Cinema Canada (Mar 1979)

Daryl Duke's THE SILENT PARTNER d. Daryl Duke, sc. Curtis Lee Hanson, ph. Billy Williams, bsc, ed. George Appleby, cfe, sd. David Lee, m. Oscar Peterson, I.p. Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, Céline Lomez, John Candy, exec. p. Garth H. Drabinsky, p. Joel B. Michaels, Stephen Young, p.c. Silent Partner Film Production Ltd (1977), col. 35mm, running time 102 minutes. Sometimes the film world plays nasty, and sometimes pleasureable tricks on those of us who by necessity or inclination write about it. A reviewer may find himself at loose ends one evening and walk into a movie house to see a film he has had no advance information on and be pleasantly surprised to discover a delightful gem all by himself. At other times, one can look forward to a new film, savoring the glowing accounts of its virtues by respected colleagues and come away reeling with the disappointment of shattered expectations. The latter example is unfortunately the case with The Silent Partner, which despite a successful box office and the accolade of receiving six Etrogs, was unsatisfactory and disappointing. The story involves a bank heist which is turned around when the would-be victim, Miles Cullen played by Elliott Gould, becomes aware of the impending robbery and on impulse prepares to turn it to his own advantage. Gould gives a credible performance as the milquetoastish bank teller who seizes the once in a lifetime opportunity to break out from the set pattern of his narrowly defined world of cheque cashing and goldfish feeding. However, Gould is forced to work with a script that gives him nothing to say or do beyond “B” movie cliches, though he is not the only victim. Christopher Plummer, as the psy FILM REVIEWS Christopher Plummer as Santa, director Daryl Duke and Elliot Gould chopathic bank robber, Harry Reikle, is forced to bear his own burden of hammed phrases that are supposed to suggest malevolence, but result only in making the character seem mealymouthed. The story line comes from a suspense novel Think of A Number by Anders Bodelson which screenwriter Curtis Hanson optioned, reworked into a screenplay, and showed to producers Stephen Young and Joel Michaels, who in turn brought it to executive producer Garth Drabinsky. The idea of a man confronted with a crisis point in his life, who opts for a radical departure from the norm, could have resulted in an intriguing character study which, in the context of The Silent Partner, should have grown into an intricate cat and mouse game between Cullen, who discovers unsuspected resources in himself and the psychopathic Reikle, who seeks revenge for being stymied in his plans. This is the point at which Hanson and director Daryl Duke have let us down, by turning the material into simple melodrama with its hollow dialogue and its failure to provide proper motivation for the characters, as they move through the film. All this is more than somewhat surprising since Duke’s previous directorial efforts, most notably the film Payday, have dealt quite sensitively with characters who undergo personal crises. But the script for The Silent Partner defeats him, and he seems unable to conjure up a real tension between Plummer and Gould which would have lifted the material into art. Instead Cullen is forced to muddle along, reacting without conviction to Reikle’s scheming in a moral vacuum where no one bothers to reflect on what they are doing. _ In fact, the film descends into a mean spiritedness when the hero’s (rather, protagonist’s) bumblings lead to an ending that affirms the grubbiness of every one concerned. The bank teller is in no way better than the murderer, and the sympathies that have been forced from us throughout the film all cry false. Even the love interest is not sustained and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The delightful Celine Lomez who more than anyone injects some vitality into the film is summarily dispatched, with nary a tear shed by Miles, who, one thought, had formed a strong attachment to her. No regrets, only expedience governs the film and Plummer’s character no longer seems as macabre when we compare him to Miles whose reactions and new found strengths seem to exist outside of morality. And can we ever forgive the director for the cheap and gratuitous way in which he dispatched the lovely Ms. Cinema Canada/37