The Silent Partner starts a few days before Christmas where Miles Cullen (Elliot Gould) is head vault teller for the 'First Bank of Toronto', he's an ordinary guy who fancies his co-worker Julie (Susannah York) but she's already having an affair with the bank manager. One day Miles life changes when he realises a career criminal named Harry Reikle (Christopher Plummer) is going to rob the bank dressed as Santa Claus, his first attempt is foiled by a young boy & it's at that point Miles decides to turn the situation to his own advantage. Miles puts 1000's of dollars from the bank in his bag & waits for Harry to come back which he does, he does indeed try to rob the bank, Miles gives him a few hundred & blames the other missing 1000's that he has stolen himself on Harry. It's a clever plan if not for the fact Harry figures out what Miles did & he wants his money but neither can go to the police, it becomes a game of cat & mouse as each man tries to gain the upper hand with $48,350 at stake...
This Canadian production was directed Daryl Duke is a really smart thriller that most people probably will never even have heard of which is a shame because it's a great film. The intelligent script by Curtis Hanson was based on the book 'Think of a Number' by Anders Bodelsen takes itself very seriously & is a neat well crafted little crime thriller with an intriguing concept which hooks you & isn't too predictable, it moves along at a nice pace, it has some great scenes especially between Gould & Plummer & it even has a cool twist ending. The Silent Partner is a pretty exposition heavy film & therefore there isn't much on screen action so those with little in the way of patience may want to skip it, for those who do like a good story driven crime thriller this is definitely a film you should check out because I'm pretty sure you'll like it. The character's are very good as is the dialogue although there are a couple of times when Plummer's villainous Reikle disappears from the film for a bit especially when he gets thrown in jail & when he does it becomes dullsville with a fair amount of character development which is fine but before long you'll want Plummer back again stirring things up as that's when the film is at it's best & most entertaining.
Director Duke does OK, it looks as if The Silent Partner didn't have a huge budget as it's a fairly standard looking film without much style. I would imagine that this was a hard film to sell to the public at it's time of release, despite being a great film it has a very bland sounding title, it has no big action scenes so making a theatrical trailer which would excite people was almost impossible & they couldn't give much of the story away because it would have spoilt the twists & turns so I would guess that's probably why it's not a commonly known film. There are some nice tense scenes in this & some creepy ones when Plummer is around. There is some violence & a bit of nudity but nothing excessive.
Technically the film is alright, it's well made I suppose but nothing special although having said that this is a film which relies on strong storytelling rather than flashy & expensive action set-pieces although there are continuity problems at the end as Plummer is shot in the back as the bullet wound starts in the center, then disappears altogether for a couple of shots then reappears slightly to the left! Apparently this was shot at the Eaton Centre in Toronto in Canada which had only just been built. The cast is excellent & there's even a small early role for John Candy who is not as fat here as in his latter films, sure he's still fat but not as fat.
The Silent Partner is one of those hidden gems that virtually nobody has heard of or would ever particularly consider watching but for good word of mouth, personally I think it's well worth watching.
This Canadian production was directed Daryl Duke is a really smart thriller that most people probably will never even have heard of which is a shame because it's a great film. The intelligent script by Curtis Hanson was based on the book 'Think of a Number' by Anders Bodelsen takes itself very seriously & is a neat well crafted little crime thriller with an intriguing concept which hooks you & isn't too predictable, it moves along at a nice pace, it has some great scenes especially between Gould & Plummer & it even has a cool twist ending. The Silent Partner is a pretty exposition heavy film & therefore there isn't much on screen action so those with little in the way of patience may want to skip it, for those who do like a good story driven crime thriller this is definitely a film you should check out because I'm pretty sure you'll like it. The character's are very good as is the dialogue although there are a couple of times when Plummer's villainous Reikle disappears from the film for a bit especially when he gets thrown in jail & when he does it becomes dullsville with a fair amount of character development which is fine but before long you'll want Plummer back again stirring things up as that's when the film is at it's best & most entertaining.
Director Duke does OK, it looks as if The Silent Partner didn't have a huge budget as it's a fairly standard looking film without much style. I would imagine that this was a hard film to sell to the public at it's time of release, despite being a great film it has a very bland sounding title, it has no big action scenes so making a theatrical trailer which would excite people was almost impossible & they couldn't give much of the story away because it would have spoilt the twists & turns so I would guess that's probably why it's not a commonly known film. There are some nice tense scenes in this & some creepy ones when Plummer is around. There is some violence & a bit of nudity but nothing excessive.
Technically the film is alright, it's well made I suppose but nothing special although having said that this is a film which relies on strong storytelling rather than flashy & expensive action set-pieces although there are continuity problems at the end as Plummer is shot in the back as the bullet wound starts in the center, then disappears altogether for a couple of shots then reappears slightly to the left! Apparently this was shot at the Eaton Centre in Toronto in Canada which had only just been built. The cast is excellent & there's even a small early role for John Candy who is not as fat here as in his latter films, sure he's still fat but not as fat.
The Silent Partner is one of those hidden gems that virtually nobody has heard of or would ever particularly consider watching but for good word of mouth, personally I think it's well worth watching.