BY NATE TRUMAN

I am always glad to see that an original star car has been kept and loved by a fan or fans over the years, no matter how obscure.  I was at the right age when the bugaloos came on to have a crush on the pretty british girl on the show, and sit through the silly antics of Sid and Marty Kroft shows, so even though you may have never heard of the bugaloos or their buggy, I thought it deserved a mention in my star car blogs!  I knew the show was awful, but hey, she was cute, and there was nothing else on. And she was cute.

The only reason to watch the Bugallos!

We only had a few channels way back then, and kids shows you took what you could find on Saturday mornings, then it went to golf around 11am!

I have gathered together some photos below as well as “official” write ups about the car from my star car books (the ones made with paper) for those who want to learn more!  Its disappeared and changed hands over the years, but it’s back in the light and up for sale next month in Europe!  It could definitely roll with StarcarCentral.com members, but not sure without the fairies in the car, it would be recognized any more, as the show was on for such a short time.  Now as for the cute british girl, she lives in Spain and has a daughter.  I Think it was just that cute accent….  After sitting through a few videos,,  I still think she’s a cutie pie, but the show is even worse than I remembered! Yikes! What was Sid and Marty smoking back then?

Mercedes-Benz World will soon host the sale of some of the wackiest cars ever made, including the Bugaloos Buggy from the  children’s TV show of the ’70s.

The Bugaloos Buggy was used on The Bugaloos tv show between 1970 and 1972.

This was from the era of the fiberglass dune buggies, and all the custom car makers were doing big business selling and customizing these drop on bodies during the late 60-s and 70′s.

the Bugaloos Buggy was purchased by a collector from a Barris Auction in 1983. The car is said to have come directly from L.A., and spent some time in a Spanish museum. After that, the buggy was sold to another collector in 1990, and was placed in underground storage in 1993 where it remained for at least a decade.

Buggy with current owner, Gary Hillman (r), and creator, George Barris

Buggy

Seen in public for the first time since being sold at auction in 1983, the Bugaloo Buggy is pictured above featured in a car show in Sweden, April 10-12.

The Bugaloo Buggy has been found – AGAIN! The last we knew of the whereabouts of the Buggy was in France in dark, underground storage. Well, I am happy to say the Buggy is back in the light and has a new owner, Gary Hillman!

Bugaloo Buggy info from cars of the stars book:

the Bugaloos Buggy, featured on “The Bugaloos” television series.  Since the concept of the show, starring Martha Raye and the four Bugaloos, showed the group with wings enabling them to fly, it was determined logical for the car to “fly” and to “ride” on water.  The buggy was equipped with two large flapping butterfly wings, and twin screws installed under the rear body for high-powered water sporting.  Oversized headlights looked like the eyes of a bug, while the  taillights were tunneled portholes that illuminate at night.  Wide oval Firestone tires were installed on Ansen one-piece sprint wheels.  The interior was individualized for each Bugaloo – each star having his/her own telephone system and Muntz stereo tape system with individual earphones.  The buggy was painted in a green, yellow and orange butterfly theme with orange and purple pinstripes. – Cars of the Stars, ©1974

 But if speed is more your thing than nostalgia, the Snake Pit (above), also built by Barris, will be a better fit. Made specifically to break speed records, the huge Snake Pit has an estimated 2,000bhp from six Ford Cobra V8 engines.
This inordinately complicated caricature of a car has 48 exhausts, two Ford automatic transmissions, 12 four-barrel carburetors and two Pontiac rear axles.
The bright orange car will be difficult to park for two reasons: it’s 23-foot long, and it doesn’t work, so the buyer will have to employ someone with the taste and skills for the extraordinary to start having a go at land speed records again.
There’s not reserve, but fully functional it’s reportedly worth around $100,000 (£65,000).  The Bunkbeds is another star turn that doesn’t work, though when it does it has a Ferrari-matching 600bhp from an, erm, headboard-mounted V8 engine. It promises to be the best handling bunk bed ever made, thanks to Formula One-wide Goodyear tyres and disc brakes on all four wheels; it can be steered from either the top or bottom bunk.
It’s worth around £15,000 – around the same price as all manner of family cars guaranteed to send their occupants to sleep.

All the cars will be sold at the Historics at Brooklands sale at Mercedes-Benz World, Surrey, on Saturday February 18.

By Jim Suva

The trailer used as Jim Rockford’s mobile home is a 1959 Nashua House Trailer. They used one trailer for exterior shots, mostly at Paradise Cove, Malibu. According to Rob Howe the interiors of the trailer were built on Stage 23 at Universal Studios.  It had the exterior trailer skin on one side(the front), but not the full length of the front side.  It was a set.  The fourth wall was removable, since most of the shots were shooting from behind Rockford’s desk toward the door.  When Jim sat behind the desk and the camera was on him, the fourth wall would be set up behind him with the pictures on it.  Picture above is from The Official James Garner Facebook Fan Page.

Here is an add for the trailer from 1959.

Pat Mc Kinney is probably the most die-hard fan of the show The Rockford File. Pat owns three original screen-used Firebirds from the TV series, plus crew jackets and other props from the show.

