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The Nickel Ride

  • 1974
  • PG
  • 1h 39m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
775
YOUR RATING
The Nickel Ride (1974)
Trailer for The Nickel Ride
Play trailer2:34
1 Video
36 Photos
CrimeDrama

In Los Angeles, a criminal begins to think that his accomplices want to get rid of him.In Los Angeles, a criminal begins to think that his accomplices want to get rid of him.In Los Angeles, a criminal begins to think that his accomplices want to get rid of him.

  • Director
    • Robert Mulligan
  • Writer
    • Eric Roth
  • Stars
    • Jason Miller
    • Linda Haynes
    • Victor French
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    775
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Mulligan
    • Writer
      • Eric Roth
    • Stars
      • Jason Miller
      • Linda Haynes
      • Victor French
    • 22User reviews
    • 26Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    The Nickel Ride
    Trailer 2:34
    The Nickel Ride

    Photos36

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    Top cast12

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    Jason Miller
    Jason Miller
    • Cooper
    Linda Haynes
    Linda Haynes
    • Sarah
    Victor French
    Victor French
    • Paddie
    John Hillerman
    John Hillerman
    • Carl
    Bo Hopkins
    Bo Hopkins
    • Turner
    Richard Evans
    Richard Evans
    • Bobby
    Bart Burns
    Bart Burns
    • Elias
    Lou Frizzell
    Lou Frizzell
    • Paulie
    Mark Gordon
    • Tonozzi
    Harvey Gold
    Harvey Gold
    • Chester
    Lee de Broux
    Lee de Broux
    • Harry
    Nelson Leigh
    Nelson Leigh
      • Director
        • Robert Mulligan
      • Writer
        • Eric Roth
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews22

      6.5775
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      Featured reviews

      7SteveSkafte

      the shadows swallow your reflection

      "The Nickel Ride" is all about mood. There's a nearly-constant feeling a dread in the air. From the first scene, you get the terrifying sensation that something bad is going to happen, and that anything to the contrary is a fleeting illusion. Cooper (played by Jason Miller) is supposedly a guy who everyone likes, but it soon becomes clear that no one respects him. Maybe it's because he stopped fighting a long time ago, back when his apathy buried his anger. There's a sense of hope in him, though, but that just makes him a target. He's in a line of work that perceives anything but the iron fist as a sign of weakness - and it's these desperate days that the opening scene drops us into. Out of a nearly-waking dream, like a mirror of Miller's first film "The Exorcist", he sees something coming that's more a thing of impeding doom than that of direct prophecy.

      It's a somewhat atypical film for director Robert Mulligan. He was more one for straightforward dramas, rarely tackling a subdued loner-driven narrative like this. This is also an early original script for Eric Roth, who is certainly treading much more uncomplicated ground than on his later stories. He's written something that can be carried completely by performances. "The Nickel Ride" doesn't reach very far, so it's not totally capable of the sort of staying power that keeps other 1970s classics in our minds. But the powerful uneasy feeling and the performance of Jason Miller makes it something special. This is a curious, angry, scared little alleycat of a film.
      9chrisdfilm

      vastly underrated neo-noir in 70s Los Angeles

      This is a really superb neo-noir and simultaneously realistic look at downtown Los Angeles in the beginning of the seventies. Jason Miller is perfectly cast as Cooper, the morose ex-carny-roustabout-turned-lower-echelon-crime figure. He functions as a semi-independent mob overseer of the storage and fencing of stolen merchandise for an eclectic variety of underworld thieves that cut across all racial divides. The crux of the story involves Cooper trying to close a deal on the purchase of a whole block of abandoned rail warehouses in the derelict 5th and Alameda area of downtown L.A. If he can't pull it off, it may mean the end of not only his career but his life. Director Robert Mulligan is an extremely uneven director having helmed decent pictures like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, THE SPIRAL ROAD, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE and BABY, THE RAIN MUST FALL as well as sleepers like THE OTHER. But he's also had his share of clunkers like SUMMER OF '42. However, THE NICKEL RIDE is his masterpiece. Many of things that others seem to find fault with in the film is exactly what makes the picture so unpretentious and sublime. You really have to pay attention to the dialogue and interaction of characters to get the back story and relationships. Something that most viewers are either unable or unwilling to do. They want everything handed to them on a silver platter. The beauty of this film lies not only in the exceptional, low-key, non-showy performances from every single actor involved, but also the visceral evocation of the dying-on-the-vine area of downtown L.A. -- whole blocks of which have not changed much since the making of this film. Equally brilliant is the almost imperceptible building of suspense through the gradual ratcheting-up of understandable paranoia in Cooper's character. By the time of the climax the unseen aura of impending doom -- a feeling which is so borderline we're not sure if Cooper is right-on or is imagining the whole thing -- is really disturbing. There are a couple of violent shock sequences in the last third of the picture that really pack a wallop because of the orchestration of elements. As mentioned by someone else here at IMDb, THE NICKEL RIDE does take the same low-key genre approach as similar neo-noir FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE and HICKEY AND BOGGS -- and it stacks up very favorably alongside them, easily equaling their masterpiece status. Highly recommended. However, the movie was such a flop on initial release I doubt Fox will ever release it on DVD. But keep your eyes peeled because they do run it occasionally letterboxed on the Fox Movie cable channel.
      7bkoganbing

      The Key Man

      If anyone thinks the criminal life is any kind of glamorous watching The Nickel Ride will disabuse anyone of such notions. Anyone who particularly wants to enter the life of crime.

