A few weeks ago there was a thread about the 10 best movies, part of an apparent fireworks finale of 10 best lists <g>. One of those I recommended in my not-quite-in-this-game comments in the thread was "The Friends of Eddie Coyle", a 1973 release that was recently reissued in a Criterion edition and which I was fortunate enough to rewatch over the holiday weekend.
If you are unfamiliar with the Criterion Collection, this post is at least as much in praise of Criterion as of the movie. As always, it's a close call with their releases. IMO they have peerless taste in movies, they have plenty of budget to restore and reinvigorate the classics. those generally acknowledged and otherwise, and they operate in a cinematic world without borders. If you want to marinate in French New Wave movies for a summer, as I did a few summers ago, Criterion has you covered. Italian movies? Check. Japanese, English, Russian, Swedish (lots of Bergman), German, some Hong Kong like Wong Kar-Wei ("Chungking Express", "In the Mood for Love"), on and on. Even some underappreciated American releases like "The Ice Storm" and "Paris, Texas." The Criterion treatment also includes pristinely restored prints and extensive extras and liner notes / essays which enhance your appreciation of the movie. You pay more but the money is well spent IMO. Few of them are what one would describe as hard to get through -- film is, after all, a visual medium -- but they are not mindless blather to zone out watching for a couple of hours, either.
So, this movie. It has always had its adherents but in its time not too many people placed it in the movie pantheon. Which in fact they still aren't, but it's a very good movie. Such movies were common in the golden age of American movies, the 1970s and 1980s, when the old shackles had been thrown off and creativity bloomed. "Eddie Coyle" was exactly the kind of movie that was overshadowed in its time and benefits from a delayed spotlight. Robert Mitchum may never have been better. It is very specific to time and place in that nail you to the spot way so much great fiction has. Top rate dialogue, much of it lifted directly from the source novel by George V. Higgins. For a couple of hours you are IN Boston in the early 1970s, and not the nicest parts or the nicest people, either.
You can get it from Amazon for a good price considering what you are getting. No reason IMO not to buy from one of the resellers of new copies (descendants of Eddie Coyle, possibly) and save a few bucks. My understanding is Amazon does a reasonable amount of monitoring its resellers. I have bought that way many times, including a number of Criterions, without incident.
Check out the customer comments about Mitchum and the movie.
http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Eddie-Coyle-Robert-Mitchum/dp/B001TIQT6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1291081559&sr=8-1More general info about Criterion titles ---
http://www.criterion.com/library/dvdAny ardent movie fan will debate the inclusion of some of them. But isn't that part of the point of loving the movies? <g>
