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Most people remember Gene Wilder as the frazzled haired wild man in such Mel Brooks classic films as THE PRODUCERS, BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Others will recall him as the mad genius that held our attention in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, but there was a 3rd phase to Wilder's career - his unlikely partnership with Richard Pryor - that started with 1976's SILVER STREAK.

Set aboard the titular passenger train, SILVER STREAK is part Alfred Hitchcock "wrong man" suspense thriller, part comedy and part action flick with strong performances at the center anchoring the action.

Surprisingly, Wilder brings a sincere quality to his "everyman" hero of this tale. His book editor, George Caldwell, just wants a quiet 2 1/2 day trip on the train from Los Angeles to Chicago. You root for George from the start. Wilder's performance is deftly tailored to this movie, keeping a lid on his more frenetic energy that helps keep his character grounded. He pairs nicely with Jill Clayburgh (remember her from the '70's?) as a women he meets (and falls in love with) along the way. Clayburgh burst into the spotlight with this performance - and the 2 have tremendous chemistry together.

They are joined by a bevy of wonderful character actors - Ray Walston, Richard "Jaws" Kiel, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, Valerie Curtin, Fred Willard and the great Scatman Crothers. All bring life and energy to this film. Patrick McGoohan is perfectly cast as the villain of the piece. His "buttoned-up" bad guy is the perfect balance to the Wilder's character.

But, of course, the person who steals this film is the great Richard Pryor as Grover T. Muldoon, a petty thief, con-man and "street-wise" hood who aids George in defeating the bad guys. Pryor doesn't show up in this movie until about 1/2 way through, but when he does, the energy (and pace) of this film picks up considerably and the roller coaster ride begins. The comedic partnership between Wilder and Pryor is magnificent, they play off each other very well and they will end up pairing together in 3 other films after this.

Director Arthur Hiller (THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY) does a strong, professional job of keeping the movie moving, keeping events grounded until a thrilling conclusion that is satisfying, indeed.

A fun action-thriller that is perfect summer fodder.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

I saw this film in the cinema as a teenager when it came out. It was sold, I think, as a Hitchcock parody and I thought parodies were great. Gene Wilder was the star, that was one more reason for me to see it, as I had greatly enjoyed his performance in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. Stuff like that attracted me much more than movies with Robert Redford or Charles Bronson who then were the big male heroes of the screen.

Now, a good 30 years later, I watched Silver Streak a second time. It is an unusual mixture of comedy, action thriller and disaster movie. Characters like the ones played by Wilder, Clayburgh or Pryor seem to have become extinct – in the movies, I mean. They just seem to be so ... ordinary and normal and also kind hearted. Everything about Silver Streak is so unpretentious, seeing it today that really was a kind of a revelation to me.

A lot of the movie deals with masculinity and the assertion of it. It all happens in a very relaxed manner. Nothing and nobody is taken too seriously, conquests are made without effort, failure is accepted with grace. In a strange way, this movie really represents a better, unattainable world. I doubt if someone like Gene Wilder wold make it as a movie star today – the public, it seems, needs the grimaces of Jim Carrey to be amused. Pity.

Come to think of it, in France they had a movie comedian who looked very similar to Wilder. His name was Pierre Richard and his fame reached its zenith at about the same time as Wilder's before fizzling out somewhere in the eighties, when the Stallones and Schwarzeneggers took over.

Silver Streak is an entertaining and – in a positive way - forgettable movie. It has a pleasant musical score by Henry Mancini, this great eclecticist of the 20th century. The older I'm getting the more I enjoy his music and respect his enormous body of work.

"Silver Streak" was released the very same year the Master of Suspense, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, released his black-comedy swan song, "Family Plot". Though Hitch was in the very twilight of his long, illustrious career, his playful style was alive and well, and well appropriated, in Hollywood. The Master didn't make this movie - Canadian Arthur ("Love Story") Hiller did - but the unmistakable fingerprints and shop-hewn template of Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" (amongst other classics) are in great display thanks to writer Colin ("Foul Play") Higgins in the cheery, breezy action comedy, "Silver Streak".

