Other Titles • The Big Bus • Die Haarsträubende Reise in einem verrückten Bus (1976)
Synopses for The Big Bus (1976)
1.
For anyone who's wallowed in the inanities of 1970s disaster movies, The Big Bus is not only witty but downright endearing. Instead of an endangered airliner or a capsized cruise ship, this dippily deadpan parody features a block-long, atomic-powered, luxury super-Greyhound setting off on its first transcontinental run with a garish cross section of humankind programmed for redemption, retribution, or just sublime ridiculousness as they roll toward Doom--or Denver, whichever comes first. Writers Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen, who penned the daffy historical spoof Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), twist the sententious ironies of disaster-movie dialogue into pretzels (priceless scene: Richard B. Shull, as a "terminal traveler" with six months to live, and Bob Dishy, a discredited veterinarian who fitted a rabbit for an IUD, debating who knows more about bitterness). James Frawley's direction is drolly cliché-savvy, but his touch proved too delicate for 1976 audiences; it remained for Airplane! to grab the disaster-spoof brass ring four years later. Still, it's not too late to climb aboard. --Richard T. Jameson
From the Back Cover A wonderful spoof of disaster films, The Big Bus is about the world's first nuclear-powered bus--a 75-ton monster on 32 enormous wheels--and its maiden journey from New York to Denver. Jockeying the world's greatest bus, of course, is the world's greatest bus driver. His co-pilot is given to sudden blackouts and has a penchant for driving on the shoulders of the road. A pair of evil-doers vow to destroy the bus at the outset, thus providing hilarious suspense.
2.
A star-studded cast headlines this outlandish spoof on disaster films in which a gigantic nuclear powered bus--containing a swimming pool, a bowling alley, and a piano bar--and goes out of control and nearly crashes while making a coast-to-coast journey. With a cannibalistic driver (Joseph Bologna) and an oil company man who is working overtime to sabotage the bus, the passengers (Stockard Channing, Richard Mulligan, Ruth Gordon, Rene Auberjonois, and more) assured a bumpy ride. Director James Frawley's (TV's The Monkees) is an obvious influence on 1980's AIRPLANE!.
3.
The ride of your life!
A wonderful spoof of disaster films, "The Big Bus" is about the world's first nuclear-powered bus - a 75-ton monster on 32 enormous wheels - and its maiden journey from New York to Denver. Jockeying the world's greatest bus, of course, is the world's greatest bus driver. His co-pilot is given to sudden blackouts and has a penchant for driving on the shoulder of the road. A pair of evil-doers vow to destroy the bus at the outset, thus providing lots of hilarious suspense.
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