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Veteran small time crook Charley Varrick and his gang rob a small bank in the south west. Expecting modest takings, Charley is shocked to discover that the haul is $750,000. The catch is that the money belongs to the Mafia, who are soon on the trail of the robbers. Charley must devise a scheme to escape with his life, and hopefully the money as well.

This is a very pleasing piece of work all round. Directed with customery efficiency and style by Don Siegel, it twists and turns, always keeping you interested. Its helped by good casting. The ever watchable Walter Matthau effortlessly slips into the role of Varrick, Joe Don Baker is quite chilling as the ruthless hitman with impeccable manners and John Vernon extracts some sympathy as the Banker/Mafia man trying to smooth everything over. Add some pleasant locations and an intelligent script and the result is a very satisfying, if different '70s crime thriller.

As I watched this again last night on BBC1, I remembered that on its previous screening it was preceeded by an introduction by Mark Kermode. In it he commented on the fact that Matthau hated the film. After a second viewing I still can't imagine why.

...when you got the fuzz and the mafia after you.

Charley Varrick is a quality caper movie courtesy of director Don Siegel and backed up by a wonderful understated performance from Walter Matthau as Charley Varrick. Varrick along with his partners rob a small New Mexico bank, but instead of the usual decent haul they find that they have nabbed over $760.000, sadly for the boys it is mafia money that the bank was laundering. Varrick is a smart cookie and thinks it should be given back, but his young greedy partner insists that it's a chance of a lifetime and convinces Varrick that they should keep the cash. This not only brings the law after them but also sadistic hit-man for the mob, Molly, and he is cruelty personified. Can the boys flee the country in one piece?

This is a delightful film that relies heavy on character development and strength of plot. Siegel gets fine performances from the supporting cast to back up the cunningly sedate lead turn from Matthau. As Siegel left Dirty Harry behind, where 1973 saw the sequel Magnum Force released (Ted Post directing), the director gives us a complete opposite to the machismo of Harry Callahan. Matthau's Varrick is low-key and hang- dogged, but below that sleepy exterior beats the heart of a cunning devil and he's the one with all the aces up his sleeves.

Andy Robinson as Varrick's partner Harman Sullivan is all twitchy and on the edge, whilst Joe Don Baker as hit-man Molly is simply magnetic in his icy portrayal. Lalo Schifrin again scores for Siegel with great results, and the photography from Michael Butler is very rich indeed as the locales seep with that bleached dried look. This is great storytelling with suspense and no little action (the opening robbery and the finale involving a car and a plane joust are quality Siegel constructions), but most of all it's a film to remind you that cinema can be great without crash bang wallop every ten minutes. An excellent heist and escape movie. 8/10

Walter Matthau playing the title role of Charley Varrick expected a few thousand dollars as the score in a small town bank in New Mexico. It was a costly robbery in human terms with only Matthau and hotheaded Andy Robinson who survive out of the original team of four.

Imagine their surprise when they discover what they've got is three quarters of a million dollars. It turns out the bank was a laundering operation for Syndicate money and they're not the forgiving kind even if he was so inclined to return the money.

Under Don Siegel's direction, Matthau turns in one of his best film performances as the wily bank robber who keeps a cool head in a very tricky situation. Matthau plays beautifully against Robinson who's everything Matthau's not in terms of brains and self control.

Matching Matthau is the syndicate cleanup man Joe Don Baker who's also a shrewd man with a very suspicious nature. That comes with the territory of Baker's job, still he's got a streak of meanness in him as well. Matthau and Baker are an evenly matched pair. What I especially love about Charley Varrick is how Matthau uses Baker's own suspicions against him in the end. Beautifully written and beautifully played.

If you liked the gritty realism of a film like The Asphalt Jungle you will definitely like Charley Varrick.

Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) is a former stunt pilot turned independent crop duster who is on the low end of the socio-economic scale. He lives in a trailer park with his girlfriend, Nadine (Jacqueline Scott). He decides to supplement his income by robbing a small bank in a backwater New Mexican town. Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned.

