Charley Varrick

Plot synopsis:
Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) is a former stunt pilot who pretends to operate a crop-dusting business, which he uses as a cover for small scale robberies. With his wife Nadine (Jacqueline Scott), Al Dutcher (Fred Scheiwiller) and Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson), Charley robs a small bank in the rural community of Tres Cruces, New Mexico. While Nadine waits outside in the getaway car, the heavily disguised Charley and his two accomplices draw their guns and demand the safe be opened. Outside, an officer in a passing police car recognizes the license plate of their car as one reported stolen. When the police approach Nadine, she shoots, killing one and seriously wounding the other, who returns fire, wounding her. The melee distracts the robbers inside the bank, and the bank guard kills Dutcher. Sensing that the bank manager is concealing something, Charley forces him to reveal two large satchels of cash. Charley, Harman and Nadine flee, but Nadine dies soon after. Charley and Harman switch to a van marked with the crop-dusting business's signage. They set a charge to blow up their getaway car with Nadine's body inside. They drive away and are stopped by another policeman, but before he can search their van, the timed explosion goes off and the officer races away to investigate.
When they return to their trailer and count the money, it is much more than they expected: $765,118. After a local television news broadcast reports that only $2,000 was stolen, Charley realizes the bank must be involved in a mob money laundering operation. He warns Harman that the Mafia will pursue them relentlessly and that their only chance is to lie low and not spend the money for three or four years, but the young, headstrong Harman will not listen. Meanwhile, Maynard Boyle (John Vernon), president of the bank, dispatches hitman Molly (Joe Don Baker) to recover the money.
Realizing that Harman's rashness will doom them both, Charley double-crosses him. Because he, Nadine and Harman all had dental work done recently at the same dentist's office, Charley breaks in, stealing his and Nadine's X-rays and swapping Harman's for his own. To obtain illegal passports, Charley contacts gun dealer Tom (Tom Tully), an old accomplice of Dutcher's, who directs him to a beautiful local photographer Jewell Everett (Sheree North); he has his photograph taken, but he also gives her Harman's driver's license, which he has stolen as Harman slept. He leaves her his address, guaranteeing that Molly will find Harman in their trailer, which Charley watches at a distance. Tom immediately informs on Charley. Jewell also betrays Charley, but he never returns for the passports. Molly turns up at Charley's trailer and tortures Harman to death to try to locate Charley and the money.
Boyle meets secretly with Tres Cruces bank manager Harold Young (Woodrow Parfrey), advising Young that his Mafia superiors will suspect that the robbery was an inside job because it occurred during the brief period when the money was there. He suggests that Young will be tortured. Young is so terrified that he later commits suicide.
Charley purchases dynamite, then flies to Reno, where he has flowers delivered to Boyle's secretary, Sybil Fort (Felicia Farr), at her office so he can identify her as she leaves and follow her home. He seduces Fort in her apartment. Fort warns Charley not to trust her boss.
She helps Charley telephone Boyle. Charley offers to return the money. He arranges a rendezvous at a remote automobile wrecking yard and insists that Boyle come alone. Charley overflies the wrecking yard and spots Molly's car. After landing, Charley hugs the confounded Boyle, acting overjoyed as if they have been accomplices in a successful robbery; Molly falls for the ruse, assumes that Boyle is Charley's co-conspirator, and runs Boyle down with his car, killing him. Molly then chases Charley, who tries to fly away, but Molly damages the crop-duster's tail with his car and the aircraft flips over. Trapped upside down in the wreckage, Charley tells Molly that the money is the trunk of a nearby Chevrolet. However, Charley had flipped his aircraft on purpose, a trick he learned in his barnstorming days. When Molly opens the trunk, he sees Harman's body, wearing Charley's wedding ring, and the bank satchels; an instant later, he is killed by a dynamite booby trap. Charley throws a wad of hundred-dollar bills toward the burning car, making it seem that the money has been destroyed, then drives away.

Tags: realism, cult, suspenseful, neo noir, murder

Review:
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.
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).
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).
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 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.
Made in 1973, it allows crop-duster and bank-robber, Charley Varrick, played by Walter Matthau, to get away with a heap of stolen money, the theft of which has led to the death of about half a dozen people, including his wife.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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?
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.
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 .
Siegel was coming off the biggest hit of his career with "Dirty Harry" when he made this quirky crime film starring Walter Matthau, who at the time was best known for his comedic roles.
Matthau plays career criminal Charley Varrick, who pulls a bank job with Andrew Robinson (the deranged killer in "Dirty Harry"), but the two realize there was far more money in the bank than their should have been and that the bank is a mob front, meaning they just robbed the mafia and are now on the run for their lives.
