The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) ✭✭✭✭

Those seeking a groove-tastic immersion in a gritty 1970s crime drama will want to pop Criterion’s new burn of The Friends of Eddie Coyle into the nearest blu-ray player. Directed with a cool efficiency by master storyteller Peter Yates, the film is a tale of small time hoods and the sketchy federal marshals who pursue them. Told under the gray, heavy skies of Boston, it depicts a working class world of tiny clapboard houses and chain link fences, with massive land yacht automobiles cruising its wet, glistening streets. With Dave Grusin’s funky yet foreboding score providing Fender Rhodes twinkles and wah-wah pedal counterpoint, The Friends of Eddie Coyle unfolds as a fine example this decade’s unique sub genre: Disco Noir.

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