"Silver Streak" is the first of four Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor match-ups and certainly in retrospect, one of the best. Wilder is an ordinary Joe taking the titular Amtrak train across country. In the midst of his journey, he befriends and beds fellow passenger Jill ("An Unmarried Woman") Clayburgh, ends up witnessing a murder then is wrongly accused of the crime, and is thrown off the train many, many times in his pursuit to clear his name, save the girl from a mysterious villain and get to the other side of the country.

This is a very gentle but funny comedy that plays with the conventions of one of Hitch's favorite themes, the mistaken identity of everyday man in extraordinary circumstances. Wilder is wonderful, fitfully funny as usual and shines as both a romantic lead (!) and does his patented "crazy" guy when things start falling apart. Just watching Wilder's eyes as he exasperatedly tries to explain out the fantastic plot he's wrapped up in to unbelieving characters along the way is one of the film's funniest, simplest rewards.

The film's masterstroke, however, is the addition of Richard Pryor as a part-time thief. Pryor was in the midst of a very hot career in 1976, and although this film seems to restrain some of the imagination and language of his stage presence and TV specials, (this is a PG-rated movie, after all), he still creates an indelible extended 'cameo' that fuses film with a hip, perfectly cool counterbalance to Wilder's mania and confusion. When Pryor is on screen he not only steals the film, but also elevates this old-fashioned adventure-comedy concept to something otherwise original... and you can't take your eyes off the guy.

Filmed all across his native Canada (thanks IMDb for confirming this!), director Hiller pulls this fun little audience-pleasing gem along the rails to a bright and exciting climax. The supporting cast is loaded with wonderful character actors including Patrick MacGoohan, Ray (My Favorite Martian) Walston, Ned Beatty and Scatman Crothers amongst others. A very luxurious and memorable score by Henry Mancini is the capper to this sparkling comedy, perfect as a primer for, and a loving compendium of, many of the Hitchcock classics that wait for you to discover them on DVD, VHS or on the tube.

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.

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.

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.

Silver Streak is directed by Arthur Hiller and written by Colin Higgins. It stars Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Patrick McGoohan, Ned Beatty and Richard Pryor. Music is by Henry Mancini and cinematography by David M. Walsh. It is the first of four films that Wilder and Pryor would make together. Story finds Wilder as book editor George Caldwell, who upon boarding the Los Angeles to Chicago train finds himself mixed up with art forgers who are only too happy to commit murder to keep their dealings quiet. Fun, frolics and high speed danger will follow.

Amiable film that just about manages to blend Hitchcockian thriller values with silly comedy shenanigans; even throwing in a good old rousing disaster movie staple for the last quarter. Even though Pryor doesn't feature until the halfway point in the piece, this is very much a film that succeeds due to the chemistry between himself and Wilder. Sure the action is well handled, and the other major players are performing well (McGoohan sinister/ Clayburgh sweet/Beatty ebullient), but it's noticeable that the film considerably picks up on comedy value once Pryor enters the fray. With that in mind, picture feels too long at just under 2 hours, but it's never less than entertaining and was popular enough with cinema audiences to ensure Wilder and Pryor would go on to make the wonderful Stir Crazy 4 years later. 7/10

I first saw this movie in 1976 when I was all but about 13 years of age, with some friends in my home town (Dryden, Ontario) at the local "Royal" theatre, as it was known then. I just finished watching my VHS copy of it, which brings my total number of viewings up to 30-something...

Why do I like this film so much? It was the first movie I've seen that had it all: action, suspense, romance, a lot of laughs, but most of all - adventure. All of this helped manufacture a great storyline. In short, one of the most memorable movies I've ever seen, and I enjoy myself greatly with each repeated viewing. It made me a big fan of the Wilder/Pryor combination. It made me a huge fan of train travel. It made me a "road movie" fanatic.

