Outstanding. Gritty crime drama, set in the bleakness of early winter in Boston and the surrounding towns.

Robert Mitchum (in a truly great performance) plays a weary, aging, mid-level criminal who got bagged driving a delivery truck with stolen booze in New Hampshire. He's facing a 2-3 year bid but is getting old and doesn't want do the time, be an embarrassment to his wife and kids, and worse, see them go on welfare. So he starts considering other options.

The whole cast is a who's who of great under-the-radar 70s character actors. There's not a bad performance in the bunch.

Peter Boyle's character is a heartless son of a bitch.

There are a few bank robberies and a cool parking lot arrest scene, but in general the action isn't a focus at all. It's about watching Mitchum's fate - the fate of a career criminal, or a career middle-man in an especially cut-throat economy - unfold in real time.

This was a Paramount picture. No way modern-day Hollywood studios would let a mainstream picture with a major star in the leading role end on such a depressing, down-beat note. The 70s were the only years they could get away with shit like this...