Movies We Like: ‘Charley Varrick’ (1973)

As a young married couple Charley and Nadine Varrick (Walter Matthau, Jacqueline Scott) barnstormed the Southwest walking the wings of their bi-plane to thrill the locals. A stunt gone wrong cost Charley his nerve and took him to the New Mexico desert where he opened a crop dusting business and moved into a depressing trailer park. The tagline for Charlie’s small operation was “The Last of the Independents,” which proved prescient. Unable to compete with the big co-ops, Charlie and Nadine have been forced to move into another line of work.  

“Charlie Varrick” opens in front of the small town bank Charley, Nadine and their two partners plan to rob. This isn’t their first heist. They know the routine and plan on another uneventful in-and-out job with an unambitious take of no more than a couple thousand dollars – enough to get by for a while and not bring too much heat. In a thrilling sequence, reminiscent of the opening bank robbery in “The Wild Bunch,” things go very wrong very quickly. Gunfire’s exchanged, cops are killed, and so is Nadine. Charley and Harman (”Dirty Harry’s” Scorpio Killer Andy Robinson) escape but once they reach safety find their troubles have just begun. (more…)

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Tags: "Charlie Varrick", Andy Robinson, Don Siegel. John Vernon, John Vernon, Sheree North
Posted Aug 17th 2009 at 1:27 pm in Reviews | 20640639 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/17/movies-we-like-charley-varrick-1973/Movies+We+Like%3A+%27Charley+Varrick%27+%281973%292009-08-17+20%3A27%3A03John+Nolte