Silver Streak (1976 film)
| Silver Streak | |
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Film poster, artwork by George Gross
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| Directed by | Arthur Hiller |
| Produced by |
Thomas L. Miller Edward K. Milkis |
| Written by | Colin Higgins |
| Starring |
Gene Wilder Jill Clayburgh Richard Pryor Patrick McGoohan |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | David M. Walsh |
| Edited by | David Bretherton |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5.5 million or $6.5 million |
| Box office | $51.1 million |
Silver Streak is a 1976 American comedy-thriller film about a murder on a Los Angeles-to-Chicago train journey. It was directed by Arthur Hiller and stars Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, and Richard Pryor, with Patrick McGoohan, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, and Richard Kiel in supporting roles. The film score is by Henry Mancini. This film marked the first pairing of Wilder and Pryor, who were later paired in three more films.
Book editor George Caldwell travels from Los Angeles to Chicago for his sister's wedding aboard a train called the Silver Streak. On board, George meets a vitamin salesman named Bob Sweet and a woman named Hilly Burns. Hilly works for Professor Schreiner, a well-known art historian who is on a publicity tour for his new book on Rembrandt.
George sees a dead body dangling outside the window and then falling away. But he is drunk and Hilly insists he must have imagined it. In the morning, he sees Schreiner's book, with the author's photo: he was the dead man. Inside the book is an envelope. Schreiner's killers are Johnson, Whiney, and Reace. George goes to Schreiner's room, and Reace throws him off the train. George meets a farmer and they overtake the train in her biplane.
George sees Hilly with Johnson (who is impersonating Schreiner), Whiney, and art dealer Devereau. Devereau apologizes to George for the "misunderstanding" involving Reace. After mentioning "the Rembrandt letters," Johnson says he will return to his room for a glass of scotch.
George goes to the club car and begins drinking, confiding in Sweet about his misadventure. Sweet reveals himself as an undercover FBI agent named Stevens. He confirms George's suspicions: the real Schreiner did not drink alcohol. Devereau is a criminal who passes himself off as an art expert, and Whiney, Reace, and Johnson work for him. His plan is to have Johnson, disguised as Scheiner, discredit the book that exposes Devereau for authenticating two forgeries as original Rembrandts. They find the envelope George saw. It contains letters written by Rembrandt, proving Devereau's guilt. But then Reace kills Stevens and goes after George. Their fight ends on the roof, where George kills Reace but is knocked to the ground by an overhanging signal.
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