And Nicole Jacobs, who plays Loriann?

“Nicole is an interesting story,” he responds. “We were trying to cast this role of a teenage runaway and were having a really hard time getting somebody the right age, who looked right for the role and who could really act. I was frustrated because we’d seen a lot of girls and none of them was quite right.

“I was having lunch with my editor telling him we were having a hard time casting this role, and I looked across the restaurant and said, ‘There’s a girl over there who would be perfect for the role: that type of look is what we need’.

“Then I said, ‘Oh, what the hell’ and I went over. Nicole was having lunch with her mom, and I said to her, ‘I promise you I’m legitimate: I’m not working some creepy angle here. Your daughter is perfect for this role in this movie and she should audition. It’s a tough part: it’s a teenage runaway who becomes a prostitute but it’s a really good acting piece and, if your daughter wants to be an actress, you never know what might happen’.

Vinny Argiro and Donnie Montemarano as Tommy and Mick

“They looked me up on the internet to see that I wasn’t full of shit: actually, Nicole had liked Detroit Rock City. So they felt a little more comfortable about allowing her to audition and she got the part. She’d never acted a day in her life.”

It is, in the final analysis, the quality, the integrity and the naked sincerity of the actors that provides Night at the Golden Eagle - whose story on paper is unremittingly grim - with its note of redemption. On the page, Mick is the long-suffering friend desperate for a better life, while Tommy is a loose cannon, scattering disaster in his wake. On the screen, however, it’s a little different, a little more nuanced.

“This is exactly what I love about good character dramas from the seventies,” agrees Rifkin. “Good guys and bad guys were never as clearly defined as they have become nowadays, and I find that very interesting. People are very multi-dimensional. I don’t want to reduce it down to one guy’s the good guy and everything he does is good, and one guy’s the bad guy and everything he does is bad. I really like the idea that both characters can be equally likeable, equally interesting, equally compelling, equally flawed.

“Through the various choices that these characters make, one thing leads to another. And this is the story that happens to unfold on this particular night. But one thing that is really great about Donnie is that he’s just innately so likeable that, when Tommy’s doing bad things, it’s still easy to care about him. I think that’s really important.”

Having won the battle to make Night at the Golden Eagle, Rifkin and Bing are now facing the much greater struggle of getting it in front of an audience. “Once we made the decision to make the film ourselves, it was surprisingly easy,” says the former. “We found that freedom very refreshing and it made a lot of it very easy. But getting it seen is the hardest part, and that is what we’re about to embark on right now. Hopefully we can get people to see it and people will like it and word will spread and we can get it distributed. That’s the risk you take making an independent film.

“It was such a great experience,” concludes Rifkin. “I feel really proud of the film and the freedom we had to make it without compromise. No matter what happens, I don’t regret it for a second.”