udar55 A Las Vegas mob boss (Martin Balsam) comes up with an ingenious way to launder money - buy a bank! He sends pal Doc Fletcher (Michael Caine) to Switzerland to buy a bank with the help of local contact Prince Gianfranco di Siracusa (Louis Jordan). Along for the ride is the kingpin's wayward son Albert (Jay Leno). Prince Siracusa has a deed for a bank (really a rundown apartment over a pizza parlor) and then things get complicated when his "cousins" (Stéphane Audran and David Warner) want Fletcher to buy in on their Iranian silver mine. Also figuring into this are a banking exec (Tom Smothers) and his ditzy wife (Cybill Shepherd). Ouch! Caine has been upfront about his taking roles for their locations (paid vacation!) and I can't think of any other reason he would have taken this. It is billed as a comedy-thriller, yet manages to never be funny or thrilling. You would think with such a cast that some sort of sparks would fly, but this nearly 2 hour flick is a bore. It doesn't help that the main plot twist doesn't kick in until 90 minutes in (even though you've guess it when it is introduced) and the tricks to swindle some buyers turns into an anti-THE STING. Lots of moments of people talking...and talking...and talking. It says something when the comic highlight is Caine accidentally dropping a breakfast egg in his lap. I lay it all firmly at the feet of director Ivan Passer, who thinks having such a capable cast can immediately pass for a top notch film. Definitely not the case. I'm sure Caine's wife thanks him though.

Richard This is easily one of top 100 favourite films, and having just watched it again last night I felt compelled to finally write a review on it.The casting is wonderful, the acting is superb, the script is involved but very well thought out and so it makes for an intelligent film, the scenery and camera work are excellent, the dialogue is subtlety written, and the film has a wonderful ending. So what's not to like?For me this is one of those rare films where scene after scene is memorable, and each for their own reasons. My favourite scene is probably the one where Caine confronts his boss by the pool: the respect the two have for each other is wonderfully portrayed and presented, and Caine's look up to the sky immediately following the encounter shows the stress he was feeling during the confrontation - beautifully written, acted and shot!!Bad points? Honestly, there ain't many that this reviewer can find. I guess Shephard's character may seem over the top, but she would have charmed me every bit as much as she did Caine, and so his interest in her feels completely authentic.Another issue for some viewers may be the subtle dialogue and involved plot, but that's always going to be an issue with an intelligent film.So why would I not give this film a 10 like I would Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady, Charade, Lord of the Rings, or other classic masterpieces? Because those films all have some magic in them, and that's the one thing that Silver Bears lacks. It is superb in almost every way, but it lacks magic.To sum up, I regard Silver Bears as a highly underrated film, and if you appreciate great acting and intelligent plots, I reckon you'll really enjoy it.

James Hitchcock "Silver Bears" has something in common with the "heist" or "caper" movies which were popular in the sixties and seventies, but deals with financial fraud and dodgy deals on the money markets rather than an actual robbery. It stars Michael Caine, who also starred in "The Italian Job", one of the best-known caper movies. Here Caine plays "Doc" Fletcher, a sort of financial troubleshooter for the Mafia. (Like most of Caine's characters, Doc is British; Caine has very rarely played an American in any of his films, "The Cider House Rules" being one of the few exceptions). Doc is sent by his boss, Joe Fiore, to buy a Swiss bank through which the Mob will be able to launder their ill-gotten gains.The plot is a complex one, involving not only the acquisition of the said bank (which turns out to be no more than a small office above a pizza parlour) but also an investment in an Iranian silver mine and various complicated financial transactions, not all of which are entirely above board. (The mine would explain the "silver" element of the title; the significance of the "bears" element remains obscure, even if one understands the word in its financial rather than its zoological sense).The late seventies were perhaps not the most distinguished period of Caine's career. In the sixties and early seventies he had made some excellent films in Britain ("Zulu", "Alfie", "The Battle of Britain", "Get Carter"), but he clearly felt that being a major star of the British cinema made him no more than a big fish in a small pond and he wanted to reinvent himself as a Hollywood star. Unfortunately, in his early Hollywood years he often seemed more like a small fish in a big pond and often found himself cast in some dreadful movies.Indeed, Caine himself has described three of the films which he made in 1978 and 1979, "The Magus", "The Swarm" and "Ashanti", as being his worst. (I have never seen "The Magus", but would certainly agree with him about "The Swarm" and "Ashanti", although I would argue that "Blame it on Rio" from the mid-eighties also deserves a dishonourable mention as one of his least distinguished achievements)."Silver Bears" is never as bad as something like "Ashanti", but few would count it among Caine's better films. Certainly, the star tries hard, playing Doc as a Cockney geezer reminiscent of Charlie Croker from "The Italian Job", but never makes him very likable. His leading lady Cybill Shepherd, who plays Doc's love-interest Debbie, was also going through a difficult phase in her career at the time, trying to prove, often without much success, both to the world and to herself that she was something more than Peter Bogdanovich's girlfriend and muse. (Both Caine and Shepherd were to see their careers revive in the eighties; he began to find roles in better films like "Hannah and Her Sisters" and she successfully reinvented herself as a TV actress in "Moonlighting").The film is sometimes described as a "comedy thriller", but I for one never found it either very comic or very thrilling. It lacks the action sequences which can make heist movies exciting, but it shares the main weakness of that particular genre, namely an unsavoury "crime does pay" attitude. None of the main characters seem to have any moral scruples, but none of them end up paying for their sins, apart from one unlucky accountant who is chosen to serve a jail term, largely as a scapegoat for the sins of others. Despite the best efforts of Caine, Shepherd and some other well-known faces such as Louis Jourdan and Joss Ackland, "Silver Bears" is little more than a tawdry movie about tawdry people. A piece of tarnished silver. 5/10

Comeuppance Reviews Starting with five men wearing silly panchos, then taking them off and getting completely naked and getting in a hot tub and discussing the upcoming heist they want to pull off and then jaggedly cutting to the superimposed title "Gold Strike", which looks like it was typed on an old-school Apple IIgs, you can't help but groan.Set in Switzerland, Michael Caine plays Doc Fletcher, the mastermind of the Swiss bank heist. Similar to The Bank Job (2008), they are next to a pizza place instead of a chicken shack where they plan the heist. Caine is assigned a partner to oversee the "job", the irritating, high-pitched, show-stealing-from-Conan Jay Leno, named Albert Fiore. He has big curly hair, a big straw hat and glasses. All he does is complain and ask questions. Caine yells all his lines. Before On Deadly Ground, this was a career low for Caine and a career high for Jay Leno.Fletcher falls in love with Debbie (Shepherd) and Tommy Smothers shows up at some point. This is all mediocre, standard fare with no surprises.The "Gold Strike" VHS tape, put out on the "Dominican Releasing" label, has many problems. The G of Gold looks like a C, but the movie is not called "Cold Strike". On the back of the box, it reads "If you're looking for entertaining advice on the world market, you'll love every minute of Gold Strike!" Is that true? Only you can be the judge.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com