The Silent Partner (1979)

Load of rubbish!!

Disappointment for a huge fan!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

THE SILENT PARTNER is one of those neat little twists-all-over-the-place thrillers that slip in under the radar and remain undiscovered by the public at large until somebody brings them out on budget DVD or decides to show them on late-night television. This one escaped from Canada in the late '70s, and first appears to be a television movie, until the viewer is drowned in a world of nudity and sadistic violence.It's a quiet, mild-mannered film with a couple of shocking moments that earned it an 'X' certificate when it was released in Britain. Essentially it's a two-hander between a corrupt bank teller and the vicious bank robber, although you'll never guess the outcome, thanks to the literate script which goes all over the place – thanks, Curtis Hanson – and the little touches, like the keys in the jam jar, which really add to the experience.Elliott Gould headlines the cast with a likable, laid back performance, and he's utterly convincing as an 'ordinary' guy who decides to do something a little 'extra' ordinary. Christopher Plummer is better known as a character actor but here he makes for a totally convincing villain, a truly sadistic criminal whose fish-tank scene remains clear-as-day in my head as one of cinema's most disturbing moments. There are plenty of other good performances too, from the likes of Susannah York and a young, unknown John Candy, and special mention has to be made of the very lovely Celine Lomez. After a barnstorming opening, the film suffers from a 'sagging middle' in which nothing much seems to happen for about half an hour, and the pacing grinds down to a virtual halt; however, the action picks up for a good ending which ties up the loose ends rather nicely.

the perfect thriller with top notch performances from Elliot Gould and Christopher Plummer as the villain, in fact he plays the kind of guys that you love to hate, so mean and sadistic but at the same time Sharp as a nail. on the other hand the screenplay was amazing giving interesting characters that you start to care about from the first time you see them, all in all this is one of the best thrillers i've seen in my whole life, i'm surprised that it didn't have the acclaim it deserves when it first came out and i think that is due to all the nudity and violence in it but if you're looking for an intense thriller in a cold dark rainy night this is the one for you.

I saw this movie when it was in the theater originally. I remembered liking it a great deal and had looked for it for a long time. Although I remembered it as being excellent, I was 17 when I saw it originally, and probably drunk. I wasn't sure I would like it nearly as well when I was 47 and sober.I was very pleasantly surprised. Eliot Gould doesn't work for me all that often. Seems like he is unbelievable/miscast in most roles. This role is perfect for him and he does a great job. The only thing wrong with Christopher Plumber (Plummer?? I can't spell) is that he hasn't really gotten that many good roles. He has a great role in "The Silent Partner" and he swings hard and connects fully. He is completely believable and his eerie character is highly memorable.I can't think of many movies that I consider true "sleepers"-- movies that are vastly better than you would think given the lack of public attention or critical acclaim. "The Silent Partner" is on that short list. In a way it kind of reminds me of two other movies on my very short "sleeper" list-- "Blood Simple" and "Miller's Crossing." Tough to call any Coen Bros. movie a sleeper, but those got way, way less acclaim than they deserved. The Silent Partner has a similar kind of eerie intrigue to those movies. It is more similar to Blood Simple than Miller's Crossing. The plot and characters in Miller's Crossing were pushed to the point of hyperbole--and that line was kept the whole movie, but never crossed to the point of eroding the suspense. But, The Silent Partner displays many of the same virtues Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing have. It cracks into my top 50 movies. If you watch it on DVD, treat it like you are at the theater-- dark room, no interruptions, etc. It would be a waste not to.

Anticipating a robbery, a clever bank teller manages to secretly pocket most of the loot, enraging the robber. This intricately plotted and suspenseful cat-and-mouse thriller from Canada, ably directed by Duke based on a screenplay by Hansen, is a lot of fun to watch. Gould gives a finely tuned performance, nicely balancing his character's vulnerability and bravado. York is lovely as Gould's co-worker. Plummer makes a scary villain - very creepy and sadistic. Lomez is effective as a mysterious woman who pops into Gould's life. The only complaint is a couple of gratuitously violent scenes where Plummer unleashes his anger on poor victims.