The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

Review #2063: The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

Cast: 

Robert Mitchum (Eddie Coyle), Peter Boyle (Dillon), Richard Jordan (Dave Foley), Steven Keats (Jackie Brown), Alex Rocco (Jimmy Scalise), Joe Santos (Artie Van), Mitchell Ryan (Waters), Helena Carroll (Sheila Coyle), Jack Kehoe (The Beard), Margaret Ladd (Andrea), and James Tolkan (The Man's Contact Man) Directed by Peter Yates (#506 - Bullitt, #927 - Krull, and #1197 - The Deep)

Review: 

In 1970, George V. Higgins saw his first novel in The Friends of Eddie Coyle become published. Formerly, he had served his native Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a deputy assistant attorney general alongside as an Assistant United State Attorney. Higgins dabbled as a novelist when not involved in private practice in law that distilled the words that he would hear from gangsters and made them the kind of thing you would hear in a great potboiler. Better writers than me can lend you some context within the scene of Boston and gangs (as presented here). It made some sense to have Peter Yates as director, as his third effort with Robbery (1967) had given him a chance to direct Bullitt (1968), a movie packed with a car chase so notable that I'm sure those who view it now will talk about with fanfare; Yates directed a variety of genres besides crime of course, but, well, we are here to talk about a film that was underappreciated by audiences in its time. This is the first of only two adaptations of a Higgins book, with the only other one being Killing Them Softly (2012). Paul Monash wrote the screenplay while serving as producer. Of the films that Yates made, he stated that the three films he was most proud of was Breaking Away (1979), The Dresser (1983), and this film.

When it comes to the grimy classics of a decade as ideal for grimy films as the 1970s were, you can't really go wrong with this one. Life is hard, but it sure is harder if you are stupid, as is reflected within the dialogue that is told with such dedicated efficiency. Before you get to films of the region such as The Town (2010) or The Departed (2006), you might want to consider this one when it comes to looking at the people that dwell in the corners of crime. This isn't merely just the big-timers or two-bit hustlers, it involves folks wrapped firmly in the middle, the kind that are referred to with irony as having friends. It rewards those who value character presences such as Boyle or Keats to serve in the lines behind the immeasurable Mitchum. One of the cast members actually was formerly involved in organized crime within the East in Rocco, who was linked loosely with the Winter Hill Gang in the Boston area that had seen him accused of being involved in an assault on a diner owner. Apparently, when Mitchum had asked to see a local gangster for research, Rocco tapped him to see Howie Winter, who was still part of the gang. Of course, Mitchum having an accent that has been looked upon favorably among select folks in the region is not a surprise given the veteran actor's immense talent that relies heavily on seeing this one man in the time he has remaining in such a weary existence that knows his strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the life put upon him. This includes moments spent with Carroll to remind oneself of just what is really at stake when it comes to playing information or not (it isn't a movie built on overt violence, basically). Only Mitchum could waltz right into a role like this with such natural skill that it seems that nobody could have done it better. He may be a hustler of guns, but he is our hustler and his dilemma matters more than anything to us, particularly since we know the game that comes in Boyle, who provides such a worthy mobster presence in subtlety on the level of a snake. Jordan is the leading authority (with pretty good results) to watch upon these distinct elements of crime that is thoroughly unglamourous. Violent or not, you know what kind of underworld you are in with this film in folks such as Keats and Rocco that obviously accomplish what is required in the shades of laying out plans in their own scope that can only go the way things go with the unending world of crime moving on with or without the best laid-out plans working right. The robbing aren't the most important part, because it is a slow boiler all about seeing what happens to Mitchum as a battle of pride, one that works out to effective drama with no sense of false note moral by its end. In that sense, it is a worthwhile crime film wrapped firmly in its Boston surroundings for a worthwhile time of grime. Bleak and unflinching, it stands worthy of its time rather than one that flinches away.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Car Wash.

Review #1637: Car Wash.

Cast: 

Franklyn Ajaye (T.C./Theodore Chauncy Elcott), Sully Boyar (Leon 'Mr B.' Barrow), Ivan Dixon (Lonnie), Bill Duke (Duane / Abdullah), Antonio Fargas (Lindy), Michael Fennell (Calvin), Arthur French (Charlie), Leonard Jackson (Earl), DeWayne Jessie (Lloyd), Jack Kehoe (Scruggs), Lauren Jones (Marleen), Henry Kingi (Goody), Melanie Mayron (Marsha), Garrett Morris (Slide), Clarence Muse (Snapper), Leon Pinkney (Justin), with Richard Brestoff (Irwin Barrow), Carmine Caridi (Foolish Father), George Carlin (the Taxi Driver), "Professor" Irwin Corey (The Mad Bomber), Lorraine Gary (the Hysterical Lady), Richard Pryor (Daddy Rich), and The Pointer Sisters (The Wilson Sisters) Directed by Michael Schultz.

