Charley Varrick (1973)

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.

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

Civil War Veteran Hogan (Clint Eastwood) was riding through Mexico when he heard a commotion.  He dismounted and looked over a rise to see a trio of men pushing a mostly naked woman among them.  Well, that just wouldn't do.  He intervened by killing the trio.  He was quite shocked when, once she was dressed, she proved to be a nun!  Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine) was also a Juarista out to raise money to fight the French.  As such, Hogan's plan of handing her off to a French patrol was nixed.  As it happens, Hogan was in Mexico to assist the Juarista cause, but he was less than keen on having a nun - especially a pretty nun - around.  The more time he spent around her, the less she seemed like a proper nun.  However, she always had a reasonable explanation for this aberrant behavior.

Clint plays his usual Western anti-hero, though he adds a dash of romance.  His interactions with Shirley are fun and funny.  Much of the fun is that Hogan doesn't know how to interact with her, nor can he get rid of her.  Though she plays her role well, Shirley is a hard sell for a Mexican.  She looks not at all Spanish and is entirely too pale for such a climate.  That said, Sara is a great character, and MacLaine imbues her with just the right combination of reverence and sass.

The scenery is terrific, but much of it is nowhere near the putative setting.  The story is set near Chihuahua, but a lot of filming was done south of Mexico City.  As for the French, they didn't look French.  According to IMDb, the director sought to save money and cast a bunch of no-names for all the roles other than Clint and Shirley.

After the US Civil War concluded, the United States took more robust measures against the French intervention in Mexico, selling tens of thousands of rifles to the Juaristas and threating US action against the French.  The movie Vera Cruz also took place during the French invasion of Mexico.

Good popcorn fun.

Coogan's Bluff (1968)

Arizona Deputy Sheriff Wyatt Coogan (Clint Eastwood) has once again annoyed the sheriff.  Irritated, the sheriff gave him the unenviable task of an extradition from New York.  Coogan arrives in New York City and immediately goes to the police station.  Lt. McElroy (Lee J. Cobb) explains that the prisoner was transferred to Bellevue Hospital and cannot be handed over until the DA & Judge approve.  Coogan is not impressed.  Viewing the paperwork as nonsense, he went to the hospital and bluffed his way into see the prisoner, James Ringerman (Don Stroud).  Claiming that everything has been approved, he convinced the doctor to release Ringerman to him.  On the way to the flight, one of Ringerman's associates clocked Coogan over the head.

Coogan woke up in the hospital with Lt. McElroy castigating him.  Arizona has taken him off the extradition and recalled him.  Unwilling to leave New York as a beaten man, Coogan set out to find Ringerman.  He was not completely without allies; he had met parole officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark).  Initially, he pursued her as a fling to kill time.  However, she was also a parole officer who had worked with a woman who was tied to Ringerman.

Coogan is a womanizer.  While bringing in a suspect in Arizona, he stopped to hook up with a woman; the suspect was left handcuffed on the porch.  In New York, he pursued Julie Roth and had a one-night stand with Linny Raven (Tisha Sterling).  With Julie, he was quite persistent.  She repeatedly declined his offers, but he would not take "no" as an answer.  To modern sensibilities, he was quite pushy.  Despite his bad behavior, she did warm to him, even going to the airport to see him off.

There was a character named Pushie, played by David Doyle (the original Bosley from Charlie's Angels).  It was odd to see him as an unsavory lowlife goon.

The funny thing about the movie is that it is all Coogan's fault.  His loose cannon behavior in Arizona resulted in his assignment to extradition.  His impatience and flouting the rules led to Ringerman's escape.  Once Ringerman is recaptured, Lt. McElroy offers the same DA & Judge spiel that he offered at the start.  This time, Coogan accepted those rules.

The helicopter flight to and from New York City was amazing.  I saw this film before but had forgotten the helicopter landing on the PanAm building.  For more than a decade, it was possible to fly directly from  LaGuardia Airport or JFK to the PanAm building and thus be downtown in 10 minutes.  In a way, it seems like 1968 had better air travel than today.

Speaking of 1968, this movie has plenty of hippies.  The Pidgeon-Toed Orange Peel Nightclub was peak 60's hippie culture in feel.  Linny Raven's apartment had a paint scheme that reminded one of Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine.

According to Quentin Tarantino, this movie became the template for action movies for the next 25 years.  It does have a very familiar feel to it.  Not great, but certainly entertaining.