The Friends of Eddie Coyle

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The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Directed by	Peter Yates
Produced by	Paul Monash
Written by	Paul Monash George V. Higgins (novel)
Starring	Robert Mitchum Peter Boyle
Music by	Dave Grusin
Cinematography	Victor J. Kemper
Editing by	Patricia Lewis Jaffe
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 26, 1973
Running time	103 min.
Country	US
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a 1973 crime film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle. Directed by Peter Yates, the screenplay was adapted from the novel by George V. Higgins.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Eddie Coyle is an aging, low-level gunrunner for the Irish Mob in Boston, Massachusetts. Facing a life sentence in prison, he decides to become an informant for the ATF.

The mob finds out the Eddie is talking to the police, so they assign his best friend, Dillon, to kill him. However, before carrying out his orders, Dillon treats his friend to night on the town, treating him to dinner and a hockey game.

[edit] Cast

Robert Mitchum as Eddie "Fingers" Coyle
Peter Boyle as Dillon
Richard Jordan as Dave Foley
Steven Keats as Jackie Brown
Alex Rocco as Jimmy Scalise

[edit] Production

Filming took place throughout the Boston area, including Dedham, Cambridge, Milton, Quincy, Sharon, Somerville and Weymouth, Massachusetts.^[1]

[edit] Reception

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The Friends of Eddie Coyle is often said to be the best Boston movie ever made. Some reviewers consider it to be the best film ever made by Robert Mitchum; as Eddie Coyle, his portrayal is dark but sympathetic, well drawn and intense. This film gave Peter Boyle a meaty, prominent role as Mitchum's best friend who's been assigned the job of killing Mitchum by the Mob. A gently sad but beautiful film, it's regarded as a minor masterpiece of director Yates. However, as of early 2007, it has never been released as a DVD by the studio, and circulating DVD's are taken from occasional airings of the film on cable channels. It has a wide and appreciative following, almost a cult status, and appears on occasional "best of all time" crime-film lists. The cinematography has an intimate, soft-color, cluttered feel that perfectly fits the plot and locale.