CHARLEY VARRICK (1973)

Director: Don Siegel

Writers: Howard Rodman, Dean Riesner, adapted from John H. Reese’s novel The Looters

Producer: Don Siegel

Cast: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Andy Robinson, John Vernon, Sheree North, Felicia Farr, Jacqueline Scott, William Schallert, Benson Fong, Woodrow Parfrey, Marjorie Bennett, Norman Fell, Kathleen O’Malley, Tom Tulley, Albert Popwell, Colby Chester, Rudy Diaz, Christina Hart, Charlie Briggs, Craig Baxley, Scott Hale, Priscilla Garcia, Hope Summers, Charles Matthau, Monica Lewis, Al Dunlap, Virginia Wing, Don Siegel, James Nolan, (and uncredited cast) Bob Steele, Joe Conforte, Fred Scheiwiller, Robert D. Carver, Carol Daniels, Art Cribbs, Thomas Dunbar, Richard R. Hogan, Walt Wallace, Holly Nutter, Fred Little, Carlos Valesquez 

Crop duster and former stunt flier Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) leads an armed robbery of a small town New Mexico bank. Things don’t go according to plan when shooting starts and two members of his gang are killed. Varrick and his surviving accomplice (Andy Robinson) are surprised to find over three-quarters of a million dollars in the moneybags they stole. Since the loot happens to be a secret stash of Mafia money, both the Mob and law enforcement are after the thieves. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Unlike most heist movies, Charley Varrick is not a film that details the elaborate planning of the crime building up to the climax of the robbery’s execution. The film opens with the bank robbery that leads to the rest of the story’s conflict and complications. This is a heist-gone-wrong movie. In addition to some cops getting shot, two of Charley Varrick’s accomplices are killed during the robbery. Varrick and his surviving partner, Harman Sullivan, seem to have hit the jackpot with a much larger pile of dough than they could have expected. But Varrick, figuring that so much money has no legitimate reason being stashed in such a small bank, correctly assumes that it is money being laundered by the Mafia. The rest of the film concerns Varrick trying to figure out how to survive the Mob’s retribution for his dumb-luck, criminal payday. 

Despite the recent success of The Godfather (1972), another film about criminal protagonists, Charley Varrick was probably a bit before its time for a mainstream movie. The Godfather film also had the advantage of being based on a best-selling novel. Director Quentin Tarantino would later popularize crime thrillers without any redeeming characters as protagonists in the 1990s, but back in 1973 this was usually a much harder pill to swallow. That is why director Siegel’s frequent star Clint Eastwood turned down the title role and probably why the film’s lead, Walter Matthau, was displeased and a bit confused with the finished movie. Ultimately, many people will ask, “Where’s the hero?” 

Most American movies still seem to have the need for a moral center to them. If they focus on the evil or amoral motives and actions of the main characters, we expect those characters to get their just desserts. Failing that, the criminal-centric story usually has to be about bad guys vs. bad guys. Once an audience gets past the lack of a moral center in a film, they can engage with criminal characters’ backgrounds and motives, yet that audience is still usually picking sides and deciding which law-breakers should prevail against their more despicable adversaries. 

In Charley Varrick, the title character is whom we are almost traditionally bound to root for. He is the main protagonist and has admirable and unflappable stealth and intelligence. However, he masterminded a bank robbery that got some innocent people shot. He spends the rest of the movie trying to save his own skin. His defining character trait is pragmatism. The only sentiment we ever see him express is some sorrow for his late wife (Jacqueline Scott). In spite of his criminality, we admire his quick thinking and ingenuity. He confides in no one and manages to be one step ahead of everyone, including the audience. 

Despite Matthau’s dissatisfaction with the finished production, his performance as Charley Varrick is what really holds the film together. This is not Matthau in comedy mode. His offhand decisiveness and total lack of swagger creates a peculiar confidence and authority for his character without diminishing the sense of danger that he faces. Since Matthau’s Varrick is a criminal, we are even more uncertain of his eventual fate than we would be for a more honorable protagonist. 

