THE SILENT PARTNER

This is (to me anyway) a rather obscure thriller set in Canada, from 1978.

The story is based on a neat (if improbable) premise.  Miles, a senior bank teller played by Elliott Gould, becomes aware that his bank will be robbed.  Being a clever fellow with not a surfeit of morals he realises that he can safely steal a load of dollars since their loss will be blamed on the bank robber.  Of course, for this subterfuge to work Miles needs to delay setting off the alarm so that the robber (who is dressed as Santa Claus!) can escape, which he does.

All well and good, and in a nice touch Miles stores his loot in one of the bank’s safety deposit boxes.

The trouble is that the real thief, played by Christopher Plummer, is not best pleased and being a nasty and violent piece of work he starts threatening Miles.

What ensues is a battle of wits. Since Miles is a smart alec we know who will win but it’s fun to watch him come up trumps.  At one stage he plays a very neat trick to get Plummer arrested for another crime he is wanted for.

There are two female characters of significance.  

Julie is a senior colleague of Miles, who is worried that life is passing her by.  It would be going a bit far to describe her as his love interest since his interest in her is perplexingly erratic, but  she is happy to run off with him at the end.  She’s very well played by Susannah York who gives Julie some much needed warmth in a story otherwise populated with unsympathetic characters.

The other female character is Elaine, Plummer’s girlfriend, who is sent to befriend Miles to try to find out where the stolen money is.

This leads to a suspenseful scene involving Miles and Elaine working together to sort out a key-related problem with the safety deposit box.

Miles and Elaine rapidly become an item. This is to Plummer’s displeasure and results in a rather nasty end for her.  This, together with an earlier scene where Plummer beats up a young woman, plus the usual gratuitous female nudity, all leave a bit of a sour taste.

But the ending is clever and satisfying.

Some critics at the time went overboard for this film, and any comparison to Hitchcock is ridiculous. But it’s entertaining enough and if you ever wanted to see Christopher Plummer in drag this is for you . And it certainly left me thinking I would like to see more of Susannah York in a leading role.