Monday, 9 January 2012

Friends of Eddie Coyle


      There are a few such as Elmore Leonard who think George V. Higgins' 1970 first is the best crime novel ever written and there's not much to disagree on. The book's better than the movie and the 1973 screen version is excellent.







5 comments:

  1. both book and film are amazing. I read the novel well before I knew there was a movie so I was pleasantly surprised. Couldn't have had a better lead than Mitchum.

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  2. Mitchum is superb Brent and the Boston setting suit the book and movie perfectly

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  4. I saw the film about 10 times, read the book 3 times and saw the stage adaptation this past Dec. in Cambridge, MA. Soooo, I had to produce a tribute to Mr. Higgins and his great tale! I invite you to this youtube tribute which has 5 elements including 2 recreated scenes (from the film) and a homage to music composer to the original film, David Grusin. The DVD of my project also contains an exclusive 2010 interview with Alex Rocco who played Jimmy Scalise in the film. Please comment and share on twitter, etc. Thanks for the great blog post!:
    The Friends of Eddie Coyle Tribute Project

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  5. This is, IMHO, the best crime novel of all time, and that's despite all the "he said"s after every single line of dialogue.

    The movie is one of the greatest noirs ever, and Mitchum delivers what has to be the best single performance by an actor in a film noir. I reviewed this film and the Criterion package that housed the DVD on my website, and they were both superb.

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