I watched Charley Varrick (in a fine widescreen transfer by the way; at present only a bad pan and scan version appears to exist on DVD) during a TCM channel marathon of director Don Siegel's films. I had just finished Madigan (1968), which I didn't care that much for (although I thought the limited action sequences were good and the direction fine), and was about to finally shut off the television and go to sleep. However, Walter Matthau is one of my favorite actors, and Charley Varrick was starting almost immediately after the end of Madigan, so I figured I'd at least "peek" at the first few minutes. That was a long peek, because this is one excellent film. Charley Varrick ended up with a 10 out of 10 from me.

It probably wouldn't be quite so good without Matthau as the lead. He's had a plethora of fantastic performances, but none are better than Charley Varrick (many are just as good). Matthau was perfectly cast--he had exactly the right age, the right look, and the right disposition for this role. His understated, intelligent manner makes the character and his actions eminently believable within the context of the film. As this is a film that hinges on a fairly complex, logically intricate plot, believability within the context of the film is very important.

Not that the other elements aren't laudable. Siegel's direction--most of it imbued with a great, gritty, early 1970s "feel"--is impeccable, and ranges from a series of beautiful shots of the countryside during the opening credits to elaborately staged, underhanded "clues" as to the "plot beneath the plot"--during most of the middle section, Varrick makes a number of moves that would seem bizarre if taken at their surface value, but he's really hatching a scheme to extricate himself from the mire he's sunken into. None of this is explicitly stated, but Siegel easily conveys it with his direction. There is even one point--right after a character named Molly (Joe Don Baker) visits Jewell Everett (Sheree North), that it seems like maybe Siegel made a fatal misstep, and a scene or two are missing, but I retained faith that it would work out in the end, and it did, seamlessly.

The rest of the cast is fantastic, as well, and of course a film like this wouldn't succeed without a great script, in this case written by Dean Riesner and Howard Rodman from a John Reese novel. This is a too-little-known gem that deserves wider recognition and better treatment, such as a good DVD transfer with lots of extras.

It's such a shame they can't make gritty down-and-dirty movies like they did in the 1970s anymore. And CHARLEY VARRICK is a fine specimen of the exciting, brutal, honest approach to movies in that decade. We've become so accustomed to seeing Walter Matthau in comedies like GRUMPY OLD MEN that at first you'd wonder if he could pull his part off as Varrick convincingly (well, he also played a crook in KING CREOLE and a detective in THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE, TWO THREE, for openers). It turns out that Matthau is very good here, playing a small-time bank robber, a common-man type who's latest take unexpectedly winds up being laundered Mafia loot! Now he has to outsmart the mobsters as well as their sadistic hit-man and the police, all of whom are hot on his trail.

Everyone in this film is out for all he/she can get. I have to take a moment to acknowledge Joe Don Baker in particular. As the punchy, no-nonsense, wisecracking hit-man he provides many fun moments and is a real standout. He's perfectly cast, but then so really is most everyone (Woodrow Parfrey, Sheree North, Andy Robinson and John Vernon - the dean from NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE). Don Siegel keeps us interested throughout, and one nice scene in particular struck me when Parfrey and Vernon are having a discussion near the cow field. Their dialogue and acting is done practically in one long take that keeps us focused just by the sheer talents of the actors being allowed to do their thing. I wonder if this is a lost art with the now ever-moving MTV camera styles and edits of the 21st Century? I should mention I also enjoyed the unpredictable climax.

They just don't make movies like this anymore - unless you count the great Quentin Tarantino, who undoubtedly likes this film himself and seems to have borrowed some of it for his own work (there's even a line from VARRICK that was reheated for PULP FICTION). *** out of ****

Now that more and more people are reflecting on the great career of Walter Matthau it is surprising that very few critics have mentioned his top-notch performance in Charley Varrick (the best thing he has ever done). I got interested in this film when I discovered that it had an underground following with everyone from "The Pretenders" to several critics. I bought the film and became floored by how outstanding of a movie this is. In my opinion it is the most under appreciated movie ever made and the best movie to come out of the 70's (yes, even better than THE GODFATHER, DAYS OF HEAVEN, TAXI DRIVER and APOCALYPSE NOW). It is also one of the ten best movies I have ever seen. I have seen this movie over 20 times and it gets better every time I see it. It is surprising that I have learned more about how to make a great suspense/action film from this movie than any other which I have seen. The interesting thing about Charley Varrick is that you wonder why you are so taken in by the story. It's a relatively simple one. Yet, this is a story with a conclusion that leaves you stunned every time you see it and convinces you that this is a film that should be seen again and again (unlike some great movies that should be seen only once). I make it an effort to see Charley Varrick on a regular basis. The story starts out as follows: a group of bank robbers attempt to make a small killing and right when they think that they have succeeded . . . The story then allows the viewer to be consumed in a film of drum-tight professionalism with great action sequences, excellent performances, incredible dialogue, and possibly the greatest single screen villain of all time in the form of Joe Don Baker (I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it). I am convinced that in the near future Charley Varrick will be resurrected in the form of a remake (not that I am looking toward that day). But in context, Don Siegel's masterpiece is a film that stands by itself as one of the great under appreciated and undervalued movies of all time and is a film for everyone. It doesn't get any better than this.

