102 minute running time so the right length. Gritty low-level crime life in Boston during the grim early 1970s … George V. Higgins was a prosecutor who had a good ear for how these petty criminals talked and was able to write a book based on it … the dialogue is great as a result … loved Mitchum since Night of the Hunter and many say this many be his best performance ever … score is very early 70s, sounds like all the TV shows I grew up with … the bleakness of this one sets it apart (although bleak was par for the course in the early 70s).

This is a green-go, recommended movie. The dialogue, Mitchum, the supporting actors, the location shooting in Boston, crime doesn’t pay … it all works to make a winner. Also I was glad to see in the bonus material that several scenes had been cut out, which is of course almost always a blessing. Yates talks in the commentary about the necessity of having an editor outside oneself (the director), who can see what’s unnecessary and make those much-needed cuts.