One of the reasons I let our Wish List slip is that it got to a point where almost as soon as I thought of a title for inclusion and actually discussed it with someone, so the announcement would come that it was on the way. This was especially true of Byron Haskins' Robinson Crusoe on Mars - I was talking about it to my work colleague and how I would add it to the list that evening and got home to find that Criterion had that very day announced they were to release it on DVD. Just a couple of weeks ago I was talking to that same colleague about cool crime movie from the 70s and Don Siegel's 1973 Charley Varrick came up. It was available on US DVD, but why not over here? Another one for the list, then. Except now it's on it's way, courtesy of Fremantle Entertainment, and if you don't know it then you're in for a treat.

Regarded as one of the key influences on Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (particularly regarding Ving Rhames' infamous line about going to work on someone with "a pair of pliers and a blow torch" and the naming of Duane Whitaker's character, 'Maynard'), Charley Varrick, with its cracking dialogue, pitch-perfect performances by the cast, and effortlessly assured direction by Siegel, is simply one of the finest crime movies ever made.

Directed by Don Siegel (Dirty Harry; Coogan's Bluff; Invasion Of The Body Snatchers; The Killers) and starring Oscar winner Walter Matthau (The Odd Couple; The Taking of Pelham One Two Three; Kotch), who won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film, the film co-stars Joe Don Baker (The Outfit; Junior Bonner; Edge of Darkness), John Vernon (Animal House) and Andrew Robinson (Hellraiser; Dirty Harry) in a violent and uncompromising thriller that sees Matthau at the top of his game.

Playing against type and displaying his exceptional versatility as an actor, Matthau stars as Charley Varrick, a former flying circus clown turned crop duster now taken to robbing banks with his wife (Jacqueline Scott) and a couple of his employees, one of whom is hot-headed kid Harman Sullivan (Robinson). The gang's most recent job, a seemingly simple heist on a small-town bank in Tres Cruces, New Mexico, goes wrong in more ways than one, leaving four dead, including two of Charley's crew. Worse, the unexpected size of the take – $750,000 – leads Charley to suspect the bank is an illicit ‘drop' for a Mafia money-laundering outfit.

Charley's suspicions prove to be true and the mob, eager to recover its money and to send a deadly warning out to the rest of the underworld, despatch a ruthless hitman, Molly (Baker), to track down and deal with the suspects. With both the cops and the mob on his tail – not to mention having to deal with the liability of a volatile partner intent on openly living the high life – Charley is forced to rely on his wits just to make it through another day. If he hopes to live any longer, he knows he is going to have to confront the threat head-on and end the trail that is leading Molly and the authorities to him.

Charley Varrick will be released on UK DVD by Fremantle Home Entertainment on 27th October 2008 at the RRP of just £7.99. No extras are expected and we don't know the screen ratio yet, but it had damned well better be widescreen.