Charley Varrick doesn't even look good; the color is blah and runny, the compositions are squat and no more than functional, and the director, Don Siegel, slogs along from scene to scene.

Thanks to Siegel's impeccable direction and to the imaginative script Howard Rodman and Dean Riesner fashioned from John Reese's novel "The Looters," this... becomes a compelling struggle between brains and brawn.

As in all Siegel films, there is constant violence, but a sharp, clear focus and quick action prevents you from dwelling on plot inconsistencies.

This appears to be a low-budget movie, where dead people can be seen breathing and actors sometimes trip and stumble. Such scenes would usually be re-shot or otherwise fixed, but somehow this ends up making the movie look more realistic for the most part.