In the last issue I discussed the films of Alfred Hitchcock in some detail, and mentioned remakes of his classic films.  One aspect which I did not touch upon concerns those films which serve as homages to Hitchcock’s legacy.

Director Brian DePalma has spent most of his career creating films similar to that of “the Master of Suspense,” but there have been plenty of other efforts as well. Perhaps my favorite of them is Arthur Hiller’s comic thriller Silver Streak (1976), penned by Colin Higgins, which generally updates The Lady Vanishes.

Mild-mannered book editor George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) witness the murder of a man on a train trip from Los Angeles to Chicago.  No one believes him but the killers, especially when the victim reappears with no ill effects.  George becomes romantically involved with a mysterious woman (Jill Clayburgh), who, just like Eve Kendall in North by Northwest, is deeply entangled in the murder mystery herself. Yet unlike The Lady Vanishes, where the people try to escape from the train, the joke on George is that he continually gets thrown off the train and must then catch up with it later.

Fresh from his wacky Mel Brooks comedies, Gene Wilder gets the opportunity to play a character straight, and does so very effectively.  Wilder makes a charming, if reluctant romantic lead (who would have thought it?) and is paired well with lovely Jill Clayburgh, a very talented actress whose stay at the top of the Hollywood mountain was far too brief.  They are supported by Ned Beatty as a mysterious passenger, Patrick McGoohan as an art expert, Ray Walston as a weaselly henchman, Scatman Crothers as the train’s head porter and gigantic Richard Kiel as, well, Richard Kiel.  But the real star of the movie turns out to be funnyman Richard Pryor.

Although Pryor had appeared in previous films, none of them afforded him the opportunities that Silver Streak does.  Pryor is like a shot of adrenaline to the story when George finds him hiding in the back of a squad car he has just stolen.  His deadpan delivery is timed perfectly and the rapport he creates with Wilder is outstanding.  Silver Streak would have been a good movie without Pryor, but with him, it’s a classic.

While some of the comic bits are silly (and would become sillier in later films starring Wilder and Pryor), the majority of the film is sharply written.  The love scene between Wilder and Clayburgh is exceptional and Pryor’s asides are hilarious.  I love Henry Mancini’s music, the cinematography and the excitement of the final runaway train sequence.  I may rate this film a tad too highly but I’ve loved it since seeing it multiple times in theaters when I was but a teenager.  It will always be one of my favorite films of all time.  My rating:  ✰ ✰ ✰ ½.  (6:4).