The Nickel Ride (1974)

Small-time criminal Cooper manages several warehouses in Los Angeles that the mob use to stash their stolen goods. Known as "the key man" for the key chain he always keeps on his person ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writer:

Eric Roth

Stars:

Jason Miller, Linda Haynes, Victor French

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jason Miller	...	Cooper
Linda Haynes	...	Sarah
Victor French	...	Paddie
John Hillerman	...	Carl
Bo Hopkins	...	Turner
Richard Evans	...	Bobby
Bart Burns	...	Elias
Lou Frizzell	...	Paulie
Mark Gordon	...	Tonozzi
Harvey Gold	...	Chester
Lee de Broux	...	Harry

Storyline

Small-time criminal Cooper manages several warehouses in Los Angeles that the mob use to stash their stolen goods. Known as "the key man" for the key chain he always keeps on his person that can unlock all the warehouses, Cooper is assigned by the local syndicate to negotiate a deal for a new warehouse because the mob has run out of storage space. However, Cooper's superior Carl gets nervous and decides to have cocky cowboy button man Turner keep an eye on Cooper.

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Plot Keywords:

warehouse | mob | stolen goods | cowboy | sports fixing | 

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Taglines:

The Nightmare Was Over... Or Had It Just Begun!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

El hombre clave

Filming Locations:

East 5th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

David Foster Productions, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Selected by Quentin Tarantino for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas, 1996.

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Soundtracks

"Anytime There's Music, You're My Song"
Written by Michael Chain

User Reviews

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.