Plot
Charley Varrick is a crop-duster and former stunt pilot by trade. The aging trailer-park dweller has clearly not been too successful. Together with three others, including his wife Nadine and edgy Harman Sullivan, a heavily disguised Varrick robs a small bank in Tres Cruces, New Mexico. During the robbery, two policemen and the fourth robber are killed and Nadine is mortally wounded.
Varrick and Sullivan find themselves with $750,000 — far more money than they expected. The bank manager, timid Harold Young, reports only $2,000 stolen. Realizing they have stolen the proceeds of a mob money laundering operation, Varrick and Sullivan find themselves in trouble not only with the police but with several shady characters, in particular mob money man Maynard Boyle and an amoral hired killer called Molly.
Also being threatened by his partner Sullivan, who wants to spend the money immediately rather than lying low for years until the heat is off, Varrick decides to double-cross him before Sullivan can do the same to him. He makes a plan to flee the country and puts in a rush order for two fake passports with Jewell Everett, a pretty photographer. She promptly betrays Varrick and puts Molly on his trail. The sadistic Molly catches up with Sullivan at the trailer, brutally beating and killing him while attempting to determine Varrick's whereabouts.
Boyle, meanwhile, terrifies the mousy bank manager Young with the threat that the mob will suspect the robbery to be an inside job. One of the descriptions of torture that Boyle suggests will befall Young involves a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. Rather than submit to such treatment, Young commits suicide by shooting himself.
Varrick flies his plane to Reno, where he surprises and seduces Boyle's secretary, Sybil Fort, who urges Varrick not to trust her boss. Nonetheless, Varrick sets up a meeting with Boyle in a remote automobile wrecking yard back in New Mexico, arriving for it in his crop duster. He greets Boyle so warmly that Molly becomes convinced the men must be partners. Molly angrily runs down Boyle with his car.
Molly then proceeds to stalk Varrick, who tries to escape by plane. Molly damages the crop-duster's tail with his car before it can take off. Varrick's crippled plane flips over. Flat on his back in the wreckage, Varrick can do nothing to save himself except tell Molly where the money is hidden.
Seemingly in mortal danger, Varrick has actually set a booby trap for Molly, flipping the plane on purpose, a trick he learned back in his barnstorming days. Molly goes to retrieve the hidden money and is blown up. In the remains of the explosion are a number of hundred-dollar bills and Sullivan's body, to be mistaken for that of Varrick, who had earlier switched dental records. Varrick scoops up the remaining money and makes his getaway.
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