of pace, he directed the coming-of-age comedy-drama “Breaking Away” (1979). During the 1980s Yates crafted a number of fine, character-driven studies such as “The Dresser” (1983) with Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney, “Eleni” (1985) and “Suspect” (1987). In the 90s, he worked sporadically, helming “Roommates” with Peter Falk, and reuniting with Finney for the Irish drama “The Run of the Country” (both 1995). —TCM.com
Screen EDDIE COYLE with THE FRENCH CONNECTION if you want to shame every single "serious" cops & robbers drama made in the last 35 years. It doesn't get any more street. Mitchum gives one of his best performances: reserved, resigned, earning the world-weariness etched in the lines of his face.
A more realistic crime film, one of conversations. Dialogue is priceless. Mitchum's best performance (alongside his definitive role, of course, in Night of the Hunter.)
Shot in the streets of Boston, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a seminal work of '70s Hollywood. Simplistic in its direction and naturalistic in its photography, the film brings you into an underworld. Robert Mitchum gives an understated performance, probably portraying a gangster better than DeNiro or Pacino combined. I look forward to watching this again and again. A new favorite.
Seventies noir that owes much of the austerity and realism to the cold city of Boston as well as to the the french crime thrillers of Jean Pierre Melville mostly to the superb "Le Doulos" as the character study of a man moving between two factions. The street prose of writer George Higgins, and Peter Yates' minimalist direction are the stronger points of this notable film
Nikki Finke "has learned that English film director and producer and four-time Oscar nominee Peter Yates — who helmed such celebrated and
This truly is a undiscovered gem. Great all-star cast all on top of their game. This is a film that lays open part of the criminal underworld of boston, not sensationalistic but subdued and low-key… read review
“The Friends of Eddie Coyle” has more quick witted, well constructed, gritty dialog than you know what to do with. It’s a perfect depiction of the multi faceted, clever criminal mind and the underworld… read review
An incredibly laid back film, Coyle manages to really capture the essence of the characters perfectly. There isn’t a moment in the film where you believe these men are anything more than mooks, working… read review
Restrained, matter-of-fact, dour, and serious as hell from beginning to end, with an incredibly downbeat (but appropriate) finale. Precisely directed by Yates, with a crackerjack, practically all-male… read review