This past spring Pat came across a 1959 Nashua trailer, very close to the original that was used on the TV series. It belonged to a customer that Pat was working for at the time. Pat saw it out of the corner of his eye and asked the owner if he realize he had a trailer identical to Jim Rockford’s. The owner asked Pat if he would like to look inside. Of course Pat said yes! The owner’s daughter was living in the trailer at the time. Once he looked inside he could not believe his eyes! It was set up just like Rockford’s trailer! Pat gave him his business card and told him if he ever wanted to sell it, he would be interested.

Two months later the owner called up Pat and told him his daughter was getting married and moving out. He wanted to get a new trailer for his back yard. He told Pat the trailer has been in the back yard since it was practically new. Needless to say Pat jumped at the opportunity.

In June 2011, Pat had the trailer moved to a storage facility near his home. It arrived there in perfect time to be part of the 1^st Annual Rockford File Fest. Below are some pictures of the trailer, taken at the Fest. It was so cool to actually walk inside this trailer and feel like you were in Jim Rockford’s home!

Pat’s plans at the time were to repaint the trailer and redo the interior to look exactly like the trailer used on the series. Pat believes the front door and windows were actually moved forward, to make the trailer on the show more accessible. Pat’s trailer has the extra window near the front of the trailer, which needs to be relocated to the kitchen area. Pat has been collecting items that matched those used on the show. Pat met with Robert Zilliox, the set designer from the series and the movies. Robert is currently looking for his pictures from the actual set to help recreate the trailer. Pat’s intentions are to use the trailer at all future Rockford events.

However, Pat is currently at a crossroads. He wants to complete the restoration of his 1977 Firebird, and has two more Firebirds to go. Since the economy is not doing well, Pat would like to see if any Rockford/James Garner fans would be interested in donating funds to help keep the trailer in storage, or to help with the cost of recreating the Rockford Trailer.

Please contact Pat at pemckinney@hotmail.com if you would like to donate to the restoration fund, or would be able to help recreate this trailer.

This could be a great opportunity for the fan’s of The Rockford Files to help recreate a piece of television history!

On a rainy day television shoot, SCC member Dave Kunz turned me on to this story of the Hawaii 5-0′s Mercury.

If I am channel surfing and see Hawaii 5-0 (for the fiftieth state) I will watch to see if I can catch a chase scene with huge American cars tearing around the roads of Hawaii.   There is not much info on the cars from the TV series so I will simply let Michael Timothy tell the story of his car, his way!  Read on, Star Car fans!

Swishing Tahitian hips, flashing blue lights, boom-boom-boom giant combers crashing into shore, jerky camera shots and a black Mercury hardtop racing off into the Hawaiian night.

For twelve remarkable years, from September, 1968, to April, 1980, the U.S. television public was treated to a weekly viewing of CBS Television’s number one rated series, Hawaii Five-O. For at least six of those years, my Mercury was the automotive star of that show. A trip to Hawaii in March, 1986, and subsequent return with Steve McGarrett’s undercover car ended a burning desire to acquire this special Mercury and make it part of my collection. Here is as much of the story as I can disclose.

For many years I was impressed with the big, black hardtop — a 1968 Mercury Parklane Brougham 4-door. This car was used from the series premiere on September 26, 1968, to its partial destruction during the 1978 season. This car is perhaps the most photographed Mercury in existence, having appeared in approximately 130 Five-O episodes. Three black Mercurys were used by McGarrett during the life of the series; the least frequently seen was a ’67 Marquis, black, red interior. [A 2-door car.] This vehicle was used in filming the pilot and for stock footage. My Brougham took over once the series began and was in use by McGarrett through the 1973 season. In ’74, McGarrett got his last Mercury, a triple black ’74 Marquis Brougham 4-door hardtop. Someone go out and find this one. [This is the one owned by John Boley Nordium, Jack Lord's stunt double.]

Eventually, my desire for this car led me to acquire a ’68 Parklane convertible which I still have, and which is currently undergoing restoration. The convertible was fun but did not satisfy my desire to get a Hawaii Five-O car. As the years passed, and as I learned more about the show, I became determined to track the car down and determine its fate.

Through a mutual acquaintance, I was put in touch with the show’s star and part owner, Jack Lord. At that time, March, 1986, he was essentially retired from public life. From studying each of the show’s episodes I knew that the car was partially destroyed in a 1978 episode entitled “Number One With a Bullet.” It was now eight years later and there was virtually no assurance that any trace of the car could be found. Regardless, I set off for Honolulu International Airport.

CBS had long shut down Five-O production. However, to amortize production costs, a new series, Magnum, P.I. took over. Magnum used most of the Five-O production facilities. I knew that CBS maintained a production warehouse at Fort Ruger, and that’s where I headed. If the car still existed, it likely was in that warehouse, broken and battered. Some small talk, a little quick thinking on my part, and a generous bribe got me into the warehouse. I told the security guard why I was there and what I was looking for. In his best pidgin English he told me I was crazy — what did I want with that old heap? But he took me directly to the remains of the once proud car — it still existed! But not by much, for it truly had become a sad sight. Every panel was dented or missing; moderate front end damage from the altercation with the Kumu (Hawaiian Mafia) in its last TV appearance; many trim parts were missing; interior ripped, partially burned and ravaged by a mongoose who made a home in the trunk. A few minutes later I left with only a record of what was left of the VIN number. Then the real work began.

