FILM SCHOOL: THE SILENT PARTNER (1978)

By Adam Thomas

Thursday December 20, 2007

Directed by Daryl Duke

It’s getting harder and harder to “come up” with unique Christmas themed movies ever since the internet made it big. Every blog out there has compiled “original” lists of Holiday related movies ranging from The Ref to the Hebrew Hammer to Die Hard. Well good work. Way to pull together the cliched, non Christmas Christmas movies. Why not throw in the Star Wars Christmas Special for real “original” cred?

Well nothing says Happy Holidays like a revenge thriller about a bank robbing psychopathic Santa. Co-written by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) this movie is an early Canadian gem, set in Toronto and features plenty of good old Canadian money. Elliott Gould is a seemingly shy teller at a bank. A really young John Candy also works there. Christopher Plummer is a bank robber who, disguised as Santa, scopes out the comings and goings of the bank during the busy holiday season, waiting for the right moment to strike. But the perceptive Gould notices something is up and when Santa robs the bank, our quiet little teller has stashed a whole lot more money than Santa steals. Smart. Except when the news breaks Plummer realizes he’s been had and so when he gets out of prison, he comes looking for the rest of the loot. A smart and tense little thriller, highlighted by pretty shocking splatters of violence, Elliott Gould is in his prime and Christopher Plummer is one seriously bad, bad Santa. Now that’s what we’re talking about.