When I first started thinking about this post it was simple and ordinary enough: a list of favourite ‘70s American crime pictures that I think should deserve more love. I was going to tie it in/add some relevance with the recent release of Andrew Dominik’s quite-’70s-crime-style Killing Them Softly, and mention that with a bunch of other crime pics coming soon to our theatres – Parker, Gangster Squad, Stand Up Guys, Seven Psychopaths, The Thieves, Lawless – it’s apparent that cinema is still very much in love with people on the wrong side of the law.
Then I was going to point out how after watching the trailer for Parker – Jason Statham’s take on crime fiction writer Donald E. Westlake/Richard Stark’s character of the same name – I was like this. Simply based on the trailer, it didn’t look like the film, directed by Taylor Hackford (Ray), seemed to honour the world of Parker*, or at least in the way that the low-key, understated but realistically gritty look and feel of the following films I’m about to discuss seem to do. Parker looks just like another hyper Statham action-fest, and Statham doesn’t even attempt an American accent (though in some ways that is preferable I guess).
But anyway as I watched these films – The Last Run, The Outfit, The Nickel Ride, Charley Varrick and Harry in Your Pocket – in such quick succession to prep for this blog, it dawned on me that they could essentially take place in the same universe** – Marvel Avengers-style but for ‘70s crime flicks. Granted, they’re all just variations on the genre’s recurring themes and character types. Stories dripping with rampant amorality, featuring hardened, fading anti-heroes, women thanklessly cast as either prostitutes or long-suffering romantic partners who’ll probably get shot before the credits roll, grimy-as-hell locations, and just tons of seedy atmosphere and mood.
What made the whole thing stranger was the six-degrees-of-separation feeling I was getting on a level beyond the commonality of the genre conventions. Weird parallels and coincidences in cast, crew, characters started popping up. For example, the sultry, voluptuous Sheree North appears in The Outfit offering herself to Joe Don Baker who turns her down, but in the completely unrelated Charley Varrick, they end up sleeping together. Jordan Cronenweth shot The Nickel Ride, but he also shot Rolling Thunder which was directed by John Flynn, who directed by The Outfit. The Outfit is based on a Parker/Stark novel, the first of which gave us Point Blank, which had John Vernon, who shows up in Charley Varrick. Linda Haynes, Jason Miller’s love interest in The Nickel Ride, was in Rolling Thunder. George C. Scott falls for Trish Van Devere in The Last Run, James Coburn falls for her in Harry in Your Pocket etc. Even the scores across these films – by Jerry Fielding, Dave Grusin, Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Goldsmith – could come together in a massive composition that would be awesome in their jazzy, propulsive consistency. Okay some of these connections are tenuous at best, and I’m sure not everyone will be on board with the way my mind works, but it’s fun to think about.
Now for the sake of make-believe (more interesting than a boring list) let’s pretend that none of these films are available on DVD, and I’m a cool DVD company with great taste putting these films out for the first time. I’d gather them all in a beautiful ‘70s American crime box-set***. If I had photoshop skillz I could design a 3D pack shot or something****, but I don’t so here’s the line-up – in thumbnail posters – and below a little bit about each film:
CHARLEY VARRICK
Charley Varrick (1973) is Don Siegel’s masterpiece. And I don’t say that lightly, since he’s made so many solid, fabulously tough action/crime/noir pics over the years: The Big Steal, The Killers, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz etc. But Varrick, based on John H. Reese’s novel The Looters, struck such a perfect balance of the requisite genre elements, it’s pretty much a gold standard of how to make this sort of picture. Taut violent action, sharp writing, smart, compelling protagonist, memorable villain, all set to a crackling pace that never lets up.
The against-type casting of Walter Matthau as a bank robber/independent crop-duster/ex-stunt pilot (!) is also a stroke of genius and his fantastic performance is a huge part of why the film works so well. Matthau is a good example of the kind of lead actor that doesn’t exist anymore to play these parts. He didn’t have the conventionally dashing good looks nor pin-up athleticism of a Brad Pitt or Jason Statham, but most importantly he was first and foremost a great actor who LOOKED the part and had that unglamorous, everyday quality that you could almost imagine him being your dad. Special mention must be made of Joe Don Baker, who’s magnetically vile as the Southern thug Molly who’s sent to track down Varrick.
THE OUTFIT
Like Jim Thompson and Elmore Leonard, Donald E. Westlake, aka Richard Stark, has been a reliable source for Hollywood to tap for adapting pulpy crime fiction for the big screen. There have been several great films (Point Blank, The Hot Rock), some not so great (Payback, What’s the Worst That Could Happen?), but few have ever “got it right” as far as embodying the voice and spirit of Westlake goes. Based on the third Stark/Parker novel, The Outfit (1973) comes close – the author himself has gone on record to say that Robert Duvall’s Earl Macklin is his favourite version of the Parker character.
