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!!
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