Charley Varrick (a.k.a.The Last of the Independents and Kill Charley Varrick) is a 1973 American neo-noir crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. Charley Varrick is based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese, and is the first of four consecutive films in which Matthau appeared that were not comedies (although his role in Earthquake is comedic).
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Plot
Charley Varrick is a crop-duster and former stunt pilot, down on his luck. So he, his wife, and two accomplices, Al and Harman, rob a bank in rural New Mexico. Though the heist results in a big haul, it also claims the lives of Al and Charley's wife. After making their way to a distant trailer park, Charley and Harman discover their take from the bank totals over three-quarters of a million dollars. Later, when a local TV newscast reports that less than $2,000 was stolen, Charley concludes that the bank's cover-up of the actual amount can only mean it was a drop point for laundered Mafia cash. Moreover, since they have tapped into that large underworld cash-flow, whether by accident or not, Charley and Harman will soon wind up on a gangland hit list.
