The stage curtains open ...
The first time I saw this film, I think I was about 9 or 10 years old. I just remembered the "cool scene" at the end of the movie where the train crashed into the station - careening through glass windows, a gift shop, and cement pillars. Whoa! Very cool! Nearly 40 years later, I watched it again and my perspective is completely different. Although the train crash was still pretty cool.
George Caldwell (Gene Wilder), a book editor, is on his way to his sister's wedding in Chicago and decides to take a train, the Silver Streak, in hopes of getting some rest and a chance to get in a little work along the way. What he gets is anything but! He meets and instantly falls for a beautiful woman named Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh) and just as things are starting to get nice and comfy between them, he sees a dead man fall off the train just outside her cabin window. The further he looks into the matter, the more chaotic his trip becomes - leading to some hilarious situations and runaway train action.
There are definitely some eye rollers in this movie, but it is still a lot of fun. This was the first time that Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor worked together on the big screen and it is movie magic. It has shades of Hitchcock in underlying tones and it works well here. There is some fine scenery, the acting is engaging (though silly at times), and as I mentioned before, it has a great ending.
I recommend "Silver Streak". I enjoyed it as a kid, and I enjoyed it as an adult. It is a solid blueprint for an action comedy. Looking at the cast from this movie, most of them have passed away sadly. But, this film stands as a nice tribute to who they were and to the time in which they lived. 8 stars out of 10.
The first time I saw this film, I think I was about 9 or 10 years old. I just remembered the "cool scene" at the end of the movie where the train crashed into the station - careening through glass windows, a gift shop, and cement pillars. Whoa! Very cool! Nearly 40 years later, I watched it again and my perspective is completely different. Although the train crash was still pretty cool.
George Caldwell (Gene Wilder), a book editor, is on his way to his sister's wedding in Chicago and decides to take a train, the Silver Streak, in hopes of getting some rest and a chance to get in a little work along the way. What he gets is anything but! He meets and instantly falls for a beautiful woman named Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh) and just as things are starting to get nice and comfy between them, he sees a dead man fall off the train just outside her cabin window. The further he looks into the matter, the more chaotic his trip becomes - leading to some hilarious situations and runaway train action.
There are definitely some eye rollers in this movie, but it is still a lot of fun. This was the first time that Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor worked together on the big screen and it is movie magic. It has shades of Hitchcock in underlying tones and it works well here. There is some fine scenery, the acting is engaging (though silly at times), and as I mentioned before, it has a great ending.
I recommend "Silver Streak". I enjoyed it as a kid, and I enjoyed it as an adult. It is a solid blueprint for an action comedy. Looking at the cast from this movie, most of them have passed away sadly. But, this film stands as a nice tribute to who they were and to the time in which they lived. 8 stars out of 10.