The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a 1973 American neo-noir] crime film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle and directed by Peter Yates. The film tells the story of Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum), a small-time career hoodlum in the Irish Mob in Boston, Massachusetts. The title is purely ironic: Eddie has no friends. While critical reception was positive, with particular praise for Mitchum's performance, the movie was not popular with filmgoers and was a failure at the box office. In the fifty years since the movie was released it has become a cult classic thanks to repeated airings on various cable networks and home video. The movie is considered to be one of the more accurate depictions of life at the middle and lower levels of organized crime.
The following weapons were used in the film The Friends of Eddie Coyle:
During the opening scene, a Wells Fargo bank truck guard carries a Remington 870 when the guards are unloading money into the bank. Treasury agent Dave Foley (Richard Jordan) also carries one when his agents bust Jackie Brown (Steven Keats) during his M16 deal.
The two Wells Fargo bank truck guards unloading the money from the truck during the opening scene each carry a Smith & Wesson Model 10 HB revolver.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingSmith & Wesson Model 10 HB (heavy barrel) revolver (Post 1950s Model) - .38 Special. Later incarnations of the Model 10 had a non-tapered heavy barrel, which leads it to be commonly mistaken for a .357 revolver.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe first guard knocks on the side of the truck, prompting the second guard to begin passing the money through.Error creating thumbnail: File missingThe second guard keeps his Model 10 aimed as the first guard withdraws the cash bags.
Artie Van (Joe Santos) uses a Colt Official Police in each of the bank robberies he pulls with Jimmy Scalise's gang. Scalise (Alex Rocco) himself uses one during the second and third bank robbery attempts.
One major plot point in the film involves Jackie Brown's sale of five M16 rifles to two aspiring bank robbers for $2,000 (including ammunition). The rifles are often referred to as "machine guns" throughout the film but are correctly identified as M16s more than once.
Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum): "I've never been able to understand a man that wanted to use a machine gun... The best all-around item is the four-inch Smith. You can lift it; she goes where you point it."
Error creating thumbnail: File missingM16 aka SP1 (flat "slab side receiver") with an A1 "birdcage" Flash hider, used to imitate the M16A1 in many Vietnam era movies. This version has a 20 round magazine - 5.56x45mmError creating thumbnail: File missingJackie's associate approaches his car with a handful of M16 rifles.Error creating thumbnail: File missingJackie excitedly shows the M16 rifles to Coyle, who comments: "Those look like fuckin' Army guns to me."
Colt Detective Special
One of the Treasury agents with Foley during Jackie Brown's arrest carries a blued first generation Colt Detective Special. A Detective Special is also seen loaded by Jackie into the bag he sells to Eddie.
Coyle's final gun sale to Jimmy Scalise consists of "five Smiths, two Lugers, [and] a .357 Mag", with Coyle remarking about the latter that "you could hold up a bank with that thing yourself", charging $4,500 for the entire set. Despite playing an arms dealer, the Luger P08 is the only weapon Robert Mitchum is seen directly handling.
One of the "five Smiths" that Coyle sells to Scalise is a Smith & Wesson Model 10 which Scalise inspects then gives to one of his robbers to use in the third bank robbery attempt. Dave Foley (Richard Jordan) also carries one when he arrests Scalise's gang inside the house.
Dillon (Peter Boyle) uses a .22-caliber Arminius HW-7 revolver to murder Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) after the Bruins game. After his young associate complains about the sound, Dillon responds, "That's why I use a .22. I open up a .38 two-incher in here, you'll go right off the road."
