MovieChat Forums > Charley Varrick (1973) Discussion > How could Charley be such a professional...

How could Charley be such a professional??? (SPOILERS)

posted 15 years ago by Gloede_The_Saint
8 replies | jump to latest

So this is supposed to be their first job, according to the film he has never done anything "truly" criminal before.

Yet he dares go up against the Mafia, in fact he lures them to follow him. Who has the balls to do that? He stages a perfect plan which gets them to kill his partner, who where hustling him, for then to successfully having the two people after him killed AND staging his own death.

How did he get that idea and why in the world did he think he could carry it out. The whole thing was so incredibly calculated. It was like he was a pro.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] Alfabeta 14 years ago

The bomb trap was particularly contrived. He's a cropduster pilot. How would he know how to make and set a homemade makeshift bomb?

btw
Did they really sell dynamite and fuses in a store, just like that, back then?

[–] ldb-12 13 years ago

Back in the early '70s, I was deepening a 5 acre tank (lake) on my property in Northern California. I simply went to the local lumberyard/ranch supply and ordered 5 cases (200 sticks to a case) of 40%, a case of 60%, a roll of fuse and however many caps I needed. Their only question was "Cash or on your account?". Times have certainly changed.

[–] DrWhen 13 years ago

I could buy that because of the stunt work. That could involve rigging up pyrotechnics. Even without that, maintaining crop dusters he would require technical skills.

[–] defiant-10 14 years ago

I don't think it was supposed to have been their "first" job- apparently his little gang had been doing small-time bank stickups. That they hit on a drop was just where the story sailed from.

And yes, in the early seventies, particularly in the Western states other than California (or, away from metropolitan CA), dynamite was just another tool, just like nails and hammers. Or, as my dad said when asked about gun laws, "I thought murder was already illegal."
Then things like Oklahoma City gave the politicians open season on outlawing everything.

What I had in mind was boxing the compass.

[–] CBikle 13 years ago

I was thinking the same thing; here's what I came up with:

1 Charley seemed pretty knowledgeable about the Mafia (moreso than the average person did in the 70's) and his wife didn't hesitate to kill two police officers in cold blood, so I think they did have some criminal acts in their past (maybe Charley used his plane for smuggling ?)

2 For the most part, Walter Matthau usually played "smart" characters who were usually the underdog of the story ("The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3", "Hopscotch", et al), so I guess the audience could accept him outsmarting everyone and were rooting for him to do so.

[–] DrWhen 13 years ago

Then there's the big blunders of leaving his wife behind not knowing the teeth could be used for an ID and driving a stolen car without changing the plates.

[–] defiant-10 13 years ago

You may have missed the scene when he burgled the dentist's office in order to remove Nadine's dental records.... and when he decides to swap his and Harmon's.

What I had in mind was boxing the compass.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6525) 3 months ago

No, he did change the plates. The plates were from a different stolen car, but he had bad luck that the cop amazingly happened to have memorized the number.