This is a classic film that you'll enjoy to the end of days. I simply want to add that the stunt work in this film is extraordinary. The DVD looks absolutely terrific, and its issue in anamorphic widescreen is very much appreciated. A must buy!

The Silver Streak can be considered a spoof on a movie such as "Murder on the Orient Express" where Gene Wilder plays an editor named George Caldwell who decides to travel by train to Chicago on what he had hoped to just kick back and relax on the three day journey when he gets tangled up with romance and murder.

Enroute, he gets thrown off, knocked off and finally jumps off the train as he tries to solve a mystery on who murdered Professor Schreiner together with an undercover federal agent, Bob Sweet (Ned Beatty). He also teams up with a smalltime crook, Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor), while police are vainly trying to track him down thinking that he was wanted for murder when he was actually innocent, and the life of Schreiner's secretary and George's newfound love Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh) was in jeopardy aboard the train as George tries to save her from imminent danger.

So many bizarre things happen throughout each scene that this film is not worth missing for anyone who is into romance, murder, comedy or for just being a train buff in general.

Good buddy movies are a thing of the past. They still crank them out nowadays, but now it feels less like a creative team up, and more like a marketing ploy to see who they can pair up and hope fireworks and hilarity ensues. They don't work. One of the best comedy pair-ups of the last 30 years or so is, no doubt, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. They hit comedy/buddy paydirt with this film and "Stir Crazy", but they tarnished their reputation when doing the terrible "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" in 1987, and the even worse, "Another You" in 1990. This is their best team up, and they haven't shined like this since then. What is most surprising when I first watched this film, is that Pryor doesn't even show up until halfway through the movie. I almost forgot he was in it. Gene Wilder playes a tired, average joe book publisher named George Caldwell. A publisher of instruction books who is looking for a relaxing train ride from Los Angeles to Chicago. So you know that's not what he gets. He immediatley befriends salesman Bob Sweet(the wonderful Ned Beatty), and the lovely Hillie(Jill Clayburgh). Before you know it, good 'ol George is wrapped up in mystery when he claims to of seen Hillie's boss murdered and thrown from the train. What ensues is a fun and entertaining comedy/drama/mystery, with George trying to figure out what he saw and who these people are that are soon after him. Pryor plays Grover, a criminal that George meets up with when George takes a police car with Grover in the back. It's a funny and most welcome introduction to the character. Together, George and Grover try to stop the train and clear George's name. Directed by Arthur Hiller, the movie is nicely paced and put together. It moves right along and is always entertaining. I don't know much about Arthur Hiller and his career, so I won't really say anything about why Amazon called him a hack, when this movies is nicely done and shot.It's A hybrid of comedy/drama/mystery, the film pretty much succeeds on most fronts, but the mystery is hardly deep or complex, and isn't too hard to get around. It is obvious that the script is playing with, and a homage to, the Alfred Hitchcock formula. The comedy is nicely done and proper for such a film. The first half without Pryor was a nice set-up, and was working well on it's own, but it just gets better when Pryor and Wilder finally team up. Wilder is a comedy god. There is no doubt about it. His sly, deadpan way with a word or a physical scene, are always incredible. And even when he's more subtle, as he is here most of the time, he is still funny. His regular, suburban joe of a character works for the movie and the plot, making him a total fish out of water when it comes to being the hero and getting involved with guns and murder. It is a way that makes the character more human, and more relatable. Pryor is Pryor. There is no denying the man. He certainly brings the film up to another level. And, of course, Wilder parading as a black man is a comedy classic. Reason enough to view the movie!. Patrick McGooham also stars as Roger Devereuax, a man who may or may not be in on the mystery. As usual, McGoohan brings his usually classy and slick persona to the character of Devereaux, and is always a pleasure to watch. Veteran actor Ray Walston also appears, as does Richard Kiel, who people will probably best remember as Jaws from 2 James Bond movies. Why Wilder and Pryor?. Why do they work?. They are so different from each other, that they compliment each other. Does that make sense?. Wilder, with his normal, sly, sometimes manic humor, and Pryor with his, well, just Pryor being Pryor. It's such an interesting combination that it is destined to work. And work it does. "Silver Streak" is a witty little film that I can say has earned the good word it has usually gotten these last 29 years. It's a nice movie that nicely pairs two comedic geniuses in a solid and worthy endeavor. Ride these rails!.

I've waited for this title on DVD ever since the format arrived. Even though the disc is essentially bare-bones (although the original theatrical trailer is included), you do get an anamorphic widescreen transfer--I've never seen the movie look this good. For the price, not a bad deal. I'm not sure what the other reviewer meant about the DVD being too dark; the colors and brightness look just fine to me. As to the movie itself, I always thought it was best described as a screwball comedy on rails. Only drawback (for some) might be that a lot of the comedy was probably unintentional! If you're a train freak like me, you know you have to have it.

"Silver Streak" is an important film in the sense that it is the first film that "mainstreamed" Richard Pryor. Previously, Pryor was best known for his work on comedy albums, concerts, and "blaxploitation" films. I was thirteen when this film came out and it was an impetus for me to seek out Pryor's other rawer, more verboten body of work. Needless to say this was the first film to team Pryor with Gene Wilder and the chemistry they had was priceless. As for the film, the mixture of thriller and comedy is for the most part sucessful. Once Pryor enters the fray at the film's halfway mark it's like a shot of adrenaline. I attribute the film's sluggish first half to mediocre director Arthur Hiller. Patrick McGoohan's suave villainy is also a major plus here. A good supporting cast (Ned Beatty, Ray Walston, Scatman Crothers, Richard Kiel) is on hand here. Jill Clayburgh, who proved to be an able actress in subsequent films, is basically just on hand here as eye candy.