The Big Bus

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The Big Bus

PG,

1976,

1h 28m,

Comedy/

Action

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Watchlist

64%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

57%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Bad drivers (Joseph Bologna, John Beck) and disaster threaten oddball passengers of a huge atomic bus going from New York to Denver.

Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

May 9, 2023

It's not easy to be so bad so well, but The Big Bus has an expert cast.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Apr 30, 2023

2/4

Thankfully for filmgoers, Airplane! was right around the corner.

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Apr 25, 2023

3.5/5

The Big Bus goes for laughs at every conceivable point but when it hits, it hits.

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Bernard Drew

Gannett News Service

Nov 4, 2019

You should never feel the creators desperately trying to force laughs where they don't naturally exist. That is the main problem of James Frawley's The Big Bus.

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Mark Morrison

Los Angeles Free Press

Oct 31, 2019

What we have here is a strident comedy which is wholly off-target.

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Paul Chambers

Movie Chambers

Nov 1, 2013

B

Before there was "Airplane," there was "The Big Bus." The granddaddy of the disaster spoof movies came out in 1976, and despite its unevenness, it's quite the hoot.

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Albus W

Apr 12, 2019

Never quite as funny as it thinks it is, with the jokes coming too slowly and too self-consciously, rarely rising in absurdity above the level of a screwball improv sketch, devolving into outright punches rather than punchlines, and the actors vacillating between playing each scene straight or with a slight wink.

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Theodore S

Apr 16, 2018

Fun disaster-film parody that pre-dates Airplane. Great cast, great gags, great lines. STill holds up

Draco R

Oct 8, 2017

If it wasn't for Life of Brian, this would be my #1 comedy film. Eminently quotable. From the top of my head: "But you're a Doctor" "Yes, and I intend to keep it that way." "Watch it he's got a broken milk carton." "Eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal. What a world." "Six Months to live, that's all you have now..." "I know it looked like I fell but it was all part of my plan." It has a great cast, hamming it up to the nines. Still makes me giggle.

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Poe W

Aug 21, 2017

It's now over forty years old, and few people will have heard of this (mostly) very funny precursor to Airplane! James Crawley encourages his cast to play it very fast and straight, which is why this stupid story of a nuclear-powered bus with a bomb on board is such a hoot. It loses focus at the halfway point, but just hearing Joseph Bologna scream that he never ate 110 passengers, "I only ate a foot!" is why it's still a gem.

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James Frawley

Director

Joseph Bologna

Dan Torrance

Stockard Channing

Kitty Baxter

John Beck

Shoulders

Rene Auberjonois

Father Kudos

Ned Beatty

Shorty Scotty

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Synopsis

Bad drivers (Joseph Bologna, John Beck) and disaster threaten oddball passengers of a huge atomic bus going from New York to Denver.

Director: James Frawley
Producer: Fred Freeman, Lawrence J. Cohen
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 15, 2011
Runtime: 1h 28m

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