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Silver Streak (1976)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
3 December 1976 (USA) moreTagline:
It's the Most Hilarious Suspense Ride of Your Life!Plot:
On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(6 articles)
Richard Pryor in Blazing Saddles? It Almost Happened (From amctv.com - Future of Classic: Westerns. 27 February 2009, 9:00 PM, PST)
Patrick McGoohan Dead At 80
(From WENN. 14 January 2009, 11:04 AM, PST)
User Comments:
A Hitchcockian Thriller Played For Laughs moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Gene Wilder | ... | George Caldwell | |
| Jill Clayburgh | ... | Hilly Burns | |
| Richard Pryor | ... | Grover Muldoon | |
| Patrick McGoohan | ... | Roger Devereau | |
| Ned Beatty | ... | Bob Sweet | |
| Clifton James | ... | Sheriff Oliver Chauncey | |
| Ray Walston | ... | Mr. Edgar Whiney | |
| Stefan Gierasch | ... | Prof. Schreiner / Johnson | |
| Len Birman | ... | Chief Donaldson | |
| Valerie Curtin | ... | Plain Jane | |
| Lucille Benson | ... | Rita Babtree | |
| Scatman Crothers | ... | Ralston | |
| Richard Kiel | ... | Reace | |
| Fred Willard | ... | Jerry Jarvis | |
| Delos V. Smith Jr. | ... | Burt (as Delos V. Smith) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
114 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | West Germany:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Although you do not see his face, the baggage valet at the very beginning of the movie is 'Morgan Freeman' (recognizable by his distinct voice). moreGoofs:
Revealing mistakes: During one of his later conversations with Bob Sweet on the train, George Caldwell lights a cigarette. The cigarette catches on fire like a lit match, and George quickly extinguishes it off-screen and immediately lights another. George (Gene Wilder) and Bob (Ned Beatty) are both obviously alarmed about the cigarette, yet continue the scene without missing a beat. moreQuotes:
[a cop is about to give Grover Muldoon a ride]Cop: Where would you like to go, fella?
Grover Muldoon: Well - I left my Jag in Kansas City.
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"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.