Banco à Las Vegas

This is an underrated gem, its a cracking film, good acting, stunning scenery, good music score, well directed and edited, and an excellent story.

This is supposed to be one of Michael Caine's lesser films, not as big as Zulu, the Harry Palmer trilogy or The Italian Job etc, but for me its just as good as those. It has a stellar cast, along with Caine is Louis Jordan, Joss Ackland, Martin Balsam, Cybill Shepherd, Stephane Audran, David Warner, Charles Gray, all excellent actors, even Jay Leno was Ok, even the supporting actors, all were good, so congratulations must go to the Director Ivan Passer for keeping them going as a team and with the pacing of the film. I wish more were made like this.

The cast in "Silver Bears" is quite odd. On one hand, you have some very well respected actors such as Michael Caine, Louis Jourdan, Joss Acklund, David Warner and Martin Balsam. But you also have Tom Smothers and Jay Leno...and a very comedic performance by a young Cybill Shepherd! This mix manages to merge a serious crime drama with comedy...a strange mix to say the least.

When the movie begins, Doc Fletcher (Caine) heads to Switzerland to check up on his latest organized crime endeavor...as he's bought a Swiss bank from which to launder money. However, it turns out the $3,000,000 he spent for the bank gave him a tiny dump above a pizza parlor with only $900 in assets! Clearly, Doc is in trouble, as this is mob money. So, to cover this, he and his compatriots decide to cover the loss with other money from a scam involving Iranian silver. And, now they're able to at least pretend to have a working bank. To make the story kooky, Doc is saddled with a jerk of a mobster's idiot son (Leno) and an obnoxious and ditsy wife of a banker (Shepherd). But where this all goes is frankly impossible to predict...just see the movie.

To say that the plot is confusing is definitely an understatement. This is not a film you casually watch as you cook dinner or play with your laptop! You really need to pay attention to understand the scam and its many complications. This isn't a complaint...more an observation.

So is it any good? Well, yes and no. The film is very talky and tough to follow. Additionally, Shepherd's character is someone you'll either love or hate (I tended towards the latter)....as she's not exactly subtle nor believable...as well as being incredibly confusing and amoral. To me, this film could have been a lot funnier had it been a bit more subtle. And, if I want to see a Michael Caine film about scammers, I'd rather see "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"...it's just funnier and more clever.

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 ...

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.

"Silver Bears" is a great little effort from Czech master, Ivan Passer. It's funny well acted and neatly done comedy caper, that wont let you go until the end. I don't know why it was so badly reviewed when it easily counts among the top 20 comedies of the 70's. Michael Caine is great as usual as Cockney mafioso who in order to make a buck for himself gets a green light from Italian mafioso to start a bank in Switzerland in order to launder some funds, but there's a catch. In fulfilling that mission, without getting himself a brand new pair of cement boots, Caine is greatly helped by Louis Jourdan as sleazy Prince Di Siracusa, and an odd couple of blockheads consisting of Jay Leno in his best role to date, apart from the "Tonight Show", and Tony Mascia as Marvin Skinner. Cybil Shepherd is always great as a decoration, and the movie slides along beautifully with turns on every corner. Passer later proved to be great as a director of many layers, showing his skills most notably in the "Cutter's Way", but here he does it strictly by the numbers. Great fun, catch it if you can, if you like comedies with style, you wont be disappointed.