Charley Varrick (Don Siegel, 1973)

Charley Varrick is a solid-plus crime flick helmed by one of the genre's masters. Siegel demonstrates his mastery in the face-clawing finale between Joe Don Baker in a car and Walter Matthau as the title character in a crop duster, a perfect metaphor for this frontierless western. With no more areas to colonize, the only place to go is up and out (although in keeping with the cynicism of 1970s American cinema, not even this happens as Varrick's plane winds up overturned at the very end). Also in keeping with the dictates of 1970s American cinema, women barely exist except to get killed off early or slapped around. Beyond that, there's not much more to say - the blessing and curse of the (even expertly directed) genre film.

Grade: B+