Silver Streak (film)
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| Silver Streak | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for Silver Streak |
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| Directed by | Arthur Hiller |
| Produced by | Edward K. Milkis |
| Written by | Colin Higgins |
| Starring | Gene Wilder Jill Clayburgh Richard Pryor Patrick McGoohan Ned Beatty |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | David M. Walsh |
| Editing by | David Bretherton |
| Distributed by | Fox |
| Release date(s) | December 8 1976 |
| Running time | 114 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Silver Streak is a 1976 comedy film about murder on a Los Angeles to Chicago train trip.
It stars Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Patrick McGoohan and Ned Beatty and directed by Arthur Hiller.
The film score is by Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther, Charade, etc.).
Contents |
[edit] Overview
While loosely based on Amtrak trains, Amtrak was not involved with the filming of this movie. All exterior train shots were filmed on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) in Alberta and Toronto, although set in the United States and operated by the fictional railroad "AMRoad" (reportedly because Amtrak did not approve of Caldwell accidentally bursting into Burns' bedroom while she was getting dressed).[citation needed]
The film features scenes of Midwestern landscapes, train layouts, and many action shots, as the protagonist and allies battle the villains on and off the train, and get thrown off or jump on and off the moving train periodically throughout the course of the plot. Most of the interior station scenes are of Toronto's Union Station, except for a brief sequence immediately prior to the crash where the train is rapidly approaching a dead end. The brief sequence was filmed from a Hi-Rail truck, entering Chicago & NorthWestern's downtown terminal.
The train set was so lightly disguised as the fictional "AMRoad" that the locomotives and cars still carried their original names and numbers, along with the easily-identifiable CP Rail red-striped paint scheme. At the start of the climatic shoot-out, an obtrusive CP Rail GM switcher is seen calmly moving cars in the background. Most of the cars are still in revenue service on VIA Rail Canada; the lead locomotive is extant in Québec but the second unit has been scrapped.
Although the film dates to 1976, Henry Mancini's soundtrack was never officially released before his death in 1994. When Intrada released it in 2002, some 26 years after the film's release, it became one of the Top Special Releases of 2002.
Seven-foot-two actor Richard Kiel appears as a murderous henchman with strange-looking teeth; he would play a very similar character, Jaws a year later in the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
[edit] Synopsis
Saying that he "just wanted to be bored," book editor George Caldwell is traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago aboard a train called "The Silver Streak." George meets and becomes romantically involved with Hilly Burns. After he witnesses the murder of Hilly's boss and soon afterward is himself accused of the murder of FBI agent Bob Sweet, George must enlist the help of professional criminal Grover Muldoon to save Hilly. One of the most notable moments of the movie comes at the end, when the train engine, now out-of-control, crashes through the wall of the train station in Chicago.
[edit] Featured cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Gene Wilder | George Caldwell |
| Jill Clayburgh | Hilly Burns |
| Richard Pryor | Grover Muldoon |
| Patrick McGoohan | Roger Devereau |
| Ned Beatty | Bob Sweet |
| Ray Walston | Edgar Whiney |
| Scatman Crothers | Conductor Ralston |
| Richard Kiel | Reace |
[edit] Reception
- The film grossed over $51,000,000 in the box office during its run. The film was the first collaboration between Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (However, Pryor was a writer on and the original choice for "Black Bart" in the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles which also starred Wilder), who would go on to make more films together : Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You.
- More recently, it was listed at #95 on the AFI's list of the 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time and is number 84 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
[edit] External links
