Charley Varrick
February 18, 2011 12 Comments
When you think of ’70s sex symbols you think of Walter Matthau. That’s why there’s Charley Varrick!
Charley Varrick really has it all together. A smooth operator, quick on his feet, he always keeps it together. You can tell by that casual flick of a stick of gum into his mouth, leaving just a tinge of sugary paste on his bulbous lips. And then, don’t even get me started about the way he always chomps casually on that gum when he’s working some scheme. Nice touch. It says: “I’m just a regular schmo, don’t mind me, nothing underhanded going on here.” But there is! That’s his secret.
Charley Varrick is a ’70s action heist movie from the master, Don Siegel. It starts off with AWESOME action as Charley & the gang pull a good old fashioned bank job deep in the heartland of New Mexico. One thing they do is, the girl shoots two cops. In the head. And then, it turns out the girl is Charley’s WIFE which was really sad because she died too. There was a scene where you could totally tell he was sad about it. But then they had to blow up the car she was in. (Not to leave any traces for the cops). By the time 20 minutes later, you kind of forgot about her.
The good thing about ’70s movies like this though is how, they never drag you down with anything depressing. Like, in today’s modern ‘realist’ degraded Hollywood, if a girl killed two cops and then she turns out to be the wife of the main character, and she dies too, all just so they could get some money, that they’re gonna give back anyways, there would probably be a lot of scenes about him being all torn up. And, feeling guilty. By the time you’re through with that, the audience is all bummed out. And who can even enjoy a movie that way?
But not Charley Varrick! The music especially, keeps the mood nice and light. It’s hard to describe but it’s I’d call it kind of like Rockford Files music. Like, ‘doo-duh-dee-doo, doo-duh-dee, doo, doo’. Light and groovy. So if he’s walking around, or driving some car or they just killed someone, there would be the music. Doo-duh-dee doo. So it’s like, every time you might be thinking, ‘Gosh, the things that just happened on screen, if I consider them objectively, they’re actually kind of sick and murderous and depraved’. Then the music comes back in. ‘Oh, right. This is all in good fun. We’re watching the wacky and entertaining adventures of Charley Varrick. Good ol’ Charley!’
I wonder if it was a TV show too, because it totally could have been. ‘Charley Varrick. A Quinn Martin Production. Don’t go anywhere now, Charley’ll be back in a moment.’ What kind of crazy schemes will he think up next?, you wonder during the commercial break. But it probably wouldn’t have starred Walter Matthau because he’s more of a silver screen type of guy. For the TV version I’m thinking they could have used Larry Hagman or someone like that.
Charley has a sidekick which is good, because all cool movie guys have sidekicks. You got Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Harold and Maude. And all the rest. It turns out I didn’t like this sidekick though because he was the crazy killer from Dirty Harry. But anyways, he was going to doublecross Charley Varrick so he let the killer kill him. Well, I’m not explaining it very well but it makes sense in context.
There’s a bad guy after him. I got confused which bad guy was which because you got Dean Wormer from Animal House and you got another guy (recognizable) playing the hired killer. (Again – don’t worry – the tone always stays nice ‘n light). But annyways, they’ll get their come uppance. That Charley, he’ll figure something out!
Near the end Charley (Walter Matthau) tails the woman who works for the bad guy and then finagles his way into her apartment. After he calls the bad guy she asks what he wants to do and, well I don’t have to tell you the rest. (She sleeps with him)! May seem unrealistic in today’s times and mores but in fairness – a reminder – again, this is Walter Matthau we’re talking about.
The one and only.
Three stars out of four-and-a-half.
UPDATE: For your listening pleasure,
While Walter Matthau had a good career with several good movies (Face in Crowd or How to Murder Your Wife might be more to your liking), I never understood the appeal of this movie. People seems to have wholly adopted a view of other people as accidental instrumentalities in their lives to used, disposed of, and forgotten. (In the 1970s? or was it 1980s?, the description was “tossed” as in “I tossed away a tissue.”)
To be clear, I kinda liked the movie. But, it’s sort of ridiculous, in a funny way…
Ah the Seventies. The last era when actors were allowed to sort of look like real people, instead of animatronic Disney creations.
Even in the Seventies, when actors were allowed to look like Walter Matthau, I have a hard time believing that lady would have jumped into bed with him…
Well some ladies must have. A big wallet probably served as an instant makeover for a lot of men.
Walter Matthau, perhaps. ‘Charley Varrick’, cropduster and bank robber, no.
Well that was a Hollywood embellishment. Obviously in real life any female with a Varrick type would be rather bottom shelf.
Bruce Willis
Jack Black
Seth Rogan
Will Ferrell
Minnie Driver
James Gandolfini
Nicholas Cage
Jodie Foster (God help us)
Glenn Close
Harvey Keitel
Morgan Freeman
Danny Glover
Zooey DeChanel (fugly)
Jessie Eisenberg
Zach Galifianakis
Juliette Lewis
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
William Macy
Renee Zellweger
Steve Buscemi
Not aware of any movie in which any of these people bust into someone’s apartment threatening them, make a quick phone call, and then within a total span of 7 minutes, the person decides to sleep with them. But generally, I see your point.
P.S. I like Zooey.
Minnie Driver has an unusual face, but she’s not ugly. Zooey Deschanel is pretty in the photos I’ve seen of her. Renee Zellweger is pretty but she is mostly marred by a sullen expression. She always looks like someone just told her some bad news.
Agree that most of the guys on that list aren’t male model handsome. Still, even they get a lot more help in the looks department from today’s makeup and lighting technology than actors did back then. When I watch movies from the Seventies especially, I’m always struck by how greasy all the men look and how pasty all the women look. I always put it down to the bad 70s economy and having to convey in shortcuts things like “men are action heroes so they have to look sweaty; women are more pampered so lets layer on the pancake makeup and powder.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Drew Barrymore
America Ferrera
I like Drew.