The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
93%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: NA
The Friends of Eddie Coyle sees Robert Mitchum in transformative late-career mode in a gritty and credible character study.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a gritty crime thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Robert Mitchum delivers an incredible performance as Eddie Coyle, a man caught in the middle of a dangerous world where there are no heroes, only the successful and the dead. Director Peter Yates has crafted a film that is starkly realistic and devoid of any gloss or gimmicks. While not uplifting, this film provides warnings and lessons that we all might heed, even if we’re not criminals. So grab some popcorn, settle in, and prepare to be transported to the seedy underbelly of Boston’s criminal underworld.
Production Company(ies)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Railway station – Route 27, Sharon, Massachusetts, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1973
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): May 19, 2009
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats, Alex Rocco, Joe Santos, directed by Peter Yates, written by Paul Monash, crime, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Ty Burr, G.J Fleming, Elston Brooks, Rex Reed, John Huddy, William B Collins, Paine Knickerbocker, Nigel Watson, Richard T Jameson, Nick Johnston, Anthony Caro, Giles M Fowler, produced by Paul Monash, R rating, aging, gunrunner, ATF agent, bank robbers, mob, character study
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Peter Boyle – Dillon
Richard Jordan – Dave Foley
Steven Keats – Jackie Brown
Alex Rocco – Jimmy Scalise
Joe Santos – Artie Van
Director(s)
Peter Yates
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Paul Monash
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (1)
Mitchum just is. The one-time hero of 1940s film noirs knows he’s working with shades of gray here and that there are no heroes and not really any tough guys, only the successful and the dead.
May 24, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Ty Burr
Ty Burr’s Watch List
TOP CRITIC
Thanks to Mitchum’s finest job of acting in a long while, a strong story and polished direction, “Eddie Coyle” is a surprisingly interesting character study.
August 24, 2021
G.J. Fleming
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
Yates has fashioned one of the year’s tautest dramas without having to rely on gimmicks like the premier high-speed auto chase that trademarked his earlier “Bullitt.”
August 24, 2021
Elston Brooks
Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
TOP CRITIC
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle has moments of tenderness and fascination in the subtle way it depicts the horror that lurks behind the faces of ordinary people.
August 24, 2021
Rex Reed
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
A beautifully constructed, finely acted drama that is starkly realistic at all turns.
August 24, 2021
John Huddy
Miami Herald
TOP CRITIC
It’s as if director Peter Yates regretted all the excitement he whipped up in “Bullitt” and wanted to make an understatement. He has succeeded too well.
August 24, 2021
William B. Collins
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Under Peter Yates’ direction, Robert Mitchum — who in talented hands has always been one of the screen’s top actors — and Peter Boyle are touching, chilling, and excellent.
August 24, 2021
Paine Knickerbocker
San Francisco Examiner
For a gritty crime thriller without any gloss, this is it.
August 24, 2021
Nigel Watson
Starburst
Eddie Coyle works as Yates’s earlier films do not. It works because Yates’s habitually uncommitted point-of-view is appropriate to the seasoned, didactic monotone of George V. Higgins’s novel.
August 24, 2021
Richard T. Jameson
Parallax View
Mitchum is, per usual, incredible in the role, his trademark coolness and occasional otherworldliness lost in the miasma of the grimy reality of poorly lit cafeteria lamps and the cold landscape.
August 24, 2021
Nick Johnston
Vanyaland
While not uplifting, The Friends of Eddie Coyle provides warnings and lessons that we all – criminals or not – might heed.
August 24, 2021
Anthony Caro
PopMatters
I hope it will prejudice no one against this good film if I say that the sole lift it gave me was the relief of not being one of its characters.
August 24, 2021
Giles M. Fowler
Kansas City Star…
Plot
Eddie’s friends are numerous, but the term “friends” is suspect. As a small time hood, Eddie is about to go back to jail. In order to escape this fate, he deals information on stolen guns to the feds. Simultaneously he is supplying arms to his bank robbing/kidnapping hoodlum chums. But who else is dealing with the feds? Who gets the blame for snitching on the bank robbers?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Robert Mitchum delivers a “transformative late-career mode” performance in The Friends of Eddie Coyle, according to critics.
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