Screening #5: 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle,' Coolidge Corner Theater, June 5 @ 7pm

The next Big Screen Boston book-signing/movie-screening is a biggie: the best movie ever made in Boston, 1973's The Friends of Eddie Coyle. I'll be posting an excerpt from the book about the movie soon, but here's a little of what Eddie has to offer: a doom-filled film noir mood that's rare for a post-1960 color movie, a totally convincing Robert Mitchum performance as a low-level hood being squeezed by the law and the wonderful use of grimy Greater Boston locations, from brutalist City Hall Plaza to the Boston Garden. Without this movie and the novels of George V. Higgins (on whose first book this is based), it's hard to conceive of such subsequent stories as Monument Ave., Mystic River, The Departed and Gone Baby Gone. Dennis Lehane may be its purveyor now, but it was George V. Higgins who started Boston noir. So don't miss this rare chance to see Eddie Coyle on the big screen (it's still never come out on VHS or DVD). The Coolidge has just informed me that they're getting an archival print from Paramount, so the city will be on display in all its gritty glory.