I can’t decide if The Outfit or Rolling Thunder is John Flynn’s best film (I might go for the latter for Paul Schrader’s involvement), but The Outfit is a TERRIFIC hardboiled crime movie, all brutal stripped-down business with the unbeatable team-up of Duvall/Joe Don Baker going after mobster Robert Ryan. Downright shabby locations, JDB coldly knocking out a secretary like he does it everday, a top-notch character cast (Richard Jaeckel, Elisha Cook Jr, Jane Greer, Timothy Carey, Bill McKinney), grungily textured cinematography from Bruce Surtees (The Beguiled, which was directed by Don Siegel, who directed Charley… ok I’ll stop)…good stuff.
THE LAST RUN
If anyone ever asks you, “What the hell kind of trip were Anton Corbijn and George Clooney on when they made The American??”, just point them to this existentialist 1971 thriller starring the great George C. Scott as Harry Garmes, a retired mob driver trying to prove to himself he’s still got what it takes to do one last job. The script by Alan Sharp (Night Moves) features your usual car chases, twists and shootouts, but the film is predominantly a mood piece – and a surprisingly poignant at that – about a crumpled old codger who society has not much use for anymore. Garmes hasn’t worked in 9 years. His wife left him, his son is dead. He lives in a sleepy Portuguese village where he sometimes sees a prostitute (Colleen Dewhurst). So lonely is his existence that when a job offer turns up – to transport an escaped convict (Tony Musante) to France – it blinds him with excitement, much to the detriment of his professional integrity.
Directed with spare, cool-headed precision by Richard Fleischer (Compulsion), it all kinda plays out like Two-Lane Blacktop (lots of ROAD and burning rubber) meets The Mechanic (old pro/young hothead tension), which is a good thing – it’s just odd enough to avoid being your run-of-the-mill crime flick. Best scene: Garmes taking a nap under a tree – weirdly moving. Oh did I mention Sven Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman’s legendary regular DP, photographed this?
A lot of drama occurred during the production: Fleischer stepped in to replace John Huston, while Scott left his then-real-life wife Dewhurst for his other co-star Trish Van Devere when filming ended! Amazing.
THE NICKEL RIDE
A genuinely forgotten gem in the ‘70s crime stakes, Robert Mulligan’s The Nickel Ride (1974) is low-key, slow-burning, atmospheric, obliquely plotted – almost my favourite kind of movie. Like The Last Run, it’s another tale of a guy who’s been in the business for such a long time that when he realises his time is almost up he loses his cool. Jason Miller (The Exorcist) plays Cooper, a “key man” whose line of work involves organising the stashing of stolen mob goods in warehouses and fixing boxing matches on the side. When the negotiation of a deal doesn’t pan out smoothly, his boss Carl (John Hillerman) decides to saddle him with Bo Hopkins’ sinisterly chirpy cowboy, which doesn’t bode well for his future employment prospects. There’s very little action or violence in the film, but it’s full of meticulously sustained paranoia that leaves the viewer, like Cooper, uneasy and questioning what exactly is going on. Linda Haynes is quite wonderful as Cooper’s loving partner, adding some heart into this otherwise mostly downbeat noir.
HARRY IN YOUR POCKET
Harry in Your Pocket is perhaps the lesser entry in the set – the odd duck – every box set usually has one right? But it’s a movie I still enjoy a lot watching, primarily because it’s about pickpockets, and there aren’t that many movies about pickpockets around (Bresson’s Pickpocket, Johnnie To’s Sparrow, Sam Fuller’s Pickup on South Street.. what else?). Maybe ‘cos it’s not as cinematically exciting or easy to portray as a heist or a killing, but I love the untethered, sleight-of-hand nature of the crime – it’s so exposed, almost like magic. Anyway Harry in Your Pocket is occasionally a bit too breezy for its own good – Bruce Geller’s direction could use some tightening – but the ticket here is James Coburn playing one suave mofo of a wallet pincher. Lovebirds Michael Sarrazin and Trish Van Devere are his new recruits, and Walter Pidgeon is the coke-sniffing old-timer who fences their takes. Fun, unpretentious little caper.
* Not claiming to be an expert.
** I’m sure Dom did a blog on this topic but I can’t seem to find it.
*** I feel bad about leaving out Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) but that’s already received Criterion treatment so all good.
**** We have said skillz – Ed.
