Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Amateur movie with Big budget

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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.

This 1973 thriller from Don Siegel, faded to obscurity but it is a very entertaining film all the same. Walter Matthau is the character of the film's title and delivers a convincing straight performance. Joe Don Baker is a cruel and sadistic Mafia soldier who is given the task of retrieving stolen money that Matthau has made away with after a bank heist at the beginning. It is a game of "cat and mouse" as Matthau has to use all the tricks of his trade, so as to avoid his Mafia pursuer. Don Siegel rarely reduces the sense of tension and that was the right decision from him. Andy Robinson and John Vernon (both from the masterpiece "Dirty Harry") give excellent support. Don't miss this one!

On the face of it, CHARLEY VARRICK really shouldn't work as well as it does. It's a slightly predictable and hackneyed story about a gang of bank robbers who accidentally steal from the mob and find themselves on the run, directed by Don Siegel, the man best known for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood. It's a resolutely low budget production, quite rough around the edges, and in Walter Matthau it has a leading man best known for his comedy roles.And yet, and yet, CHARLEY VARRICK works, and works very well. Sure, it's a slow burner throughout, and it's never as suspenseful or exciting as it should be, but it has a certain kind of atmosphere all of its own and a depth of characterisation you don't normally see in a thriller. The visuals are great, and the film is book-ended by two classic scenes; the opening bank robbery is brief but thrilling, while the climactic plane action really impresses. Matthau is excellent as the lead, and given fine, twitchy support from Andrew Robinson as his accomplice and Joe Don Baker as the hit-man. Watch out for a scene-stealing John Vernon in a particularly slimy role.

This movie is a bloodbath and demolition derby that makes a Quentin Tarantino film look like THE SOUND OF MUSIC. People get shot, tortured,blown-up. There are perhaps only two good people in the entire movie. Walter Matthau is not one of them. He is as amoral as they come. And yet CHARLEY VARRICK, for all its grimness, and taut suspense, is a feel-good movie. It's actually delightful... It's all because of Walter Matthau. He was a master in showing intelligence. That rumbled face, odd posture and shambling walk masterfully conveyed the warning -- Beware: Brain At Work! Walter Matthau made thinking and planning very interesting, even sexy. And the good news is that he's even better here than in his other masterpiece of mixed-up morality, HOPSCOTCH. (Both films feature little old airplanes -- Hollywood's homage to NORTH BY NORTHWEST?)There are other ingredients to this action-packed movie that give it its special charm. Beautifully photographed and directed, extremely well-acted (look especially for a chilling performance by Joe Don Baker), engrossing plot, funny dialog, and above all, Walter Matthau.It's almost a half-century old, yet CHARLEY VARRICK is still as fresh as a budding daisy over a new grave. Make every effort to see CHARLEY VARRICK as soon as possible. Why postpone pleasure?