Silver Bears

1978 "They were after silver and they struck gold."
6| 1h53m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 21 July 1978 Released
Producted By: EMI Films
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher is sent by crime boss Joe Fiore to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to more easily launder their profits. When he arrives, Fletcher finds that the bank, acquired by his associate Prince di Siracusa, consists of some shabby offices above a restaurant. To make up for this, the Prince suggests that Fletcher invests in a silver mine owned by Shireen and Agha Firdausi. This solves one problem, but the mine also attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. Fletcher must pull out all his wheeler-dealing skills in order to keep hold of everything he's worked for, in the process romancing a banker's discontented wife.

Genre

Comedy, Crime

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Director

Ivan Passer

Production Companies

EMI Films

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Silver Bears Audience Reviews

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
johnklem Here's the prob. The book's a lot better. Paul Erdman invented the financial thriller with Billion Dollar Sure Thing and followed it up with this story. Inevitably, it's a 70s caper pic without the physical action. Not a great recipe but it works. The leads are OK. Michael Caine isn't given a lot to work with and Jay Leno shows he was right to take another direction. The supporting roles are much better filled. Joss Ackland and Charles Gray both deliver on cue and whoever plays Donald Luckman comes closer than anyone to the book. On the other hand, Cybil Shepherd's Debbie Luckman is nothing like the book. She's better! In the book, Debbie's a frustrated, embittered bitch. And not without reason but here, she's a suburban child escaping her boundaries but never breaking faith with Donald. Donald's going to be locked up and she's not about to abandon him. But Michael Caine's home is awfully close to the jail ...
manuel-pestalozzi ... turns out to be silver laundering. That's what this maybe overly cerebral movie is about. Most of the protagonists try to give their criminal actions a whiff of legality by diverting the flow of money to Switzerland. It was an item then as it is now. Almost all the action is set in Switzerland, in the Italian speaking part south of the Alps, to be exact. And Switzerland is basically boring (i.e. no shots fired, no bloodletting, no moans or shrieks in the night). Nonetheless, the movie has some beautiful scenes. The way the freshly arrived crooks find out that their bank's offices is above a crummy pizza parlor, for example. Or the visit in the shady count's empty palazzo. The count takes one of the elegant, anorexic chairs and smashes it to the ground to stoke the fire. (Then he hands a chair to Caine. He should have smashed it likewise, to the dismay of the Count - what are you doing? - who meant that one to be sat on. Instead Caine just sits down - a missed opportunity!!) Also very good is the scene in the small private plane which runs into some serious turbulence, with the Count very scared an Caine not scared at all, taking the opportunity to clarify options and attitudes. Louis Jourdan, who plays the Count, is a mayor asset to the movie. Cibyll Shepherd is in one of her better parts here (interesting wardrobe and make-up) and also has a few really good scenes. Overall this movie is worth watching.
tvman-3 This is a movie I could easily have missed. It played at a theater I worked at, and was an unusually rare booking in that, as I recall, it actually played for less than a week (talk about filler).Nevertheless, it really is a gem of a comedy. Years later, working in a video store, I would frequently put it on the store monitor to play, and almost never got through the whole thing, because invariably someone would see a bit of it and then want to rent it.Contrary to another user's comment, it would be hard to claim that Jay Leno's role is third. He has a good part, but he could hardly be placed ahead of Louis Jourdan or Tom Smothers. Possibly ahead of David Warner.This is not some people's idea of comedy, as there are no fart jokes or car crashes, but it's a movie you find yourself chuckling at all the way through. A collection of classy comedic performances from the stars and supporting cast members Joss Ackland, Charles Gray, Jeremy Clyde (of Chad & Jeremy fame), and Leno, among others.Be warned if looking for it on home video, however. Though the first release of it was in SP mode, it was later released in a bargain-bin EP/SLP version, which will of course look like crap. If only someone would put this gem out on DVD.
dbborroughs I haven't seen this movie in ages but I remember liking it a great deal. The plot is one of those twisty turny types thats no where near as clever as it think it is. The film is a mindless time killer but not in a bad way. The real curiosity is the fact that it stars Jay Leno in what is actually the third largest part in the film. Leno is good in his role, certainly much better than you'd expect from one of the current kings of late night TV. Certainly had this film been made now Leno would be billed near the top instead of eighth or ninth in the cast list. If you're dying to be able to one up your friends in useless trivia and to be able to see a film that they probably haven;t seen, but might want to for the curiosity factor, give it a shot.