      Jason Miller stars in The Nickel Ride and he's known as the key man because of the ring of keys that are 24/7 in his possession. The keys unlock several abandoned warehouses that organized crime uses to stash whatever they've stolen in various heists until it can be fenced.

      The syndicate is running out of said space and Miller is supposed to close a deal involving a whole block of these warehouses for such purposes. But for whatever reason Miller can't close the deal and his bosses such as John Hillerman are getting impatient.

      Probably Miller ought to just retire, but organized crime has only one kind of retirement package and that he doesn't want.

      Miller's predicament is something Richard Widmark's in Night And The City. He's not the ego-maniacal hustler that Widmark was in that classic, but he's made too many commitments he can't deliver. One was that a certain fighter he knows throw a bout where syndicate money is riding. Miller doesn't and a good friend of his, the manager of said fighter Lou Frizzel is killed. A harbinger of his own future that Miller doesn't like.

      The Nickel Ride is a gritty and realistic film, as downbeat as Night In The City or The Asphalt Jungle, close but not quite in their league. One should also take note of a good performance by Bo Hopkins as the button man imported from Tulsa to do Miller in.

      The Nickel Ride for some reason disappeared for years after its initial showing in theaters. Glad to see its finally out on DVD.
      7dansview

      Slow Character Study with Fine Touches

      I don't know if Jasom Miller was acting, or just being himself. His priest in The Exorcist seemed like a variation on the same character he plays here. So perhaps that's Miller's persona. He may just have an extremely intense way about him in real life that fits certain movie characters. Or he may have used technique. Either way, his intensity is always compelling.

      I think the 70s was the last era when Downtown L.A. had neighborhood bars frequented by white working class men and people knew each other. In fact the film makers were trying to portray that transition here.

      My favorite aspect of the film and many others from that era, was the slowness. Because you get to see that for most people, the daily routine of life is fairly mundane. There is nothing glamorous about this protagonist's daily existence.

      All jobs require paper work or daily rounds, and solving problems. All romantic relationships involve eating and sleeping, and putting up with your partner's quirks.

      If this is the first time Bo Hopkins appeared in a film as a cocky cowboy criminal, than I can see why it would be interesting. He pulls the same routine in some other films shortly after this one, so it gets old. But this may be the original appearance of that character. It's effective here, because his accent and clothes are so different from everyone else's.

      I agree with the other reviewers that this Linda Haynes actress was good for the role. She had a weird accent and quirky looks, and seemed just the type that a guy like "Cooper" would pick up in his world.

      I really liked Cooper's back story of having been a "Carny," and the girl's background as a dancer in Vegas. But I can't figure out the age dilemma. Apparently Miller was only 35 during the filming, yet he plays a guy who is basically a dinosaur in the crime world. It's said that he got started as a "kid" 19 years ago, but certainly he wasn't 16. I picture this character pushing 50, and I think Miller himself looked much older than 35. Is his birth date on IMDb an error?

      If you have patience and appreciate dark character studies, you'll like this one. But don't lose focus as the plot develops, or you will not understand what our guy does for a living.

      I don't know much about camera work or music, but both seemed classically 70s in their effect. Meaning real to the bone and stylish. It worked for me.
      daviditam2

      This is a rare example of the mob-procedural subgenre, and should be issued as a DVD.

      This is a rare example of the mob-procedural subgenre, and should be issued as a DVD. Castro Theatre in SF screened a print -- which I surmise was somewhat faded and over-purpled/sepiaed -- 18 March 2008 with Friends of Eddie Coyle (which I thought the better of the two). Audience of over 200 applauded warmly, especially Jason Miller's very fine acting. I did not have the trouble some following the plot that commenters reported, or with knowing what was paranoia (once it played out), what was actually happening. Also, Los Angeles sprawl-downtown was instantly recognizable. I also appreciated Linda Haynes' work as cootchie-dancer.

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      Storyline

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      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        Selected by Quentin Tarantino for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas, 1996.
      • Crazy credits
        The 20th Century Fox logo is shown in black and white.
      • Soundtracks
        The Nickel Ride Theme
        Written by Dave Grusin and Peggy Lee

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      FAQ16

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      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • January 15, 1975 (United States)
      • Country of origin
        • United States
      • Language
        • English
      • Also known as
        • Kljucni covjek
      • Filming locations
        • San Julian Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA(Paddie's bar at San Julian & East 5th St.)
      • Production companies
        • David Foster Productions
        • Twentieth Century Fox
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Tech specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 39 minutes
      • Color
        • Color
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 2.35 : 1

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