Silver Streak (1976)

Silver Streak would appear on a favorites list for me, top 50 maybe, certainly top 100. It's a movie that I've encouraged my children and grandchildren to watch. I might add that they liked it too. The plot is good with action and suspense. Certainly it's not the kind of action one sees in today's films but that's fine with me. There's no gore and no fantastic acrobatics or fights, but this film is never boring.

While the story is light and has plenty of funny moments, it shouldn't be labled "comedy" despite what your video store may say. It's an action adventure movie with good doses of comedy and romance. Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, and Ned Beatty each do a nice job outside of preconceived notions. The musical score isn't bad either.

Fmovies: Gene Wilder is the ordinary man caught up in murder and mayhem on the train "Silver Streak" in this 1976 comedy starring Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Ned Beatty, Ray Walston, and Patrick McGoohan. In a quasi-homage to Hitchcock, Wilder plays George Caldwell, who falls for the lovely Hilly (Jill Clayburgh) and finds himself mixed up in art fraud, missing letters of Rembrandt, and murder. Not only that, he keeps getting thrown off of the train. One of those times, he meets up with a criminal, Grover Muldoon (Pryor) who happens to be in the police car he steals. In the funniest scene in the film, Grover has George buy the cap, shoe polish, sunglasses and radio from a shoe polisher at the train station and makes George a black jiver so he can get by the feds.

There are lots of funny scenes in this film, but the best part of it is the chemistry between Wilder and Pryor, who became a successful screen team. This, however, is their best teaming. The bad guys are great. McGoohan and Walston act as if they're in a heavy duty suspense film, which makes them real and threatening. It works perfectly against the comic aspects of the film.

Hitchcock fans will see this as a mild takeoff on "North by Northwest." It is, but it stands on its own as well.

This is THE film to see, if you're a fan of either Gene Wilder or Richard Pryor. Although Pryor's stay in the film is rather short, it is perhaps his greatest comedic work outside of his monumental stand up routines. A combination, the Lady Vanishes, and slap stick, this film succeeds because it blends these elements together in a way that makes the flow easy and entertaining. These are situations and reactions to them, that we the audience can envision ourselves partaking in. They don't get crazy mad cap like in an Abbot and Costello film, and yet they don't take themselves too seriously either. A great end to the film, with a truly amazing crash through Chicago Union Station by a runaway Locomotive.

Silver Streak fmovies. Though Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder have made about 5 films together this one really shows the chemistry between them.

Gene Wilder is a somewhat average guy that gets involved in a mysterious murder by accident. In the attempts to get rid of him by the criminals he's forced to seek the support of various different individuals, of which Richard Pryor and the cow-farming lady flying the WOI airplane are the most remarkable characters.

Though both Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, as well as Ned Beatty, give the movie the label "comedy", Patrick Mc Goohan and Richard "Jaws" Kiel give it a real thriller character at the same moment: they keep up their performance of tough killers without a sense of humor effortlessly.

The movie itself starts somewhat slowly, but just when you start to feel disappointed because you think you're watching a soft romantic road(train)-movie, a hilarious rat-race is about to start!

Always agreeable to watch whenever it's broad-casted again...

If you can get through the meandering first 15 minutes, you should enjoy the rest of this adventure comedy. Wilder is heading from LA to Chicago by train when he falls into a fling with Clayburgh. During foreplay he sees her boss outside the window, falling off the train. She doesn't believe him, and when he tries to look into it further, he's chucked off the train as well...but alive. He finds his way back to the train with the help of crack-up wacko farm lady Benson. More problems ensue when he catches up with Clayburgh as the killers reveal themselves. Pryor is later thrown into the mix as a good-hearted thief who helps Wilder in his quest. For 1976, this was pretty well advanced in terms of racey dialogue and stunts, and still holds up nicely today. The most memorable thing is Wilder's classic line when falling off the train. Sadly, you're reminded of the age of the film because of so many of the cast members that have died, and how it makes you think that others probably aren't far off. But it also makes you think of how great they all were as an ensemble that provided a good amount of laughs and suspense.

I see Silver Streak as a mild Hitchcock parody that is a nice little blend of comedy and mystery.Gene Wilder,while not at his absolute best,impresses nonetheless here.Jill Clayburgh is credible as the love interest.Yes it is the first film in which Wilder teamed with Richard Pryor,yet Wilder and Pryor are only together for a small percentage of the overall film.The film,though,has a strong enough foundation in terms of story and performances to where Pryor and Wilder do not really need to be together throughout.In fact,this is their best teaming ever despite that fact.To top it all off,the ending is a rather exciting one.A definite worthwhile watch.