Silver Bears (film)
Encyclopedia
Silver Bears is a 1978
comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Passer
and starring Michael Caine
, Cybill Shepherd
, Louis Jourdan and Joss Ackland
. Caine portrays mob accountant "Doc" Fletcher who acquires a Swiss
bank and a silver mine but must fight a complex struggle in order to keep hold of them.
) persuades his boss, American
mobster Joe Fiore (Martin Balsam
), to buy up a Swiss bank in order to more easily launder
their ill-gotten gains. The impoverished Italian
Prince
Gianfranco di Siracusa (Louis Jourdan) agrees to act as chairman of the board
in order to give it an air of respectability. "Doc" goes to Lugano
, a major center of banking activity, along with the Don's wayward son Albert (Jay Leno
), only to find that the best bank that the Prince could get consists of some shabby offices above a pizza
restaurant
with asset
s of $900!
To make up for this, the Prince suggests that they invest in a silver mine recently discovered in Iran
by his distant cousins, Agha Firdausi (David Warner
) and his sister Shireen (Stéphane Audran
). The mine contains hundreds of millions of dollars worth of untapped silver
. The Firdausis wish to keep it a secret due to the heavy taxes and the threat of the mine being nationalised
by the government. Through a little wheeler-dealing, "Doc" manages to obtain $5 million in Iranian rial
s from Agha — as security
for a loan of $20 million — and uses the money to obtain better banking premises and put on a major show that attracts powerful investors.
Before long the Firdausi silver is flooding the market which leads to a drop in its value at the London Metal Exchange
. Charlie Cook (Charles Gray
), a leading figure in the silver business and one of the richest men in the world, decides that the best way to stop the downward plunge is to take over the bank responsible and thus close down the mine. He contacts Henry Foreman (Joss Ackland
), president of the First National Bank of California
, who is keen on branching into Europe
. Foreman sends one of his accountants, Donald Luckman (Tom Smothers
), to Lugano where he meets "Doc" and his associates. His questions and evasive attitude makes them suspicious and to find out more "Doc" approaches and seduces Donald's fun-loving but bored and neglected wife Debbie (Cybill Shepherd
).
In the course of their affair, Debbie casually reveals in conversation all about Cook's interest in the mine and the bank. Donald, unaware of what is going on, returns and offers up to $60 million for the bank (which is really worth only about a sixth of the amount). "Doc" will have none of it since it means losing everything he has ever worked for, but Albert and Joe Fiore, who actually owns the bank, jump at the opportunity. "Doc" goes to Las Vegas
and, through a subtle threat, manages to get Joe to give him time to made a bid of his own.
"Doc" and the Prince join the Firdausis at their warehouse in Dubai
which is full to the brim with silver bars from the mine. When they tell him that they cannot lend him $60 million to buy the bank, "Doc" threatens to call in the earlier loan of $20 million and seize the mine. It's at this point that Agha and Shireen drop a bombshell on their two friends: there is no silver mine!
The Firdausis are in fact smugglers who have obtained all their silver from India
. The silver mine was just a cover, a means of obtaining the money needed for their operation. "Doc" faces a terrible dilemma: if he tells Charlie Cook that the mine does not exist the deal will collapse and "Doc" will be killed (literally) by Joe Fiore; but if he does not tell Cook, the deal will go through and "Doc" will lose the bank.
The deal does go through with Foreman and Donald Luckman sealing it with "Doc" and Albert Fiore. In his report on the purchase of the bank Donald has left out all mention of the silver mine, as per the instructions of Foreman and Cook, who was keen to keep it secret, and put the bank's main assets down as "oil storage tank
s". Foreman then goes to Cook and demands an exorbitant amount for the silver mine only to be told that it does not exist and that he will thus not be refunded the $60 million used to buy the bank.