Review: 

"In many films, I want to tell a story everybody can understand. But more importantly, I want an audience to come out of a film with more than what they went in with—thinking, feeling, laughing, crying."

There are quite a few directors and actors who made a name for themselves within African American cinema in the 1970s, and Michael Schultz belongs in the conversation for that era. He attended the University of Wisconsin before dropping out to work in a steel mill and then moving on to study and graduate at Marquette. He made his debut as a stage manager in The Old Glory (1964) Having already been involved in theater productions in high school, he was well-suited for when he moved on to attend Princeton University, where he directed his first play in 1966 (he would manage or direct numerous performances from 1964 to 1974). His staging of To Be Young, Gifted and Black resulted in success alongside a re-staging for television two years later. Alongside entering television for several series, he also moved into films with Together for Days (1972) and Honeybaby, Honeybaby (1974), although his breakthrough would come with Cooley High (1975) with audiences that has been noted as a classic by future directors like Spike Lee. Although Schultz's career moved down a tick with the noted failure Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), he continued his work in film and television, and he can still be found in the latter category to the present day.

How many movies are there that involve a slice-of-life portrayal of a job that could be described in the same way one could say about future films about crabby lines of work? Or for that matter, how many are ones that were thought of as intended to be a musical? When the production head at Universal Pictures was pitched the play idea, he hated it, but told producers Art Linson and Gary Stromberg to just get the writer behind Sparkle and make a movie instead. Car Wash is certainly that one, a film that actually had its soundtrack recorded before the film started production in order for the actors to listen to it, complete with using a real car wash (Figueroa Car Wash in Los Angeles) for filming. The soundtrack was done by Rose Royce, and the title song became a number one hit while the soundtrack won a Grammy Award (the film has been argued to be one of the first disco-infused films). Believe it or not, the film was written by Joel Schumacher, who had just one prior writing credit (Sparkle, released the same year), having moved up from costume and set design to writing to eventually directing by 1981 (but not before writing another famed film with disco influence with The Wiz). What we have here is a trove of ensemble fun, one that settles in like a series of sketches as the day (90 minutes) goes by, with an assortment of fair highlights among a few noteworthy check-ins and an interesting closure. Those familiar with films like American Graffiti (1973) will have a fine time with an ensemble piece with radio-infused style and narration. There are some charmers in the cast when it comes to lovable crass folks, such as Ajaye (known for his brief string of comedy albums) and his carefree range of buzzy charm, which goes along with other fun-loving sly folks like Fargas or Kehoe or beleaguered ones like Boyer; on the other side of focus is Dixon (best known for his lead role in Nothing But a Man (1964) and support in Hogan's Heroes), who provides shining struggle to go with the coarse Duke (in his debut film role) that shows the reality of what they do (meager job, meager pay, but one has to do it).

And then of course there are the small bit from notable folks. Carlin (a well-known comic of the counterculture with his second film role) has an interesting time spent with wandering amusement that rambles for a short time. The same goes for Corey and his nutty small turn to set up a gag with a bottle in the air, while Gary plays hysterics to that key breaking moment. Believe it or not, Pryor (a stand-up comic in his prime) making a cameo appearance in the film was not actually planned at first. For one, it was intended to be a fellow named Reverend Ike (who would be playing a character inspired by himself), but when he turned it down, Pryor stepped in (Schultz and Pryor gave differing assessments on the performance, as the former noted the actor as doing numerous variations on one theme that a director has to guide/pick while Pryor thought he should have known better but was under the influence of cocaine at the time to notice) - for me, it's the most interesting appearance, one with a music group to make prime flim-flam benevolence. Be thankful one can see the film in its full form and not have to live in a time with edited TV versions circulating, one of which that takes out the raunchy elements alongside adding/deleting characters (Lindy out for a character played by Danny DeVito, who is all but deleted from the original version except in the background). At any rate, what we have is a deserving favorite by the audience that have warmed up to it in the four decades since its release, one that has a charm worth looking into.

Next Time: Sure, this director has been covered plenty of times before. But it is his portrayal of the life of one of the most famous jazz saxophonists that merits discussion, especially since it wasn't given its due upon release with its key lead performance from Forest Whitaker. Rock the beat for Bird (1988).

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Sting.

