just watch it!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

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 ...

Just as I had expected, the IMDb viewer average is fairly low. This is due to several very obvious reasons (which I will nevertheless include here because what is my obvious may not be the average film-goer's obvious by a long shot).Firstly, the movie is good. Movie fans generally have a distaste for those.Secondly, in SB's entire 115 minutes there aren't any action scenes whatsoever. SB is all dialog. Not one punch is thrown, no explosions in sight ("oh no!"), not even someone running from someone else - or just to jog, not even that. The violence is only implied ("oh, shucks!"), on occasion threatened but it never amounts to even one drop of blood being spilled ("not fair!"). This is, of course, unacceptable for the average viewer who cannot sit still for 15 minutes and listen to people talk ("there's nuthin' going' on in this them da here film!"), much less 115 minutes. That's simply asking too much.Thirdly, the abundant dialog is nearly all wheeling-dealing, various schemes being discussed, traps being prepared, capers organized, and so on, i.e. far too convoluted for the typical movie-goer whose favourite movie is something even a frog can understand, something like the IMDb perennial favourite, "The Shawshank Redemption", which these tiny minds consider a complex character study just because there are characters in it that they can study (until they finally grasp even that story). Even the intricate world of international banking and finance becomes a major element of SB, and this must have served as a sort of last straw for those who were already fidgeting nervously in their seats, hungry for bombs to go of, going "whoosh!". ("Booo-riiing!")To top it all off, the final insult to the typical film fan: no anti-Capitalist left-wing message. ("All them bankers and not even a hint of Viva la Revolucion? Me no like!") SB could have been the most talky film in the universe, and dull as hell, but if only it had a typical liberal attack on "Western Imperialism" or something of that propagandist nature, the film-buffy masses would have been quickly appeased and would have forgiven SB for all its imagined "flaws".SB is a very entertaining crime comedy, admittedly without any moments that are belly-laugh-inducing, but with a number of amusing scenes and fun and interesting plot-twists. An excellent cast had been assembled for this overlooked movie, with Caine carrying it all as well as he (nearly) always does. However, in some ways it is Cybill Shepherd who steals the spotlight with the amazing dits, vivaciousness and energy she brings to her role. Jay Leno, who played clips from this movie several times in his show, isn't half-bad as an actor; after all, what would you call hosting that NBC program all these years? That is acting, what else would it be.I can understand the disappointment and anger of a Wes Anderson fan, who perhaps expected more weird-for-the-sake-of-it embarrassing grimacing/mugging by a cast of nepotistic semi-amateurs, but you can always find that in WA's films. No need to expect EVERY comedy to be as awful as that.

'Silver Bears' is an enjoyable Clever caper in the tradition of 'The Sting' & 'Matchstick Men' Sir Michael Caine plays "Doc" Fletcher a Financial wizard who is sent by Mafia boss Joe Fiore Martin Balsam to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to launder their profits. Caine purchases a premises which is rather shabby and located above a pizzeria. Jourdan suggests that Caine invests in a silver mine owned by strange persian siblings Stéphane Audran and David Warner. the Silver mine attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. all is not what it seems as everyone is out to swindle Caine and company 'Silver Bears' also stars a fresh faced Jay Leno and kooky Cybill Shepherd.

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.