Foreman can recoup $50 million in insurance
since the purchase report mentions non-existent "oil storage tanks", thus making a case for fraud
. "Doc" offers to give Foreman an additional $10 million which he will get from Cook who, in return, will obtain exclusive purchasing rights to the Firdausi silver. In exchange, Foreman gives "Doc" the bank — which was really only worth $10 million in the first place. Donald then reveals that for the insurance claim to be valid there will have to be a criminal prosecution and a scapegoat
will be needed in order to go to prison. The others agree, deciding that it should be the one who falsified the report — meaning Donald himself!
Some time later, back in Lugano, the Prince marries Shireen Firdausi, even though he was one of those whom she conned into believing in the existence of the mine. Agha does not attend the wedding and Shireen admits that he was in fact an actor she hired since she doubted if a bank would loan $20 million to a woman. "Doc" for his part comes across Debbie who has been attending Donald's trial for fraud. She has promised to get a place near the jail in order to be close to him and indicates, with a smile, that "Doc"'s house is conveniently near the prison itself.
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
comedy thriller film directed by Ivan Passer
Ivan Passer
Ivan Passer is a Czech-born film director and screenwriter.A significant figure in the Czech New Wave of the mid-1960s, Passer worked closely with Miloš Forman on many of his films, and directed his first feature in 1965...
and starring Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
, Louis Jourdan and Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
. Caine portrays mob accountant "Doc" Fletcher who acquires a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
bank and a silver mine but must fight a complex struggle in order to keep hold of them.
Plot summary
Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher (Michael CaineMichael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
) persuades his boss, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mobster Joe Fiore (Martin Balsam
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
), to buy up a Swiss bank in order to more easily launder
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
their ill-gotten gains. The impoverished Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
Gianfranco di Siracusa (Louis Jourdan) agrees to act as chairman of the board
Chairman of the Board
The Chairman of the Board is a seat of office in an organization, especially of corporations.Chairman of the Board may also refer to:*Chairman of the Board , a 1998 film*Chairmen of the Board , a 1970s American soul music group...
in order to give it an air of respectability. "Doc" goes to Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, a major center of banking activity, along with the Don's wayward son Albert (Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
), only to find that the best bank that the Prince could get consists of some shabby offices above a pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
with asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...
s of $900!
To make up for this, the Prince suggests that they invest in a silver mine recently discovered in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
by his distant cousins, Agha Firdausi (David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
) and his sister Shireen (Stéphane Audran
Stéphane Audran
Stéphane Audran is a French film and television actress, known for her performances in Oscar winning movies such as Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie and Babette's Feast and in critically acclaimed films like The Big Red One and Violette Nozière .She married...
). The mine contains hundreds of millions of dollars worth of untapped silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
. The Firdausis wish to keep it a secret due to the heavy taxes and the threat of the mine being nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
by the government. Through a little wheeler-dealing, "Doc" manages to obtain $5 million in Iranian rial
Iranian rial
The rial is the currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinar but, because of the very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting....
s from Agha — as security
Security (finance)
A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...
for a loan of $20 million — and uses the money to obtain better banking premises and put on a major show that attracts powerful investors.
Before long the Firdausi silver is flooding the market which leads to a drop in its value at the London Metal Exchange
London Metal Exchange
The London Metal Exchange is the futures exchange with the world's largest market in options, and futures contracts on base and other metals. As the LME offers contracts with daily expiry dates of up to three months from trade date, along with longer-dated contracts up to 123 months, it also...
. Charlie Cook (Charles Gray
Charles Gray (actor)
Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
), a leading figure in the silver business and one of the richest men in the world, decides that the best way to stop the downward plunge is to take over the bank responsible and thus close down the mine. He contacts Henry Foreman (Joss Ackland
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
), president of the First National Bank of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, who is keen on branching into Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Foreman sends one of his accountants, Donald Luckman (Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.-Early life:...
), to Lugano where he meets "Doc" and his associates. His questions and evasive attitude makes them suspicious and to find out more "Doc" approaches and seduces Donald's fun-loving but bored and neglected wife Debbie (Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
).
