Vitals

Elliott Gould as Miles Cullen, mild-mannered bank teller

Toronto, Christmas 1977 to Summer 1978

Film: The Silent Partner
Release Date: September 7, 1978
Director: Daryl Duke
Wardrobe Credit: Debi Weldon

Background

Daryl Duke’s often darkly comic thriller The Silent Partner was just mentioned by Letterboxd among its list of twenty underseen holiday favorites, and you’ll know right from the description if it’s the sort of thing that would interest you: Elliott Gould plays a bank teller (alongside a young John Candy) who foils the robbery plans of a sadistic mall Santa played by Christopher Plummer, pocketing several thousand for himself, only for “Santa” to swear his violent revenge.

As we see when Miles’ colleague and romantic interest Julie Carver (Susannah York) updates the bank calendar, Harry Reikle attempts his first robbery attempt on December 15th, just after Miles noticed that the “GIVE” on Santa’s sign matched the distinctive “GIVE” on the practice note he scrapped in the bank lobby the previous night. When the same Santa steps into the branch later that afternoon, Miles has to quickly determine what he’ll do: turn him in or hand over the money? His mind is made up for him him when a child intervenes, accosting Santa in the lobby until Reikle scampers out.

Miles decides that he needs to tell Julie but is dismayed when she answers the phone while entertaining another man at her home, likely their sleazy boss Mr. Packard (Michael Kirby). In the middle of a solo chess game, Miles determines that he’ll be a pawn no longer.

Art imitated life, as Harry Reikle wasn’t the first to wear a Santa suit as a bank robbery disguise. A half century earlier on December 23, 1927, Marshall Ratliff dressed as Santa Claus to lead a small gang raiding the First National Bank in his hometown of Cisco, Texas.

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What’d He Wear?

Credited from The Male Shop, Ltd. in Toronto, Miles Cullen’s wardrobe covers an array of menswear staples like gray wool suits, a brown tweed sport jacket, and a classic navy blazer. Miles illustrates the versatility of the latter by wearing it throughout The Silent Partner, sporting it all year from Christmas through the summer.

Made from a navy-blue flannel or flannel-adjacent worsted with a softly brushed matte finish, this single-breasted blazer features appropriately sporty details like patch pockets over the breast and hips and swelled edges, particularly noticeable along the notch lapels—which are wide but still relatively restrained for the late 1970s. The lapels roll to two flat pearl-like plastic 2-hole buttons positioned over the waist, matched by a single button on each cuff. The long double vents are one of the few outward concessions to contemporary ’70s trends.

We first see Miles wearing this blazer on December 15th, paired with a pale-blue poplin shirt and a scarlet grenadine-woven tie that adds a dash of festive holiday red. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, plain front, breast pocket, and button cuffs.

Later, Miles brings the blazer back out for a Christmas celebration at his father’s nursing home, softening it for these surroundings by layering it over a gray cable-knit sweater vest. His white poplin shirt has a more pointed collar shape but otherwise follows the same design details as his blue shirt. He ironically wears the same tie that he would later wear with a charcoal three-piece suit to his father’s funeral, downhill-striped in beige, navy, and gray against a scarlet-forward ground.

Miles always contrasts the dark blazer with lighter trousers, most typically gray lightweight worsted flat-front slacks that reflect some of the more ’70s-specific trends from the full-top front pockets to flared plain-hemmed bottoms. He holds them up at Gould’s natural waistline with a black leather belt that closes through a silver-toned single-prong buckle, coordinated to the black leather cap-toe oxfords shadowed by his dramatically flared trouser bottoms.

Shortly after Miles becomes something of a minor local celebrity for his role in foiling Reikle’s robbery, he realizes he’s being stalked by the crook—first by receiving a risqué greeting card at work, then returning home to find his apartment trashed. Again, he demonstrates the blazer’s versatility by wearing it with warmer-toned clothing like a beige tie with spaced-apart sets of “downhill” brown multi-stripes, an ecru shirt styled like his others, tan slacks, and brown leather cap-toe lace-up shoes.

When it’s still winter, Miles relies on his usual fawn-colored melton wool “British Warm”. These double-breasted greatcoats originated among British Army officers during World War I and are characterized by peak lapels, leather buttons, shoulder epaulets, and a tailored silhouette—all elements present on Miles’ knee-length coat. His brown woven leather buttons are arranged in a parallel 6×3 arrangement, with a matching button on each cuff.  The coat also has a long single vent and flapped hip pockets that both slant rearward.

To further battle the December chill, Miles regularly wears a brown woolen scarf and darker brown leather gloves with a three-point seam over the back.

Miles’ gold-cased wristwatch was likely Gould’s personal watch, with a round, off-white dial detailed with plain gold hour markers and secured to his left wrist on a dark brown textured leather strap.

And while Miles never wears it, it feels of sartorial interest to note yet another in the string of great banking-related shirts worn by his attractive new colleague Louise (Gail Dahms), this time a navy shirt with “BANKERS DO IT WITH INTEREST” in white block text across her chest.

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What to Imbibe

Elaine re-introduces herself to Miles at a nearby park after his father’s death, offering her condolences with a pint of Canadian Club. Don Draper’s preferred whiskey seems particularly appropriate given the Canadian production and setting of The Silent Partner, though Canadian Club’s roots actually date back to when Hiram Walker opened his distillery in Detroit in 1858. As Michigan soon went “dry” during the growing temperance movement, the visionary Walker moved his distillery across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario, though it remained popular in gentleman’s clubs on both sides of the border. This popularity resulted in its “Club Whisky” nickname, solidified when Walker morphed the official name to “Canadian Club” in 1890 after pressure from American distillers to distinguish his production from their homegrown competition (a request which backfired, as the Canuck whisky only seemed more exclusive to American drinkers.)

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