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Rating:  -
This movie, although badly dated, and at times predictable, show-cases
Walter Matthau's ability as a dramatic actor. This is one of the core
100 must have movies for me. The plot, concerning a small time bank
robbery that went horribly good, is entertaining. Joe Don Baker, just
out of a football uniform, makes a convincing enforcer, but not a
convincing actor. At times confusing as to who Joe Don Baker is working
for. Walter Matthau's partner in crime, Andy Robinson, was marked for
elimination out of the film before the 1/2 way mark, and never seen in
a movie again, was way too obvious. For a first time viewer, you may
find the movie mildly suspenseful, and entertaining trip to classic 70's
movies. I would advise that you rent it first, before you buy this
gem in the rough. But I say pop the popcorn and enjoy.
Rating:  -
Says the man looking at the business card, "'Charley Varrick, Last of the Independents.' I like that. Has a ring of finality." The man is Molly, a mob enforcer for special projects. You don't want to let him into your trailer. Charley Varrick will meet him when the small-time robbery Charley sets up at the Tres Cruces branch of Western Fidelity Bank goes really, really wrong.
Varrick (Walter Matthau) expected to clear maybe $20,000 or $30,000 from the heist. Instead, his wife, Nadine, waiting in the getaway car, shoots two cops, gets shot herself, and one of Charley's two associates gets killed. Charley, finally back at the trailer park and now a widow, is left with young, dumb Harmon Sullivan (Andrew Robinson) and exactly $765,118 in two big bags. When a newscast reports that the bank manager says only $2,000 was stolen, Charley wishes he'd stayed with stunt flying and crop dusting. The bank was mob controlled and all that cash was about to be sent out of the country for a good washing. Charley knows the cops are after him; now he knows the mob will be, too. They'll want their money back. Just as important, they're going to want to set an example.
Charley Varrick, for all its length (nearly two hours) and for all the queasiness of a ragged Walter Matthau boxing the compass on a round bed with a well-built mob babe, is one fine movie. The plot is so ingenious, the script so smart, the direction so tight, that all the cast members, as good as they are, could be replaced except for Matthau and Joe Don Baker as Molly and not a beat would be skipped.
Charley Varrick the movie comes down to a contest between Charley's sly-like-a-fox, laconic ingenuity and Molly's brutally direct approach to making love, repossessing a car or solving problems. Molly is a big man with a bland face, a nice smile, and who has serious anti-social issues. He smiles, but expect the worst from him if you're a black, a woman, in a wheelchair or the object of his contract. Walter Matthau, with his sagging face, con man personality and his shrewdness, is the heart of the movie, but Joe Don Baker makes you flinch with dreadful anticipation every time Molly comes on screen. Without these two powerful actors, Charley Varrick would have been a clever, amusing heist-and-chase movie. With the two of them, Charley Varrick is a classic.
Charley Varrick, along with The Laughing Policeman (1973) and Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) make up a sort of crime trifecta for Matthau. The Laughing Policeman is a good story although, in my opinion, it hasn't aged well. Pelham is just about as hard-edged as it was when it was released. Just as Charley Varrick benefits immensely from Joe Don Baker's Molly, Pelham benefits from Robert Shaw's utterly ruthless and dominating villain, code-named Blue.
Keep an eye out for William Schallert who plays Sheriff Bill Horton. I've always liked Schallert. He usually played smart and honorable guys, sometimes judges or doctors or just friends. He played a good friend of Walter Matthau's small town lawyer, Harmon Cobb, in the well-made TV mystery drama, Incident (1990). Cobb defends a German prisoner of war against a murder charge during WWII. It's an effective, tidy teleplay.
Many have commented on the nature of Universal's DVD release. It evidently was a cheap, get-it-out-the-door effort. The color transfer is not all that good. The wide-screen presentation is evidently chopped down from a pan-and-scan version, and if you're not careful when you buy this thing you'll wind up with the pan and scan. Charley Varrick needs a first class DVD release.
Rating: -
A few days ago this movie was published in the UK in widescreen with very good picture quality. And it is region free!
Rating: -
This is one of my favorite Matthau flicks of all time. It was among several 70 action/dramas me made at that time that to me are very overlooked- "Pelham 1-2-3" and "Laughing Policeman" among the best. But full screen only? I'd give this movie 4 stars otherwise. It's a very well written and directed movie with lots of suspense and drama. And the key players- Mathau, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon play great roles. You'll also recognize Andrew Robinson, who played Scorpio, the vile serial killer in "Dirty Harry." "Varrick" is a great movie, betrayed by a pitiful DVD release. Still, if it comes on your TV package, watch it. The cat and mouse between Mathau (bank robber/crop duster) and Baker (Mafia hitman) is excellent. And the look of the film is perfect for its 70s setting. If only...
Rating:  -
You sent me a DVD sone 1, and as I live in Norway, I can not use it!!!!!
Kindly send only sone 2 DVDs to Norway in the future.
I could not return it either, because I did not find out that it was sone 1 until I tried to play it.
Best regards
Jan
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