WALTER MATTHAU STEPS UP FOR DON SIEGEL'S 'CHARLEY VARRICK'

Title: CHARLEY VARRICK Year: 1973 Rating: ****1/2

Ironically the opening credits stating A SIEGEL FILM appears beneath a full moon in an otherwise bright-lit/daytime Neo Noir, referring to director Don Siegel, best known for DIRTY HARRY and before that a string of actual Noirs followed by action flicks and a classic sci-fi...

Yet CHARLEY VARRICK is his best work, and a great chance for Walter Matthau to stretch beyond comedy while keeping his usual glib persona, mixed with a calloused experience needed as a bi-plane stunt flyer turned crop duster turned one-time bank robber with tightly-wound partner Andy Robinson and getaway driving wife Jacqueline Scott, whose minimal screen-time provides a genuinely violent half to this middle-age Bonnie & Clyde... soon narrowed into just Matthau and young brash Vietnam vet Robinson, winding up with mob cash... So crooked banker John Vernon hires deadly tracker-assassin Joe Don Baker... 

Andy Robinson and Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

The contrasting, dressed-up villains each go from place to place in the rural west to find and KILL CHARLEY VARRICK (the British title), who's also creeping around, keeping one step ahead in a cat-and-mouse thriller also starring Woodrow Parfrey as the spooked blagged-bank manager; William Schallert the vengeful local sheriff; old man Tom Tully connecting Varrick with sexy passport forging Sheree North; John Vernon's classy moll Felicia Farr; and hooker Christina Hart annoying Joe Don Baker's Molly, put up in a cat house... 

And other than his palpably nightmarish/unstoppable human ox it's Andy Robinson that shines without overacting like his DIRTY HARRY Scorpio, keeping the title character and audience on edge... Fully rapt in this smart and intriguing, cold-blooded page-turner of an underrated gem that obviously inspired Quentin Tarantino's greatest film, the equally underappreciated cerebral caper JACKIE BROWN (compared to Siegel's DIRTY HARRY that's basically Sigel's most famous PULP FICTION). .

Local hottie in KILL CHARLEY VARRICK

Local hottie in KILL CHARLEY VARRICK

Jacqueline Scott and Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

Andy Robinson in CHARLEY VARRICK

Christina Hart as a whore where Joe Don Baker stays in the whore house in Charlie Varrick

Christina Hart talks smack/back to Joe Don Baker in CHARLIE VARRICK

Christina Hart talks smack/back to Joe Don Baker in CHARLIE VARRICK

John Vernon as a business-minded mobster in CHARLIE VARRICK

Walter Matthau in CHARLIE VARRICK

Felicia Farr (Jack Lemmon's wife) in CHARLIE VARRICK

Sheree North pictures CHARLEY VARRICK

Sheree North with Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

Top half poster for Britain's much better titled KILL CHARLEY VARRICK

Local hottie from KILL CHARLEY VARRICK by Don Siegel

Don Siegel directs the thriller-with-action CHARLEY VARRICK

Don Siegel directs the thriller-with-action CHARLEY VARRICK

Car vs Stunt plane chase from CHARLEY VARRICK

Car vs Stunt plane chase from CHARLEY VARRICK

Joe Don Baker is Molly in Don Siegel's CHARLEY VARRICK

Don Siegel's underrated CHARLEY VARRICK

Don Siegel's underrated CHARLEY VARRICK

Joe Don Baker CHARLEY VARRICK with Monica Lewis and Christina Hart

John Vernon in CHARLEY VARRICK

Joe Don Baker in CHARLEY VARRICK

Priscilla Garcia and Hope Summers in CHARLEY VARRICK

Woodrow Parfrey in CHARLEY VARRICK

Andy Robinson, Jacqueline Scott and Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

Andy Robinson and Walter Matthau in CHARLEY VARRICK

Joe Don Baker in CHARLEY VARRICK

John Vernon in CHARLEY VARRICK