Film Review: Charley Varrick

Random Film Reviews: Short Reviews of What I Happen to be Watching As I Expand My Film Knowledge

Inaugural entry:

Charley Varrick

Directed by Don Siegel. Written by Dean Riesner and/& Howard Rodman based on a book by John Reese.

Starring Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, and John Vernon.

1973.

This, Siegel's first effort following Dirty Harry two years prior, is a tight little crime caper. The crime itself, a bank robbery, occurs relatively early in the film and the remainder deals with the getaway. Getaway not from the law, but the mob, that is. Matthau and his crew of diminishing numbers have inadvertently knocked off a money laundering operation in their attempt to hit another small time bank and end up with a take of about 3/4 of a million dollars.

We watch Matthau's bank robber squirm in his tightening noose as Joe Don Baker's mob enforcer follows the leads towards Matthau and the money. But Matthau, the titular Charley Varrick, is smarter than all of us, and we're always left with these threads that don't seem to connect, until Varrick ties them together in front of our eyes.

John Vernon plays the charismatic president of the bank chain doing the laundering who tries to find Matthau before he gets accused of being in on the take. Vernon has a standout scene, a condescendathon if you will, with the investigators who won't let him in his own bank., but Baker's Mr. Molly really steals the show. There's a certain straight-laced stoicism belying the true ruthlessness of his character.

Great lines abound as well-- Mr. Molly: "I don't sleep with whores. At least not knowingly."

Not too give too little credit to the director or lead, though, because I'll certainly be looking to catch more of Siegel's films and Matthau's dramatic roles (particularly The Laughing Policeman and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three).