Movie Review: Charley Varrick (1973)

Genre: Heist Thriller

Director: Don Siegel

Starring: Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Andy Robinson, John Vernon

Running Time: 111 minutes

Synopsis: In New Mexico, Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) is a crop duster and ex-stunt pilot who robs remote rural banks for small amounts. But his latest job results in multiple casualties, including Charley's wife Nadine. Accomplice Harman (Andy Robinson) escapes with Charley and they are both shocked that their haul included $750,000 in Mafia money. Charley has to elude the authorities and manage the excitable Harman, while corrupt bank boss Maynard Boyle (John Vernon) hires ruthless fixer Molly (Joe Don Baker) to track down the thieves and recover the money. 

What Works Well: The adaptation of John H. Reese's book The Looters is a compact and clever crime drama with a sparkling sheen and a twinkle in the eye. Bad guys attempt to outsmart worse guys in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and in one of his career-best performances, Walter Matthau enjoys keeping Charley just one step ahead of everyone else. He is ably supported by Andy Robinson's intensity and Joe Don Baker's persistence. Pointed small roles also make a big difference, including intriguing contributions by Charley's wife, an expert forger, and an old geezer in a wheel chair. The wide open landscapes under blazing skies add an expansive aesthetic.

What Does Not Work As Well: The police investigation (represented by Norman Fell as Garfinkle) unrealistically never gets going.

Conclusion: A taut thriller with a confident attitude.



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Movie Review: Malicious (1995)

Genre: Stalking Thriller

Director: Ian Corson

Starring: Molly Ringwald, Patrick McGaw, John Vernon, Sarah Lassez

Running Time: 92 minutes

Synopsis: In Seattle, Doug Gordon (Patrick McGaw) is a pre-med college student and star baseball player attracting professional scouts. When his girlfriend Laura (Sarah Lassez) leaves town for the weekend, Doug succumbs to a seduction by troubled medical student Melissa (Molly Ringwald). He tries to pass it off as a fling and move on with his life, but Melissa has other plans.

What Works Well: The reimagining of Fatal Attraction among college students benefits from a sympathetic central character in Doug, a (mostly) smart and athletic college student quick to regret an ill-advised dalliance. His relationship with girlfriend Laura is also warm. Vancouver and the University of British Columbia (doubling for Seattle locations) offer attractive backdrops.

What Does Not Work As Well: Molly Ringwald struggles mightily to shed her wry good-girl persona and find the darkness within - it's simply not there. She does not flounder alone: all the acting wallows at rudimentary levels, in company with the writing. The attempts to fill-in Melissa's backstory and justify her rage are clumsy in the extreme. As a parable about the dangers of illicit sex, nothing here is subtle, and once the thriller and horror elements shove eroticism out of the way, the plot rushes into ridiculous territory.

Conclusion: Whether in pursuit of a sexual thrill or an image refresh, temptation can lead to darkness.



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Movie Review: Dirty Harry (1971)

You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya punk?

Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) does not much care for due process or legal niceties; he generally just wants to blow the bad guys away with his .44 Magnum gun.  He asks questions only if they survive the shootout and are lying in a puddle of blood.

Dirty Harry keeps the Man With No Name in the wild west, in this case San Francisco, but fast forwards to the modern era. Cars replace horses, highrises replace saloons, but the general rules remain generally the same: the difference between the bad guys and the good guys is a matter of perception.

The main bad guy here is an unhinged murderer calling himself Scorpio (Andy Robinson), killing innocent victims with a sniper rifle and taunting the Mayor of San Francisco (John Vernon) that the killings will continue unless a ransom is paid. Callahan is assigned to the case, but the politicians and his police superiors do not approve of his straightforward methods, and Callahan grows increasingly frustrated by what he perceives to be the weak-kneed reaction of the Mayor. When Scorpio is finally apprehended, he is let loose because Callahan failed to secure a search warrant. The killings therefore resume, and a disgusted Callahan has to disobey orders to bring the matter to an end.

In bringing Eastwood's western movie persona to an urban setting, Dirty Harry re-wrote the rules for police action films. The anti-establishment, unconventional loner cop, frustrated by rules and process and prone to extreme violence, became the new standard for movie cops.

Director Don Siegel and Eastwood provide Harry with an overwhelming cool factor. Standing straight and without cover as he trades blasts of gunfire with the bad guys, Harry needs to look down at his leg to realize that he has been hit by a shotgun. His walk, his talk, his hair and his cheap shades create an instant movie hero.

Robinson is a genuinely disturbing Scorpio. Although the movie may have benefited from providing him a more in-depth back-story, Scorpio enters the annals of great screen bad-guys when he starts emotionally abusing school kids on a hijacked bus by demanding, with increasing agitation, that they sing "ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT!". 

Dirty Harry is a hard-hitting, uncompromising, and ultimately nihilistic view of decaying streets where old-fashioned values are lost and morality is just another shade of grey. And its most memorable line of dialogue is, of course, delivered through the gritted teeth of resigned anger.

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