A classic in my book. 9/10

When I began watching "Silver Streak", I assumed it was a zany comedy. After all, it re-teams Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. So, imagine my surprise when I found that no comedy at all occurred until Pryor appeared in the film...and this wasn't until over an hour into the movie! Even then, it was still basically a drama with a few comedic scenes. This is NOT a complaint....just trying to adjust your expectations for the film.

George (Wilder) is going cross country by train. Soon after the train leaves, he meets a nice lady, Hilly (Jill Clayburgh) and they REALLY hit it off well....so well they spend the night together in her compartment. But during the night, George thinks he sees a dead man being tossed off the train...but she convinces him he must have imagined it. The next day, it becomes obvious he DID see what he thought....and there's a gang aboard the train that likely will kill him if he keeps digging. At first, they just throw him off the train...and yet again and again George manages to make his way back aboard the train. Along the journey on and off the train, George meets Grover (Pryor) and together they try to solve the crime...a crime now that includes multiple murders!

In many ways, the film plays like a reworking of the plot to "North By Northwest", as an ordinary man gets sucked into all sorts of crazy and life threatening criminal behavior. But as I said above, it's NOT a comedy...at least overall. There are some funny bits (such as the far from politically correct blackface scene...that is pretty funny)....but the film is much more drama than anything else. Overall, a nice and unique film that I do recommend even if it's NOT mostly comedy.

The first film to team legendary funny men Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, "Silver Streak" is a respectful Hitchcock homage done with much style and humour. It's got thrills, spills, gags, intrigue, and romance. Wittily written by Colin Higgins ("Harold and Maude") and efficiently directed by Arthur Hiller ("Love Story"), it runs pretty long at an hour and 54 minutes but is breezy enough to never *feel* that long. It's got a hell of a good cast to make it all go down very easy.

The ever likable Wilder plays George Caldwell, an ordinary guy book publisher travelling cross country by train. He chances to meet secretary Hilly Burns (an appealing and radiant Jill Clayburgh) and they quickly enter into a steamy liaison. Unfortunately, by doing so, George makes himself vulnerable to the machinations of a smooth villain, Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan); soon George is accused of murder. As the story plays out, George is forever getting on and off the train as he works overtime to prove himself innocent and hopefully save Hillys' life.

"Silver Streak" is one of those great films that successfully balances comedic and serious elements. It really comes to life when Pryor shows up (later in the film than you'd expect) as an amiable thief who becomes a willing and helpful sidekick. The comedic highlight comes when he tries to pass Wilder off as a black man. The two stars really shine throughout this whole sequence. They prove to be such a good team that they subsequently got reunited in "Stir Crazy", "See No Evil, Hear No Evil", and "Another You". Wilder makes for an unlikely romantic lead but he and Clayburgh do get some chemistry going.

The supporting cast is full of familiar faces: Ray Walston, Stefan Gierasch, and Richard Kiel (in what is very much a "Jaws" type role, complete with dental work) are McGoohans' henchmen, Ned Beatty is a hearty passenger on the train, Scatman Crothers is the easygoing Ralston, Clifton James plays another one of his patented redneck lawmen, Lucille Benson is the dotty old Rita Babtree, and Fred Willard appears late in the film as the flustered Jerry Jarvis.

Wonderful photography, lovely Canadian locations, and a great old-fashioned kind of score by Henry Mancini are all credits in this superior bit of entertainment, which delivers one hell of an action-packed and destructive finale.

Eight out of 10.

Silver Streak is the first collaboration between Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor and it is as funny as they come. The movie itself starts off in thriller mode, leaving you the watcher with a form of suspense as you eagerly wait to see what will come off the pairing of Gene Wilder and Jill Clayburgh. Then over an hour passes and Richard Pryor is introduced and then the movie twist to a comedy Thriller mash up and then you find yourself eagerly waiting for what Gene and Richard would do next.

