Trans America Express

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Trans America Express
Original title Silver streak
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1976
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Arthur Hiller
script Colin Higgins
production Edward K. Milkis
Thomas L. Miller
Martin Ransohoff
Frank Yablans
music Henry Mancini
camera David M. Walsh
cut David Bretherton
occupation
synchronization

Silver Streak (Original title: Silver Streak ) is a 1976 incurred mix of genres from thriller , comedy and disaster film by Arthur Hiller with Gene Wilder in the lead role. It was released in the USA on December 3, 1976, and was released in West German cinemas on October 7, 1977.

action

Out of a romantic idea (and because he has time) the harmless, meek cookery and gardening book publisher George Caldwell in Los Angeles boarded the express train "Silberpfeil" (original "Silver Streak", hence the US title) instead of the plane to get to Travel to Chicago for his sister's wedding . The trip will take several days and will take the train through the Rocky Mountains.

First of all, everything is going perfectly for George. He gets to know the pretty secretary Hilly , spends the night with her and falls in love with her. But then he sees a corpse fall from the roof of the train. Since at first nobody seems to believe his observations, he investigates on his own and promptly gets into turbulence, which obviously has to do with secret letters from the painter Rembrandt . A passenger who initially appears as clumsy businessman Bob Sweet turns out to be FBI agent Stevenson. The supposed dead person (the renowned Professor Schreiner , who is also Hilly's boss) stands in front of him, bright and cheerful. Finally, the brutal henchmen of the unscrupulous industrialist Roger Devereau hunt him down. In doing so, George is roughly pushed out of the moving train three times, but with some effort he always manages to get back on board. George makes the acquaintance of the tricky petty criminal Grover , who stands by his side. As an experienced car thief, for example, he breaks a police cordon together with the inexperienced publisher.

The innocent George is suddenly wanted for the murder of FBI man Sweet, who was shot on the train. With the help of shoe polish, Grover briefly transforms the protesting publisher ("I can't get through as black!") Into a colored man in order to deceive the police. Then the two men attack. They manage to take Devereau - who also turns out to be a racist - by surprise and bring him to a confession. Devereau had Schreiner killed and replaced with a double. In this way he wanted to prevent the professor from publicizing a large-scale fraud involving the Rembrandt letters. And as it turns out a little later, the police search for Caldwell was just a ruse to get him to safety.

The authorities finally manage to stop the Silver Arrow in a Chicago suburb and evacuate the train. However, Devereau's arrest fails and he is able to leave by train after an exchange of fire. Since Hilly is still on board, George and Grover finally jump on the Silver Arrow as well. Both of them can free Hilly, but both the train driver and Devereau lose their lives in the police chase, which is why the train is now racing towards Chicago without a driver and at top speed.

Since all external emergency measures prove to be ineffective, the train systems have also been sabotaged and no one can get on the locomotive, the only thing left to do is to uncouple the wagons. Shortly before the goal, this succeeds, so that George, Hilly, Grover and a conductor save themselves with the rolling car. The locomotive, on the other hand, dashes into the Chicago terminus ( Chicago Union Station ), causing panic and enormous collateral damage .

In the end, George and Hilly are a couple while Grover drives off in a stolen sports car.

synchronization

The German synchronization of Trans-America-Express.

role actor Dubbing voice
George Caldwell Gene Wilder Wolfgang Draeger
Hilly Burns Jill Clayburgh Ursula Herwig
Grover T. Muldoon Richard Pryor Joachim Pukass
Roger Devereau Patrick McGoohan Christian Rode
Bob Sweet / Stevenson Ned Beatty Wolfgang Völz
Sheriff Oliver Chauncey Clifton James Gerd Duwner
Edgar Whiney Ray Walston Friedrich W. Building School
Professor Schreiner / Johnson Stefan Gierasch Eric Vaessen
Chief Len Birman Norbert Gescher
Plain Jane Valerie Curtin Eva-Maria Werth
Rita Babtree Lucille Benson Paula Lepa
Conductor Ralston Scatman Crothers ?
Reace Richard Kiel ?
Jerry Jarvis Fred Willard Manfred Lehmann

production

  • The action takes place in the United States , but the recordings took place almost exclusively in Canada . The fictional railroad company AMRoad is loosely based on the American Amtrak . All the field shots took place in Alberta and Toronto ; Amtrak had refused permission to film because of offending a scene in which Caldwell accidentally walked into Hilly's compartment while she was changing. Recordings of the American Midwest were added later to preserve the authenticity of the locations, especially the battle scenes on the roofs of the cars. Much of the station scene was shot at Union Station in Toronto, with the exception of the short scene in which the train rushes towards the stub track of the station. Here you can actually see platform 2 of the Chicago and North Western Terminal , a local train station in the immediate vicinity of today's Union Station.
  • The destruction of the station itself was recreated in a Lockheed aircraft hangar in Burbank ( California ); a locomotive replica in original size was used for this .

background

  • After The Wilde Wild West , Trans-America-Express was the second collaboration between Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor . In later years, both shot, among other things, two incredibly strong guys , Die Glücksjäger and Das Andere Ich .
  • The railway accident at Washington Union Station served as the template for the film .
  • The model of the "Silver Arrow" is the Southwest Chief , which emerged from the "Southwest Limited" or the "Super Chief". This is also currently running the Los Angeles - Chicago route and is considered the fastest transcontinental train in North America.
  • Two scenes from the film were used for the opening credits of the television series Ein Colt for all cases : on the one hand the one when Richard Kiel walks over the moving train (only in the first season) and on the other hand as Gene Wilder or his stuntman a stop signal is conveyed from the train roof. The episode Zug um Zug (Orig .: Reluctant Traveling Companion ) from the second season of the series is very similar in content to Trans-America-Express .
  • The director and the main actor of the film died in the fortieth year after the premiere of the film within only thirteen days: Director Arthur Hiller on August 17, 2016 at the age of 92 and lead actor Gene Wilder on August 29, 2016 at the age of 83 .

music

Although the film was released in 1976, Henry Mancini's soundtrack was never officially released until his death in 1994. It wasn't until 2002, 26 years later, that it got into the top special releases of the year.

Awards (selection)

The production was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Sound in 1977 . Gene Wilder received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role .

criticism

“A turbulent action comedy that combines elements of screwball comedy, romance, adventure and disaster films in a gag-rich manner. After a quiet start, the film, with excellent cast right down to the supporting roles, turns into an absurd happening that is extremely entertaining despite some platitudes. "

- Lexicon of international film

“Hero and audience hardly get a breath of air on this wild (eight) train ride. The material would easily have been enough for three films: Hollywood veteran Arthur Hiller ("Love Story") created a crazy genre mix of slapstick, spy thriller and disaster spectacle. Conclusion: rail travel as an extreme sport - great! "

- Cinema

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Trans-America-Express in German synchronous files
  2. ^ Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service, p. 107
  3. ↑ Carmel Dagan: Arthur Hiller, Director of 'Love Story,' Dies at 92 , in Variety , accessed September 4, 2016
  4. ^ Daniel Lewis: Gene Wilder Dies at 83; Star of 'Willy Wonka' and 'Young Frankenstein' , in The New York Times on August 29, 2016, accessed September 4, 2016
  5. ^ Trans-America Express. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ^ Trans-Amerika-Express in Cinema , accessed September 4, 2016