In keeping with both my recent bout with disaster movies and my new found love for all things 70's, I decided to watch the enormously funny and stupid
The Big Bus. A hysterical parody of the disaster genre that was in full swing,
The Big Bus does nearly everything right in mocking the genre. It's got a galaxy of stars, an enormous potential for said disaster, a plot so thin you could walk through it, and it actually pre-dates what most people believe to be the granddaddy of the parody films,
Airplane! by a full 4 years. Essentially, a nuclear powered, high luxury super bus is set to make its inaugural cross-country trip. On board are the usual passengers: celebrities, the politically powerful, regular joes, and of course, a driver with severe issues. What could possibly go wrong? The bus itself (Cyclops) is actually the main attraction, as I have seen nothing like it before. I wonder if it still exists in a prop museum or storage warehouse somewhere? I actually enjoyed this movie more than
Airplane!, and I love that movie. The sheer number of misfortunes, accidents and sabotage attempts (by the oil companies, funny enough) make the fact that this bus even left the garage a miracle.
Starring, in no particular order: John Beck, Lynn Redgrave, Joe Bologna, Stockard Channing, Ruth Gordon, Richard Mulligan, Sally Kellerman, Larry Hagman, Harold Gould, Jose Ferrer, and Ned Beatty, this was a comedic cast that couldn't fail. Every one of them had great lines, and none seemed to be fighting for screen time.
I mean it, this is one of the stupidest movies I have seen, but it was so damn funny. When the bus is rolling out of its garage, it takes an entire minute to emerge. The absolute irony of this movie is that it's the occurrences in the story that are the disasters, not the movie itself. I'm going to need to find a copy of this on DVD to buy, as it's going right next to
Airplane! in the library. 8.5/10.
See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!
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