Hollywood's dark tales of Irish gangsters have long captured America's attention

With the new films 'Kill the Irishman' and 'White Irish Drinkers,' the New Jersey Star-Ledger takes a look at Irish gangsters on film, including ROBERT MITCHUM in 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle.'

"... one of the greatest of all Irish gangster films, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” Eddie, played by a rarely better Robert Mitchum (who supposedly researched his part by barhopping with the real Boston mob) is a low-level gunrunner facing a long prison sentence. His only chance to cut a deal is to turn confidential informant.

But soon Coyle finds himself being pushed to sell more and more of himself. And that’s a dangerous habit in a world where the cheap price of someone’s life is refigured every day.

A prime example of downbeat ’70s cinema, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” remains a genre touchstone. (During a scene in “The Town,” Ben Affleck’s portrait of the current Boston mob scene, the film can be heard, dimly, playing in the background on TV.) It hammered home the point that, however dishonorable these men are, the one virtue they cling to is their honor toward each other."