Set in America but actually done in Canada with the help of a Canadian director Arthur Hiller, this movie set was done on a fictional railroad named "AMRoad." The plot follows the story of a book editor named George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) who was travelling by train from Los Angeles to Chicago to attend his sister's wedding. The train he boarded was called the Silver Streak and it was on board the train that George met a vitamin salesman who ended up not being who he says he was. Bob (the vitamin salesman) told George to try hook up with a girl on the train, as he found that the girls on trains will hookup with anyone. George took the advice and met and hooked up with Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh).

Hilly on the other hand works for a Professor, who was about to release a book on Rembrandt. The Professor's enemy and the antagonist of the movie Devereau was ready to do anything to make sure the book never gets released and the only person standing in his way happens to be George, who saw a dead body that looked like the Professor being thrown off the train.

Now George and a thief he ran into named Muldoone (Richard Pryor) have to find a way to get on the train that George got thrown off and save Hilly from Devereau.

Although Gene and Richard still went on to make three other movies together none was as funny or well received than their first duo together, Silver Streaks. The screenplay is where the movie catches your attention, with more than half of the shots done in a train, which can be clustery the cinematography was actually good. The movie script was well written that the incidents that lead to Gene's in and out of the train actually makes you feel sorry for him other than be disgusted by the characters incompetence to stay on the train.

Silver Streak was a critical acclaim movie and also a box office success, it found itself on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs as number 95, and it is one movie that you will enjoy owning the DVD.

www.lagsreviews.com

AFI listed this as one of the top 100 comedies, and I think they got it right. This was the first and best pairing of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Unlike their later movies together, this one isn't simply a buddy flick. Its also a romantic comedy thriller and nails every genre it aims for. It was written by Colin Higgins, the guy who wrote Harold & Maude. He is a genius at witty dialog which is most apparent in the first act, where Wilder meets Jill Clayburgh on a train, the two get drunk and seduce one another. Despite the fact that no nudity is involved, the sophisticated verbal exchanges between Wilder and Clayburgh and Henry Mancini's lovely theme combine to make for a really gorgeous love scene. Who would have thought Gene Wilder could be sexy?

A very similar film (and almost as good) is "Foul Play," written and also directed by Colin Higgins in 1978. If you liked this one, you should see that as well.

Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor show their pure comic genius in this offbeat comedy / drama that reflects Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest in many ways. Hitchcock loved having scenes of his movie take place on trains: Blackmail, Stranger on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, etc. In Silver Streak, Wilder takes the place of Cary Grant as the hero as well as the comic relief. Pryor is pure laughter. From his first appearance in the movie to his very last, you can't help but laugh. The bathroom scene when Pryor attempts to make Wilder a "black man" in order to have him get by the police is one of the funniest scenes in cinema. It is not reverse racism, but reality. The scene helps us to make fun of ourselves and to remind us that it's only color.

Screenwriter Colin Higgins' "Silver Streak" gives a naughty-boy's tweaking to its recycled wrong-man formula. On a trip by train, book editor Gene Wilder sees a dead man hanging outside the window of his lady-friend's compartment; he can't prove it, of course, and is soon fingered as the killer after there's another murder. Higgins later became a whiz at writing and directing commercial entertainment, but the director's chair this time is filled by Arthur Hiller (filled as in 'fill-in'). Hiller's biggest coup was his casting of Gene Wilder as the hero; ingratiating and personable, Wilder immediately makes us feel at home in this setting (he's so likable, we also don't notice that co-star Richard Pryor doesn't appear until an hour into the proceedings). Higgins' worst fault: setting up scenarios wherein everybody has to be stupid in order to keep the plot from wrapping up (it's an old gimmick that never works--and movies that fall back on this standby are rarely fondly remembered). The production is stylish, but the dialogue is awfully crass for PG (with a few N-words directed at Pryor, too heavy anytime but certainly so for a comedy). Jill Clayburgh is wasted in a silly love-interest role, although she looks lovely. As for Pryor, when he finally appears, the shock comedian makes the most of his recurring guest bit. Pryor's outrageous sequence with Wilder in a train station bathroom is the picture's highlight, and we ultimately want more scenes of the two of them together and less of everybody else. ** from ****

