The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Director: Peter Yates
Year Released: 1973
Rating: 3.0
Lower-than-low key crime drama has weary Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) trying to play both sides: ratting out his buddies to the police (in hopes of a 'plea-deal' for past sins) and trying to keep positive contact with his fellow lawbreakers and gunrunners. The very minimal style by director Yates blends nicely with the feeling of desperation - it's certainly not the movie that will inspire one to a life of crime: if anything, it depicts the criminal existence as being simultaneously mundane and risky. Mitchum plays it perfectly, too - from the very beginning he gives the impression he's staring into his own oblivion. Never trust a cop ... or a bartender.
