Silver Streak (1976)

Directed by Arthur Hiller. With Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Patrick McGoohan. 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.

Silver Streak is a 1976 American comedy-thriller film about a murder on a Los Angeles-to-Chicago train journey.

Book editor George Caldwell takes a train trip from Los Angeles to Chicago and thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train.

While taking a train trip from L.A. to Chicago, mild-mannered George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) makes the acquaintance of Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh). As they indulge in a brief bit of spooning, Hilly tells George that her boss is on the verge of exposing a group of vicious art forgers. Later that evening, George sees the body of Hilly's boss being thrown off of the train. Detective Sweet (Ned Beatty) agrees to investigate, but he too is bumped off. The instigator of these outrages is master forger Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan), who, with his crony Mr. Whiney (Ray Walston) is planning a particularly diabolical crime. Worse still, they take Hilly prisoner so she can't tip off the cops. When George is also targeted for elimination, he manages in slapstick fashion to elude the killers. Falling off the train, he ends up being arrested on some trumped-up charge or other by a local sheriff. He makes his escape in the company of petty thief Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor) -- and that's only the beginning. A box-office smash, Silver Streak paved the way for the equally successful 1980 Wilder-Pryor vehicle Stir Crazy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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.

Overview of Silver Streak, 1976, directed by Arthur Hiller, with Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, at Turner Classic Movies

Jump to navigationJump to search Silver Streak is a 1976 film about a man on a long-distance train trip, who finds romance but also finds himself embroiled in the activities of a criminal mastermind after he accidentally witnesses a murder on board the train.

Starring: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Ned Beatty, Jill Clayburg, Ray Walston and others. If you like movies that are set on trains then this one will be up your alley. In a day when train films are few and far between, Silver Streak is one of the better ones around. If you are a Gene…