Mitchum's "Coyle" makes DVD debut

If I could only have one television channel it would be Turner Classic Movies hands down.

I could sit and watch TCM all day. Even if I have seen them a dozen times before, I never grow tired of watching the greats like Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman or John Wayne in action.

And while I have seen most of their movies bunches of times, every once in a while one will surface that I haven't seen before.

I was watching TCM's little monthly featurette about the latest classic movie news they show during breaks between films when I came across one called "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" starring Robert Mitchum which was making its debut on dvd.

I like Robert Mitchum, but hadn't heard of this one before. Released in 1973, "The Friends if Eddie Coyle" has long been regarded by film historians and critics as one of Mitchum's best performances. For some reason though, the film has never been available on video.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to find it for rent in one of those Red Box machines or, for that matter, at the local video store, so I ordered the movie sight unseen from Amazon. I mean, come on, it's got Robert Mitchum in it. I knew I was going to like it.

"The Friends of Eddie Coyle" was adapted from the novel by George V. Higgins and is about the last days of a small time Boston hood. Eddie, played by Mitchum, picks up money on the side by getting guns for mobsters so they can pull their next job. Eddie is a stand up guy as far as hoods go.

He knows the rules of the game. You do the job right because others are counting on you to come through on your end. Mess up and you pay the price. He once got an extra set of knuckles when some guns he sold some associate got traced back and landed those associates in jail. Friends of those associates put Eddie's hand in a drawer and broke his knuckles. It was nothing personal. Just business.

Now, Eddie is getting older and is looking at three to five years in a New Hampshire penitentiary for driving a load of stolen booze and the prospect of his wife and three kids having to go on welfare. Eddie is soon faced with the dilemma of whether or not to cut a deal with a federal agent and turn stool-pigeon on his friends in exchange for a good word with prosecutors to save himself.

I'd love to tell you more but don't want to spoil the ending.

Needless to say, "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is a fantastic movie from start to finish. It is filmed entirely on location in Boston which greatly adds to the gritty realism. The movie also boasts an excellent supporting cast featuring Peter Boyle (Everyone Loves Raymond) as a bartender who doubles as a mob hit man, Steven Keats as Eddie's street hustler gun supplier Jackie Brown, Richard Jordan as U.S. Treasury agent Dave Foley, Alex Rocco as Eddie's bank robbing friend Scalise ( a real life Boston hood who movie lovers may recognize from The Godfather) and Joe Santos (The Rockford Files). And, of course, Mitchum who has never been better and delivers a magnificent performance as Eddie.

"The Friends of Eddie Coyle" isn't your typical crime movie. Aside from a couple of bank heists, the movie is mostly character driven and talky as you come to realize the position Eddie is in. But if you are looking for something different, you might want to add it to your Netflix list. I don't think you'll be disappointed.