Matthau's fine performance and Siegel's assured direction makes this a must for all lovers of 1970s action movies. Having passed this over before, I found Charlie Varrick to be an exhilarating watch containing beautiful landscapes and a stunning finale.

I highly recommend this film and the section on it written by Siegel in his own autobiography. Criticisms that this is a confusing and slow-paced adventure are unfounded as many of the loose ends come together almost perfectly in a well thought through chain of events.

Definitely worth a look when it next comes on TV, but probably even better at the cinema.

This was a pleasant surprise; better than I thought it would be, although I shouldn't have been surprised since Walter Matthau usually plays interesting roles.

What I appreciated was the realism of the story, except for two things at the end of the film such as no one coming to investigate a loud chase scenes and firebombing? Overall, the ending, however, was a very satisfying one, and one that brings you back for future viewings. Matthau also makes the film realistic, as he typecast perfectly for this role.

Other than Matthau, the cast isn't a big-name one but a lot of familiar faces and names from movies in the '60s and very early 70s such as John Vernon, Sheree North, Joe Don Baker and Felicia Farr.

Andy Robinson, is a not a known name in movies because he did years of television, but viewers might remember him as the creepy "Scorpio Killer" in the first "Dirty Harry" film.

"Charlie Varrick" is considered a film noir even though it's 1973 and in color, but it's noir in story and that's good enough for me. This is definitely worth a look if you like crime films.

Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau), his wife Nadine, and accomplices Al Dutcher and Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson) rob a small bank in the rural town of Tres Cruces, New Mexico. The cops notice and start asking questions. Nadine shoots two cops killing one. Dutcher is killed. Nadine is wounded. The biggest problem is that they got away with too much money, over $765k in mob money. Nadine dies from the wound. Charley tells Harman to lay low but the young punk is restless. The mob sends hit-man Molly (Joe Don Baker).

This is a good bunch of characters in a good thriller. The characters are smartly written. There are some great stunts although the action could be better filmed. There are great car crashes and one memorable plane stunt. It's a very solid smart thriller with Matthau going beyond his comedic roots.

This is a deeply cynical movie. It goes out of its way to show a rotten foundation under ordinary, average life. Notice the use of children in the movie.

The "hero" of this movie is a murderer, robber, and liar, as are most of the other characters of interest.

The movie is well made: it is skillfully plotted and several of the actors give fine performances. The movie can hold your attention, but after it is over, and you reflect on it, your reaction is likely to be "yuck." It is like a technically well done painting of a garbage dump: despite the technical excellence, few people would want to have it in their living room.

Director Don Siegel followed up his mega-hit "Dirty Harry" with "Charley Varrick." "Dirty Harry" was about a cop (Clint Eastwood.) "Charley Varrick" is about a robber (Walter Matthau.) "Dirty Harry" puts Westerner Eastwood in big city San Francisco. "Charley Varrick" puts Easterner Walter Matthau in back country New Mexico (with a side-trip to high desert Reno.) "Dirty Harry" was a hit. "Charley Varrick" was not -- perhaps because, despite Matthau's deadpan charm as Varrick, he is a robber whose gang kills cops and "Dirty Harry" had been dedicated to officers dead in the line of duty. Siegel was returning to tough crime territory, with Varrick the most likeable and centered of crooks in a movie filled with them. Varrick finds himself in trouble when his heist of a tiny backwater bank nets big money -- Mafia money. In "Dirty Harry," Eastwood chases a killer. In "Charley Varrick," a killer chases Matthau: Joe Don Baker's implacable pipe-smoking hit man. The fun comes from watching Matthau's brain pitted against Baker's brawn, with plenty of twists as Matthau tries to escape certain death. The charismatic Matthau plays it straight here, and plays almost his entire part by chewing gum and silently thinking about what to do next. A perfectly made, tight thriller, with a great ending. Watch for the single-take scene between mobsters as a shadow fills the cow pasture in which they talk. And Matthau beds a beautiful woman played by Felicia Farr -- wife of Matthau pal Jack Lemmon. This is one of those movies that makes me miss Matthau.

