Themes: Dishonor Among Thieves, Criminal's Revenge, Big Break
Main Cast: Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, Celine Lomez
Release Year: 1978
Country: CA
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The Canadian "sleeper" The Silent Partner stars Elliott Gould as a teller, Miles Cullen, who figures out psycho Harry Reikle's (Christopher Plummer) scheme to rob his bank, several days ahead of time. Cullen providently squirrels away 50,000 dollars in a safety-deposit box before Reikle strikes. After the robbery, the papers report the amount of the bank's loss. Reikle realizes that there's 50,000 extra bucks floating around that he hasn't gotten his hands on. The soft-spoken but sadistic Reikle puts the screws on Cullen to fork over the dough -- but Cullen has lost the deposit-box key. Be forewarned: this one gets extremely brutal and bloody at times, with sudden bursts of graphic violence. Also featured is Susannah York as the fluctuating-loyalty heroine, and a very young and hairy John Candy. Future L.A. Confidential scribe Curtis Hanson loosely adapted the Danish novel Think of a Number, by Anders Bodelsen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Before Curtis Hanson's success as a director in the 1990s, he was known mostly for a handful of well-respected, edgy screenplays. Adapted from a novel by Anders Bodelsen, the cerebral thriller The Silent Partner was little-seen upon release, but in hindsight, it stands out as one of the best sleepers of the late '70s. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Daryl Duke, Partner gets a lot of mileage from its star, Elliott Gould, who is at his laconic best as the surprisingly smooth bank teller. Similar to his distanced performance in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, Gould subtly plays an everyman struggling to regain control of his life, on his own terms. In his role as an enraged bank robber, Christopher Plummer brings an unexpected menace to the film. Hanson would go on to write 1982's highly controversial Sam Fuller film White Dog and 1983's Never Cry Wolf before hitting box-office gold with The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
John Candy - Simonsen; Gail Dahms - Louise; Michael Donahue - Berg; Jack Duffy - Fogelman; Nancy Simmonds - Girl in Sauna; Nuala Fitzgerald - Safety Deposit Box Woman; Aino Pirskanen - Mrs. Evanchuck; Michele Rosen - Young Woman in Bank; Sandy Crawley - Detective No. 2; Jan Campbell - Boy's Mother; Jimmy Davidson - Little Boy; Eve Norman - Girl at Party; John Kerr - 3rd Detective; Sue Lumsden - TV Reporter; Candace O'Connor - Bank Assistant; Stephen Levy - Freddie; Michael Kirby - Charles Packard; Ken Pogue - Det. Willard; Guy Sanvido - Locksmith; Sean Sullivan - Frank, Bank Guard; Charlotte Blunt - Mrs. Packard
Credit
Daryl Duke - Director, George Appleby - Editor, Garth H. Drabinsky - Executive Producer, Ken Wannberg - Composer (Music Score), Oscar Peterson - Composer (Music Score), Nancy Simmonds - Songwriter, Trevor Williams - Production Designer, Billy Williams - Cinematographer, Stephen Young - Producer, Garth H. Drabinsky - Producer, Joel B. Michaels - Producer, Curtis Hanson - Screenwriter, Anders Bodelsen - Book Author
The film was the first to be produced by Carolco Pictures and one of the earliest films from Canada to take advantage of the Canadian government's "Capital Cost Allowance" plans. The Silent Partner is also notable for being one of the very few films to have a score composed by Oscar Peterson, and for featuring an early big-screen appearance by John Candy.
The Silent Partner is a remake of the Danish film Think of a Number (Tænk på et tal) from 1969 written and directed by Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt. Both are based on the novel Tænk på et tal by Danish writer Anders Bodelsen.
Miles Cullen, a bored teller at a bank in a Toronto mall, accidentally learns that his place of business is about to be robbed.
Instead of informing his bosses or contacting the police, Miles devises a way of keeping the cash from most of his window's transactions in a box of his own rather than in the bank's till. As a result, the robber who eventually arrives (dressed as Santa Claus) nets far less than the police and the bank think he has.
The thief, a psychopath named Reikle, figures out what happened, and makes a series of desperate and violent attempts to get the money that Miles has kept for himself.
Miles' coolmess under pressure attracts the attention of colleague Julie Carver, who has been having an affair with the bank's married manager. Miles, however, takes up with a flirtatious younger woman who tells him that she has been caring for his ill and elerly father.
In fact, the woman is secretly working with Reikle. But by the time she discovers that Miles has stashed the holdup money in a safety deposit box at the bank, Reikle no longer trusts her. She decides to help Miles and disguises herself as a customer to remove the money from the bank.
An enraged Reikle murders her at Miles' apartment. He intends to kill Miles too, unless he agrees to get the money. Miles, however, refuses to part with it except in a public place where no harm can come to him.
The plan they agree is that Reikle will come to the bank, again in disguise, and be handed the money at Miles' window. Reikle arrives dressed as a woman. Once he is paid the money, he promises to kill Miles for the inconvenience that he's been caused. Miles immediately presses an alarm button. Reikle shootsMiles and flees into the mall, where he is shot dead by a bank security guard.
A wounded Miles is taken away by an ambulance. He reveals to Julie that he still has the money. Both decide that the time might be right to find some other line of work...
The Silent Parter did well financially in Canada both critically and financially winning several Canadian Film Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.[1][2] The film was a sleeper upon its US release, with Brendon Hanley of the film database Allmovie noting that the film"...stands out as one of the best sleepers of the late '70s".[3]