Silver Streak is a great film and is sorely in need of a dvd. Wilder and Pryor establish their film chemistry here and set the tone for their hilarious undertakings. Patrick McGoohan is a perfect cerebral villain. Jill Clayburgh is great in her scenes with Wilder, but lost in the rest of the film. Scatman Crothers steals every scene he is in.

This was the first film with profanity that I saw in the theater. As a child, it was shocking and amusing. As an adult, it's amazing how tame it is. Heck, even Pryor's stand-up was cleaner than Tarrantino dialogue.

The mystery is a bit lacking in the film, but that's not the point of the movie. The point is to team up Wilder and Pryor and watch the magic unfold.

I have recently begun to take time to watch older films (especially those of the 1970s) and have more often than not been rewarded for it. Silver Streak was no exception. Wilder shows his class in the leading role, skillfully using comedic timing to enhance his part as the unlikely hero. Jill Clayburgh and Richard Pryor lead off an outstanding supporting cast, who all contribute believable characters to a well constructed and executed storyline. The plot is kept simple so the audience is soon drawn, and will enjoy what quickly becomes an entertaining film with an explosive finale. If you are getting bored with the same old, same old produced these days, all is not lost. There is an abundance of high class movies that I guarantee will keep you entertained if you just give them a chance. So the next time you are browsing the rental store, don't be put off by the unfashionable cover art and take it home!

The point of departure is Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", mixing in mystery/whodunnit stage tricks. The mid-section is devoted to skit comedy, including burlesque/"who's on first"-styled banter, and Jolson "Jazz Singer"/blackface idioms. The finale is a wingding action/disaster windup, using the titular runaway train. The corpus lies in the train station, examined in awe by the onlookers a la "King Kong".

The most striking cinematic effect is the burst of the model engine through the stonework with the actors superimposed on the image -- not back projection -- and simultaneously using slow motion photography.

Parts of this are plainly templates for other movies: McGoohan's death by scissoring was used for "Speed"; the manner of the commuters abandoning the station was used for "Die Hard 2", etc.

Overall, this isn't bad. However, it tries to throw in too many other genre bits and pieces, so it comes across as a bit indecisive. "Hanky Panky" is a better concentration on noir and comedy. "Stir Crazy" is a better cinematic treatment of a comedy. Both borrow directly from this.

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...

