A yellow car with an older man and a younger woman pulled up to the bank. It has hardly stopped than a cop arrived and announced that it was a no parking zone. The gray-haired man declared that he had a broken ankle. The officer nodded and let it slide. The old man went into the bank and, no sooner did the bank manager come to look at the check than the old man drew a gun. Two other patrons - wearing masks - also drew guns. Outside, the cop returned and the woman shot him. A gunbattle erupted both inside and outside the bank. Only two of the three robbers got out of the bank and the getaway driver rammed an arriving cop car off the road and floored it as they left town.
Charley Varrick (Walter Matthau) pulled off his old man disguise and Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson) removed his mask. They had hardly arrived at the secondary escape car when Nadine (Jacqueline Scott) died from a bullet wound. She really was Charley's wife. The remaining robbers drove away in a van, arriving at Charley's mobile home. When they counted the money, they knew something was wrong. They had expected no more than $30,000; they had three-quarters of a million! While Harman was elated, Charley knew that it must be mafia money and that they were dead men.
Maynard Boyle (John Vernon) received the call from the bank manager. Unless he recovered that money, he was a dead man. He knew just who to put on the case: Molly. Molly (Joe Don Baker) was a man who could not be stopped. He made his way to the little bank in New Mexico and began to track down the robbers.
How could Charley get away with the money while also guaranteeing that the mafia wouldn't forever be a threat? He'd need to stay ahead of Molly, keep Harman from exposing them, and convince everyone that he was a dead man.
The story is terrific, but Walter Matthau is too likable to be as coldblooded as Charley. He is over his wife's death before the day is out. Once we learn about her background, it looks out of character for her to start shooting cops with wild abandon. Wasn't this their first bank robbery? Joe Don Baker is great as a grinning hitman, a villain who easily terrifies by his mere size and presence.
Recommended.
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