To reveal more would spoil the clever and twisting plot, but I can say that things kick off with bank president John Vernon calling upon a laconic mob hitman named Molly, played by the always great Joe Don Baker to track down the stolen money.
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.
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.
In this vein comes "Charley Varrick", an outstanding if unheralded movie in which Charley Varrick (Matthau), his wife and partner knock off a small town bank without realizing it is a drop for laundered Mafia money.
Present in the film are a number of great character actors of the 70's, including Woodrow Parfrey, Norman Fell, William Schallert and one of my favorite small screen villains John Vernon, who also appeared as The Mayor in "Dirty Harry" and Dean Wormer in "Animal House".Andrew Robinson, so outstanding in his role as crazed killer Scorpio in "Dirty Harry", isn't as magnetic here, although his character plays well.
...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.
Directed by Don Siegel, Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) makes a living robbing banks.All seems to be going well when he and his crew rob the local bank in the New Mexico town of Tres Cruces.
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.
Perhaps people couldn't accept Walter Matthau as an action star and the title is rather unimaginative (blame the studio: Siegel wanted the title "The Last of the Independents" which would have been perfect).The reason couldn't have been the movie: this is a classic.
Since his other attempts in action thrillers were also quite convincing (especially in The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3) it is rather puzzling why there weren't many more films exploiting this side of his talent.Inevitably, one day Hollywood will give Charley Varrick the remake treatment , it is too good to be overlooked.
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.
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".
John Vernon is also good as the mob's go-between, and there are familiar faces in numerous key supporting roles (Farr, North, Parfrey, Fell to name just a few).Some viewers may be surprised by the sadistic and violent nature with which veteran director Seigel puts various characters to the sword; the fatal beatings, shootings and explosions are never gratuitous, though at times, are quite graphic.
Turning a potentially pedestrian scene like this into a well-staged power-play is not only the mark of an imaginative director but of a well-thought-out film.Two minor complaints-- somebody wanted to give Felicia Farr (Boyle's secretary) a starring credit and a payday since her role is unnecessary to an otherwise tight script, while the romantic interlude with Matthau is not only extraneous but also embarrassing.
Andy Robinson (the psycho in Dirty Harry) plays Varrick's naive partner; Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall) is the hit man the mob recruits to get back the money.
As Matthau's partner, Robinson here runs into a character even meaner than the psycho killer he played in Siegel's previous film, "Dirty Harry": a henchman for the mob in the form of the sadistic and imposing Baker.
Matthau is as good as ever as the caustic, streetwise small-time robber on the run from the mob, and a great cast -- Baker, North, Vernon and Robinson -- dovetail in perfectly.
Matthau's character here is a wise-cracking genius; much like the character that he portrayed in "The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three", which came out the following year, I believe."Charley Varrick" is not a mainstream movie - surprisingly few people have seen it (from my experience, anyway).
"Charley Varrick" has got a general cheap seventies feel to it, but nonetheless it is still great to watch, because the acting by Walter Matthau is terrific and so are the other supporting actors.
Walter Matthau stars as "Charley Varrick", the title character of director Don Siegel's film about a stunt pilot-turned-bank robber who finds himself in hot water after stealing roughly $750,000 from the mafia.Matthau's Varrick orchestrates the hold-up of a small town bank in rural New Mexico.
His films are straight forward, well-paced, exciting-Charley Varrick  is a lean mean movie machine.Not a big Walter Matthau fan myself, I will admit he did a great job in the action like  Taking of Pelham 1-2-3' a very similar role to that of Charley Varrick, a crook who maintains a sort of wry irony throughout the story.
Speaking of which, the ultimate irony may be Matthau's love scene with close pal Jack Lemmon's real-life wife Felicia Farr toward the end of this film.Don Siegel directing, hard to go wrong, particularly when he goes back to Andy Robinson (Dirty Harry) as Varrick's accomplish/protegee.Nice twisting storyline with a couple of surprises.
Matthau is great as the wise crook, and even if you don't like the film, you can spend its duration seeing how many people you can spot who have been in other Siegel movies.
The early 70's was apparently awash with heist capers coming out of Hollywood ("The Getaway", "The Heist", "The Hot Rock" and "The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3") but in a crowded field, this Don Seigel director/producer effort still shines, although I have one or two moral reservations about the content here and there.Like all the best "big steal" movies, the fun starts when things go wrong, which more or less happens immediately as Walter Matthau's small gang of small-time operators (two others and his wife makes four) end up in a violent shoot-out holding up an out of town bank, which just happens to also be a holding operation for trafficking Mafia money.
