Nobody's perfect. There was never a perfect person around. You just have half-angel and half-devil in you.

The story is set in 1916 (the film shows a 1916 newspaper, and a scene late in the film shows American soldiers headed off for World War I). Bill (Gere), a Chicago manual laborer, knocks down and kills a boss in the steel mill where he works. He flees to the Texas Panhandle with his girlfriend Abby (Adams) and younger sister Linda (Manz). Bill and Abby pretend to be siblings to prevent gossip.
The three hire on as part of a large group of seasonal workers with a rich, shy rancher (Shepard). Although he is young, he learns he is dying of an unspecified disease. When the rancher falls in love with Abby, Bill encourages her to marry him so that they can inherit his money after he dies. The marriage takes place and Bill stays at the ranch as Abby's "brother." The farmer's foreman, Robert Wilke, suspects their scheme. The rancher's health unexpectedly remains stable, foiling Bill's plans.


Eventually, the farmer discovers Bill's true relationship with Abby. At the same time, Abby has begun to fall in love with her new husband. The farmer goes after Bill with a gun, but Bill kills him. Although the killing was in self defense, due to the class difference between them and the fact that Bill and Abby had started a scam on the farmer, he fears being charged as a murderer if caught. Bill and the women escape. The foreman Wilke puts the police on their trail, and the police kill Bill in the hunt. Abby leaves Linda at a boarding school and goes off on her own.



In my early years of watching and studying film, this was the first film that made me love film as much as I do. I saw the scene you see below in a documentary called Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography. In this film the they talk about great ways of visual expression and one of the scenes they show is the picture below. The music of Leo Kottke, one of my favorites, is playing why they cross that bridge. The scene in the film is short, but totally breathtaking. I did not know much of the film then. I got a whisper in my ear about the film and had to see it for myself. It was a good idea to to watch that film. It now is one of my favorite films of all time and to me the best of Terrence Malick career.


I continued watching this documentary and realized there are films in here I needed to see. The film opened my eyes to so much out there. I realized also that my film obsession would need to grow. True, I liked a few classic films at that time, but I did not realize that I need to watch more films and get better knowledge on the films I loved. As the friend who came with me pointed out to me she asked me why do I like these films. Is it the acting? Is it the story? Is it the way the film is presented? After watching the documentary I changed my film outlook. This gave me ideas that there are films out there that I should see and films of today needed to part of that example. There were very few at the time that I could actually say I loved. It got a bit better over time, but my scope of films had to follow some kind of criteria. Classic, great contemporary, among other things was what I needed to follow.


Film was always good, but after watching Days of Heaven it was so much better. The film turned my idea of what film was. It did not have to be simple, but the complex could work so well and the story had to be better then most. With my great love of film I realized I had to keep some of these films at high expectations. I now and used to look for a good film to go see. I needed to be engaged in the film and also like what the film is about. I don't often go to the movies because I look for one that make me learn and understand how great films are made.

I even stopped going to my local theater and went to the local art house or college movie theater to check out the classics. If you need to find a film that has these qualities then look no further. Days of Heaven is quite amazing. It's a movie that needs to be scene for all it's great visual mastery. I suggest you go as soon as you can whatever way you get your movies and check it out. Enjoy this classic.

"This life's hard, man, but it's harder if you're stupid!"

Eddie Coyle is an aging, low-level gunrunner for a crime organization in Boston Massachusetts. He is facing several years in prison for a truck hijacking in New Hampshire set up by Dillon, who owns a local bar. Coyle's last chance is a sentencing recommendation from a ATF agent, Dave Foley, who demands that Coyle become a confidential informant in return.

A gang led by Jimmy Scalise and Artie Van has been pulling a series of robberies in broad daylight at local banks, Coyle having supplied them with guns. Another gun runner, Jackie Brown, is in popular demand. Coyle wants to buy more pistols from him while a younger couple is shopping for machine guns.

Jackie goes to great lengths to get Coyle what he needs. Coyle delivers the guns to Scalise, but then he offers to set up Jackie for the cop Foley to avoid jail. In a train station's parking lot, waiting to sell his machine guns, Jackie is apprehended by Foley's men.

Coyle feels he has fulfilled his end of the deal. Foley, though, claims it still is not enough. He wants more or else it is prison for Coyle. In desperation, Coyle agrees to inform on his friends Scalise and Van as they prepare to pull off their next bank job, but it turns out Foley already has inside information and has caught them in the act. The mob thinks that Coyle was the snitch. They assign his friend, Dillon, to kill him. Before carrying out his orders, Dillon treats his friend to a night on the town, taking him to dinner and a Boston Bruins hockey game.

I was introduced to this Film when I was in high school. I was in a class that had to read a book I really did not want to read. It was an assignment from a teacher I really did not care to listen to. I was mumbling one day to one of my other teachers mentioning to him how does this book we are reading have to do with the class that I am taking. The teacher asked me about the book I was reading. I told him that the book is not that great and really not worth much in the way of reading. The teacher asked me if he could help. I told him, yea, find me a book worth reading and I will read that and write a paper on it. He laughed and the next day when I saw him he handed me a copy of Friends of Eddie Coyle. He even told me if I can find a copy on video of this film he be happy to see it again. That day in class the teacher came up to me and told me I had no right to ask for a book change. I told the teacher that I just complained about the subject matter and wanted a new book. It was the other teacher that gave me something better to read.

Over the course of that semester I read this Friends of Eddie Coyle and loved the story. Hunting down the movie took a bit more time. In the age before internet I had to ask my co-worker at the library and they had to go through a database that had all the public records of what each library owned. It was quite labor intensive. The co-worker found it and got it to my library. He told me I have three weeks with this video. One day I showed the copy to the teacher that wanted it and he told me that he will have it back in a few days. The few days came and went. No movie, yet. One day just before it was do he asked me to stay after school. I agreed to it and we watched the movie together. I could not believe my eyes on how great these characters where playing the roles they were assigned. The movie was like watching normal people act like normal every day lives. It was amazing to watch these actors do such a great job. He told me after watching the film, this is one of his favorite books and favorite films of all time. I could not agree more.



The book was a great read and I got an "A" on the paper because of my excitement and of course watching the film. The teacher finally realized that if you want to capture the attention of a student find someway that will interest them. I really liked this movie. I wanted my own copy of this film. One day that came true. I saw it on TV and I taped it. I could not believe that movie was on. I was excited to see it again and watch all the great acting that came with it. In the age of the DVD it became harder and harder to find it. Even when I was in college I was looking for it. I mentioned it to one of the film teachers and he loved the film too and yet no DVD.

2009 was a great year for DVD's because Friends of Eddie Coyle was finally going to be put out. I got the e-mail from Criterion that they were going to put it out. This excited me to no end. Finally I get to see the film again in sharp great picture and wonderful and subtle acting. This movie is a must watch. The movie set in some areas in and around Boston give a whole fresh feel to it. The movie is great and you should watch this too. Enjoy!!