Cast
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Joseph Bologna as Dan Torrance -
Stockard Channing as Kitty Baxter -
John Beck as Shoulders -
René Auberjonois as Father Kudos -
Ned Beatty as Shorty Scotty -
Bob Dishy as Dr. Kurtz -
José Ferrer as Ironman -
Ruth Gordon as Old Lady -
Harold Gould as Professor Baxter -
Larry Hagman as Parking Lot Doctor -
Sally Kellerman as Sybil Crane -
Richard Mulligan as Claude Crane -
Lynn Redgrave as Camille Levy -
Richard B. Shull as Emery Bush -
Stuart Margolin as Alex -
Howard Hesseman as Jack -
Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Mary Jane Beth Sue -
Walter Brooke as Mr. Ames -
Vic Tayback as Goldie -
Murphy Dunne as Tommy Joyce -
Raymond Guth as Farmer - Miriam Byrd-Nethery as Farmer's Wife
- Dennis Kort as Farmer's Son
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James Jeter as Bus Bartender -
Vito Scotti as Barber -
Harry Holcombe as Priest -
Morgan Upton as First Cemetery Man -
Beans Morocco as Second Cemetery Man - Della Thomas as Stewardess
- Jess Nadelman as TV Reporter
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Michael W. Schwartz as Bus Station Greeter - Selma Archerd as Bus Passenger
- Chuck Bergansky as Bus Passenger
- Joe Brooks as Bus Passenger
- Alex Brown as Bus Passenger
- Bart Carpinelli as Bus Passenger
- Richard Crystal as Bus Passenger
- Jerry DeWilde as Bus Passenger
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David Essex as Bus Passenger - Karalee Fenske as Bus Passenger
- Mickey Fox as Bus Passenger
- Harry Frazier as Bus Passenger
- Laurie Hagen as Bus Passenger
- An Tsan Hu as Bus Passenger
- Gregory C. Johnson as Bus Passenger
- Walter Lott as Bus Passenger
- Vincent Milana as Bus Passenger
- Judy Motulsky as Bus Passenger
- Erin Kathleen O'Reilly as Bus Passenger
- Nick Pellegrino as Bus Passenger
- Eugenie Ross-Leming as Bus Passenger
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Cynthia Szigeti as Bus Passenger - Ann Weldon as Bus Passenger
- Andrew Winner as Bus Passenger
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Carol Worthington as Bus Passenger - Bert Williams as Bus Passenger
Crew
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Lynn Stalmaster as Casting -
James Frawley as Director - Fred Freeman as Writer
- Edward Warschilka as Editor
- Lawrence J. Cohen as Writer
- Lawrence J. Cohen as Producer
- Fred Freeman as Producer
- Julia Phillips as Executive Producer
- Michael Phillips as Executive Producer
- David Shire as Original Music Composer
- Harry Stradling Jr. as Director of Photography
- Joel Schiller as Production Design
- Barbara Krieger as Set Decoration
- Marianna Elliott as Costume Design
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Gene LeBell as Stunts -
Gregory J. Barnett as Stunts
Movie info from
Socialize
The Big Bus would be an excellent rip-off of Airplane! except for one annoying detail: Airplane! is four years younger. It’s a disaster movie farce that relies on sight gags, absurd humor, melodramatic satire, and a cast that treats every scene as though it were deadly serious. It’s not the best movie in the world, but it’s a fun film nonetheless. I was left wondering if the Airplane! team had seen this movie or if some of the jokes were just the obvious way to go with the source material.
Cyclops is the world’s first nuclear-powered bus, travelling non-stop between New York City and Denver. Just before its maiden voyage, someone sabotages the depot, injuring the crew as well as Professor Baxter, lead Cyclops scientist. Baxter’s daughter Kim turns to the only other person qualified to drive such a complex piece of machinery, Dan Torrance. Torrance has problems of his own, however. Haunted by vicious rumors due to being the only survivor of an accident on Mount Diablo, Torrance is as unwilling to take the wheel as his fellow bus drivers are to let him.
Group photo, everyone! Squeeze in!
Viewers of a certain age — or interest in 1970s television — will recognize a lot of faces. Stockard Channing is about two years off her big role in Grease. Vic Tayback (short-order cook Mel in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and its spin-off TV sitcom, Alice) helps fill in Torrance’s back-story. René Auberjonois (Deep Space 9’s Odo) is a priest who has lost his faith (and his manners). We also get Richard Mulligan (Soap, Empty Nest), Larry Hagman (J. R. from Dallas), Howard Hesseman (WKRP), Ned Beatty (All the President’s Men and Network … in the same year as The Big Bus), Oscar-winner José Ferrer (), Sally “Hot Lips” Kellerman, Lynn Redgrave… it just keeps going.
Airplane! would take a similar approach to casting.
Much of The Big Bus’s humor is in its setting. The giant luxury bus has a fine dining suite, a cocktail lounge complete with lounge-singing pianist, and its own bowling alley. The bus prop itself is no joke — Wikipedia tells me that Cyclops strongly resembles the German Neoplan Jumbocruiser, itself involved in a roll-over accident caused by its driver fumbling with a cup of coffee. Cyclops was apparently road-worthy, and we do get to see it in several exterior scenes.
Oh, that lounge singer is Second City alumn George “Murphy” Dunne, of Blues Brothers “Murph and the Magic-Tones” fame. The Magic-Tones were also four years in the future.
Just as Airplane! would four years later, The Big Bus leaned heavily on sight gags, deadpan delivery, and exaggeration of disaster film tropes. It’s not as funny as Airplane!, although it’s hard to pin down why. Maybe we get a little too much backstory for too many characters. Some of the jokes go on too long. Some don’t land. The editing isn’t as tight as it could be. But The Big Bus is one of just a few movies that commit so totally to the absurdist bit. Besides Airplane!, we have Hot Shots and The Naked Gun and … I’m not sure what else. It’s rarified company, is what I’m saying, and while The Big Bus is not as good as many of these, it’s better than most movie spoofs and has place in regular rotation as far as I’m concerned.
“If you have not secured yourself properly simply look for these telltale signs: profuse bleeding of the gums, clumps of hair falling out, and intermittent blindness.”