Directed by Don Siegel (“Dirty Harry”, "The Shootist"), “Charley Varrick” is a neo-noir action-thriller based on the novel The Looters, by John H. Reese. The film did poorly at the box office, but I think it has elements of a lost classic.
Walter Matthau plays Charley, a crop duster and explosives expert who participates in a bank robbery. The heist goes bad, and Charley's wife and one of his partners are killed. Back at their safe house, Charley and his remaining partner, Harman (Andrew Robinson) discover that they scored way more money than expected from a small-town bank, more than three quarters of a million dollars. Charley correctly surmises that they must have gotten their hands on some Mafia cash, and sure enough, the Mob sends a hit man (Joe Don Baker) after them. Navigating between his stupid partner and the Mob, Charley hatches an elaborate plot to get away with his life, and hopefully the money.
There are pieces of a great film here, even if it does have a dumb title. (The film was supposed to be called “The Last of the Independents.” Not sure what happened there.) The title role was originally intended for Clint Eastwood, but Matthau is actually great as Charley. Andrew Robinson (the villain from “Dirty Harry”) and Joe Don Baker are excellent as well. The plot has some holes, and was so confounding that even Walter Matthau said he didn't understand the movie. Still, the film has moments of soft-spoken brilliance, and it's charming in an old-fashioned way. “Charley Varrick” hearkens back to a time when a director could just take a gritty crime story and tell it on film, no superheroes or franchises involved. Not only do they not make films like this anymore now, reviewer Paul Tatara said of the film in 1973 “they rarely make them like this anymore.” Maybe it's time for grubby-looking noir films like this to make a comeback.
4 stars out of 5
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