DVD of the Week
#2 - Charley Varrick (Don Siegel, 1973)The Coen Bros'
No Country for Old Men owes no small debt to this terrific thriller, in which an unspeaking, seemingly indestructible psychopath (
Joe Don Baker) moves ever closer to his prey, and a bloody showdown. The films have similar anti-heroes – family men in way over their heads – and the same dry humour, sometimes tipping over into farce.
Walter Matthau is the title figure, a small-time robber in business with his wife (Jacqueline Scott) and combustible young sidekick Harman (Andrew Robinson, who played Scorpio in
Dirty Harry). The three knock over a provincial bank and make off with a mightily oversized take. It's Mafia money. The Mob put Baker on Matthau's tale – and all hell breaks loose.
As a thriller it works superbly, but there's more to it than that. There's character study – Baker may be a heartless killer, but he deplores prostitution; Matthau is a bank robber, but he's not dishonest – moments of extreme tenderness and a dizzyingly precise sense of the unexpected. The film defies convention and expectation at every turn. Whatever you think someone's doing, whatever they think one another are doing, they're wrong – and so are you. It happens time and again, though never in quite the way you think. It's great.
Don Siegel, who helmed films as varied and wonderful as
Riot in Cell Block H,
Private Hell 36,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original) and
Dirty Harry, gives the film a feel that's all its own. It's ageless, timeless, an impression reinforced by the wistful credits sequence and the welcome appearance of cult '40s character actor
Benson Fong, who played Charlie Chan's son in the cheapo Monogram series entries.
This had been at the top of my "to see" list for a while when Fremantle gave it a release last year and it didn't disappoint. It's an exceptional movie that delivers amply as a crime flick, then goes ten better.
(5/5)Available on Region 2 (suitable for all UK DVD players) in a nice widescreen print on the Fremantle label for around £5.99.DVD of the Week archive
#1 - Let's Get Lost (Bruce Weber, 1988)Thanks for reading. Please send any/all correspondence to rick.burin@ypn.co.uk. More next week.
