Too much of everything

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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.

Bankrobbers accidentally rob a bank in which the mob had stashed away a million dollars. The mob goes after them. That's the story. Will they getaway? That is the suspense.Tarantino loves trashy pulp movies and although "Charley Varrick" aint trashy, it certainly has got a cheap seventies tv movie feel to it: the soundtrack could be from mass production for tv, however it is none other than the legendary Lalo Schifrin who scored it. Well great composers, can write mediocre scores too when they get paid little. "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. The camerawork in this movie is pretty epic: lots of use of telelenses with wide cinemascope landscapes, really gorgeous. The movie is very slowpaced which I love, I will say it again: I love the slow pace and the long scenes with the wide camerashots. So dont expect anything flashy and modern. But it still has got lots of suspense, you just wanna know what is gonna happen next after each plotturn. Action is (again) a bit cheap sometimes, but nonetheless gripping.So there you have it. A simple but clever story. Cheap seventies feel. But still lots of great acting and camerawork. I have come to like this Tarantino favorite (quoted in Pulp Fiction). I wouldnt have seen it if it wasnt recommended by Tarantino. I have watched it mutiple times now and there is something really cool and righteous about the lead character played by Walter Matthau in this movie. Maybe that's why Tarantino likes "Charley Varrick" so much. "Are you cool? I am cool". It is cheap, but cool! Akward combination, but it works splendidly! A real moviegeeks gem.

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.

This is a classic '70s crime movie by the unheralded genius Don Siegel who also made the classics Dirty Harry, The Shootist and the '50s sci fi masterpiece, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.The '70s filmmakers knew a thing about action that is entirely gone from post-Schwarzenegger action movies. They didn't have obligatory scenes where the star strips for the camera so that you can admire their physique and wonder how many stomach crunches they did to get those abs. They were rough and ready pictures about characters pushed to limits both physical and mental. They were in believable situations which only made the pain they felt more empathetic.They had stars like Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Gene Hackman, and Walter Matthau. Guys who didn't look like they spent 9 to 5 in the gym, but that they could have actually lived the life they lived in the movie.And they had villains like John Vernon and Joe Don Baker. Both make an appearance in Charley Varrick. Vernon is a slightly less heinous character in this one; more a man who knows he's in over his head and his days are numbered as he tries to maneuver Matthau and Baker toward each other not be around when the confrontation happens.Baker is excellent as the charismatic, quirky Molly - a facade that belies a ruthless killer.Matthau is also perfect as the eponymous anti hero, surveying the world with eyes that have seen it all before and would be surprised at nothing.The conclusion, particularly, is unforgettable, with Varrick being chased on ground by Molly and trying to get away in a crop duster. Push comes to shove and he flips it, ending up upside down.