The Big Bus (1976)

The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear powered bus is going Non-stop from New York to Denver and is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the ... See full summary »

Director:

James Frawley

Writers:

Fred Freeman, Lawrence J. Cohen

Stars:

Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joseph Bologna	...	Dan Torrance
Stockard Channing	...	Kitty Baxter
John Beck	...	Shoulders
Rene Auberjonois	...	Father Kudos
Ned Beatty	...	Shorty Scotty
Bob Dishy	...	Dr. Kurtz
José Ferrer	...	Ironman (as Jose Ferrer)
Ruth Gordon	...	Old Lady
Harold Gould	...	Professor Baxter
Larry Hagman	...	Parking Lot Doctor
Sally Kellerman	...	Sybil Crane
Richard Mulligan	...	Claude Crane
Lynn Redgrave	...	Camille Levy
Richard B. Shull	...	Emery Bush
Stuart Margolin	...	Alex

Storyline

The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear powered bus is going Non-stop from New York to Denver and is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the Oil lobby. When the driver is injured a washed up, down on his luck, but used to be great type, who as it happens, used to be engaged to the inventor's daughter is brought in to drive the giant bus which includes a one lane swimming pool and a one lane bowling alley.

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Plot Keywords:

disaster | bus | pool | bowling | spoof | 

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Taglines:

The ride of your life.

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Genres:

Comedy | Action

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1976 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A nagy busz

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both The Big Bus and Airplane! were released by Paramount Pictures.

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Goofs

Inside the garage a man walks by a pair of tires that appear to be 12-feet tall. When the bus is outside, the tires are about the same size as those on any regular truck or bus.

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Quotes

Old Woman: Looks like he got kicked in the nuts!

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Crazy Credits

Paramount Pictures thanks Trailways for their help and technical assistance in making this impossible picture possible.

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Connections

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

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Soundtracks

"Everything's Coming Up Roses"
(uncredited)
Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim
Sung by the passengers, led by Father Kudos

User Reviews

A spoof B.A. (Before "Airplane!")....

The sight gags are all there, there's silliness to spare and there's not a ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker - the creators of "Airplane!") member in sight.

Yep, "The Big Bus" was the predecessor to the long and luxuriant line of disaster spoofs you see lining the video shelves today. And to tell the truth, as a groundbreaker in this field, this movie is pretty funny.

Bologna is a down-and-out bus driver who is given one shot at redemption by being picked to man the Cyclops, the biggest single bus ever created, driving it coast to coast.

His old girlfriend (Channing) is a kind of bus stewardess on board and an old driving buddy (Beck) is also by his side. But so are a load of passengers as diverse as your average "Airport" or "Poseidon Adventure" movie, not to mention an inept terrorist (Margolin) trying to sabotage the bus at every turn while whining to his brother, "Why did YOU get the iron lung?".

It's that kind of movie.

You'll have a lot of fun picking out every star you can imagine from the '70s here, as well as discovering the jibes at every major convention of disaster movies, even the digs at the huge Cyclops bus itself ("The coyote is on backwards." Never mind, you'll see.)

Definitely a funny and fun movie. Get on this "Bus".

Ten stars for being one of the first on this bandwagon, as well as for some big laughs. And if you have a co-pilot for a huge bus, make sure he stays conscious.