The staple fare of gangland revenge and betrayal is given freshness and immediacy by the dialogue of George V. Higgins??? first novel, The Friends of Eddie Coyle(1970), the film adaptation of which (directed by Peter Yates, 1973) is judged by Silver and Ward to be ???closer to the true noir cycle than the homage offered by such films as Chinatown and Farewell, My Lovely???.