Movie · 1976 · Comedy, Crime, Romance, Thriller, Action · 1h 54m · PG · English
Curator score: 3.1/10 (36.1K ratings)
By train, by plane, by the edge of your seat - It's the most hilarious suspense ride of your life!
Overview
A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.1/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.34/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%
Metacritic: 41
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Arthur Hiller
Production
Frank Yablans Presentations, Miller-Milkis Productions, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Patrick McGoohan, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, Ray Walston, Stefan Gierasch, Len Birman, Valerie Curtin, Lucille Benson, Scatman Crothers, Richard Kiel, Fred Willard, Delos V. Smith Jr., Mathilda Calnan, Margarita García, Henry Beckman, Harvey Atkin, Lloyd White
Curator Review
Verdict
A lively 1970s train-bound thriller-comedy with real star chemistry, brisk pacing, and a strong sense of motion. It’s uneven and dated in spots, but the Wilder-Pryor pairing and the escalating set pieces make it an easy recommendation for viewers who like genre mashups with personality.
Best for
fans of 1970s studio comedies with suspense
viewers who enjoy odd-couple chemistry
people who like Hitchcockian chase plots
audiences in the mood for a breezy mystery with action
fans of Richard Pryor or Gene Wilder
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted thriller with no silliness
you’re sensitive to dated gender or racial humor
you dislike movies that take a while to introduce the co-lead
you prefer grounded realism over broad genre play
Overview
Silver Streak works best as a piece of star-driven entertainment: a murder mystery that keeps finding new ways to turn a train into a pressure cooker. Gene Wilder gives it a nervous, comic center, Jill Clayburgh adds poise and warmth, and the movie keeps shifting gears between romance, danger, and farce without ever fully settling down.
Worth noting
The film’s biggest asset is the arrival of Richard Pryor, whose energy changes the whole rhythm of the story. Once the two leads team up, the movie becomes funnier, looser, and more alive, even when the script gets clumsy. It’s not subtle, and some of the humor is very much of its era, but the momentum is hard to resist.
Bottom line
As a thriller, it borrows shamelessly from classic suspense traditions; as a comedy, it’s more hit-or-miss. But the combination of train-set spectacle, comic timing, and a genuinely entertaining final stretch makes it an easy watch for viewers who like their genre movies with a little chaos.
Top Letterboxd reviews
carrieandtracy · 157 likes
I saw this in a packed movie theatre in 1976 and I still recall how the audience exploded upon the arrival of Richard Pryor. It’s obviously dated but the leads are charming and funny and it’s still a fun watch.
Patrick Willems · 153 likes
Kind of the ultimate train movie? It has train romance, train comedy, train murder mystery, train shootouts, AND a runaway train crash. Jaws from the Bond movies throws Gene Wilder off a train. I don’t know what more you could want.
Danny From the Bay (Capps) (4★) · 86 likes
The mix of genres worked well; Train Murder Mystery played well with comedy! Wilder and Pryor had great chemistry. When Pryor finally appears almost 2/3 through, it really gave the film a much needed jolt.
Jerry (2★) · 86 likes
After a solid opening act, Silver Streak devolves into nonsense until Richard Pryor shows up like halfway through, we get a few laughs, and then a really cringe scene, more nonsense—a couple of laughs thrown in here and there, but mostly crap—and finally an admittedly awesome set piece to close the movie out.
The duo of Wilder and Prior, not to mention a rather large handful of other talented character actors, couldn’t save this total disaster of a script. It’s ludicrous. You… more
Travis Lytle (4★) · 77 likes
An action-comedy profiting from an outstanding cast, Arthur Hiller's "Silver Streak" is quick-paced and entertaining riot. Starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, and Richard Pryor, the film blends danger and mannered goofiness for an exciting and always amusing piece of work.
Playing like the slightly nebbishy narrative cousin of "North by Northwest," "Silver Streak" finds its cast of characters tangled in a train-set adventure of intrigue, romance, and murder. Piecing together the parts of the mystery, Gene Wilder's book editor is… more
1963 · Comedy, Mystery, Romance · 1h 53m · NR · Curator 8.5/10 (289K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, Pure Flix, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Bloodstream
A polished romantic thriller that blends danger and flirtation with effortless style.