Seeing Silver Streak again after so many years, the first thing I noticed was how badly it had aged; not the picture or sound quality (though the transfer here leaves a lot to be desired), but the movie itself. It practically screams "70s" with every frame, from the bell-bottom slacks, to the feathered & afro hairstyles, to some of the sometimes wince-inducing dialogue, to the presence of Ned Beatty, right down to the visual effects and music score. Still, I loved it as a kid, mainly for the nifty train wreck at the end and running gag of Gene Wilder screaming "son of a bitch" each time he's thrown off the train. The nostalgic need for me to acquire every movie I enjoyed in my youth made this a must-own (especially for the $6.00 price tag). I imagine the movie will have similar appeal to others my age.

Gene Wilder plays George Caldwell, a mild-mannered publisher who decides to take a train (dubbed the Silver Streak) from L.A. to Chicago to unwind and relax. En route, he meets Hilly (Jill Clayburgh), a secretary for a professor who's just written a book about Rembrandt. After getting to know each other over dinner (which includes a lot of rather icky innuendo), they return to her cabin, where George sees her boss dangling out her window, shot in the head. No one believes him, including Hilly, but the next day, when he goes to check on the professor, he's tossed off the train by a couple of thugs who work for Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan, in an icy performance), a ruthless art dealer looking to discredit the professor (who has evidence that Devereau's Rembrandt paintings are fakes) by killing him and replacing him with a lookalike. After being thrown off the train a second time (during which time he's framed for killing a federal agent on Devereau's tail), George befriends car thief Glover Muldoon (Richard Pryor) after escaping a county jail. Together, the two work to get back on the train, save Hilly, and expose Devereau's nefarious plans, all while trying to avoid capture by the police, who think George is a murderer. This leads to a wild gunfight and chase, in which the now-runaway train is barreling toward Chicago on a collision course with the station. Being that Silver Streak was made during the height of the disaster movie craze, one has to assume the part of the reason for the movie's existence is to depict the climactic train crash, which is shown in loving, destructive, slow-motion detail. It feels gratuitous and tacked-on, being non-essential to the story, but is still pretty neat to watch (even if it isn't nearly as convincing now as it was then). It's as if the powers-that-be assumed the plot itself wouldn't be enough to draw in moviegoers (and they might have been right, since the story itself is pretty generic cloak-and-dagger). That leaves the appeal of the cast to maintain audience interest for ninety minutes until the big destructive payoff. For the most part, I guess they succeed. Until this film, Wilder got a lot of mileage out of eccentric, slightly unhinged roles, and while we occasionally see some of Wilder's nutty persona, he seems occasionally out of his element when called upon to be a romantic action hero. Pryor comes off slightly better, though nowhere nearly as dangerous as he appears in his concert films from the same era; his comic skills are sort of diluted for this relatively family-friendly film. Of all the performances, McGoohan comes off best, playing the role fairly straight and menacing...he's a terrific villain. Again, the movie feels awfully dated. The scene in which Pryor shows Wilder how to pass for a black guy may have been funny at one time, but feels almost uncomfortably embarrassing now, as is the liberal use of the word, "nigger," which is gratuitously used to get us to root for Pryor as he kicks-ass on the white guys. The same goes for Ned Beatty's role as the federal agent tailing Devereau; some of the dialogue he's force to utter while undercover - hitting on Hilly - reeks of that 70's swinger mindset that none of us ever actually experienced ourselves, save through Hollywood films like this. Still, if one watches with the knowledge of the era in which it was made, Silver Streak works as pure popcorn entertainment. It's a fast-moving & fun way to spend two hours, pushing most of the right buttons.

This is another Fox catalogue release, and has been given no restoration or remastering. Hence, there's some noticeable scratches and dust. The sound is merely serviceable, rendered in Dolby Stereo, which is simply adequate, but sometimes there's some noticeable distortion.

The only extras included are the original theatrical trailer, as well as a grab bag trailers for other Fox releases.

Similar Movies: Stir Crazy (the only other Wilder/Pryor teaming that's worth looking at). Useless Trivia: Silver Streak was the fourth highest grossing movie of 1976. Summary: Silver Streak won't win over any younger viewers, who will probably look upon this as too old to be any good, and the relatively poor picture and sound doesn't help. But when viewed as a high-concept product of its time, it's an enjoyable trip down memory lane for those who fondly remember the film.