One of the most indelible images in cinema history is Cary Grant being chased by a crop dusting plane in North by Northwest. 1973’s Charley Varrick had me wondering if the titular character played by Walter Matthau might have been at the controls of that.
This is an interesting character, a former acrobatic flier turned crop duster turned bank robber. Together with wife Jacqueline Scott, they will rob the bank in tiny Tres Cruces, New Mexico. They will be assisted by two associates already in the bank, one of whom is almost immediately taken out of the picture when he is shot by the bank’s only guard. The other is Andrew Robinson, who had previously played the psychopath in Dirty Harry.
Both that and this film were directed by Don Siegel, and this is revealed in an unusual credit at the very beginning announcing this is “A Siegel Film” as written in a style reminiscent of perfume ads of the time. Even his name is underlined for emphasis. Already I was wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into.
The actual title of the picture is conveyed through a curious image of what appears to be a jacket with that on it, but it is engulfed in flames. Very cleverly, the conclusion will cycle back to this and we will learn how this came to be.
The rest of the credits play out over a montage of imagery of such corny cliches of life in a small Western town that I wondered if whoever came up with Reagan’s “It’s morning in America” commercial was inspired by this.
Seeing all that, it isn’t surprising there are two kids on swings right in front of the bank when Matthau and Scott’s car pulls up. I thought it was odd any playground equipment would be so close to a bank, and my concern was justified when a violent shoot out with deputies occurs. The officers were investigating the getaway car, which has plates from a vehicle which had been stolen in another state.
I never stop being surprised by the content of many PG films of the 70’s. Usually I am stunned by nudity of the likes which likely would qualify a film as an R today. This time, it is the violence, as one might expect from the director of the aforementioned first of the Harry Callahan series. I have always wondered why he didn’t direct any of the sequels to Dirty Harry.
An example of the violence is the sad fate of Rudy Diaz, the deputy who approaches Scott as she waits in the idling car in front of the bank. He takes a bullet in the forehead from her, an effect that was accomplished by an sharpshooter in the back set shooting the actor in the forehead with a blood pellet. I don’t which is worse, what we see on screen or the idea an actor could have feasibly lost an eye if that wasn’t pulled off perfectly. According to a bonus interview with Scott, that left one hell of a bruise.
Scott and that other robber we barely see are casualties of the heist, leaving Matthau and Robinson to discover a far greater amount of money was stolen than what should have been in the vault of such a small bank. Matthau is even more suspicious after watching the news that night and the amount reported stolen was far less than their take. He comes to the conclusion this was mob money that was being laundered through the bank. As he puts it, “I’d rather have ten FBIs after me.”
Matthau has his hands full with Robinson as they hole up in his trailer. The younger man is desperate to spend the money as soon as possible, and you just know he’s going to be trouble. Robinson drinks himself into oblivion while Matthau drinks milk, and I’ve never seen a man look so intimidating while drinking a glass of milk. Even earlier, Robinson had almost shot a deputy earlier when all he was doing was checking out the crop dusting van that was one of the vehicles used in the getaway. As Matthau chides him when he gets out the gun when the cop walks up to the car, “We’re crop dusters. Crop dusters don’t wave guns. Put that thing away.”
Woodrow Parfrey is the highest level mob guy we see and his first scene is in his office in Reno. Odd, but I found that made him more intimidating than if he had been in Vegas. Something has always seemed sleazier to me about Reno, and I suspect the more hardcore gangsters are secretly there.
Parfrey hires Joe Don Baker to find those who have stolen his money. I unironically like Baker, though he hasn’t been well-served by many of his film choices. He is perfectly cast here as an intelligent, sadistic investigator. I genuinely believed he could do some of the horrible things in the script. It looks like he shattered Robinson’s kneecap before saying, “Sooner or later, you’re going to tell me exactly what you know. Might as well save yourself some pain”, and I am certain there would be a great deal of pain in the man’s future. Baker is boarded in a brothel while pursuing leads in New Mexico, and I think the prostitute he declines to sleep with should be grateful he didn’t take advantage of that opportunity.
In the meantime, Matthau has gone off to do a variety of tasks, such as obtaining fake passports. He breaks into a dentist’s office and steals Scott’s dental records. He also buys some dynamite. I love a bit where Matthau is leaving a store with that and the guy behind the counter says, “Can I ask you what that’s for?” and Matthau smiles, says, “Yes, you can” and then calmly exits.
All of this is leading up to an amazing action set piece at the end, which culminates in a truly amazing stunt, about which I will say no more.
This is an amazing movie, with only a single misstep, and that is a blatantly tacked-on romantic tangent, for which there is but a brief detour towards the end when it is least needed. This involves Felicia Farr, who is Parfrey’s assistant. Matthau invades her apartment so she can put him in contact with her boss. After that phone call, she inexplicably sleeps with the much older man.
The performances are solid all around. Matthau completely owns this role, in one of the best performances of his career. One minor character I really liked is Marjorie Bennett as Matthau’s nosy, elderly neighbor at the trailer park, who gets lines like this: “There’s mashers all around. They’re after me all the time. [phone ringing] Excuse me, that’s mine. [optimistically] Probably an obscene phone call.” I was surprised to see William Schallert as the sheriff of Tres Cruces, as I have seen the man in a great many things, but never saying such lines as, “I’m going to nail those sons of bitches to the cross.” Given the town’s name, I assume they will be nailed to three crosses.
Charley Varrick is incredibly good, an exciting and suspenseful movie with a more-than-capable cast. One aspect of the film’s history that is unusual is the multiple titles it was released under, including Kill Charley Varrick and Last of the Independents. The last of those only comes close to making sense because that is the slogan for Matthau’s crop dusting business. I’m not really sure why that line is so important, but it is notable enough for Baker to make this comment about it: “’Last of the independents.’ I like that. Has a ring of finality.”
Dir: Don Siegel
Starring Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr, Andrew Robinson
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray