THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE
US, 1972, 102 minutes, Colour.
Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats, Alex Rocco.
Directed by Peter Yates.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle: there have been many films about criminals and bank robberies. This one is different (although the robbery sequences are meticulously filmed and excitingly real). It concentrates on the petty criminal in the suburbs: his ordinary home-life, his shady contacts and the big-time deals, his philosophy of surviving in a hard world of prison terms, of ageing, and his doubtful "friends". Robert Mitchum makes Eddie Coyle believable as he moves from home to bar to supermarket. But the theme is of friendship, power, greed, menace and betrayal and it shows the criminal world as dangerous and ugly. Peter Yates (Bullitt, Murphy's War) makes intelligent and interesting comment on crime.
1. The ironic overtone of the title, "friends"? Did this ironic tone pervade the film?
2. How did the film stand up as a thriller. as a robbery thriller? How well done were the robbery sequences?
3. The film presented a different world of crime. The gangsters and the robbers came from the city suburbs. Many of them were petty criminals, in league in some way with bigger criminals. How convincingly presented was this world of crime? How convincing was it as being presented in the ordinary suburbs of the city? How realistic did this make the film, how threatening, because of the possibility of such crime close to ordinary people?
4. The central character of Eddie Coyle. Was his past explained well by the film? His involvement in crime? His friendships with criminals, his attitude towards himself as a criminal? Why was he in the predicaments he was in as the film opened? The sequences of him at home, with his wife and children, contrasting with his scenes at the bar, talking with the Police, and with the other criminals? What future did Eddie Coyle have as the film unfolded?
5. The role of Dillon in the film. As an unsympathetic character, unscrupulous and selfish. an informer? Could the audience have any sympathy for him? How typical of such men was he? What motivated him? His greed?
6. Foley: the picture of the police in this film, their methods for getting information, seeking out criminals? What motivated Foley and impelled him? His relationship with Coyle?
7. The picture the film gave of the robbers as criminals, as human beings? Where was audience sympathy? How callous were they? what insight into the mind of criminals did the film give?
8. Coyle's relationship with the gun trader? The suspense of this sequence yet its taking place at a supermarket etc.? Coyle's putting fear into the amateur gun traders? The significance of these sequences for Coyle, for the petty criminals, for an indication of crime in society today?
9. How was the parable of the unjust servant - fawning when stood over by superiors then standing over inferiors threateningly - verified in this film? Did it add to the significance of the film? How did it give insight into criminal's behaviour?
10. The theme of freedom of action: How was it illustrated in this film? Did society tie Coyle's hands and prevent his freedom? Was Coyle free to break from his own way of life and from the criminals?
11. The significance of ageing? Coyle ageing. compared with the younger criminals, his ideas on the significance of ageing?
12. The significance of having experience - Coyle using this theme to put advantage of himself over other criminals? How true was this?
13. The film's point about power over others and the using of power?
14. The theme of loyalty and betrayal? Where were any true loyalties in this film? Is betrayal inevitable in criminal circles? Do all human beings betray one another more or less?
15. The film was built up on ironies. Were these well worked out in the plot of the film? How interestingly were they worked out? What message impact did they have?
