Silver Streak (1976)

	Directed by: Arthur Hiller	COUNTRY USA GENRE Action/Comedy/Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Chicago-ekspressen RUNNING TIME 114 minutes
	Produced by: Edward K. Milkis Thomas L. Miller
	Written by: Colin Higgins

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
George Caldwell	Gene Wilder	½
Hildegarde "Hilly" Burns	Jill Clayburgh
Grover T. Muldoon	Richard Pryor
Roger Devereau	Patrick McGoohan	½
Bob Sweet	Ned Beatty
Sheriff Chauncey	Clifton James	-
Mr. Whiney	Ray Walston	-
Johnson / Prof. Schreiner	Stefan Gierasch	-
FBI Agent Donaldson	Len Birman	-
Plain Jane	Valerie Curtin	-
Reace	Richard Kiel	-
Rita Babtree	Lucille Benson	-
Ralston	Scatman Crothers

Review

The first pairing of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor set the criterion for their three subsequent (and all inferior) collaborations. This was the film that utilised their talents to the fullest and made them click as an unlikely duo, perhaps because there is little in this story to suggest their teaming up in the first place. There's a lot more going on in Silver Streak – a remarkably rich adventure that offers a pure escapism that modern CGI-driven films cannot match. One of the reasons for its success is that the escapism here feels uncontaminated, almost chaste. There is no other agenda than the purely cinematic. Well, plus a solid dose of homage to Hitchcock's North by Northwest. There's a certain 007-feel to parts of it too, but Silver Streak manages to be more ingenious and thrilling than any of the James Bond films. And thanks to Wilder's natural charisma and Pryor's comedic talents, it's also funnier than what I suspect the filmmakers originally intended. Pryor has a youthful energy here, a quality his lifestyle and health had robbed him of by the 1980s. And Wilder, with his unconventional handsomeness, manages to exude the necessary libido to make you believe he could woo Jill Clayburgh. As the two of them walk out of Chicago's Central Station after that exhilarating, well-made final climax, you really do believe they would live happily ever after. Also with Patrick McGoohan as the antagonist, Richard Kiel in a precursor role to Jaws, and Ned Beatty in a fine supporting role as a fellow train traveller.