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Richard Pryor was a great comedian, but he was rarely a great comedian on film (I make this judgment knowing full well that I'm not including his concert films, the only way 99% of the world ever saw him at his best). No, his fiction films were almost always bad. His first big comedy role should have been in the 1974 Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles. But he was considered uninsurable due to his drug use, while the studio thought his standup act was too vulgar to justify casting him. Instead, the role was played (quite wonderfully) by Cleavon Little. Pryor secured a co-screenwriter credit, but the rest is filed for all eternity under "What Could Have Been." Pryor did three films in 1976, his breakout year in terms of movies: Car Wash, Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings and Silver Streak. The first two films require that Pryor be black. The last film, Silver Streak, requires that Pryor be funny. That's why Silver Streak is one his best movies. And he doesn't show up until more than an hour into it.

Gene Wilder (a personal childhood favorite) plays George Caldwell, a book publisher traveling by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, because the long trip will give him time to relax. In the bar car, he meets Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh), assistant to reclusive author Professor Schreiner (Stefan Gierasch) whose new book on Rembrandt includes damning evidence against Euro- baddie Roger Devereau (Patrick McGoohan). Frankly, having watched the film many times on TV and even more times as a youngster, I forgot the film even had a plot. To me, it was about Wilder, Pryor and the great Scatman Crothers, who plays a train conductor. Watching it now, the whole Rembrandt thing really threw me off. Suddenly I had to pay attention. What also threw me off is that on TV, the movie was shoehorned into a two-hour time slot, which amounts to about 100 minutes of Silver Streak. Watching it on DVD, where it plays at its original 113-minute length, the movie feels, oh, about 13 minutes too long. I found myself fast-forwarding through minutes-long scenes of Caldwell walking along the tracks after getting thrown off the train (this happens to George a lot). The first time, he gets thrown off the train after seeing Prof. Schreiner dangling off the side of the locomotive, extremely dead. Nobody believes George except the bad guys, who give him the heave-ho into the sloping grass along the railroad tracks.   

The second time George gets thrown off the train leads to him meeting (very) smalltime crook Grover Muldoon (Pryor). Grover was sitting in the backseat of the squad car George stole in order to get back on the Silver Streak and save Hilly. Here, of course, is where the movie picks up steam. Wilder is always on the verge of a panic attack and Pryor is always on the verge of giving him one. This dynamic leads to the movie’s most recognizable scene, where the only way for the pair to slip by the authorities and back on the train is for George to slather shoe polish on his face so he can pass for black. It’s a great scene, made greater by the fact that you could never do that scene today. Correction. You could do it in some ridiculous Wayans Brothers comedy, pitched so high that no one would possibly be offended.

I remember Silver Streak very fondly and my love remains justified. However, the fog of nostalgia has lifted enough for me to admit the following: it’s really not all that funny. I recall it being funnier, as in ha-ha funny. But it’s not. It’s a pleasant, vaguely Hitchcockian diversion and features a historical comedy pairing. Wilder doesn’t seem all that comfortable in a romantic comedy/adventure role. Manic, whether outwardly or inwardly, is his stock in trade. Downshift him, make him seduce the beautiful Jill Clayburgh, and it’s ill-fitting. But I quibble. Silver Streak is yet another reason, along with Pink Floyd and Match Game, I’m glad I was around in the 70s.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Fox usually delivers the goods in the transfer department, but they treat Silver Streak like a catalogue release. It looks like they pulled the cleanest theatrical print they could find and just made the transfer. That being said, this anamorphic effort isn’t bad. The print used is in decent shape. There are some specks here and there, but the print is clean. I did notice some edge halos and excessive grain in some of the big vista shots of the train rolling by. Overall color isn’t terrible. Some of the reds are on the verge of getting smudgy and there is a slight tinge of 70s fade. Detail is acceptable and black levels are okay. The nighttime shots of Wilder and Pryor in the police car feature disappointing contrast. For a catalogue release, this transfer is fine.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
 
We’ve got a Dolby 2.0 and a Dolby Mono. Nothing much to write home about. Channel separation is not very good. There is little playfulness in the side speakers and not much strength or foundation to anything heard on the track. Most dialogue comes from the center and sounds perfectly intelligible, and only threatens to thin out when Wilder starts doing one of his trademark, panicky rants. The string-heavy Henry Mancini score sounds a bit constricted and the train sound effects verge on being thin. I found no audio anomalies. Granted, I’m being picky: anyone old enough to know about this movie won’t care about the intricacies of the mix anyway. For general viewing, there is nothing wrong with this track.

The DVD also includes a Spanish mono, a French mono and English and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The only supplements are a bunch of trailers (including Silver Streak). I must admit, some of these were fun to watch. I hadn’t seen the trailer for the Chevy Chase comedy Modern Problems in years and it was great to see it again. Yes, I know Fox just pulled some crappy old trailers off a dusty shelf and threw it onto the DVD. But come on. I’m old. I remember some of these forgotten comedies (like Bill Cosby: Himself) quite fondly.

Final Thoughts