Upon my return to Chicago, the untold story unfolded. Numerous phone calls to CBS-TV public relations and legal departments were made. CBS personnel disavowed all knowledge of ownership of the car. I also knew that Ford Motor Co. supplied many shows, including Five-O with cars to feature. Neither Ford Motor nor Lincoln-Mercury public relations departments had any records going back to 1968, though certain employees knew from “old-timers” that corporate-owned, or “program” cars, would frequently be donated to producers and the networks for production use only. Still, I knew the car existed but could not get anyone to claim ownership, much less desire to sell the hulk.

Needless to say, I eventually wore down CBS to the point that they were pleased to get that corner of the warehouse cleared out and me out of their hair. I did not get a bill of sale, but what legally amounted to a “quit-claim” of any interest that CBS, as a bailee of the car, might assert. A check with the Hawaii Department of Motor Vehicles showed no evidence of the car ever being titled or plated on the Island. Several months, countless long distance phone calls later, the hulk was crated up and transferred by Sea-Land Transport to Long Beach, California. From there, train or truck got the remains into Chicago.

Is this, in fact, the actual car used in the show? I do not know and cannot confirm with hard facts. But circumstances strongly suggest this is the car. When I got it, damage was consistent with the car’s last appearance in “Number One With a Bullet.” The roof was drilled for a dummy antenna, as seen on the car in the series. The car was in Hawaii in a warehouse owned, leased, or rented by the producers of Magnum, P.I. This series was part of the CBS Television Network in 1986. And, much to my delight, there was a series of 10 photos in an envelope which was tucked away in the glove compartment. The pictures showed several shots of the car interior, exterior, and many of Jack Lord entering his on-location motor home. The pictures were all taken in downtown Honolulu in mid 1972. From the location it appears that the episode “‘V’ For Vashon” was being filmed. With these pictures in hand (actually, in the glove compartment), I was reasonably satisfied that this was the car.

About the car itself: It’s a ’68 Parklane Brougham 4-door hardtop. The car is fairly well equipped, with a 428-4V(345 hp), C-6 automatic, power steering, power front disc brakes, power windows, power seat, A/C, AM/FM, and cruise control. The car is all black and must have been terrible to sit in for six years in the hot Hawaiian sun.

The restoration effort took three years, and involved approximately nine parts cars. Little is original from the car as it existed in Hawaii. I have made a few minor modifications from the car’s original configuration — a bumper trailer hitch was purposely left off and the antenna was moved from the front fender of the car to the rear quarter panel because that’s what my parts cars had at the time of assembling the restoration. However, the engine is untouched, unrebuilt, and at 75,000 miles is more than capable of pursuing criminals to swift justice. All exterior sheetmetal was replaced. The original Brougham interior was thrown out, as after the mongoose was through with it, it had become a health hazard. The vinyl top was replaced, most chrome redone, and the car treated to multiple coats of PPG two-stage urethane enamel. Now we were ready to cruise Diamond Head once again.

Where does Jack Lord fit into the story? Quite actually, nowhere. I did solicit his assistance to open doors at CBS corporate and was met with stony silence. He has a very chatty wife who thinks the project is a lot of fun, and won’t Jack be thrilled to see the finished result, and no, dear, I don’t think he wants to drive the car again, because you know he spent six years in that car in full makeup and his white dress shirts with that hot Hawaiian sun and if you’re reading this, you can book me, Jack, but I still won’t give your car back.

More photos and info at IMCDB

and for a look at many of the vehicles that appeared with Tim’s car, take a look at this page with lots of vintage photos of the vehicles that got Jack Lord and Danno around the islands!

This article originally appeared in Quicksilver, a publication of the International Mercury Owner’s Association.

The “Vipers” were the fighter jets and were super cool even if they didn’t make any sense, all engine and no fuel.  There were a few electric carts inside the ships of the rag tag fleet, but nothing that would count as “star cars”.  Then the reboot of the series “Battlestar Galactica: 1980″ brought to the little screen some super cool motorcycles, that also happened to fly!

I was “Starbuck” at Universal Studios for a summer, sitting in a metal chair out in the sun waiting for a stupid light to come on so I could rush in and save a tram full of visitors from the Cylons and Lucifer, their commander. “By the twelve colonies of man, I demand that you release these prisoners!”  No, the lines will NEVER leave my head, and they go with the “moves” I had to do over and over.  Burst in, say line – laser fight, dodge laser, then  duck, shoot, roll, shoot.  “Go on,  get out of here, I’ll be all right!” more lasers.  Then back to the hot chair outside. So glamorous!  The weird part was the costumes we used for the display were the actual costumes from the show that was off the air at that point! (1983) It was about that time I saw one of these bikes pass me on the 101 freeway with proper light up Egyptian helmet and it put a big grin on my face!

Here’s some info straight from the guys who built the bikes, and you can see more of what they did back “in the day” on their site.

Galactica 1980 – Visual Effects Model Maker – Flying Motorcycles.

The Model Shop was on such a tight schedule, they were designing, building, and painting the three motorcycles at the same time. Patterns for some parts were being carved in foam while other finished parts were being painted. The model crew was working on a half motorcycle when time ran out and the effects crew simply cut a finished motorcycle in half. Production waits for no one. The base motorcycle was a Yamaha MX 175. It was bought from North Hollywood Yamaha by Richard Bennett in 1979.