1976's "Silver Streak" was a highly popular comedy thriller from the pen of Colin Higgins (working title "Super Chief"), directed at a fast clip by Arthur Hiller, filled with references to Hitchcock classics like "Shadow of a Doubt" and especially "North by Northwest." Traveling by rail aboard the Silver Streak from Los Angeles to Chicago is dedicated publisher George Caldwell (Gene Wilder), expecting some quiet time amidst his instructional books on the way to his sister's wedding. His compartment has a connecting door to that of Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh), apologetically surprising her in her undergarments, but this leads to a spot of romance over dinner and champagne in her bed. Their intimacy is rudely interrupted when George spots Hilly's employer dangling outside their window, shot through the head by an unknown assassin, but when she turns to look the body has dropped from the train. Hilly serves as secretary to renowned critic Prof. Arthur Schreiner, committed to a speech about the famed 'Rembrandt Papers' at Chicago's Art Institute, which will tarnish the reputation of crooked art dealer Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan), his henchmen inadvertently murdering Schreiner before they could recover Rembrandt's missing documents. George's encounters with Devereau's goons result in his being ejected from the train not once but twice, cleverly framed for murder with every intention of risking his own life to rescue Hilly. At the 63 minute mark, he hijacks a police car and hooks up with the thief in the back seat, Richard Pryor as Grover T. Muldoon, delighted at how George outwitted the cops but eager to jump ship once he finds himself behind a murderer (he instantly brands his companion 'Killer'). In order to sneak past the feds to rejoin the Silver Streak, Grover uses black shoe polish to pass off his partner as a fellow African American, dismayed at George's lack of rhythmic swagger but still successful in their task. A smirking Devereau outlines his plot to kill both Hilly and the would be hero, but doesn't count on Grover's disguise as a jive talking busboy. The film's relaxed pace and excellent cast made this a treat for audiences, the thriller elements dominant until Richard Pryor explodes on the scene to jump start the comedy at the midway point, his all too brief pairing with high strung Gene Wilder seemingly a match made in Heaven. The two truly hit it off with improvisational ease and though several follow ups were lined up over the years, only three more would result: "Stir Crazy" in 1980, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" in 1989, and "Another You" in 1991. "Stir Crazy" may have been the funniest crowd pleaser, but "Silver Streak," despite Pryor being kept off screen for an hour, still holds up as the best of the quartet. Looking back, it's a shame that Pryor was denied the starring role of Sheriff 'Black Bart' (opposite Wilder's Waco Kid) in "Blazing Saddles," since he was among the many writers churning out a script lampooning racism in the Old West, though director Mel Brooks maintained that Pryor mainly supplied the material for Alex Karras as the feared Mongo ("if you shoot him, you'll just make him mad!").

The stage curtains open ...

The first time I saw this film, I think I was about 9 or 10 years old. I just remembered the "cool scene" at the end of the movie where the train crashed into the station - careening through glass windows, a gift shop, and cement pillars. Whoa! Very cool! Nearly 40 years later, I watched it again and my perspective is completely different. Although the train crash was still pretty cool.

George Caldwell (Gene Wilder), a book editor, is on his way to his sister's wedding in Chicago and decides to take a train, the Silver Streak, in hopes of getting some rest and a chance to get in a little work along the way. What he gets is anything but! He meets and instantly falls for a beautiful woman named Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh) and just as things are starting to get nice and comfy between them, he sees a dead man fall off the train just outside her cabin window. The further he looks into the matter, the more chaotic his trip becomes - leading to some hilarious situations and runaway train action.

There are definitely some eye rollers in this movie, but it is still a lot of fun. This was the first time that Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor worked together on the big screen and it is movie magic. It has shades of Hitchcock in underlying tones and it works well here. There is some fine scenery, the acting is engaging (though silly at times), and as I mentioned before, it has a great ending.

I recommend "Silver Streak". I enjoyed it as a kid, and I enjoyed it as an adult. It is a solid blueprint for an action comedy. Looking at the cast from this movie, most of them have passed away sadly. But, this film stands as a nice tribute to who they were and to the time in which they lived. 8 stars out of 10.

George (Gene Wilder) is a small-time publisher whose virgin-ride on Silver Streak becomes the ride of his life. He not only finds love on the train (he also makes love, by the way!), but also gets involved in a murder case that leads to him being thrown out of the train thrice! Gene Wilder, the actor also formed a partnership with Richard Pryor after the movie and they starred in three other films not seen by me but my father who loves Pryor's comic timing. So, Silver Streak has a legacy of its own.

The movie starts of as a sex-comedy, with incessant innuendos, then momentarily to a love story only to throw a suspense-murder angle and then turning back to action-comedy. The high point in this is the action-comedy sequence between Pryor and Wilder, as both guys are subtle and cool. Thank God Pryor did not become a loud stereotype, like the actors from the Tyler Perry movies.

The action scenes towards the end could have had some humor as the movie throws in too much action and forgets the humor which it had during most of the previous scenes. Jill Clayburgh is disappointing and unconvincing though and made her character look somewhat self-centered. The antagonist seemed a bit too stilted to be menacing and had a queer accent. Also, some scenes were random and could be done away with i.e. the scene where George has to milk a cow was just there for the naughty humor and nothing else.

