Charley Varrick (1973)

Second viewing (first one: July 16, 1989).

A small-time gang robs a small bank and is surprised to find that they have stolen an enormous amount of money. They begin to fear for their lives, as they suspect the money belonged to the Mafia.

This belongs to a type of film (or, more generally, of fiction) that might be called "the smarter guy", and it seems it would achieve its highest popularity in the 90s, e.g. with The Usual Suspects.
The main problem with this type of film is that it depends on some arbitrary parameters, since the screenwriter can ultimately decide how smart the main character's opponents will be. Charley Varrick does not come off too badly when this is taken into account. Varrick's opponents are made to have a reasonable amount of intelligence, well above plain stupidity, but also safely below the protagonist's brilliance.
The middle section of the movie is not as good as the rest of it. Some scenes seem too gratuitous and borderline incomprehensible (e.g. a woman being slapped in the face and then going to bed with her slapper; Varrick, an utterly unattractive guy, succeeding in going to bed with an attractive woman he just met; etc.). I think these bits have annoyed me somewhat disproportionately on my first viewing.
Overall it is a well-made film, with an very good first act, which develops into an entertaining cerebral story, only slipping now and then into some poorly conceived narrative solutions.

Rating: 60 (up from 50)