Walter Matthau on the paper might have been a wrong choice but he proved his detractors wrong by his understated performance. (Donald Sutherland was the first choice, but the producers wanted an Easter friendly audience, so he was dropped). Don Siegel directed this film just after ‘Dirty Harry’ and the excellence of efficiency continues. Right from the word go, he weaves a thriller of different sorts, never losing the human touch. ‘Charley Varrick’ is a worth revisit anytime, and over the years has aged like good wine.

Lalo Schifrin’s haunting score adds the gravitas to the proceedings. When asked in the making feature, he mentions he went in for the percussion based instrument, to represent Charley Varrick’s mind that was always ticking and thinking about the next move, yet no one knew exactly what. Incidentally, Walter Matthau played it the same way, as he man who kept his emotions and enemies in check, always thinking ahead.

The climax chase is one of its kind, which once again would seem far fetched on paper, but when shot the way Don Siegel did, is believable in its every frame.

Here’s a good video about the film.

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Interesting article on the movie

‘North By Northwest’ in a way is a departure from the typical Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. But it is also a testament to the genius of Hitchcock who wanted to reinvent himself in different genres. What he did with ‘North By Northwest’ is create a template for Hollywood blockbusters, and even James bond films for that matter. Steven Spielberg openly acknowledges Hitchcock’s influence, and the scenes where Indiana Jones is picked up from the college in ‘Indianan Jones and the last crusade’ and taken to a house, are a almost a carbon copy of similar scenes in ‘North By Northwest’. What more the villain in the Indiana Jones movie, seems to take a leaf or two from the characterization of James Mason.

According to the writer (from the making feature in the DVD) Ernest Lehman, it all began when Alfred Hitchcock gave an idea of a scene of a delegate’s speech in the United Nations and the ensuing murder, and asked him to work on it. Ernest Lehman then wrote a 65 page treatment which Hitchcock used to green light the project. The rest of the story was developed just in time, before the big shoot of Rushmore sequences.

A must watch for all movie and Hithcock’s fans and the theme music by Bernard Hermann will stay with us long after we finished the movie.

Here is an excellent conduction of the same theme.