Silver Steak is a good film and has its moments. ( I don't know whether this was intended to be a joke, but I found the part hilarious where Jill's character Hilly asks George what he is doing with a pencil, right after the scene where the undercover agent tells him that the Vitamin E would 'sharpen his pencil'. ) My Rating: 6/10

If you watch this expecting any realism forget it because from start to finish it feels like a cartoon romp.

George Caldwell a writer gets on the train Silver Streak to attend a wedding in Chicago and travels the silver streak to read because he want to be bored.

He meets a lady in the dining car and then gets mixed up in a crime plot involving a vile art dealer played by Patrick McGoohan and his gang.

To say the film is far fetched is an understatement but I think that was the plan all along anyway.

Caldwell brilliantly played by Gene Wilder leaves the train three times and comes out unscathed even though all three of the departures would surely have killed him .

He also jumps on the roof a couple of times and also uncouples a moving train.

Add on the various shoot outs where the bullets seems invisible and also the hapless police chiefs and what you have is pure fantasy.

If you watch it in this context and enjoy the comic banter between Wilder and Prior then it is a brilliant watch.

I won't spoil the plot for anybody other than to say had they toned down the racist and bad language and also the love scene then it would potentially have had a much wider appeal in the same way as some of the James Bond movies did back then.

All that said this I'm my opinion is the finest movie these two ever appeared in and I never tire of watching it.

Arthur Hiller's 1976 film is the epitome - and one of the best and at times, the worst - example of what Hollywood came synonymous for in the 1970s.

Ending with one of those truly great action set-pieces, when such were actually filmed and not with a computer mouse and starting out with the oh-so-smooth Gene Wilder getting his wicked way with the delectable Jill Clayburgh, an awful lot happens in-between.

Taking - and featuring huge chunks of influence from James Bond (inc 'Jaws', the iron-toothed giant), Hitchcock (crime capers on moving trains, espionage, intrigue) and loads of over-the-top big Americanism, this is a rail-road coaster of a ride. You can see bits that have helped influence later films, too and the start of the delicious pairing between Wilder and black comedian Richard Pryor, which spilled out over into the future Stir Crazy and Blazing Saddles.

Yes, a lot of it is nonsense - this is essentially Sunday afternoon TV fun, now. There's clever innuendo, dumb stunts, big scenery and baddies. It does pop up on Film 4 and Sky Movies every once in a while, showing that it is still has a place and though obviously looking pretty dated now, you can't go far wrong with this one.

Wow, what a hit movie and what a huge star was Gene Wilder back in the mid 1970s. The same goes for his partner, Richar Pryor. As funny as Wilder-Pryor were and as entertaining as their films were in that decade, this one was one that I didn't care for 20 years later. I loved it in the theater when I was a lot younger and all the language, the loudness and sexual innuendos didn't phase me in the slightest. I still can tolerate some of that, if I know it's coming but NOT in a "PG" movie. I was shocked seeing this in the '90s and once again fooled by the "PG" label which included a lot of material that would bump it to a PG-13 or R rating today.

The duo of Wilder and Richard Pryor, however, always was a good one, even if, in retrospect, they are a pretty sleazy team in a decade of films that was very irreverent. Wilder yelling, "S.O.B!" all the time gets tiring, too. He tended to play very loud, abrasive characters. Did he think all of us were deaf in the theater. (Check out "Young Frankenstein" with Wilder screaming throughout the film.) Speaking also '70s irreverence, Jill Clayburgh isn't exactly the girl-next-door, either. These '70s Wilder-Pryor films were popular but not exactly high- class stuff.

The ending of this film is still spectacular with the big train crashing through the railroad station in Chicago. Also, I still laugh each time Wilder gets thrown off the train. Still - for a PG-rated film, this a disgrace, morals-wise.