Yamaha MX 175
Base Motorcycle, Yamaha MX 175. Note a launch tube section and the Draconia from Buck Rogers in the background.

Finished Motorcycles

Construction
Left to right, Kent Gebo, Jerry Alen, David Jones, John Kaler, Vance Frederick.

Construction
Left to right, Richard Bennitt, Jerry Alen, Ed Schlegelmilch, Kent Gebo.

We designed the motorcycles as we built them. Note finished fiberglass parts and foam core study parts.

We built two full functioning motorcycles and one dummy which was a working motorcycle, but without the moving wings and other added mechanicals. Unfortunately, we were not finished with the dummy when they needed a half motorcycle to hang on a helicopter, so they chopped a functional motorcycle in half.

Kenneth A. Larson, AKA Ken Larson, was involved with Battlestar Galactica and Galactica 1980 as model maker starting with about the sixth episode. This is when Universal Hartland took over from MCA-57. Ken Larson was already working on Buck Rogers when Universal Hartland was established. Kenneth A. Larson is now a Set Designer who often designs CGI sets and well as Visual Effects models.

Most of the first half of Kenneth Larson’s three decades in the entertainment industry was spent designing and building models for Visual Effects. He worked on Battlestar Galactica concurrently with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Airport ’79. In the Fall of 1979, work began on Galactica 1980 and Ken Larson worked concurrently on Buck Rogers and Galactica 1980.

(Back to Me, Nate talking now)  That’s the best and pretty much only site with info on these cool rides.

These bikes are still in a garage somewhere, I have heard too many stories of people who saw them leaning in the back of a garage.  I haven’t tracked them down yet but if you have a lead or own them, send me a comment on the blog!   Better yet, I can lean them in the back of MY batcave!  I will also make room for a Viper space ship too. Just sayin!  I will RIDE them! Play with your toys people!

Of course if you HAVE to have a Battlestar Galactica CAR, there is always Dean’s creation from New York!

After bumping into Rex Smith a few weeks back I realized I had not blogged about his “Starcar” show from the 80′s, “STREETHAWK”!

Rex told me he didn’t know where the original motorcycles were, and he wanted to own one, real or replica!  Well as we talked, a fan of the show and the bike showed up and had a piece of the handlebars with him, and we started talking about his project to recreate the Streethawk bike, just as the Batmobile and Knight Rider fans etc. have done!  Finding an old bike as a donor kit may be hard to do, but this is a “from scratch” project!  Hopefully our combined efforts and information will help either find an original screen used bike or come up with a sharp replica for the fans who want one, as well as one for Rex!   So – if you want to get your own starcar, but don’t have the time, money or crazy to build a Back to the Future Delorean or Ghostbuster car, here’s a lower cost quest you can join!

Here are the facts:

Street Hawk’s Specs

MODEL: Top secret government project.
TOP SPEED: 200 MPH, 300 MPH with Hyperthrust
WEAPONRY: Laser Cannon, Machine Guns, Rocket Launcher
OTHER FEATURES: Infrared Cameras, Compressed Air Vertical Lift System, On and off road capability

Street Hawk before it’s conversion

This bike is similar to what Street Hawk looked like before its conversion. There was actually a total of 15 bikes made for the show and there were three different types of bikes that were used:

* A 1983 Honda XL500 was used to make the bike used in the pilot episode.
* 3 1984 Honda XR500′s were used to make the bike during the series.
* 11 1984 Honda CR250′s were used to make the bikes for the stunt scenes during the series.

The making of Street Hawk

Street hawk was originally designed by Andrew Probert. His design was used to create the bike used in the pilot episode of Street Hawk. Below are two of his concept drawings of Street Hawk. On the top is the original concept bike, and on the bottom is the final design after producers revisions.

Below are some pictures of the bike being converted into Street Hawk.

The bikes used in the show
From what I can tell there were four different styles of bikes used during the life of the show.

STYLE 1

The first was only used in the pilot episode and did not contain the missile launcher or machine guns. This was the bike originally designed by Andrew Probert. As an interesting side note, the bike used i the pilot was built by the same team that was involved in building the cars in
Blade Runner and the Last Starfighter.

STYLE 2

The second bike, which was designed by Ron Cobb was quite different from the bike used in the pilot episode. The nose now contains a missile launcher and machine guns. The body of the bike is also very different from the bike in the pilot episode. As you can tell there isn’t nearly as much detail in the exhaust of the bike and the body of the bike is much wider. As far as I can tell this style of bike was only used in the episode “A Second Self”.

STYLE 3

The third bike as you can tell has a much rounder nose than the second, but this is the only notable difference that I can see. This bike, I believe was used in the remaining episodes except “murder is a Novel Idea”.

STYLE 4

The fourth bike is different than any of the others. It is kind of a mix between the pilot bike and the bike used in the rest of the episodes. The main differences are that the front end still has the missile launcher and machine gun but the area where these are contained is very different. The other difference is that the exhaust has no detail. It is just plain silver with no black markings

The bike today

These are pictures of the one of the bikes from when it went up for sale on EBay in September 2000. It sold for $12,000 -

Here is a newspaper clipping from Wales about Chris Bromham, the current owner of one of the original bikes (Thanks go to Jonathan Jones for the scan).