I was late to the table on this one. Shame on me. I first watched it on VHS when it was probably twenty years old (and I was thirty). It's tough and mean and insanely entertaining. A beautifully filmed meat and potatoes thriller. There's no gristle. It's everything you want in a thriller. Trust me, seek it out.

Did someone say this was written for Clint Eastwood in the title role rather than Walter Matthau ? This would explain how Charley has a couple of sidekicks half his age and how he has a distasteful scene of going to bed with someone young enough to be his daughter . Hey wait a minute if Eastwood had been cast would they have left in that line about " I figured you weren`t Clint Eastwood " ? As for the rest of the cast Joe Don Baker is memorable as a really evil hitman , John Vernon plays the most laid back mobster I think I`ve ever seen in a movie while Andrew Robinson is slightly disappointing after his show stopping appearence in DIRTY HARRY but it`s amazing to think his only notable role after this movie is in HELLRAISER some fourteen years later

CHARLEY VARRICK is a very clever and totally amoral thriller . It`s the sort of film Quentin Tarantino wants to make but he doesn`t have the economy of skill to do so , and I couldn`t help noticing there`s a line of dialogue about " A blow torch and a pair of pliers " that seems to have been reused in PULP FICTION

Don Siegel's outstanding caper makes an appealing contrast to his Clint Eastwood films. Walter Matthau's shrewd, crafty protagonist uses his unrefined presence to put his opponents off guard, instead of threaten them, all the while keeping steps ahead of them. Varrick, an ex-stunt pilot cum crop duster, pulls off a small-town bank heist, wanting reasonably discreet score. By some terrible stroke of luck, when he and his cronies rob the New Mexico bank they depart not with the unassuming $15,000 or $20,000 they projected, but with more than three-quarters of a million dollars. The simple, down-to-earth little bank turns out to be a mob stopover en route from Vegas out of the country to be filtered. It's absorbing to observe him staying chill, taking all modes of both safety measures and chances alike so as to escape. On Varrick's tail is a callous enforcer named Molly played by a very unassuming, very chilling Joe Don Baker, and John Vernon plays the banker who, on account of Varrick, seems to have deceived the mob.

There is a whole heap of brutality in Charley Varrick, so much that I'm amazed by its relatively kind PG rating, regardless of what ratings meant early on as opposed to now. But its violence is less a disquieting likeness of any familiar reality than an important element of the maneuvering of action melodrama in a pretend universe. The enjoyment in this robbers-and-robbers action drama is not vicious, despite the fact that there are many nasty moments in it. Though Charley is resilient enough to walk away from his wife's death after the early robbery without betraying much sentiment, the character is occupied, perhaps even distorted, by Matthau's trademark drollness and sympathy as an actor. If the character were inhabited by someone else, Charley Varrick, he and the film both, would be something else completely.

Excluding Charley and a sheriff, played by Norman Fell, who is practically an upright fellow, everyone in the movie is essentially no good: Charley's greedy young helper, the Mafia hit man, the bank owner, and a photographer very well played by Sheree North, who concentrates her efforts on making counterfeit passports on short notice. What makes all this so involving is that every character believes they are the main one. And they're so convincing about it that the story itself starts to wonder. Like a movie by Tarantino, who sponged a line of dialogue, Siegel has festooned the film with loads of rich bit roles including a forthcoming, sex-obsessed old lady, but the action sequences give the film its function as well as its form. The duel between a car and an antique biplane during the finale is basically the whole point.

