The Big Bus (1976)

Director:

James Frawley

Writers:

Lawrence J. Cohen (writer)
Fred Freeman (writer)

Release Date:

22 October 1976 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Action

Tagline:

Join the passengers on The Big Bus - the craziest spoof movie of them all

Plot:

The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear powered bus is going Non-stop from New York to Denver and...

Plot Keywords:

Disaster | Bus | Bowling | Pool | Cannibalism

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joseph Bologna	...	Dan Torrance
Stockard Channing	...	Kitty Baxter
John Beck	...	Shoulders O'Brien
Rene Auberjonois	...	Father Kudos
Ned Beatty	...	Shorty Scotty
Bob Dishy	...	Dr. Kurtz
José Ferrer	...	Ironman
Ruth Gordon	...	Old Woman
Harold Gould	...	Professor Baxter
Larry Hagman	...	Doctor in parking lot
Sally Kellerman	...	Sybil Crane
Richard Mulligan	...	Claude Crane
Lynn Redgrave	...	Camille Levy
Richard B. Shull	...	Emery Bush
Stuart Margolin	...	Alex

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL (orginal rating) | UK:PG | Finland:S | USA:PG | Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

On the news van that appears near the beginning of the film, the call letters are WZAZ. These call letters also appear in many comedies from what's known as the "ZAZ" team - Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker - though they had nothing to do with this film. See Airplane! (1980).

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the bus is hanging over the cliff, it would not rock. The weight of the pool water and nuclear engine would keep the rear section firmly on the ground. The articulated section would break, sending the forward section down the ravine.

Quotes:

Dan: Quick, how many decisions have I made today?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Speed (1994/I)

Soundtrack:

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

It would really be something to be a passenger on the bus.

Obviously, with all the disaster films of the early '70s, someone had to make a spoof. And they did just that with "The Big Bus". It portrays the world's first nuclear-powered bus driving nonstop from New York to Denver. Naturally, the oil industry is worried that this novelty will ruin their business, and they seek to destroy it. That's the main plot, but the movie is mostly an excuse to have a bunch of silly things happen, as the more famous disaster spoof ("Airplane!") would do four years later.

Another aspect is of course the cast. Joseph Bologna and Stockard Channing get top billing as driver Dan Torrance and inventor Kitty Baxter, but there's even more. John Beck plays narcoleptic co-driver Shoulders O'Brien; Harold Gould plays Kitty's father who gets injured in an explosion; Jose Ferrer plays the diabolical Ironman, who seeks to blow up the bus; Ned Beatty plays Shorty Scotty, guiding the bus along its journey; Rene Auberjonois plays an awkward priest; Ruth Gordon plays an old woman; Sally Kellerman and Richard Mulligan play a couple who may or may not be getting a divorce; Lynn Redgrave plays a woman who has nothing to do but come onto men; and Larry Hagman plays the parking lot doctor.

Like I said, the whole thing was meant to be goofy, and it does not disappoint. Whether it's Shoulders falling asleep at inconvenient times, a truck full of hicks crashing into the bus and getting stuck, or some of the one-liners, the whole thing is a laugh riot.

By the way, although Richard Mulligan and Larry Hagman didn't share any scenes in this movie, this was the second time that they co-starred: Richard Mulligan once guest-starred on "I Dream of Jeannie". This was also the second time that Ruth Gordon co-starred with an "I Dream of Jeannie" cast member: Emmaline Henry (who played Amanda Bellows on "IDOJ") appeared in "Rosemary's Baby".

Well...