Crime may pay, but it doesn't necessarily pay well -- at least not for small-time hood Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum), who's about to be hauled off to jail for gunrunning, leaving behind a wife and kids but not a penny to his name. Desperate to salvage his freedom, Coyle begins serving two masters -- the cops (as a snitch) and his criminal associates (as a weapons supplier) in this 1970s gem helmed by Peter Yates.