By N.S.
Sunday, December 22, 12:45 a.m. est
"The Silent Partner (1978): In this Canadian heist film, a remake of the 1969 Danish film Think of a Number (Tænk på et tal) based on the novel of the same name by Anders Bodelsen, bored bank teller Miles Cullen (Elliott Gould) accidentally learns that his bank branch is about to be robbed and the identity of the future robber. He begins stashing the cash from his window's transactions in an old lunch box rather than in the bank's till. The Santa Claus thief, a sadistic psychopath (Christopher Plummer), figures out what happened after his robbery and makes a series of violent attempts to steal the money that Miles kept for himself. Based on a novel by Danish writer Anders Bodelsen. Screenplay by Curtis Hanson. Dir. Daryl Duke"
N.S.: Note that Curtis Hanson (1945-2016), who directed L.A. Confidential (1997), which was nominated for nine Oscars and won two (Best Supporting Actress, Kim Basinger, and Best Screen Adaptation, Brian Helgeland and Hanson), and who was nominated for three Oscars for the movie (also Best Picture and Best Director) was forced into retirement, and eventally killed by Alzheimer's.
"Sunday, December 22, 7:00 AM
"Lady in the Lake (1947) [sic, 1946]: A lady editor (Audrey Totter) hires Phillip Marlowe to investigate the disappearance of her boss’ wife. First time director Robert Montgomery, who also starred as Marlowe, chose to shoot the entire film from Marlowe’s POV using a subjective camera to replicate visually Raymond Chandler’s first-person narrative from the novel. Dir. Robert Montgomery"
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6 comments:
The 1978 film sounds pretty good. Are there any Elliott Gould's around these days? He had quite the playful quality in most of his characters.Similar to Walter Matthau...or actually quite a few of the actors back then. Nicholson,Beatty etc. Today? Dullsville
--GRA
Roger Ebert 1979 review of "The Silent Partner":
"Along with half a dozen other lonely moviegoers, I was witness to a small miracle: To a thriller that was not only intelligently and well acted and very scary, but also had the most audaciously clockwork plot I’ve seen in a long time. “Silent Partner’s” plot, indeed, has such ironies and reversals and neatly inevitable triple-crosses that it’s worthy of Hitchcock."
Three and a half stars from Ebert.
--GRA
I remember well Siskel and Ebert's snobbish disdain for "genre" movies, especially high-budget ones... and Ebert was the guy who wrote "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"! And, per director Russ Meyer, really enjoyed (to put it politely) the company of Meyer's harem of overly-endowed "actresses." Total phony!
-RM
Your description of The Silent Partner (1978) was too brief to include the lengthier plot summary provided by Wikipedia which explains why I would never want to view this film. In it the bank robber, Harry Reikle, upon learning that his accomplice, Elaine, has become romantically involved with their intended victim, bank teller Miles Cullen, decapitates her in a broken fish tank in Cullen’s apartment. However, the resourceful Cullen, upon finding Elaine’s body at his place, disposes of it in the foundation of a building under construction; we see him carrying off her head in a plastic bag.
Wikipedia notes that after the film was completed, executives insisted that director Daryl Duke add a beheading scene, which he refused to do because of its gruesome violence. Consequently he was removed from the film, and Curtis Hanson brought in to finish it with a week of shooting and post-production. These shots included the decapitation and head-in-a-plastic bag scenes.
Who were the execs responsible for adding such disgusting material to the screenplay? Was it producers Joel Bialys Michaels and Stephen Young? If so, thanks a lot, guys!
TCM shows a Noirish film, I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948), on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. It stars Don Castle and Elyse Knox, wife of football great Tom Harmon and mother of actor Mark Harmon.
An innocent dancer (Castle) is accused of murder after his shoe prints are found at the scene.
The point of posting the following about Robert De Niro's upcoming netflix movie is the description of the cast as "star studded". Who ARE these people?
(Screen rant)In addition to De Niro, the netflix show's star-studded cast includes Jesse Plemons, Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, Matthew Modine, Angela Bassett, Bill Camp, and Dan Stevens.
Okay,Allen,Modine and Bassett I've heard of--though you'd never recognize Modine in a million.years--the rest? Not a clue.
--GRA
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