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The Big Bus (1976)
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Overview
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Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
22 October 1976 (West Germany)
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Tagline:
Join the passengers on The Big Bus - the craziest spoof movie of them all more
Plot:
The ultimate disaster film parody. A nuclear powered bus is going Non-stop from New York to Denver and...
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Awards:
1 win
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User Comments:
It would really be something to be a passenger on the bus.
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
88 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Singapore:PG |
Netherlands:AL (orginal rating) |
UK:PG |
Finland:S |
USA:PG |
Australia:PG |
Argentina:Atp
Company:
Fun Stuff
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).
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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.
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Soundtrack:
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
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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...