
The Silver Streak - stars Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor
Review created: 12/05/06(updated 03/05/08)

This is a hilarious 70s romp across America with some great actors from that era. Gene Wilder is well-known, but possibly not in the role of the cheesy romantic who croons "be nasty to the nasturtiums" in pretty Jill Clayburgh's delicate ear, while the plot thickens with the body of a murdered art history professor falling off the roof of the train just outside the cabin where they are making out. Wilder is soon ejected off the train and finds a friendly crop sprayer aviator who takes him to a stop further along the track, where he boards the train again while it's moving. The friendly vitamin salesman, Sweet, who is really a Federal agent, is after a British crook who takes the train by force with his gang of bad guys and the train ends up hurtling towards Chicago as a runaway. Sweet is caught in the crossfire. Richard Pryor champions the jive-talking nervous petty crook image as he and Wilder cavort in and out of the train station with Wilder posing as a Black guy with a transistor radio. Wilder sports a new set of clothes, purchased from a shoe-shine man (arranged by Pryor.) "Pay the man!" shouts Pryor, as Wilder takes yet another piece of garb for cash. It seems almost incongruous that not only should Gene Wilder's character come out of the adventure unscathed, three of the principals make a very scary, and quite unbelievable jump from one car to another on a swiftly moving train, but also that the screenplay should hold such a great happy ending. Well worth a watch if only to get a contrast from Gene Wilder's Charlie (and the Chocolate factory) character, where he is as completely different a character as only he can be!
Review ID: 10000000002460430

Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our
guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours.
You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote.
Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.