Friday Happenings

Movies

Robert Mitchum's grizzled and vulnerable performance as a down-on-his luck Quincy gunrunner makes The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) one movie that every Bostonian ought to see. Peter Boyle plays Eddie's friend, a hitman who takes the T because he doesn't have a car. Watch for Bobby Orr on the ice at the old Boston Garden and local independent filmmaker Jan Egleson as a young soldier. Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. Tickets and more information.

Queer Movies

In the mid-80s, the AIDS crisis galvanized the queer community and made activists out of artists. One of the happy byproducts of this miserably depressing time was the emergence of queer cinema, which had its origins in the activist movies that struggled to depict the enormity of the AIDS epidemic. The HFA presents 14 of these shorts over two days of screenings. Tonight features work from Isaac Julien, Tom Kalin, John Greyson, Carol Leigh, and Ellen Spiro and an excerpt of the iconic video Silence=Death (1987). Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 8 p.m. $12.

Soul

We've gushed about Grupo Fantasma before, so you can bet we were psyched when we heard that the band had a spin-off soul project, Brownout. The Latin soul group shares the stage tonight with Mmoss and Babydriver. Milky Way Lounge, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, 9 p.m. $7.

Dance

Ronald K. Brown is a New York choreographer whose ensemble Evidence performs a blend of "African, modern, ballet and hip-hop dance styles." Tonight, the company performs the Boston premiere of Brown's Two-Year-Old Gentleman. Institute of Contemporary Art, South Boston, 7:30 p.m. $40.