Continuing on with the 70’s crime film theme, a group of us watched The Friends of Eddie Coyle
My own reaction to the movie is somewhat skewed. I’d read the book fairly recently, and thought it was fantastic. William Landay’s writeup for The Rap Sheet does a very good job of explaining everything I love about the book, particularly when he says
(Charlie Stella also has a nice tribute to Higgins at the same site.)
I think that my fondness for the novel colors my view of the movie. Peter Yates made one of the most faithful adaptations of a novel I’ve ever seen: pretty much every scene and every line is straight out of the book. (There are only three significant exceptions I can think of; the scene where Coyle delivers the guns to the trailer is cut short. Cutting that scene short sets up the final scene in the movie, which has a similarly nihilistic, but different, ending. There’s also a scene with Coyle and his wife that I think was inserted to make him somewhat more sympathetic.)
I got the impression that Lawrence and the other viewers were not as impressed, and I can see why. Like Mean Streets, Friends is very much a “slice of life” film. There’s more action in Friends, and I think much more going on in general. But the heart of both the movie and book is the window they give into the life of this small-time hustler, trying to make a living and stay one step ahead of the law but failing at both.
I loved the movie. Your mileage may vary.
Edited to add: Here’s Roger Ebert’s original review of the movie.
, 
, or, as the Posties put it “The book the SEALs read”. We were previously unaware of Admiral McRaven’s book, but plan to order a copy today.
has “written such novels as White Shadow, Infamous and Wicked City“.
by Dan Barry, a writer for the NYT.
, by Lawrence M. Krauss. This is another book we’re not sure about purchasing: between 
, 
, and 
, we kind of feel the ground has been well covered. We are also slightly suspicious of anyone whose book credits include 
. On the other hand, the review (by noted SF writer Paul Di Filippo) is pretty favorable, so we may have to give this one a shot.
, by Edmund Lewis, and the very recent limited run reprint (not a signed first printing) of 
by the Chandler Brothers, which I ordered from 
is indispensable: I’m slowly making my way through his list, and will perhaps finish sometime before the heat death of the universe.
is the textbook we’re using for the class.
, about the killing of King and the manhunt for Ray. I picked it up about two weeks ago, and read the first 300 pages in one night. The only reason I stopped there was because I was dozing off. Sides’ book has an amazingly strong narrative drive for a true crime work; it reads very much like a good novel.
last weekend, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet.) but I do commend Hellhound to your attention.
“.