In the course of their affair, Debbie casually reveals in conversation all about Cook's interest in the mine and the bank. Donald, unaware of what is going on, returns and offers up to $60 million for the bank (which is really worth only about a sixth of the amount). "Doc" will have none of it since it means losing everything he has ever worked for, but Albert and Joe Fiore, who actually owns the bank, jump at the opportunity. "Doc" goes to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and, through a subtle threat, manages to get Joe to give him time to made a bid of his own.
"Doc" and the Prince join the Firdausis at their warehouse in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
which is full to the brim with silver bars from the mine. When they tell him that they cannot lend him $60 million to buy the bank, "Doc" threatens to call in the earlier loan of $20 million and seize the mine. It's at this point that Agha and Shireen drop a bombshell on their two friends: there is no silver mine!
The Firdausis are in fact smugglers who have obtained all their silver from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The silver mine was just a cover, a means of obtaining the money needed for their operation. "Doc" faces a terrible dilemma: if he tells Charlie Cook that the mine does not exist the deal will collapse and "Doc" will be killed (literally) by Joe Fiore; but if he does not tell Cook, the deal will go through and "Doc" will lose the bank.
The deal does go through with Foreman and Donald Luckman sealing it with "Doc" and Albert Fiore. In his report on the purchase of the bank Donald has left out all mention of the silver mine, as per the instructions of Foreman and Cook, who was keen to keep it secret, and put the bank's main assets down as "oil storage tank
Storage tank
A storage tank is a container, usually for holding liquids, sometimes for compressed gases . The term can be used for reservoirs , and for manufactured containers. The usage of the word tank for reservoirs is common or universal in Indian English, American English and moderately common in British...
s". Foreman then goes to Cook and demands an exorbitant amount for the silver mine only to be told that it does not exist and that he will thus not be refunded the $60 million used to buy the bank.
Foreman can recoup $50 million in insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
since the purchase report mentions non-existent "oil storage tanks", thus making a case for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
. "Doc" offers to give Foreman an additional $10 million which he will get from Cook who, in return, will obtain exclusive purchasing rights to the Firdausi silver. In exchange, Foreman gives "Doc" the bank — which was really only worth $10 million in the first place. Donald then reveals that for the insurance claim to be valid there will have to be a criminal prosecution and a scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
will be needed in order to go to prison. The others agree, deciding that it should be the one who falsified the report — meaning Donald himself!
Some time later, back in Lugano, the Prince marries Shireen Firdausi, even though he was one of those whom she conned into believing in the existence of the mine. Agha does not attend the wedding and Shireen admits that he was in fact an actor she hired since she doubted if a bank would loan $20 million to a woman. "Doc" for his part comes across Debbie who has been attending Donald's trial for fraud. She has promised to get a place near the jail in order to be close to him and indicates, with a smile, that "Doc"'s house is conveniently near the prison itself.
Cast
- Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
- Doc Fletcher - Cybill ShepherdCybill ShepherdCybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
- Debbie Luckman - Louis Jourdan - Prince di Siracusa
- Stéphane AudranStéphane AudranStéphane Audran is a French film and television actress, known for her performances in Oscar winning movies such as Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie and Babette's Feast and in critically acclaimed films like The Big Red One and Violette Nozière .She married...
- Shireen Firdausi - David WarnerDavid Warner (actor)David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
- Agha Firdausi - Tom SmothersTom SmothersTom Smothers is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.-Early life:...
- Donald Luckman - Martin BalsamMartin BalsamMartin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
- Joe Fiore - Jay LenoJay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
- Albert Fiore - Charles GrayCharles Gray (actor)Charles Gray was an English actor who was well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as The Criminologist in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in...
- Sir Charles Cook - Joss AcklandJoss AcklandSidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...
- Henry Foreman