Silver Streak

Silver Streak (1976) was a real crowd-pleaser in its day,
earning domestic rentals of nearly three times its modest $6.5 million cost,
making it one of the big hits of the mid-seventies. Unlike many comedies of its
era, Silver Streak holds up incredibly well today; star Gene Wilder
creates another incredibly likeable character and his brief partnership with
comedian Richard Pryor predicted a great comedy teaming that unfortunately never
lived up to the promise demonstrated here. Colin Higgins's script is an
intriguingly complex mix of disparate elements - murder mystery, romantic
comedy, slapstick road movie - that somehow agreeably fit together quite
nicely.

Wilder plays non-fiction book publisher George Caldwell, who in Los Angeles
boards the AllRoad Silver Streak train (modeled after Amtrack's Desert Wind)
bound for Chicago. Recently divorced, he wants nothing more than two days of
p...
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