I like this Chris guy, he is ripping it up on the original bike!

One of the bikes is also located at the Cars to the Stars museum in England.

IF YOU OWN, OR KNOW WHERE ANY OF THESE BIKES ARE NOW, WE WANT TO KNOW! WE ARE TRYING TO REUNITE AN ORIGINAL OR REPLICA BIKE WITH THE STAR OF THE SHOW, REX SMITH!
For lots more info on the series, visit the site where this info came from HERE!  Always great to find hardcore fans for each of the famous screen used Movie and TV Vehicles!

As my time to write up articles about famous movie and TV cars has been trunkated by new projects,  here at least is what’s been going on around  SCC the past month or so!

Fireball Tim -movie and TV car designer and pal to the SCC has been doing fun short videos over on his site and working his way through the SCC line up!

Chuck aka “Rod Riguez” is the latest captured on camera with Fireball!

before that both Jerry with his Herbie, and Lou with his Starsky and Hutch Torino took Tim for a spin as well!

This last weekend a few SCC members headed out to the Pumpkin Festival in Calabassas and had a great time with the Great Pumpkin!

HERBIE AND ROBOCOP? ONLY AT STARCARCENTRAL.COM!

A few of the “southern” SCC guys did a mid week event at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival and dropped off the movie makers and stars to the red carpet in September GARY with his KITT from Knight Rider, TONY  and his SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT Trans Am along with  JERRY and his HERBIE.

Our annual appearance at the South Pasadena Police and Fire Open house was a big gathering and lots of fun as well!

The “HERBIE’S” took a road trip finding many of the filming locations from their “Love Bug” movies ending up at where else? Disneyland!

Then Ten star cars were on display at “Crusin for a Cure” to help find a cure for Prostate Cancer – A surprise visit from a new Green Hornet from San Diego area was a highlight!

(Photos you ask? Well, my computer crashed and guess what went with it?) I did meet up with a new star car pal,
with his Frese -McQueen – He works at Disney so no copyright infringement is implied. How about “Thunder-McQueen?” (Copyright Nate Truman 2011)

Then the 10-4 day parade down hollywood blvd had Adam-12 and Robocop along with the Batmobile with lights and sirens blaring to honor policemen and women both real and “REEL”

Here’s a fan video from up above, of the police cars followed by THE BATMOBILE!  “That is not Batman and Robin!” you are correct, we are wasting gas and having fun with our old cars. 

A group display showed up at the Route 66 9/11 event and tribute up in the Northern part of Los Angeles as well!

Then a visit with the cast of the 1966 Batman televisions series, a meeting with Doc Savage aka Tarzan, aka Ron Ely -

and a get together with Rex Smith star of “Streethawk” in an effort to build him a Streethawk bike mold so he can get back on

his TV star car.  (Anyone have any info on the whereabouts of the Streethawk bikes? Also looking for a 80′s Reb Brown Capt. America Bike, and a Battlestar Galactica 1980 Bike and Helmet set!)

Next up is the Harmony Car show!  If you want to stop by and see the SCC up close and in person, here’s your next event.
Harmony Car Show
When: Saturday
Time:(10am-3pm)
Where: Barnes Park 320 W. New Mark Monterey Park,Ca 91754
Will we see JASON  and his new TMNT VAN?
ALEX KITT OSCAR MAGNUM P.I.
NATE (That’s me! I will actually get to attend one of my own events!) and I will drive either the BATMOBILE OR THE A-TEAM VAN, JERRY HERBIE, JON TRANSFORMERS BUMBLEBEE,
MARK ROBOCOP AND ALWAYS FUN FLOR WITH HER SCREEN USED WOODY ALLEN ISETTA COP CAR

AFTER BURNER OR TREAT!

Well, heres some great info on Rockford Files by Jim!  Now where are the super fans for all the other shows?  Send me links to great informative stuff about star car shows, and you may see your work right here!

Contact Jim if you know there whereabouts of the truck used in the show.  Heres some more info on the Rockford Files remake in 1994.

Nate Truman

Rockford Files 1994

Written by Jim Suva

Picture by Paul Santo

In 1994, “The Rockford Files” was coming back to TV in a series of 8 movies. These movies were broadcast on CBS. Now Pontiac was out of the TV and Movie car product placement by this time.  But because of their great fondness of the show, General Motors sent out two Pontiac Trans Am convertibles to be used as Jim Rockford’s car. These Trans Am’s were specially equipped cars, and were prepared at a local Chevy-Buick-GMC dealership.

James Garner decided that he want to go with the 1978 Firebirds for the movies. Pontiac was not very fond of this idea. They want to promote the new TA convertibles. Personally, I think James Garner made the right decision. The 1978 Firebird will always be Jim Rockford’s car. GMC did provide the pickup trucks used on the movies. That is why Jim switches off between the Firebird and the new GMC Z71 pickup truck, he helped promote the trucks.

Steve Hellerstein, the Universal Studio’s transportation coordinator for the Rockford movies, contacted Cinema Vehicle Services. It was their job to recreate the Firebird.  Steve Hofmann and Steve Reich were given the task.

