Fermata per 12 ore

Concentrating on America only 1957 was a good year for films that were mainstream and yet took on adult issues. ' No Down Payment ', ' The Bachelor Party ', ' Monkey on My Back ' and a ' A Hatful of Rain ' are a few well worth tracking down, and from the Sci-Fi horror movie field there were many delights, and the threat of the Atomic Bomb underlined a lot of them. It seemed like the year people expected to see issues outside the norm. ' The Wayward Bus ' almost ranks among the above mentioned. It could have gone further as the Steinbeck work does, but remains a little timid towards what it had on its hands. Despite that Jayne Mansfield shows that she could overcome being a stereotype if given the chance and Joan Collins manages to look ordinary and both act better than in other films I have seen them in. Rick Jason looked like a contender for being better known but somehow ( he had the looks ) drifted into television. Dan Daily acts the serious buffoon, and the chemistry was not quite there with Mansfield as a ' love ' partner. As for the direction it looks fairly good enhanced by sharp black and white Cinemascope and the action scenes ( especially with the bus on the collapsing bridge ) are well done. I could watch it again quite easily and I think it deserves an 8 for nearly being that adult film it should have been. But only please watch it in Cinemascope because in pan and scan it looks dull and a lot of available copies of it around are not in Cinemascope.

Starting from a backwater bus stop, a load of assorted passengers and their hunky driver have to negotiate terrible road conditions, while dealing with personal problems along the way.

Catch that bus. No wonder it's "wayward". Looks like it was bought at a junk yard sale, but, hey, it proves to be a real trouper. Chicoy (Jason) is the driver and he's got to get his assorted passengers to their destination, come heck or high water, both of which make a scary appearance. Meanwhile, the passengers have to pair up or straighten out, meaning the bus journey is not just literal but symbolic of personal discoveries. That may not be an original plot device, but the road effects are really well done. One thing for sure, except for Mansfield the film has a really drab look to it. Even the usually glamorous Collins is dressed down. Speaking of Collins, she's the only one to go over- the-top amongst a generally well-acted storyline. Going in, I thought this would be a Mansfield showcase, but it's not. She's just one of the passengers with her own personal difficulties to get straight. In fact, her budding romance with an aging Dailey is rather poignant. All in all, the movie adds up a decent time-passer with a few thrills and some non-sappy soap opera to carry the narrative.

This will be short as there are many positive reviews here and few wrinkled noses!

I watched the film immediately after reading the book (again), and it does what you'd expect in re-jigging a series of individual character studies (with their thought processess) into a mini disaster movie, and I'm fine with that as it didn't deviate too far from the central story line.

The theme of book and almost all of it's characters throughout is sex, trying to get it, or fending it off. If you want to know more read it. However, that was not possible to integrate integrate much into a film of the era, apart from one scene in a barn.

BUT Jayne Mansfield was excellent as the beautiful but battle-hardened wanting-out stripper, and Steinbeck would have been very happy with her portrayal.

The storyline involving Joan Collins was padded out to give her screen time (and over act).

Finally and the MOST disappointing aspect of the film was the usual Hollywood practice of giving a romantic male lead to a guy who was too old. Dan Dailey was 18 years older than Jayne Mansfield and at 42 looked it. You can't suspend disbelief for that sort of nonsense.

I was surfing the channels and came upon this gem. I liked it! Interesting to see Rick Jason out of uniform. The one neat thing about it is the ending. Good movie.

You hear so little about this film although it was taken from a well received John Steinbeck novel which I understand had to be cleaned up for the screen version. Of course in today's world there's nothing particularly shocking about any of the unruly passengers as they get detoured on a rundown bus making a short trip through California.

RICK JASON is the ruggedly handsome driver (whatever happened to him?), JOAN COLLINS is his unhappy wife tipping the bottle, JAYNE MANSFIELD is a showgirl riding to her next strip assignment, DAN DAILEY is a stock character as a traveling salesman with an eye for a pretty girl, and others are strictly cardboard creations.

But it's strikingly photographed in B&W and CinemaScope, briskly directed by Victor Vikas (who won a directing award for this at the Berlin Film Festival), and not as bad as it might seem for all of its obscurity in the realm of classic films.

Probably lacks the punch of the Steinbeck novel in transferring his characters to the screen in accordance with the code of the '50s.