Andy Robinson plays Varrick’s partner in crime, Harman Sullivan. He turns out to be an added risk for Charley Varrick. The younger and hotheaded Sullivan is overjoyed with the surprise of a much bigger haul of cash than expected from the bank robbery. The older and more cautious Varrick has his hands full trying to keep his impulsive partner from recklessly spending the money too soon and exposing them to the Mafia or the law. Robinson will forever be one of the most reviled movie villains ever as the Scorpio Killer from director Siegel’s classic Dirty Harry (1971). Had Clint Eastwood not turned down the role of Charley Varrick, it would have been a real kick to see him in a criminal alliance with Robinson in this film just two years after Eastwood’s iconic hero ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan faced off against Robinson’s psychopath. 

Joe Don Baker threatens to steal the show as eccentric mob enforcer Molly. With his Texan accent and western-styled apparel, the big, pipe-smoking thug has an amiable and dignified manner that seems contrary to the brutality he enjoys inflicting. Molly has been sent to track down the bank robbers and retrieve the stolen money. He is the clearest example of how the offbeat characters maintain our interest in this film without true heroes to root for. 

Another Dirty Harry cast member, John Vernon, appears here as crooked bank president Maynard Boyle. Despite knowingly stashing money for the Mafia in one of his bank branches, and as a result being under suspicion by the Mob of possibly arranging the robbery, Boyle manages to remain cool and controlled. 

In her small role as Jewell Everett, a photographer and passport forger, Sheree North contributes her world-weary sex appeal with just a touch of kink. Her amusing scene with Matthau’s Varrick raises our expectations for something to develop between these two. She has a couple surprises for us that seem all too likely in this film’s cold, cruel world. 

Elderly Marjorie Bennett is very funny as Mrs. Taft, Charley Varrick’s trailer park neighbor. She is convinced that she has to be on her guard at all times against sex-crazed men. 

It is this assortment of odd characters and the satisfaction we derive from how Varrick copes with his criminal predicament that keeps us involved with director Don Siegel’s neo-noir film. Perhaps its protagonists were too amoral to rake in much loot at the box office, but if approached with an expectation of a crime thriller just about criminals, Charley Varrick really takes off.

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writers: Jo Heims, Dean Riesner

Producer: Robert Daley

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch, James McEachin, Don Siegel (as Donald Siegel), Clarice Taylor, Jack Ging, Irene Hervey, Britt Lind (as Brit Lind), Duke Everts, Jack Kosslyn, George Fargo, Tim Frawley, Otis Kadani, Mervin W. Frates, Paul E. Lippman, Ginna Patterson, Malcolm Moran, (and jazz musicians as themselves) Cannonball Adderley and Johnny Otis 

Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) is the evening disc jockey at KRML, a jazz radio station in Carmel, California. One of his frequent callers is a woman who always requests that Garver play the song “Misty.” After his shift one night, Garver stops at his favorite local bar and meets a woman named Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter). Garver takes Evelyn home and she reveals that she went to the bar hoping to meet Garver since he had mentioned on his program that he hung out there. Garver realizes that Evelyn is the listener who always requests “Misty.” The two spend the night together. What Garver thought would be just a casual fling leads to Evelyn obsessing over him and disrupting his life. Garver soon reunites with Tobie Williams (Donna Mills), a past lover that he feels serious about. This drives Evelyn to increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut is one of this Eastwood fan’s favorites. In Play Misty for Me, we see Eastwood’s typical manner applied to a character and situation much different than the crime thrillers and Westerns he is most associated with. This movie delivers a different kind of tension due to Eastwood’s character not being accustomed to a life of violence. 

During a 17-year acting career, Clint Eastwood had learned a few things behind the camera and knew how to relate to actors. Eastwood formed Malpaso Productions in 1968 and had begun starring in his own film projects. Everything really seemed to come together for his directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. Eastwood had been in the business long enough to have established some industry relationships for the talents he needed to collaborate with, he had made a marketable international name for himself as an actor, and Universal Pictures had already distributed three of his Malpaso Productions’ films. Therefore, Eastwood was able to secure a deal with Universal Pictures to distribute his first film with him as director. 