They used local Car For Sale magazines, since the Internet at the time was not nearly what it is today! They located three Firebirds in the Los Angele area. They purchased a Red Bird, a Formula and an Esprit. None of these Firebirds were the right color or had the right color interiors. Because of the appeal of “The Rockford Files” and James Garner, General Motors went the extra mile in helping locate parts to restore these Firebirds, Steve Reich told me. He would call up GM with a list of parts and they would use their locator system to track the parts down for them. As an example, GM located three rally wheels at a dealership in Ohio. They would give Steve the name and phone number and he would order the parts from them directly. One item, a wheel well trim piece was sent direct from a display at the Norwood Ohio assembly plant.

Steve remembers that the interior pieces were custom made from a company in Kentucky. To recreate the color of the Firebird, CBS used the episode of “Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs” from the last season. They used Medium Camel Tan from a screen capture. Unfortunately, this color appears differently on screen, depending on the individual TV color settings. The correct color, we now know, is Light Topaz, which Pat McKinney matched from two of his screen-used Firebirds.

Of course today there are a number of companies that make reproduction parts for Firebirds, now that they are considered classic muscle cars. That would have made Steve Reich and Steve Hofmann’s life a lot easier.

Picture by Paul Santo

The GMC Pickup trucks used in the Rockford Movies were prepared at Rydell Chevrolet in the San Fernando Valley. Steve Reich told me that this dealership’s location is closed. Vista Group again coordinated these trucks for the show through General Motors. Steve told me that each of the GMC Z71 pickups had the 5.7 V8 engines and were fully loaded.

Steve Reich has another interesting story. Back in 1994, Pontiac Racing contacted Steve about giving James Garner a custom-made black leather jacket. According to Gary Claudio, who worked for GM, the jacket had the Pontiac Racing logo on the back. The jacket also had the Pontiac Racing logo on the left chest area. Gary believes the arms of the jacket had the black and white racing flag checkerboard design on the sleeves. This jacket was custom made with hand stitching and “James Garner” was embroidered on the inside lining. Since James Garner was bringing back “The Rockford Files”, GM decided this would be a nice gift for all of the years of loyalty to Pontiac and GM. The jacket was designed and made by Jeff Hamilton. Only six of these jackets were made.

Gary Claudio was originally supposed to fly out to LA and present the jacket to James Garner, but something came up, so he sent the jacket to Steve Hofmann, who gave it to Jim on the set of The Rockford Files movie. Jim immediately put it on and was very happy with the gift. James Garner was schedule to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” to promote the first Rockford Movie. NBC did not want Jim to wear the Pontiac jacket on the show because of the Pontiac logos. Free publicity is not a good thing! Jim said, “I am wearing it on the show, or I am not going to be on the show.” Guess what? Jim wore it on “The Tonight Show”. What a classy guy!

I confirmed this story with Gary Claudio. He told me that at the Indy 500 that year, he met with Jay Leno. Jay confirmed the story. In fact, later that same day, Gary met Jim in the Chevy Hospitality suite at the track. Jim was proudly wearing the jacket, even though some of the Chevy guys were giving him a few odd glances. Now that is loyalty!

Steve Hofmann and Steve Reich currently work for Film Vehicle Services. Both of these gentlemen are true Rockford Files fans. As another fan, I want to thank them for all the trouble they went to, to bring the Firebird back for the Rockford Movies. By the way, James Garner made sure that they each received a Rockford Files watch for all their hard work. Steve Reich still has it at home in the original box.

If anyone has information about the GMC Z71 pickups from the Rockford Movies, please contact me at jimsuva34@aol.com.

Can you name them all?

After THE BIG BUS write up, it got me thinking about the more obscure star cars I have encountered in my searches over the last 30 years or so.   There are a few foreign films that featured custom cars with lots of gadgets.  There is one  Pugeot with wings that comes to mind, but that’s another blog!

This article is a long time in the making.  I first became aware of  Il Tempo Gigante when I saw photos of it in an old book on concept cars called “DREAM CARS” that was originally printed in France.

because it was printed in Europe, it included the most famous movie car of Norway!  As I had never seen the film, nor was I from Norway I sort of glossed over it as a rip off of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Decades later my starcar pals alerted me to a shirt design I would probably like that featured the outlines of most of the famous movie/tv and video game vehicles.

All my star car buddies snapped up a shirt or two, and we happily started pointing out all the movies attached to each vehicle.  Some where easy, others took a bit of thinking, but the Star Car Central members eventually identified all of them except one, and I decided it was the  Il Tempo Gigante.

I would say “I knew what it was from my old book, but it was in a box somewhere and I never got around to getting it out to find the name of the film or car to start my search.”   But I am finally tired of telling my pals “I know what it is, I have it in a book, but I just have to find it!” So here it is in all it’s glory.

Now if you are from Norway, you may think “How can anyone in the world not know this car?”  But for the rest of the lovers of star cars that DON”T live in Norway or Russia or Japan allow me to introduce the star car I finally got around to blogging about!

Flåklypa Grand Prix (released as an English dubbed version under the title Pinchcliffe Grand Prix) is a Norwegian stop motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust. It is the most widely-seen Norwegian film of all time, having sold some 5.5 million tickets since its release to a population which currently numbers just 4.9 million!!!

