Screenwriter Colin Higgins' "Silver Streak" gives a naughty-boy's tweaking to its recycled wrong-man formula. On a trip by train, book editor Gene Wilder sees a dead man hanging outside the window of his lady-friend's compartment; he can't prove it, of course, and is soon fingered as the killer after there's another murder. Higgins later became a whiz at writing and directing commercial entertainment, but the director's chair this time is filled by Arthur Hiller (filled as in 'fill-in'). Hiller's biggest coup was his casting of Gene Wilder as the hero; ingratiating and personable, Wilder immediately makes us feel at home in this setting (he's so likable, we also don't notice that co-star Richard Pryor doesn't appear until an hour into the proceedings). Higgins' worst fault: setting up scenarios wherein everybody has to be stupid in order to keep the plot from wrapping up (it's an old gimmick that never works--and movies that fall back on this standby are rarely fondly remembered). The production is stylish, but the dialogue is awfully crass for PG (with a few N-words directed at Pryor, too heavy anytime but certainly so for a comedy). Jill Clayburgh is wasted in a silly love-interest role, although she looks lovely. As for Pryor, when he finally appears, the shock comedian makes the most of his recurring guest bit. Pryor's outrageous sequence with Wilder in a train station bathroom is the picture's highlight, and we ultimately want more scenes of the two of them together and less of everybody else. ** from ****
Review of Silver Streak