Play Misty for Me is far more than just a vanity project. Eastwood really delivers with an intimate and leisurely paced film that continues ratcheting up the complications and suspense to make for an intense and entertaining movie. 

This story’s role for Clint Eastwood gives him a chance to be a guy with an ideal lifestyle. He seems a bit more carefree at the start of the film than most of his other film characters, yet we are still treated to some of Eastwood’s typically terse wit. It is fun to see Eastwood play someone who is not an action hero get ensnared in an increasingly dangerous situation. His Dave Garver character is just a promiscuous disc jockey that has one too many one-night stands. You can’t blame the guy for being tempted by so much opportunity. With his looks, a classic Jaguar, and a real swingin’ bachelor pad, the Carmel-by-the-sea jazz DJ is bound to land plenty of ladies who are begging to be on his playlist. 

Casual sex quickly turns into crazy stalking from Dave Garver’s number one fan, Evelyn Draper. As the groupie from hell, Jessica Walter gives one helluva performance. She displays sentimentality and devotion that is so desperate it ultimately makes her seem rather pathetic. Initially, Evelyn seems sweet and naive, but she manages to manipulate confident stud Dave Garver. At first, Garver thinks that he is the one in control, but hooking up with Evelyn was just what she intended and she reels him in with her seemingly casual attitude about having sex immediately. There is always the risk of emotional entanglements when physical intimacy is involved. When Garver’s latest catch does not want to be released, she goes off the deep end and tries to capsize his entire life. Before long Garver feels “smothered.” 

Donna Mills plays Tobie Williams, the lady with whom Dave Garver had a recent relationship that he wants to renew. She is reserved, levelheaded, and a bit reluctant to start up again with the randy disc jockey, but Garver is persistent, has a way with words, and looks like Clint Eastwood, so he just can’t miss. Unfortunately, Garver had started taking more requests than just playing records from Evelyn Draper… 

This film’s main cast is pretty small, but there are other characters that help to dilute the tension before it starts to build again. Their humorous interaction with Eastwood’s Dave Garver not only entertains; it also helps to expand the audience perception of Eastwood as more than just a badass movie hero. Frequent Eastwood director Don Siegel takes the role of Murphy, the bartender at Dave Garver’s favorite hangout. James McEachin is full of witty banter, on-air and off, as Sweet Al Monte, Garver’s fellow disc jockey. Garver gets more teasing from Clarice Taylor as his cleaning lady, Birdie. Police officer Sgt. McCallum, played by John Larch, is the authority figure that has to help deal with Garver’s stalker problem and reminds us that Eastwood’s character is just another citizen in trouble. 

This film takes its time to establish the picturesque Carmel, California setting, Dave Garver’s lifestyle, and the gradual renewal of love between Garver and Tobie. Director Eastwood indulges in what amounts to a musical intermission with Roberta Flack’s song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face“ playing during a lengthy montage of Dave Garver and Tobie Williams strolling and making love in the solitude of nature. This is followed up with attendance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Some probably thought that first-time director Eastwood was just being self-indulgent, but this musical recess brings us down from an outbreak of insanity and makes us happy that Eastwood’s character has started to find some new joy in his life. We are given time to relax and become comfortable and hopeful that things are going Garver’s way after the conflicts he has had with Evelyn, which were becoming evermore alarming. 

Play Misty for Me spins us a twisted love triangle that has a little added bite in the midst of the sexual revolution era. At that time, people became more upfront about indulging their lust and openly skipped the responsibility of attachment before getting it on. Once some of them had been making it with the right person, they may have sought something more meaningful and lasting. The ongoing problem is that not all sexual partners evaluate feelings the same way or have the same motives. Play Misty for Me deals with the free love scene’s worst-case scenario: Hell hath no fury like a groupie scorned.