The Nickel Ride

The Nickel Ride
Film poster
Directed by Robert Mulligan
Produced by David Foster
Robert Mulligan
Lawrence Turman
Written by Eric Roth
Starring Jason Miller
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography Jordan Cronenweth
Edited by O. Nicholas Brown
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • May 1974 (1974-05)
Running time
 99 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1.4 million[1]

The Nickel Ride is a 1974 American crime film directed by Robert Mulligan. It was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.[2] On December 13, 2011 Shout! Factory released the film on DVD as part of a double feature with 99 and 44/100% Dead.

Plot

Working for a local crime boss, the "key-man" known as Cooper (Jason Miller) runs a set of warehouses in Los Angeles. Just as he is about to close a deal that will net them a whole block of L.A. turf, problems arise. As he continues to talk to the police and has a relationship with a young woman (Linda Haynes), Cooper's pals wonder if he is planning to reveal other things about their plans. Trouble is afoot.

Cast

Development

The project began with a screenplay written by Eric Roth called Fifty-Fifty which concerned a low-level crime boss who grows paranoid on the verge of his fiftieth birthday. The script was purchased by Chartoff-Winkler Productions with George C. Scott originally attached as the lead. The project then changed hands to producer/director Robert Mulligan, with 20th Century Fox committed as distributor.[3] Mulligan selected the project as his follow-up to The Other after he had briefly been considered to direct Taxi Driver with Jeff Bridges in the starring role of Travis Bickle.[4]

At the last minute, Scott dropped out of the project, and the role of Cooper was filled by Jason Miller, fresh off his acclaim for The Exorcist. Although considerably younger than the envisioned character, Miller’s casting pleased Roth, who considered the actor "the new John Garfield."[3] Mulligan regulars Victor French and Lou Frizzell were cast in supporting roles.

Filming

Filming took place from September 17th to November 13th 1973. The film was predominantly shot on location in downtown Los Angeles, with Big Bear used for the scenes set at the lakeside cabin.[5]

Release and box office

The film premiered at Cannes to positive reception, being nominated for the Palme d’Or. It then was previewed in France, but poor box office there and in other European markets led to concerns about the project’s commercial viability. Director Robert Mulligan cut the movie down, eliminating in the process the character of Cooper’s younger brother Larry, played by Brendan Burns. (The actor’s father, Bart Burns, played the role of Elias in the film.)[5] According to Eric Roth, Burns attended the domestic premiere with surrounding family having not been informed that his character was cut out of the film. Despite his excision, Burns’ name still appears in some credits listings.[3]

In January 1975, the film debuted domestically on the east coast, where it performed poorly despite the efforts to tighten the picture. In response, the marketing campaign was retooled before the film’s gradual release to the rest of the U.S., but The Nickel Ride ultimately disappeared without finding a sizable audience.[3] Due to the delayed and staggered release, the film did not arrive in some markets for a full year or more – Los Angeles received the film at the end of 1975, and one Seattle critic noted in a review published in January of 1976 that the film was presented in his city as a "first-run second feature" in a double-bill with Robert Altman’s Hustler.[6]

The film ultimately grossed less than $2 million domestically.[7]

Awards

Reception

Nora Sayre of The New York Times was not impressed:

The movie appears to be a drama of real estate. Jason Miller plays a neighborhood fixer who is attempting to lease a warehouse for the storage of stolen goods; however, the deal is delayed, and he's threatened by the minor hoods who are his clients. His role is a study in worry: the angst rarely leaves his deep-set lemur's eyes. We watch him worrying in profile, in full and three-quarter face, standing or sitting or lying down, in daylight and darkness, on the phone, in his office and out of doors. All in all, he seems more vulnerable to an anxiety attack than to an assailant's bullet. ...The Nickel Ride is handsomely filmed in bleak pastels, but the numerous close-ups manage to stress the slowness of the action, and quick cuts can't dispel the tedium.[8]

Nick Pinkerton of The Village Voice was slightly more forgiving: "The Nickel Ride is a seldom-seen drama of white-collar workaday criminal drudgery to make you believe the best of '70s cinema will never fully be quarried out. ...The atmosphere is one of musty hallways, sour stomach, and looming late middle age with no retirement plan in sight."[9]

Despite its elusiveness and initially mixed reaction, the film has attained a following over time, and is sometimes compared favorably to The Friends of Eddie Coyle.[10] Among its more prominent fans is director Quentin Tarantino, who included it in the line-up of his first annual "QT Fest" in 1997.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p258
  2. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Nickel Ride". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The Nickel Ride QA - Academy Award winner Eric Roth interviewed by David Moninger". Vimeo. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  4. ↑ Brode, Douglas (1993). The Films of Robert DeNiro. Citadel. p. 99. ISBN 978-0806513058.
  5. 1 2 "AFI Catalog - The Nickel Ride". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  6. ↑ Jameson, Richard T. "Review: The Nickel Ride". Parallax View. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ Clement, Nick. "Robert Mulligan's The Nickel Ride - A Review by Nick Clement". Podcasting Them Softly. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ Nora Sayre, "Cliches Trail 'The Nickel Ride': Jason Miller Has Lead in Real-Estate Drama Role as a Fixer Proves a Study in Worry" Jan. 30, 1975 https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D02E4DA153AE034BC4850DFB766838E669EDE
  9. ↑ Nick Pinkerton, "Films of Robert Mulligan at Walter Reade" March 18, 2009 http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-03-18/film/the-films-of-robert-mulligan-at-walter-reade/
  10. ↑ "The Nickel Ride". Pulp Curry. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
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