Revisiting 'Eddie Coyle'

No one, so far as I'm aware, has tried to make a case that the British-born director Peter Yates (1929–2011) was an auteur. His career was a bit too spotty (with too many low spots), and I think you'd be hard pressed to find much thematic unity in it. But he could make a good movie when he had good material to work with. He was best known for the Steve McQueen detective thriller Bullitt (1968), which at the very least set a new standard for car chases on film. And Breaking Away (1979), for which he received as Oscar nomination, was an enjoyable coming-of-age comedy that cast a charmingly affectionate eye on the American heartland. (A second nomination came just four years later for The Dresser, a film I've yet to see.)

But Yates really struck gold—in my humble opinion anyway—in 1973 with The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a Boston-set crime drama that gave Robert Mitchum one of his best roles. Mitchum's performance and those of his costars have been much praised, but when I revisited the movie recently, I was equally struck by Yates's adroit handling of its suspense/action sequences, which seemed like good candidates for some detailed formal analysis. My efforts to provide that are still in progress, but you can read Part One here. Hopefully, I'll be posting Part Two soon.