Tuez Charley Varrick!

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.

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 ****

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.

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.