The original script was suppose to be one which involved Clint Eastwood and that would have teamed him up again with fellow actor Andrew Robinson. Instead the role of "Charley Varrick " went to noted thespian (Walter Matthau) playing a small time thief who planned to rob an obscure, out of the way bank without any problem. With Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson) and Nadine (Jacqueline Scott) as partners this proves straight forward until they realize the small haul turned out to be more lucrative than expected. The extra money convinces Varrick the bank's additional funds was actually the Mob's money and they will want it back. That is where their hit man and mob enforcer whom they call Molly (Joe Don Baker) comes in. He is not so particular on how he recovers the loot, and that makes Varrick scared and nervous. With Don Siegel directing, this is one movie will provide physical confrontations, dramatic action scenes, destructive mayhem and explosive surprises. A very good film crew which includes Norman Fell, Sheree North, Benson Fong and William Schallert as Sheriff Bill. All in all a great recipe for a Classic movie. ****

This movie is a bloodbath and demolition derby that makes a Quentin Tarantino film look like THE SOUND OF MUSIC. People get shot, tortured,blown-up.

There are perhaps only two good people in the entire movie. Walter Matthau is not one of them. He is as amoral as they come. And yet CHARLEY VARRICK, for all its grimness, and taut suspense, is a feel-good movie.

It's actually delightful...

It's all because of Walter Matthau. He was a master in showing intelligence. That rumbled face, odd posture and shambling walk masterfully conveyed the warning -- Beware: Brain At Work!

Walter Matthau made thinking and planning very interesting, even sexy.

And the good news is that he's even better here than in his other masterpiece of mixed-up morality, HOPSCOTCH. (Both films feature little old airplanes -- Hollywood's homage to NORTH BY NORTHWEST?)

There are other ingredients to this action-packed movie that give it its special charm. Beautifully photographed and directed, extremely well-acted (look especially for a chilling performance by Joe Don Baker), engrossing plot, funny dialog, and above all, Walter Matthau.

It's almost a half-century old, yet CHARLEY VARRICK is still as fresh as a budding daisy over a new grave.

Make every effort to see CHARLEY VARRICK as soon as possible. Why postpone pleasure?

This is one of my favorite movies. Besides being one of the least hokey and contrived efforts from Don Siegel, it was filmed in and around Reno, NV, in the same year I moved here as a college freshman. Practically every scene evokes an "Hey, I know where that is!" response. I knew someone who lived in that high-rise apartment building, home of Miss Fort. I've eaten in that Chinese restaurant (in the film it was the "Imperial"; later is was called "House of Lung Fung". No kidding.) I've been in that downtown bank where Boyle had his office. The TV news anchor was (and still is!) the local ABC affiliate anchor, Tad Dunbar, thirty years later. Joe Conforte appears as himself at the Mustang Ranch (need I explain?) There are SO many great lines from this movie, but my favorite is from the store clerk selling Charley the dynamite, blasting caps, etc. (over the counter, uh huh, and the whole shebang only tabbed out at like $9! Those were the days, huh?) As Charley is walking out the clerk asks "May I ask what that's for?" Charlie: "You certainly may," and keeps right on walking.

Brian Reno, NV

A man, his wife, and their friend, stage a bloody bank robbery, unaware they are stealing money from the Mob.

Although not well-known, this film (from noted director Don Siegel) was one of the countless inspirations for Quentin Tarantino, who used a bit of the dialogue in his own "Pulp Fiction". Indeed, the film covers crime in the exciting, entertaining way that Siegel excelled at.

Seeing Andrew Robinson (shortly after "Dirty Harry", years before "Hellraiser") is a special treat, as he never seemed to appear in a huge number of films, and rarely in starring roles. Here he is on the same level as Walter Matthau, and this may be among his finest work.

I have a preference for movies from the 60s--70s era, and have found that Walter Matthau stars in many noteworthy movies from in that era. It is no surprise, then, that I was looking forward to "Charley Varrick".

The trouble is that the movie never picks up. The "bank robbery gone wrong" scenario has been tried many times before and after, and with more surprises and excitement than this 70s version. Charley Varrick's supposedly subtle moves are painfully obvious every moment of the movie, and the end result is therefore no surprise. Awaiting a great plot in the trappings of ordinary circumstances, I was severely disappointed with the movie's ability to think ahead of me. Everything in the movie is solid per se - acting, script, direction - but none of it comes up to deliver a truly inspiring movie experience.

Walter Matthau is a splendid actor, but you'll find him much more intriguing in a number of his movies - one that springs to mind is Charade, an absolute must-see for all who claim to know movies.