Les copains d'Eddie Coyle

Anyone reading the Boston press in 2001 will be shocked to learn how real, how current this film really is. The connection between the FBI and organized crime is serious and is portrayed here with a sense of reality that cannot be matched. Peter Boyle is simply fantastic in his role as a Whitey Bulger character combining hit-man, bartender, informer, and a friend of Eddie Coyle. Why is this great film not on VHS or DVD???

We're all aware of the antihero,well I think this movie has the quintessential "fantastic loser".Excuse me for coining a phrase but this group may go unnoticed otherwise.Along with movies like Fat City,Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (or just about every Warren Oates role)these characters may be the most interesting to watch,and Robert Mitchums performance in this movie has to be the best.Like a character that is hated but still championed it must have been hard to pull off a loser without the audience feeling overwhelming sympathy.I cannot believe when reading about Robert Mitchum that this movie is not mentioned.For me it is unquestionably his finest and most honest.Supporting roles,writing and direction all get high marks as well.One of the finest in a decade of masterpieces.

The film is, in every aspect, of high quality. Quality acting from supporting actors as well as stars, a quality script and beautifully directed. It is probably Robert Mitchum's best performance, one in which he is well supported by Richard Jordan and Peter Boyle who give wonderfully low-key performances as the other two main protagonists. It is one of my top ten.

A gritty 1970s crime movie that argues there's no honour among thieves, cops, or maybe just people in general, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is bleak but entertaining. It strikes an interesting balance between feeling grounded/real and fun/stylish. It's about a guy called Eddie Coyle. Despite the title, he doesn't really have any friends, and is continually trying to rat out his criminal associates in order to reduce his sentence. For those in the police force, however, nothing ever seems to be enough, causing Coyle to go further and further out of his depths.

There are some slower moments in the film which keep me from really loving it. But there are also so many great scenes, and I think it's exceptionally well-written and acted throughout. Pacing-wise, it's not perfect, and as far as the visuals are concerned, I don't think it's exceptional. However, the story and characters shine, and everyone's cast well. I did also find the ending a little strange, but it works.

It seems pretty underrated, as far as 1970s crime movies go. Certainly not the most obscure in the world or anything, but probably deserves to have a slightly higher profile than what it does.

An ageing small time hood (Robert Mitchem - in the title role) is looking at jail time and wants to cut a deal with the forces of law and order. However this is just one of the many plates that he wants to keep spinning on their wobbly poles.

This is a film that is a bit different. Indeed having seen a million films (or it seems like it) you expect it go off in a different direction, grab hold of the drama and try and pep it up with cheap thrills. The Friends of Eddie Coyle fights against that - throwing away many of the free gifts that comes its way and focus on how a man can paint himself in to a corner.

This is Mitchem's best ever role. Never having been in classic this is the next best thing. The world weariness helps him for this part - you feel that he really has been in the crime business since it was invented and has really seen it all and done it all (as his bar room stories seem to indicate). However for Eddie the party is over. He is like a late Elvis - fat, bloated and living on his old reputation. Hoping that he can play both ends against the middle one last time.

The title has an irony. He really has no friends. He knows that too (because he is not stupid), although he has to make do with people that pretend to be. It is too late for another life and the bills keep having to be paid and food needs to be kept on the table. He is not a master criminal -- more a brave odd-job man.

While this movie hasn't been widely seen (it gets of odd plays on UK TV) a lot of important people have seen it. You can see the Sopranos in some of the scenes where people view crime as a business with death and prison being occupational hazards.

This is quite dark and mean, but you are comforted that the people getting hurt or doing the hurting are more or less the same. People caught in the vortex of earning an easy buck and it is far too late to start changing now. Friends is a tough movie and one of the few films I have seen that while steeped in crooks and crime remains fair and moral for every frame.