Baker is great too as the stetson-wearing JR Ewing-gone-psychopath hit-man and John Vernon is capable as usual as the Mafioso string-puller who gets his wires cut in Varrick's clever turnabout ruse at the end.My only problems with the film are firstly that we're made to root for a guy whose gang ruthlessly shoots down three cops in the opening reel, one in the face and the usual Seigel dismissal of women as sex-objects to be bedded, usually roughly by dominating males.
l realized some mistakes, it's coming from with age naturally, the whole thing works in a high level, first little low point, after pays to got a couple of passports Varrick asking for to an unreliable old man how trade a burning money, leting us thinking was stupid question when the news over the robbery was brodcasting to everywhere, second and final weak point, in the last scenes the airplaine was upside down, Charley persuade Molly and he does exactly what he expecting for, anyway a too perfect plan, well l don't like happy ends on serious works, this a unusual neo noir picture which l gave a highest grade, so a bit unwillingness a has to lower my early score!!!Resume:
Even for early seventies fare Varrick comes along as a quite tame, if not to say all in all standard affair, largely due to director Don Siegel's too-sure-of-himself tone and pace, the cocky tongue-in-cheek laidbackness mirrored in Walter Matthau's flat cool dude performance, Joe Don Baker's self-complacent travesty of a pipe-smoking mafia hit man, and the blunt (and unfunny) reference to Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
Sure enough, anything remotely moral or along these lines is well and truly ruined when said bank is robbed once a neat little set up involving insiders; false limps and disguises good enough to momentarily fool a state trooper have been put in place.Perpetrated by the titular Charley Varrick, played by Walter Matthau, and including the younger Harman (Robinson); Varrick's wife and an insignificant other, the robbery is a success in spite of the fact only Charlie and Herman make it out alive under the pretences of being crop dusters.
Don Siegel, behind the camera, & Walter Matthau, in front of it, are both in tremendous form in what surely must be one of the most over looked, high quality films of the early seventies !Charley Varrick is a taut, solid thriller that never plays it's cards too soon...and the result is a crackling, well paced suspenseful film that gets better on every viewing.
Crime-drama directed by Don Siegel has a gritty panache that gives the picture character (it's better than your average bank robbery melee...and how could it not be with cagey Walter Matthau in the lead?).
The decision to cast Walter Matthau as the eponymous anti-hero of this entertaining heist movie proved to be highly inspired because not only did he turn in a great performance but also, because of his deportment and mannerisms etc., immediately signalled that Varrick is far from being a stereotypical small-time criminal.
Charley wastes no time as he devises an ingenious survival plan which involves the use of switched dental records, fake passports and a crop-duster plane to try to extricate himself from the tight spot that he's in."Charley Varrick" is a gritty, violent and action-packed movie with some great stunts and a good deal of humour but it's the strength of its plot and Charley's character that really elevates it to a higher standard than the average crime thriller.Charley is an interesting character because he's older than the average bank robber and is essentially an easy-going guy who wants to make a living by his own efforts.
What's more surprising about this man (whose business slogan is "The Last of the Independents") is how resourceful he proves to be as he executes his plan and outwits his foes in what turns out to be a David and Goliath type scenario.Walter Matthau's superb performance is complemented by great work from the supporting cast with Andrew Robinson (as Charley's not-so-bright, hot-headed sidekick) and Joe Don Baker (as the sadistic hit man who enjoys his work) also excellent in their memorable roles..
To their surprise, Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) and his accomplices hit a small-town bank which is holding around a quarter-of-a-million dollars in cash.
This early seventies crime drama stars Walter Matthau as the eponymous Charley Varrick; a former stunt pilot turned bank robber.
Knowing that both the police and the Mob are hunting them, Charley sets about arranging their escape he just has to hope the people he goes to can be trusted.This was a good solid crime film which leaves the viewer hoping that Charley will get away even though he is clearly a criminal whose actions have resulted in the deaths of innocent people; this is down to the fine performance from Walter Matthau.
Don Siegel knows how to keep things interesting and exciting.With wonderful photography and a great cast (and set of characters) to add, 'Charley Varrick' has to me become a personal crime classic that I will want to watch over and over for years to come.9 out of 10..
But I think it makes for a far more interesting film when everyman Walter Matthau is being pursued by a terminator-like Joe Don Baker.
It works on every level from story, casting, locations and direction – it grabs you from the start and doesn't let you go.Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) is the head of a gang of small-time robbers who hit an out of the way bank in New Mexico.
And these characters themselves are very minor additions in the film's running time.Vernon is a corrupt banker laundering money for the local mafia, Baker is the brutally sadistic hit-man he hires to track down Charley Varrick (Matthau) and his partner (Robinson) who have inadvertently stole this dirty cash from the small local bank, ending in the deaths of several cops and two of his gang, one of whom is Varrick's wife (Jacqueline Scott).