Who says a Christmas movie can't also be a twisty crime caper? Certainly not this excerpt from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas:
Bank teller Miles (Elliott Gould) realizes that mall Santa Harry (Christopher Plummer) is casing the bank for a robbery, so Miles arranges for Harry to steal what amounts to pocket change from the drawers while Miles stashes the big bucks away for himself, knowing that Harry will be blamed for the missing money. Unfortunately for Miles, Harry knows what he's up to, and now he's forcing Miles to hand over the stolen loot. Can Miles outwit this dangerous criminal -- as well as his bright and flirtatious co-worker Julie (Susannah York) -- and get away with the perfect crime?
Despite its mundane trappings -- a Toronto mall isn't exactly the Louvre -- The Silent Partner ranks among the great heist movies, with crafty criminals staying multiple steps ahead of each other, as well as the audience, in planning their brilliant larceny. (Not for nothing does Miles read books about chess strategy.) Harry, commandingly portrayed by Plummer, makes for a scarily violent adversary to the soft-spoken and nerdy Miles, and the movie succeeds in making us wonder who's going to come out on top in their potentially deadly game of one-upmanship.
Screenwriter Curtis Hanson (who would later write and direct 1997's L.A. Confidential) and director Daryl Duke build up unbearable suspense with plot devices like missing keys, phone calls and other minor elements that could conceivably ruin Miles' scheme, and they brilliantly ratchet up the suspense towards a very tense and exciting climax. (There are some violent moments that make this one very much not for the kids.) It's a crafty caper movie that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Fun Facts:
· The Silent Partner had an unsuccessful release in US theaters, but after making several critics' Top 10 lists, another distributor gave the movie a second chance, resulting in its becoming a decent-sized hit.
· The U.S. Catholic Conference gave the film a "Condemned" rating for "cheap, corrosive cynicism that permeates it, together with the sex and violence."
Check out the rest of Movieline's 12 Films of Christmas as they're revealed throughout the week.