A sparse and unromantic gangster flick .....

Dear Peter Yates,

you made an edgy film that was true to the book by George.V.Higgins. The Friends of Eddie Coyle is about a bunch of crooks squealing on each other to escape jail sentences. The film is mostly entertaining dialog. The people (actors), places or events are not given too much space. The characters and the plot develops almost entirely through the sparse but often realistic and witty dialog. The film is set in a a male world. There is a lot of machismo. For example, a couple of the crooks casually discuss a woman's vagina. Someone like Tarantino would have tried to emphasize the best dialogs if he had directed this film. What I mean is that most directors would have tried to create a huge event if they had dialogs like the ones in the movie. But your directing style is unromantic and sparse. It was original and faithful to the book. The tension is caged in because of which the film never really rises above a certain level of entertainment. The gangsters in the film are total losers without any honor. They would rat each other out and kiss establishment ass in a second. Norman Mailer expressed surprise for the book - "that so good a first novel was written by the fuzz." I have not watched another gangster flick like The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Robert Mitchum was effortlessly brilliant as Eddie Coyle - a small time gangster who is on his way down. Well done, Peter.

Best Regards,
Pimpin.

(10/10)