Here is the car in action!

The family that made the hit movie also made a full size working version of the stop motion animated car, and it’s a hit where ever it goes!

As always, if you want to be an expert, go to Wikipedia for lots of info on the movie and its history. Or just go to the site of the creators of the movie, and the car and take a look around!

As for the full scale car they did an amazing job of making a fantastic looking and sounding star car!

Listen to this motor as it comes off a trailer!

It’s obvious it is a well loved star car in Norway if you watch the videos of the car driving around on youtube.  Hey, it’s an official Star Car when people take the time to crossgeek

it with other starcars, like James bond! Ian Fleming actually headed up a comando unit in Norway during WWII . He also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang all before this film came out, so Fleming’s influence can be seen as well in the Tempo Gigante.

On a side note on CrossGeeking (TM nate Truman 2003) it is rumored that Lucas used the race scene from this movie as a inspiration for the StarWars Pod race

in Episode one!  StarWars experts, what do you think? Arab backer, problems on the starting line, mid race repairs, dirty tricks, I can see why it came up!

May just be that Norway knows this movie so well, when they saw Star Wars, many fans saw the similarities?  We may never know! Star Wars fans have stated ”The podrace sequence on Tatooine appears heavily influenced, if not lifted wholesale, from the chariot race in Ben-Hur. Other films likely to have influenced the pod race are Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause, which featured actor James Dean, a partial inspiration for Anakin Skywalker’s character, and John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix, which not only features the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune but also features camerawork done by Lucas himself.”

The Arab backer seems familiar though…..

Anyway, that’s what I thought the car is, but now looking at it, it looks more like it’s got three wheels and it has paint brushes.   It’s also not included in the new version of the shirt, so anyone else have a guess?  It’s not the back of  Il Tempo Gigante! from The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, but it did make me finally write about it!

Of course you have seen “AIRPLANE!” and if you read my updates you probably can quote many lines from the film.  But before “AIRPLANE!” parodied all the Airport movies of the 70′s there was another movie that paved the way and featured the biggest starcar of them all!  THE CYCLOPS from “THE BIG BUS!”

There are only a few shots of the Cyclops on the net. The same Paramount promotional shots posted over and over.    As it wasn’t a big hit at the time not a lot of fan appreciation sites.  So I cobbled together info and photos I could find and added an exhaustive fan description of the movie and cast below for those that just need to know all about  THE BIG BUS!!!!

The Cyclops was a leviathan of a machine and it was fully road worthy in real life and constructed as an exterior prop!!  The bus had 32 wheels in total with two steering axles and a tandem drivable trailer, also at one point in later scenes there was also a 1953 Chevy 3100 involved in the cabin design, but you’ll just have to read on for that.

After a bit of detective work I did locate an old article by David Sandmeier about the cyclops from a now defunct “BUS WORLD” article that I saw mentioned on the web but all the links were dead ends. Here’s what I found below.   Click on them to read the article, amazing stuff you will never see again thanks to CGI!!

Both parts were drivable and there was a quick release for the back half to pull away for emergencies!  This thing must have been a sight to see, but sadly it was dissasembled  after the movie’s release.  It predated “AIRPLANE!” and for your viewing pleasure, I cut together most all of the footage of the bus in action from the movie up above!

If you want to read on, below are “spoilers” if you can call them that 30 some years after it’s release!  A star studded cast that many went on to other shows some that even featured star cars!  So read on for the whole movie story!  Here’s a detailed write up on the plot and stars from “Posidon”.  All I know is no matter how bad the movie is, I need to see it now, to see this monster tearing down the highway!

today I’m going to cast a glance at a somewhat lesser
known spoof that was released in 1976. It was greatly eclipsed by (the
hysterical) Airplane! in 1980 and, because it was not a success
upon release, it slid into obscurity, developing a small, but loyal, following
on pay cable. I got the chance recently to see it in widescreen high-definition
and, though it still doesn’t knock my socks off, there were attributes to it
(the all-star cast, the subject matter, the style of the poster) that qualify it
for some attention here!

The movie is called The Big
Bus. On the heels of successes such as Airport and
Airport 1975, The Poseidon Adventure,

Earthquake and The Towering Inferno, it drew inspiration for its wacky
storyline from the formula used in those pictures. Inherently ridiculous, it
tells the story of a company called Coyote Bus Lines who have developed a
(beyond!) state-of-the-art luxury cruiser named Cyclops (so called because of
its one gigantic headlight) that is nuclear powered and provides nonstop service
from New York to Denver (!)

Chief scientist Harold Gould has developed
the revolutionary vehicle with the help of his daughter Stockard Channing,
though they are under constant threat of sabotage from a disabled oil tycoon
(Jose Ferrer) who barks order to his sheik

brother (Stuart Margolin) from his iron lung! Margolin is almost like Wile E. Coyote,
trying everything he can think of to mess up the inaugural journey of the big
bus, while also trying to make it look like it’s faulty design, thus the need
for crude oil won’t be affected by the use of nuclear power. Ferrer’s
magnificently appointed mansion features paintings on the wall in gold leaf
frames of such lovely subjects as fiery conflagrations, train wrecks and the
like! (Incidentally, when TCM recently had their month of films concerning the
stereotypical

Arab image, they’d have done much better to run this film than to try to search for
obscure bits of implied racism in other movies.)

