The Silent Partner (1978 film)

The Silent Partner
Movie cover for The Silent Partner
Directed by Daryl Duke
Produced by Joel B. Michaels
Stephen Young
Written by Curtis Hanson
Based on Tænk på et tal
by Anders Bodelsen
Starring Elliott Gould
Christopher Plummer
Susannah York
Music by Oscar Peterson
Cinematography Billy Williams
Production
company
Distributed by EMC Film Corporation
Release date
  • September 7, 1978 (1978-09-07) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 106 minutes
Country Canada
Language English
Budget C$2,500,000 (estimated)

The Silent Partner (French title: L'argent de la banque) is a 1978 Canadian heist film directed by Daryl Duke. It stars Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York.

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, based on the novel Tænk på et tal by Danish writer Anders Bodelsen.

Plot

Miles Cullen (Elliott Gould), a bored teller at a small bank in a large Toronto shopping mall (the Eaton Centre), accidentally learns that his place of business is about to be robbed when he finds a discarded note on one of the bank's counters. He also figures out who the would-be robber will be when he sees a mall Santa Claus hanging around outside the bank whose "give to charity" sign is in handwriting similar to that on the discarded stick-up note.

Instead of informing his bosses or contacting the police, Miles instead begins stashing the cash from his window's transactions in an old lunch box rather than in the bank's till. When the Santa Claus robber later holds up Miles at the teller's desk, Miles hands over a small amount and then reports he handed over both that and the amount he hid.

The Santa Claus thief, a misogynistic psychopath named Harry Reikle (Christopher Plummer), figures out what happened when he reads news reports of the robbery. He then makes a series of desperate and violent attempts to get the money (totalling CA$48,300) that Miles has kept for himself. Reikle starts following Miles to and from his home, making harassing phone calls.

Miles's coolness under pressure attracts the attention of bank colleague Julie Carver (Susannah York), who has been having an affair with the bank's married manager Charles Packard. After escorting Julie to a Christmas party at the Packards' house, he reveals his own attraction to Julie. Their co-worker Simonson (John Candy) becomes infatuated with a young ditzy blonde named Louise, a teller at the bank. Miles discovers that Louise is cheating on Simonson with another co-worker, but never reveals what he knows, even after Simonson and the pregnant Louise get married.

When the menacing Reikle breaks into Miles' apartment and trashes it to look for the stolen bank money, Miles turns the tables yet again by following Reikle, then sets him up to be arrested for the theft of a delivery truck. When brought to the police station to identify Reikle in a lineup, Miles does not point him out, aware that Reikle would then implicate him in the bank robbery.

A few months later, at his father's funeral, Miles meets a flirtatious woman named Elaine (Celine Lomez), who says she was a nurse who had been caring for his father. In fact, Elaine is secretly working with Reikle, who is still in jail. Elaine has been visiting Reikle there. But by the time Elaine discovers that Miles has stashed the holdup money in a safety deposit box at the bank, Reikle no longer trusts her, correctly sensing that Elaine has become romantically involved with Miles.

Miles figures out Elaine is not who she claims to be. But when he loses the safety deposit box key, Miles gets Elaine to help by disguising herself as a bank customer, and she manages to get access to the box, while Miles gets new keys. Julie, meanwhile, has begun to suspect something about Miles and his new girlfriend.

Reikle is released from jail and confronts Elaine over where her loyalties lie. When she admits that she has indeed fallen in love with Miles, an enraged Reikle murders and decapitates her at Miles' apartment. Miles is forced to dispose of her body in the foundation for the bank's new building, under construction. Reikle then confronts Miles and says that he intends to kill him, too, unless he gets the money. Miles refuses to part with it except in a public place where no harm can come to him.

They agree that Reikle will come to the bank, again in disguise, and be handed the money at Miles' window, where Miles will feel safe. The next day, Reikle arrives dressed as a woman. After Miles hands a packet, Reikle promises to kill him for the inconvenience that he's been caused. Anticipating that Reikle would say just that, Miles hands him the original stick-up note, and shouts "he has a gun", triggering the alarm. Reikle panics, pulls a gun and shoots Miles, then flees into the mall, where he is shot by the bank security guard. Reikle almost gives up the game; while he lies dying he tells the guard that Miles gave him the bank's money; the guard, uncomprehending of Reikle's true implications, simply asks: "Whose money did you expect?"

A wounded Miles is taken away by ambulance. Julie goes along, telling Miles that she has figured out everything. He reveals to Julie that he has the stolen bank money, which she also knows. Both decide the time is right to quit their jobs and find another line of work, somewhere far away.

Cast

Reception

The Silent Partner did well 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]

Roger Ebert, in his March 30, 1979 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, awarded three-and-a-half of a possible four stars to the film, calling it "a thriller that is not only intelligently and well acted and very scary, but also has the most audaciously clockwork plot I've seen in a long time." Ebert described it as "worthy of Hitchcock."

References

  1. ↑ "29th Canadian Film Awards". Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  2. ↑ Rist, 1995. pp.211
  3. ↑ Hanley, Brendon. "The Silent Partner > Review". Allmovie.

Bibliography

  • Rist, Peter (2001). Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-29931-5.
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