MovieChat Forums > Charley Varrick (1973) Discussion > Help! how do they know it's Varrick?

Help! how do they know it's Varrick?

posted 17 years ago by podtron-mn
15 replies | jump to latest

Mr. Roper and the sheriff talk about an abandoned car (right when the bank manager shoots himself), that the other two bank robbers may have used. And they do indeed find a car, and in the car they find a matchbook of a bowling alley, but I still don't get how they know it's Varrick. Was the car registered to him? There's no mention of any of the characters working at a bowling alley is there? I wonder if some scene got cut that would have explained this better.

[–] ecarle 16 years ago

Maybe a scene was cut.

The big clue is "REESE Bowling Alley." That tells them to check the small town of Reese, "door to door."

But I can't remember exactly why they figure on storming Varrick's trailer.

I do know this: the name is an "in-joke." The book from which "Charley Varrick" was adapted ("The Looters") was written by a man named John Reese.

[–] podtron-mn 16 years ago

thanks for the reply ecarle, Now I'm thinking that the cop who pulls over Varrick in his van right after the robbery might have mentioned to the sheriff that he pulled over a van near the explosion site with the name Varrick and from Reese. Remember that Varrick was "working out of Reese since the first of the year". Plus like you say, when the sheriff says "door to door", it may be implying Reese is a pretty small town and even if they didn't know where Varrick lived, it wouldn't take long to find.

[–] c7c7c7r 16 years ago

Yeah-- I was also thinking of that cop that stopped them on the highway just before the explosion. That would be the only way a connection could be made with the town of Reese and Charley Varrick. And the cop saw those big cannisters (could hide money) in Varrick's van. Otherwise, a great movie.

[–] psdhart 15 years ago

Yeah, I agree it must have been that first cop before the explosion

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] youngian67 15 years ago

Don’t forget by then Charley had planned to fake his own death so he would want the police to find out anyway so he probably laid the trail himself.

[–] Tom_Cruises_Testicles 15 years ago

I think the cop that pulled him over is a weak explanation especially since they came surrounding the building with vests on and guns drawn. They were positive it was Varrick, not a maybe he did it.

It had to be something more solid then a "it was that guy that previous did work in Reese and we pulled him over once". But the movie never says how they got there.

Maybe the book/novel tells us what it was. Did anyone read it to say?

[–] halk-3 15 years ago

I may not be remembering correctly because it has been a while since I saw it, but I thought Charlie was connected to the robbery by the identification of the bodies of his wife and henchman/cellmate.

[–] garth8769 14 years ago

I think it had more to do with the guy in the wheechair , whom Varrick mentions fencing the money to. He is later victimized by Molly.....

[–] podtron-mn 10 years ago

that could be

[–] kcl71 8 years ago

The sheriff, William Schallert, said he'd "get a line on that bastard if I have to ring every doorbell in Reese." The guy in the wheelchair was in Albuquerque, as was Sheree North's picture studio, so they didn't lean on either of them for Varrick's whereabouts.
I think it was a plot element that was cut for time and there was nothing that Siegel could do about it. So, as weak as it was, we have to assume that the deputy who pulled Charlie and Harmon over after the robbery mentioned it to his superiors, hence the storming of Varrick's trailer.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I assumed it was the cop who pulled them over.

[–] yatzo376 (7750) 7 years ago

They found Charley by way of Al Dutcher and the bowling alley

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 4 years ago

The dead guy in the bank is what leads to Varrick. If I remember correctly.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6525) 3 months ago

Yes, the dead guy had no ID on him, but later on they found his car, which apparently had telltale information in it.