After rewatching one of my all time favourite movies The Long Goodbye, I was keen for some more Elliott Gould movies. The Silent Partner (1978) is a thriller I’d not heard of before, shot in Canada and set at Christmas time. Gould plays a bank teller in a shopping mall who gets wind of a stick up planned by a department store Santa. Rather than inform the cops, Gould pulls a switcheroo when the heist goes down, secretly stealing the money himself. However, the thief (played by a menacing Christopher Plummer) knows that Gould has fooled him and thus begins an on going battle of wits (symbolised naturally by the chess game Gould has in his apartment). The script is an early adaptation by Curtis Hanson (later director of LA Confidential, Bad Influence, etc) and the film is definitely in the mode of Alfred Hitchcock and Elmore Leonard. There is some nasty violence particularly in the third act so be warned. Once again, it’s compelling just to see Gould as a lead, particularly his journey from bemused distancing to palatable fear and anger. Also stars Susannah York, Celine Lomez and a young John Candy. For fans of knotty thrillers, recommended.
VHS Tracking 