August 5, 2002.

"Why did they throw me out?  Why did those veterinarians disbar me?  Why did they take away my dog and cat hospital?  Why?  Because -- because I was ahead of my time.  That's why!  I was the only one with the courage to put an I.U.D. in a rabbit!"

Starring Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck, Rene Auberjonois, Ned Beatty, Murphy Dunne, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon, Harold Gould, Larry Hagman, Howard Hessman, Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, Lynn Redgrave, Richard B. Shull, and many more.  Music score by Davis Shire.  Executive producers, Michael and Julia Philips.  Written and produced by Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen.  Directed by James Frawley.  Released by Paramount in 1976.

The Big Bus.  It's 72 feet long, weighs 75 tons, rides on 36 tires, and is nuclear powered.  Along with the master passenger cabin, it's also equipped with a piano bar, a bicentennial dining room, a bowling alley and a swimming pool.  And it's about to ride off on it's inaugural non-stop trip from New York City to Denver, Colorado.

The big oil consortiums are not too happy to see a nuclear powered bus on the highways.  In order to maintain their stronghold on the world's energy reserves, it's not enough to simply destroy the bus, it must also be discredited.  So the oil-rich nations hire the professional saboteur "Ironman" and his henchman brother to do the job.  And the job is almost accomplished at the beginning of the movie during the last stages of construction.

A bomb explodes at the Cyclops construction facilities, but luckily the bus survived the blast unscathed.  Unfortunately, the two main drivers have been knocked out of commission, so it's up to bus designer Kitty Baxter to seek out alternate drivers.  And who does she find?  An old flame by the name of Dan Torrance, an excellent driver with a highly checkered past.  Let's just say his driving skills are unmatched, but his culinary choices are highly questionable.  Now Dan and his newfound but sensitive friend "Shoulders" O'Brien (i.e. highway shoulders) have the job of driving a huge oversized nuclear powered bus across the country on it's inaugural trip.

This movie was released four years before the landmark disaster movie spoof "Airplane".  Unfortunately, "The Big Bus" was a bit ahead of it's time and badly tanked at the box office which is regrettable considering the movie isn't all that bad to begin with.  Supported by a highly diversified cast of well-known movie and TV talent (check the names), the movie contains all the elements required to make this flick a decent and entertaining disaster spoof including the kind of problems you would probably encounter on a nuclear powered bus short of a nuclear meltdown.  The music score on it's own is surprisingly well written and perfectly integrated in this movie, disaster spoof or not.  There are some shortcomings such as a few bloopers, some minor editing and directing gaffes and the lack of a proper ending, but these shouldn't discourage you from enjoying this reasonably funny flick.  If anything, turn these minor gaffes into a drinking game!

Picture

2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen.  And aside from some MPEG artifacts in the bright red opening credits (can't be helped), the picture quality is better than expected for an obscure movie made back in 1976.  The image is a bit grainy and there is some dust and dirt on the print, much of it on the optical effects.  The black level is okay but shadow detail is lacking a bit.  The colors are reasonably well preserved throughout the movie and there's no sign of any added edge enhancement.

The prints of this movie survived the years much better than the prints from the movie "Airplane" which now have a severe brownish overcast.

Sound/Subtitles

We're offered both a brand new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack along with a restored mono soundtrack.  Luckily, the new multi-channel soundtrack hasn't been "overworked" to the point the movie sound worse than it's original release.  Instead, the excellent music score now has a much wider soundstage, and the sound effects are better positioned without being spread unnecessarily all over the place.  The slightly dated vocals are clear for the most part despite them sounding a bit harsh and distorted at times.

Also offered is a French mono soundtrack (sounds terrible) along with English subtitles.

Features

Absolutely nothing!  Not even a trailer!  We don't even get a sample of the movie's original artwork!

Final verdict

This movie was fun when I watched it countless times on VHS in pan & scan over twenty-five years ago, and it's still fun to watch today in all it's widescreen glory.  The only significant difference between then and now is that I can better see the flaws in the movie.  However, these flaws shouldn't discourage you from enjoying this flick one quiet evening when there's nothing better to watch.

Picture		Video	2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
Sound		Audio	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) FRENCH: Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono)
Story		Subtitles	English (captions)
Features		Features	None
Value		Final word	In a way, a movie that was way ahead of it's time.