Review #1445: The Sting.

Cast: 
Paul Newman (Henry "Shaw" Gondorff), Robert Redford (Johnny "Kelly" Hooker), Robert Shaw (Doyle Lonnegan), Charles Durning (Lt. William Snyder, Joliet P.D.), Ray Walston (J.J. Singleton), Eileen Brennan (Billie), Harold Gould (Kid Twist), John Heffernan (Eddie Niles), Dana Elcar (FBI Agent Polk), Dimitra Arliss (Loretta), Robert Earl Jones (Luther Coleman), and Jack Kehoe (Erie Kid) Directed by George Roy Hill (#962 - A Little Romance, #1178 - Slap Shot, and #1289 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

Review: 
"I find publicity is distasteful and I don't think it does the picture any good to focus on the director. I think it's only a very small group of the public that really pays attention to the director. Lately it's come around to that the director is more of a star than he was, but I've never wanted that."

There are just some movies that are destined to become great works to endure, whether for their style, or for their execution in writing, directing, or the actors. This is a film that has all of those attributes to make for one of the most well-crafted experiences for the 1970s. It should only figure that a well-crafted film would come from a craftsman like George Roy Hill. He had served as a pilot in both World War II and the Korean War as a Marine while having studied at Yale and Trinity College (studying music and literature, respectively). He made his debut in the stage of Ireland before moving to Broadway, where he would later shift his attention to directing. After nearly a decade of writing/directing for anthology television and Broadway (on and off), he made his debut in motion pictures with Period of Adjustment (1962, an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play that Hill directed). Although Hill did not garner as much respect as other directors of his time (perhaps in part because of his reluctance for self-promotion), he would direct fourteen films in 26 years (retiring to teach at Yale) through his firm style of directing that made him a favorite for actors in films with varying success such as Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and Slap Shot (1977, now considered a cult classic). The script came from David S. Ward, graduate of both UCLA and USC film schools, whose only writing credit at the time was Steelyard Blues (1973). He was inspired to make a film about confidence men because he had never saw one about them before, having researched pickpockets (despite this, David Maurer, writer of The Big Con - a 1940 book that detailed real life grifters such as Fred and Charley Gondoroff, sued for plagiarism, which was settled after the film's release to the disappointment of Ward).

One doesn't need to say how much power Newman and Redford have in chemistry together, both having come from Broadway to film to become icons by the time of this film, their second of two films together. They are quality stars that bask into a quality script that gives them room to engage in some amusement alongside setting up the audience in confidence for the big con that resonates as a wonderful emulation of 1930s films with great style. It is escapism of the highest order for all to see and hear. Redford proves as capable as ever in exuding confidence and care for a role worth having so much self assurance and timing to go with it, a set-up man with plenty of charm to go around. Newman proves just as alluring in traditional confidence that can be just as amusing as Redford with plenty of ways of building people up, such as when he engages in a poker game with Shaw while pretending to be drunk and getting the better of him through a few jokes and careful handling. Shaw (who also was a novelist and playwright when not in the theater or films) proves resilient as the heavy for the film, having a striking quality to him that makes him a perfect mark and contrast to the others in the film that lurks in our attention without turning into a caricature. Durning (a prolific character actor of stage, television, and film) proves the perfect foil authority, one with brute convictions that makes a perfect mark. Walston and Gould (both prolific character actors) make for quality acts to help set up the background of making the con go with class, while Brennan rounds out the focus points with care, whereas others get brief but meaningful moments (such as an allusive Arlisss or a warm Jones for the first con of the film). One never finds anything they see or hear to be a distraction, playing a long game in delivering entertainment for its audience with a mix of humor and caper style to tremendous effect, where the 129 minutes slip away with no trouble in following it all the way with details. It is interesting that the film works so well as a film attempting to look like the 1930s with its cinematography by Robert Surtees, editing from William Reynolds and costuming by Edith Head that goes with a music score (done by Marvin Hamlisch) that adapts early 20th century ragtime music from Scott Joplin (ragtime, although outdated by the 1930s actually experienced a revival in the 1970s, with "The Entertainer" being a great tune to listen to) to make for such an involving experience. Perhaps it isn't surprising that this film received numerous accolades as a tremendous hit for the time, with Hill, Ward, Reynolds, Head, Hamlisch each winning Academy Awards for their work (along with wins for Best Production Design and Best Picture). In the long run, this is one of the most entertaining films of its time, one that serves as a gem for Hill, Redford, and Newman in captivating a sharp winner that holds true in great craftsmanship and planning after over four decades to make for a grand legacy worth checking out.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.