Il fantabus

The Big Bus is the kind of film that will make you giggle and grimace, frequently during a viewing. Almost of a kitchen-sink humor, you'll giggle out loud at the parodies of the great 70's disaster flicks.

This is a film with wonderful cameos featuring b-grade stars who evidently hadn't anything better to do that day, then show up at the studio and act out some schtick. It's campy, rompy, and fun. As I recall, the film's tagline was "You'll die laughing!" Well it is a disaster spoof...

Pay particular attention for a classic line in which elderly runaway from home Ruth Gordon tells Renee Auberjenoius (as a doubting priest) how happy she was that god put her in the seat next to a priest. Father Kudos responds, "If it was god that put you here, why didn't he give you a fancy window seat like mine?! I, Kudos, a doubter luxeriate in a window seat, while you, aging with age, get older yet in that disgrace of an aisle seat!! Where is your god now old woman?!" Ruth Gordon responds, "Jesus, I'm sorry I asked!"

Check this gem out - There are far worse ways to die, than to die laughing while watching "The Big Bus"!

"The Big Bus" was released in 1976, four years before the landmark disaster flick-spoof, "Airplane!". Why "The Big Bus" was not as popular a film is a mystery, because it is every bit as funny as "Airplane!". The dialogue is witty, the sight gags are hilarious and plentiful, and the acting is just dead-pan enough to make it all work. Joseph Bologna and Stockard Channing head up an all-star cast heading from New York to Denver on a nuclear-powered bus, which is supposed to make the trip with no stops, but of course, disasters ensue. The bus is a luxury vehicle, complete with a piano bar, swimming pool, bowling alley and dining room. If you haven't seen "The Big Bus" check it out. It will make you laugh out loud.

How marvelous that this has just come out on DVD! This movie has been a fave since I was but a lad. It predates "Airplane" by about 4 years, and is about 4 times funnier, but inexplicably bombed at the box office. Guess it was ahead of its time.

The funniest bit is the lounge piano player with his "Six months to live" and "Doggy doctor" improvisations, and how he welcomes new patrons into the bar with "Hey, welcome to the Oriental Lounge!" accompanied by a little piano twinkle.

So it isn't "Citizen Kane" ... but the laughs are bigger!

Technology has brought us many wonderful things – but at what risks? One such advancement is the creation of a nuclear bus that runs direct from New York to Denver. However the sinister Oil Lobby are out to stop the bus from succeeding (wouldn't they!). When the driver is injured washed up driver Dan Torrance is brought in despite his history with the inventor's daughter. Can they survive the dangerous maiden journey?

Disaster spoofs were big business around this time – mainly because the genre had been done to death and it was a very easy target to lampoon. However not all worked because they weren't funny. Airplane will always be the best but this little jewel is still pretty funny. It doesn't feel as funny as Airplane simply because it's taken the action and put it in a spoof location rather than spoofing a normal location. However it still allows plenty of laughs and manages to be really funny.

Bologna is a good lead, but Beck steals a lot of it with his role as shoulders. It's funny seeing Stockard Channing drowning in soft drinks and the rest of the cats is filled out with some names – Hagman, Kellerman, Beatty etc.

Overall it may not have the fame of Airplane, and many of the jokes just aren't fresh 20 years on but it's still worth a look if you like spoofs.

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...