Before Airplane! there was The Big Bus

Michael: Inexplicably, I’ve been living in a period of time where several films I’ve never heard of have suddenly come out of the woodwork. And much to my delight I might add. How these have escaped me is beyond my comprehension … but they have.

In the first instance, I’ve been shamelessly ridiculed for obliviousness with regard to science fiction classic Colossus: The Forbin Project. How this film has gotten by me for 40 some-odd years I haven’t a clue. (Many of you out there will chalk it up to the fact I am indeed clueless … and you might be right. But I’ve remedied the situation on this count, so get off me.)

Not long afterward, CliqueClack’s own Chuck (Wash) Duncan tipped me off to 1976’s The Big Bus, again something I’d never heard of. I guess that’s what happens when you spend your carefree days meandering about at beach parties, volleyballing to your heart’s content and socializing ’til the cows come how … or when the beach patrol kicks you off the sand, whichever comes first.

But that’s okay. Because when this little gem came out I wouldn’t have appreciated it. It simply wasn’t my thing. And I don’t regret it — I’d much rather have been soaking up rays than slumped posture-challenged in a darkened theater before a two-story screen. Besides, I’ve caught the flick finally so no harm, no foul.

What’s your deal with The Big Bus, Chuck?

Chuck: 1972 was a watershed moment for me as far as movies are concerned. At ten years of age, I’d seen my share of Disney films and weird Russian fantasy flicks as well as more grown up movies like Rosemary’s Baby and Planet of the Apes. But 1972 was the year The Poseidon Adventure was released, and that got me really interested in the spectacle of the all-star disaster movie (more so than 1970’s Airport), and how movies were made. 1974 brought the one-two punch of Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. The Big Bus wanted to skewer the genre with satire more than outright parody which the makers of Airplane! gave us (which has spawned endless parodies of genre films to this day with dwindling returns … Vampires Suck, anyone?), so the laughs may not be as broad as you would expect.

For me, a disaster movie loving kid of the 70s, I ate up the premise of The Big Bus and the big name stars the movie attracted. I may not have really known who they were, but they certainly all had recognizable faces (and this was two years before Stockard Channing hit it big with Grease, but I knew her from the 1973 TV movie The Girl Most Likely To …). The jokes, at the time, seemed spot on to spoof the movies I loved although seen today, a lot of them come off as a bit creaky. However, I will never stop laughing at the absurdity of a bowling alley on a moving bus.

Michael: The Big Bus — for those who don’t know anything about the film (and I understand if you don’t so I won’t hold that against you) — is a farcical romp in the same vein as Airplane!, released several years later. As a matter of fact, the mythology surrounding The Big Bus is such that it was the (little known) forefather to the well-received Abrahams and Zucker Brothers disaster spoof. So why did Airplane! get all the accolades of being a go-to comedy of the time leaving The Big Bus virtually forgotten? Having viewed it, I like to think it was not only the luck of the draw with more recognizable star power and better timing, but also the fact audiences weren’t ready for it at the time. In retrospect you can easily fathom its job was to pave the way for Airplane! and to prime the public for the shenanigans of Peter Graves and Company. Taking The Big Bus journey for the first time, it’s obvious it set the groundwork where Airplane! would later fly.

The film features the titular “character” (a nuclear-powered, extravagantly-appointed behemoth of a bus featuring a cocktail bar, bowling alley and pool among other amenities) making its inaugural run from New York to Denver. “Cyclops” (as the bus is referred to) boasts a signature clientele from which much of the film’s monkey business arises. Of course, what takes place before, during and at the conclusion of Cyclops’ journey is where the good times roll. There’s a lot of cheese cut loose in the film’s 88 minutes of mirth and mayhem, but there are some genuinely classic moments tucked away as well. Some of the highlights I enjoyed were the “bar” fight made up of nothing but veteran bus drivers (wielding dairy products) and the vaudevillian-esque antics of the immediately recognizable Harold Gould (The Sting) and Larry Hagman playing a parking lot doctor.

Chuck: Seeing The Big Bus today, and it’s been one of those movies that has not been treated very well in the home video market, it didn’t seem as funny as I had remembered when I was 14, but it still brought back memories of a time gone by, and it was great seeing a lot of stars who are no longer with us — Ruth Gordon, Larry Hagman, Harold Gould, Richard Mulligan and Lynn Redgrave among them. But thanks to the Warner Archive Collection’s deal with Paramount (the film’s original distributor), we once again have the film on DVD so that those of us who remember it can share with those we think may get a kick out of it. Like I did with my pal, Mr. Noble.

Michael: Speaking of the cast, The Big Bus is filled to capacity with some terrific fun names and faces, many of whom you will recognize but may find a challenge to put name to. While not A-listers by any stretch of the imagination, I was impressed by everyone filling the seats of the bus and elsewhere including Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, Rene Auberjonois, Ned Beatty, Jose Ferrer, Ruth Gordon and a falling-out-of-her-top (!!!) Sally Kellerman to name several. Of particular delight, and much to my surprise, Murphy Dunne (piano playing “Murph” of Murph and The Magic Tones from The Blues Brothers) was featured prominently with tons of enjoyable lines. (Note: The Blues Brother director John Landis pegged Dunne for his Magic Tones’ lead role after spying him in The Big Bus and in lieu of Paul Schaffer’s unavailability to take on the role at the time.)

Chuck: I also loved the fact that they actually built this monstrosity of a vehicle and drove it around California (Trailways is credited for their help in making the film)! Cyclops was not a scale model (and there was no CGI at the time)! This thing drove down winding highways and through towns while the locals looked on. That fact alone makes the movie worth watching. I would love to see the faces of the other unsuspecting drivers as that thing blew past them.

Michael: Spoof comedies weren’t really “a thing” in the mid-70s — they were just getting started and really came to fruition years later. But The Big Bus boasts some rather spiffy site gags and situations throughout, many being lifted in some way, shape or form for a good yuck. What has always amazed me is the fact spoofs such as these are made in the first place. They’re products of a specific place in time and many don’t translate well without any point of reference. As a rule, they rely on timely situations or histories or fads lost to audiences who view them years later. But The Big Bus and Airplane! got the jump on the spoof genre and kept the jokes across the board; they didn’t relegate them to some niche corner of the times. And that’s why — cheesy as much of this movie might be — there are plenty of relate-able moments or ones you can appreciate without straining your brain to figure out if something is funny or otherwise.

The Big Bus is available on DVD from the Warner Archive Collection and was provided to CliqueClack for review.