On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.
The coming-of-age story Morris From America is on our radar this month. See which other TV shows and movies we're excited about in IMDb Picks.
Related News
Want to help choose the next great Amazon Original comedy series? Stream and review now during Amazon Pilot Season.
Join us on "Style Code Live" daily to connect, shop and chat live with fashion designers, beauty experts and celebrities! Discover today's best beauty hacks and the top style secrets!
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Connect with IMDb
Share this Rating
Title: Silver Streak (1976)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
User Polls
Learn more
People who liked this also liked...
Stir Crazy
(1980)
Comedy
|
Crime
Director:
Sidney Poitier
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Richard Pryor,
Georg Stanford Brown
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
(1989)
Comedy
|
Crime
Director:
Arthur Hiller
Stars:
Richard Pryor,
Gene Wilder,
Joan Severance
Another You
(1991)
Comedy
|
Crime
Director:
Maurice Phillips
Stars:
Richard Pryor,
Gene Wilder,
Mercedes Ruehl
Hanky Panky
(1982)
Action
|
Comedy
|
Crime
Director:
Sidney Poitier
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Gilda Radner,
Kathleen Quinlan
The Woman in Red
(1984)
Comedy
|
Romance
Director:
Gene Wilder
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Kelly LeBrock,
Charles Grodin
The World's Greatest Lover
(1977)
Comedy
Director:
Gene Wilder
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Carol Kane,
Dom DeLuise
Comedy
|
Crime
|
Musical
Director:
Gene Wilder
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Madeline Kahn,
Marty Feldman
Haunted Honeymoon
(1986)
Horror
|
Comedy
|
Musical
Director:
Gene Wilder
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Gilda Radner,
Dom DeLuise
The Frisco Kid
(1979)
Comedy
|
Western
Director:
Robert Aldrich
Stars:
Gene Wilder,
Harrison Ford,
Ramon Bieri
Brewster's Millions
(1985)
Comedy
Director:
Walter Hill
Stars:
Richard Pryor,
John Candy,
Lonette McKee
Greased Lightning
(1977)
Action
|
Biography
|
Comedy
Director:
Michael Schultz
Stars:
Richard Pryor,
Beau Bridges,
Pam Grier
Bustin' Loose
(1981)
Comedy
|
Drama
Directors:
Oz Scott,
Michael Schultz
Stars:
Richard Pryor,
Cicely Tyson,
Angel Ramirez Jr.
Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Gene Wilder | ... |
George
|
|
| Jill Clayburgh | ... |
Hilly
|
|
| Richard Pryor | ... | ||
| Patrick McGoohan | ... |
Devereau
|
|
| Ned Beatty | ... |
Sweet
|
|
| Clifton James | ... |
Sheriff Chauncey
|
|
| Ray Walston | ... |
Mr. Whiney
|
|
| Stefan Gierasch | ... |
Professor Schreiner & Johnson
|
|
 |
Len Birman | ... |
Chief
|
| Valerie Curtin | ... |
Plain Jane
|
|
|
|
Lucille Benson | ... |
Rita Babtree
|
| Scatman Crothers | ... |
Ralston
|
|
| Richard Kiel | ... |
Reace
|
|
| Fred Willard | ... | ||
|
|
Delos V. Smith Jr. | ... |
Burt
(as Delos V. Smith)
|
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
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. Written by Alfred Jingle
Taglines:
By plane, by train, by the edge of your seat, it's the most hilarious suspense ride of your life! See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
Edit
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
3 December 1976 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Trans Amerika Express See more »Company Credits
Production Co:
Frank Yablans Presentations, Miller-Milkis Productions, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation See more »
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor first worked together as writers on Blazing Saddles. Pryor was originally supposed to co-star but the studio objected, insisting on a more genteel Cleveland Little. See more »Goofs
It's completely inconceivable that Donaldson would have given George a gun. Law enforcement would *never* give a civilian a gun. See more »Quotes
Bob Sweet: Here's a vitamin sample for you. Vitamin E. Now that is great for the old pecker. Yeah it really keeps a pencil sharpened.See more »
"Silver Streak" was released the very same year the Master of Suspense, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, released his black-comedy swan song, "Family Plot". Though Hitch was in the very twilight of his long, illustrious career, his playful style was alive and well, and well appropriated, in Hollywood. The Master didn't make this movie - Canadian Arthur ("Love Story") Hiller did - but the unmistakable fingerprints and shop-hewn template of Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" (amongst other classics) are in great display thanks to writer Colin ("Foul Play") Higgins in the cheery, breezy action comedy, "Silver Streak".
"Silver Streak" is the first of four Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor match-ups and certainly in retrospect, one of the best. Wilder is an ordinary Joe taking the titular Amtrak train across country. In the midst of his journey, he befriends and beds fellow passenger Jill ("An Unmarried Woman") Clayburgh, ends up witnessing a murder then is wrongly accused of the crime, and is thrown off the train many, many times in his pursuit to clear his name, save the girl from a mysterious villain and get to the other side of the country.
This is a very gentle but funny comedy that plays with the conventions of one of Hitch's favorite themes, the mistaken identity of everyday man in extraordinary circumstances. Wilder is wonderful, fitfully funny as usual and shines as both a romantic lead (!) and does his patented "crazy" guy when things start falling apart. Just watching Wilder's eyes as he exasperatedly tries to explain out the fantastic plot he's wrapped up in to unbelieving characters along the way is one of the film's funniest, simplest rewards.
The film's masterstroke, however, is the addition of Richard Pryor as a part-time thief. Pryor was in the midst of a very hot career in 1976, and although this film seems to restrain some of the imagination and language of his stage presence and TV specials, (this is a PG-rated movie, after all), he still creates an indelible extended 'cameo' that fuses film with a hip, perfectly cool counterbalance to Wilder's mania and confusion. When Pryor is on screen he not only steals the film, but also elevates this old-fashioned adventure-comedy concept to something otherwise original... and you can't take your eyes off the guy.
Filmed all across his native Canada (thanks IMDb for confirming this!), director Hiller pulls this fun little audience-pleasing gem along the rails to a bright and exciting climax. The supporting cast is loaded with wonderful character actors including Patrick MacGoohan, Ray (My Favorite Martian) Walston, Ned Beatty and Scatman Crothers amongst others. A very luxurious and memorable score by Henry Mancini is the capper to this sparkling comedy, perfect as a primer for, and a loving compendium of, many of the Hitchcock classics that wait for you to discover them on DVD, VHS or on the tube.