The Silent Partner

1978's THE SILENT PARTNER is one clever, nasty little thriller.  Curtis Hanson, who later wrote and directed L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, adapted Anders Bodelsen's Think of a Number into a screenplay that is pitch perfect for this sort of movie.  No one expected much from it at the box office in its homeland of Canada or in the States.  Several U.S. critics began to rave and call it a "sleeper."   Few have heard of it.  I'm doing my small part in hopes of remedying that.  You're welcome.

This movie might be termed "cat and mouse", but here the two players assume each role at different times.  Miles (Elliott Gould) is a mild mannered teller at a Toronto bank.  Harry (Christopher Plummer, eerily menacing) is a downright vicious bank robber who successfully makes off with a haul (dressed as Santa Claus) after he threatens Miles with a stick up note.  But the teller knew he was coming, and hatches a plan to only give away part of the daily transactions, keeping the rest for himself without anyone's knowledge.  Harry later discovers this, and soon the men will be sharing sinister phone calls and playing a game of one upsmanship.   It gets ugly.  A stunning beauty named Elaine (Celine Lomez), a possible femme fatale, may suffer at their nimble hands.

Of course, I'm leaving out many details.  Discovering them is one of the film's considerable pleasures.

Gould has one of his best roles and delivers one his most appealing performances as a man who appears to be a milquetoast but in fact houses quite a cunning soul.  No one around him, including Harry, knows just how smart he really is.  Even the audience is not always quite sure what is stirring in Miles' heart and mind.    He endures considerable damage to his apartment and loses his beloved tropical fish in the process, but seems nonetheless on some level to appreciate the dance with a worthy, if psychopathic, opponent.  Prior, life was boring, with everyone else, including co-worker Julie (Susannah York) seemingly more content in their lots.  Miles may learn otherwise, and frustrates all with whom he comes in contact.  He may be amoral, but we're rooting for him.

Director Daryl Duke achieves a perfectly sinister tone for this serpentine, at times erotic motion picture. Toronto locations are well utilized.  I wish Duke had made more features; he is mostly known for television shows and miniseries.  His PAYDAY from '73 was another assured, engrossing character study, though with far less violence.  THE SILENT PARTNER has some grisly moments and plenty of nude scenes, but despite its abundance of exploitation elements is more of a worthy heir to Alfred Hitchcock than a mere guilty pleasure.