I watched The Friends of Eddie Coyle shortly after reading the book. It holds up really well, even with the immediacy of having read it. One reason for that is its faithfulness. It sticks closely to the source material which, in this situation, works really well. George V. Higgins’ book is famous for its dialog, so the movie does well to stick to that, and the novel is short, so there’s not much left out in the transition to film.
Another thing I liked, being from the area, is seeing Boston from near the year I was born. Some things were very clear (the shots from Dedham at the beginning were immediately recognizable) and others were real head-scratchers- the train station where the bust at the end happens, for example. In the book it’s Rte. 128, if that’s what it looked like then it’s come a long way…
Anyway, the film…
Directed by Peter Yates, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is tightly wrapped crime drama, quickly paced and driven by Higgins’ dialog. Washed out and grimy, the look of the it mirrors the bleakness of Coyle’s story. Played with somber, mumbling grace by Robert Mitchum, Eddie Coyle is the ultimate down on his luck gangster, caught up in the middle of far more than he can handle. His scenes with Steven Keats’s gunrunner are especially memorable. The pair have an uneasy but naturalistic rapport.
All in all the film tracks very closely to Higgins’ book. Since the book is short and so dialog-driven, this actually works to its benefit. The source novel is almost perfectly crafted to translate into film and the transition here was handled well.
Good for us.
RSS - Posts