The Big Bus (1976)

[lester1/2jr]

                         on one hand, this movie is a failure of sorts, or at least a serious misfire.  it attempts sort of monty Python or Simpsons type humor, but the cast are not really up to the task.  In their defense, the humor is very silly and random.  cast members include larry Hagman, Stockard Channing, and the neighbor lady from "Rosemary's Baby" ("take the tannis root, dear...").  You'll notice the awkwardness of it right away


but damn if it still isn't pretty entertaining.  Especially the bus itself which is just a huge metallic monstrosity.  I was glued to the screen whenever they showed the outside shot of it with the various gizmos attched to it.  There are a number of genuinly funny bits.  This has "cult favorite" written all over it.  if you can appreciate stuff like "Cabin boy" you need to see this.  Airplane would eventually do this in a much more conventional and more overtly laugh inducing / succesful way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqdcsy4hSyM



modify:  imdb provides a hilarious goof! "Factual errors: The number of wheels and axles on the rear section are insufficient for the weight of the rear section. The weight per axle would exceed that of highway safety laws. It is so overweight that the tires and axles could fail."

[Underbelly]

I have met a few people who love this movie, including a friend who insisted on showing me it. It seemed that all the jokes just missed the mark, sometimes by just a little. It almost seemed funny but not enough to make me laugh.  It seems to fail at the same thing Airplane would succeed at four years later.

[peter johnson]

I'd forgotten all about The Big Bus --
I had seen "Tunnelvision" and "The Groove Tube" before this one, and thought it would have the same sort of anarchic stoner humour that its predecessors did.  I was wrong.  Saw it first-run on the big screen, too --
The actress you're trying to name is Ruth Gordon, of "Harold and Maude" fame.
I recall only 2 things about this film:  The bowling alley inside the bus, and how disappointed I was by the whole experience.  As everyone here says, every joke was too slow, badly set up, and missed the mark.  It was sort of a lesson on how to almost-do a comedy/parody.  I recall thinking at the time that nobody seemed to be committing to the material.
Maybe were I to see it again today, 32 years later, I would have a different impression, but based on what's being said here, I doubt it.
peter johnson/denny crane

[AndyC]

I used to see this one on the rental shelf at a convenience store back in the late 80s. When videos of good movies were still expensive to buy, convenience stores here used to pad out their meager collections with all kinds of crazy stuff. I'd always look at this one and wonder "should I?"

Never did, but now I'm curious again. And just as unsure. I could track down a copy, but if the comedy is as "off" as you guys say it is, will it be worth the effort?

In 20 years, nothing has changed. 

[JJ80]

I remember this, wasn't the driver in disgrace after he was accused of eating an entire busload of passengers after becoming stranded in the desert. He maintained that he "only ate one measly foot!" Didn't saboteurs from the oil industry try to destroy the bus in various farcical ways? Not a bad, if slightly dated comedy that is never quite as funny as it could be.

[lester1/2jr]

jj- that's the one and your description is apt

[Torgo]

I have actually seen this movie many, many years ago, but I couldn't remember what the title was.