The Nickel Ride

Cooper is another in a long line of tragic 1970s antiheroes, living in a shadowy and foreboding world where everything points to an inevitable outcome.  Movies of the decade often had a downbeat wrap up, reminding us that often the "good guys" don't emerge victorious (depending on your philosophy).  That may be a spoiler for 1974's THE NICKEL RIDE, and while director Robert Mulligan's film may slightly tease us with the potential for a happy ending, there's enough to suggest otherwise.

Jordan Cronenweth's sharp photography.  It captures the seedy side of Los Angeles so perfectly. Such tangible atmosphere! Dave Grusin's at times quite eerie score.  So very '70s.  Eric Roth's script.  Hard boiled but low key, just like the entire movie.  Political allegories and overtones?  Most of his characters are steely and amoral.  Mulligan, a filmmaker with a rather uneven resume, directs with an eye for what may be just out of the frame, always keeping viewers off guard.   Even in the sunlight of the city and the gorgeous daytime scenery of a cabin in the woods.  Especially there.

Cooper (Jason Miller) runs warehouses for criminals to store their fenced goods.   He works for a smooth crime boss named Carl (John Hillerman), his tone always reassuring as he twists the dagger.  Coop, whose career in the underworld seems to be on the downswing, is trying to expand, to open an entire block of storage units, but there is trouble with the local crooked realtor and Carl's new protege, Turner (Bo Hopkins), a smiling brute of a hitman clad in cowboy duds.  The only bright lights in Cooper's life are his pal Paddie (Victor French), who owns a bar, and his girlfriend Sarah (Linda Haynes, seen in far too few movies).  The latter's relationship with Coop is refreshingly unsentimental and realistic, but always moving.

THE NICKEL RIDE is a rough gem in a sea of cinematic obscurity.  I doubt many reading this (both of you) have even heard of it.  But it is worth seeking out for its patient, measured approach to crime drama.  There are no big action set pieces or melodramatic soliloquies.  Roth sketches fascinating figures, nicely realized by a fine cast.  Miller is best known for his role in THE EXORCIST, and those only familiar with that might be surprised by his tough portrayal here.  Solid work.  Hopkins is perfectly menacing.   Hillerman's voice alone is right at home in this neo noir, which also includes a fixed boxing match subplot for good measure.  Also, the old "it was only a dream" sequence.  But there is not a wasted scene in this movie, and that final moment, understated just as everything before, packed a wallop I was not expecting.