Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

christopher-underwood I seem to think I saw this upon its original theatrical release but watching it again remembered nothing so certainly have not seen it since. A really very good film. Solid script beautifully delivered particularly by the wonderful Walter Matthau. His is such a seeming laid back performance and early on we really cannot see the film going anywhere but he has it all worked out. What is really impressive here is that now and again there are loose ends and you reckon you'll just have to live with them button, it all gets whipped up and used. Far from being a slow and meandering 70s movie this is tight as a drum and one of Don Siegel's best.

a_chinn Terrific underrated crime film from veteran Hollywood director Don Siegel. 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. The rest of the cast includes many familiar character actors, including Norman Fell, William Schallert, and even future director Craig R. Baxley ("I Come in Peace" and "Action Jackson"). The film was co-written by frequent Siegel collaborator Dean Riesner (uncredited script doctor on "Starman", "Sudden Impact", and "Blue Thunder" and credited writer on "Dirty Harry", "Coogan's Bluff", and "Rich Man, Poor Man"). Siegel's frequent composer Lalo Schifrin ("Bullitt", "Enter the Dragon", "Mission Impossible") is also on hand to deliver another excellent score. Overall, if you're fan of 70s crime films along the lines of "Prime Cut" or "The Outfit", you'll greatly enjoy "Charley Varrick". FUN FACT! At one point in the film, John Vernon's character tell's another character, "They're gonna strip you naked and go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch," which Quentin Tarantino paid homage to in "Pulp Fiction" when Marsellus Wallace says almost the exact same line.

Leofwine_draca On the face of it, CHARLEY VARRICK really shouldn't work as well as it does. It's a slightly predictable and hackneyed story about a gang of bank robbers who accidentally steal from the mob and find themselves on the run, directed by Don Siegel, the man best known for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood. It's a resolutely low budget production, quite rough around the edges, and in Walter Matthau it has a leading man best known for his comedy roles.And yet, and yet, CHARLEY VARRICK works, and works very well. Sure, it's a slow burner throughout, and it's never as suspenseful or exciting as it should be, but it has a certain kind of atmosphere all of its own and a depth of characterisation you don't normally see in a thriller. The visuals are great, and the film is book-ended by two classic scenes; the opening bank robbery is brief but thrilling, while the climactic plane action really impresses. Matthau is excellent as the lead, and given fine, twitchy support from Andrew Robinson as his accomplice and Joe Don Baker as the hit-man. Watch out for a scene-stealing John Vernon in a particularly slimy role.

SnoopyStyle 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.