Before the vehicle has
even left the hanger, there is an explosion that leaves Gould incapacitated on
the ground of a parking lot. His doctor (Larry Hagman) exclaims that he “can’t
be moved,” so there he stays through heat, rain and whatever else! Keen eyes
will spot another play on this gag later in the movie.

With the driver
and his assistant both out of the picture thanks to sabotage,

it is up to Channing to find replacements (from the short list of qualified bus
drivers) quickly. She reluctantly recruits her old lover Joseph Bologna, a
once-great driver who fell into disfavor when he crashed a busload of passengers
into a remote mountain area and was one of only two survivors. (He was accused
of eating them to stay alive, gaining about fifty pounds in the time between the
crash and rescue, but claimed that it was his co-driver who did so, with himself
eating only the seats, floor mats and luggage – and one foot that happened to be
in some stew, unbeknownst to him!)

Bologna is shown in a seedy bar that’s frequented by lots of drivers and, of course, he
is an outcast. A fight breaks out (with one weapon forged out of a broken paper
milk carton!) and he is aided by a fellow driver, handsome John Beck. Beck has
his own share of issues, however. Not only is he nicknamed “Shoulders” because
he tends to drive onto the shoulder of the road, but he also has narcolepsy! He
falls asleep at the wheel sometimes without notice… just what you would look
for in a driver!

Nevertheless,  both  Bologna and Beck are hired on to pilot Cyclops. At the opening ceremony,
complete with brass band, Channing and the crew emerge and she’s obliged to
bring out with her a live coyote, the bus line’s mascot!

In true
disaster movie fashion, the
parade of passengers is then shown boarding and we are introduced to them all.
The stereotypical bickering couple, in love one moment and seething with rage
the next (sometimes blending the two emotions!) is played by Richard Mulligan
and Sally Kellerman. A priest who has lost his faith in the church (shades of
the recent hit The Exorcist) is portrayed by Rene Auberjonois.

Bob
Dishy plays a veterinarian whose career is in the toilet. Richard Schull is a
meek man with only months left to live. There’s a flamboyant, nymphomaniacal
fashion designer played
by Lynn Redgrave. In Helen Hayes-ish inspired stowaway style, Ruth Gordon pops
up, dotting various dialogue exchanges with her “shocking” remarks. There’s also
a smarmy piano player (Murphy Dunne) who provides running commentary as he
tickles the ivories and a blonde, curvy attendant (or whatever a bus line’s
equivalent to a stewardess would be) named Mary Jane Beth Sue (played by Mary
Wilcox.) The announcements at departure include the demonstration of an
insulated suit that drops from the ceiling in the case of a nuclear power leak!

Rounding
out the cast are two technicians, Ned Beatty and Howard Hesseman, who squabble
with each other over the best way to remedy the endless situations taking place
on the bus. Their spats and reunions begin to take on a nearly marriage-like
quality. Vic Tayback (Mel from TV’s Alice) has a bit part as a
belligerent bus driver and the ubiquitous Vito Scotti shows up briefly and
Ferrer’s barber (shown above earlier, with Ferrer.)
Just
as Paul Newman, part of the truly mammoth assemblage of stars in The
Towering Inferno, said, “We all know who the star of this picture is.
That damned fire!,” in this movie the true star is the bus itself. While it is
sheer lunacy to develop a nuclear-powered bus
that still has to ride the expressways of America where it might be stuck behind
some granny driving in the fast lane or get caught in a wolf pack of rush hour
commuters, the vessel itself is quite a sight to behold. More than two stories
high (watch out for those underpasses!), it uses an airline staircase to board
some of the passengers and is the length of two large buses fused together! It’s
debut on-screen is impressive indeed (Trailways bus line helped to make the
vehicle, a true drivable machine.) It’s eased out of the hangar like an aircraft
by a small tow tractor. (Somehow, between being pulled out of its housing and
the time it is viewed full on, it has gained an extra top level solarium
section!) If the film fails at anything else, it succeeds in the creation of the
title vessel.
One
of the other chief assets of the movie is the deliberately (?) tacky 1970s
design and décor. Hot colors at this time included the bold rusty orange and
golden yellow that accent the bus itself, but the inside of the bus is where
things really get interesting. The
passenger areas have incredibly garish rainbow colors on the walls and seats,
there’s a hysterically bad private dining room done in bicentennial furnishings
and wallpaper from hell (complete with a waiter dressed as George Washington)
and there’s an Oriental-themed piano bar in the front with as much bric-a-brac
as could be built in. Then, there’s also a glass-enclosed swimming pool on the
top of the bus, a mini-bowling alley and a private bathroom, complete with tub,
all done in black and gold. Naturally, because this is, after all, a bus which
must fit into a single highway lane, everything it amusingly scaled-down and
cramped!
The
vehicle has a variety of wild features such as a tire changer that can replace a
flat while the bus is still moving! Likewise, a gigantic roller brush and
foaming soap can be called upon to give the exterior a wash while it is en route
to its destination.

The passengers carry on with their various personal
inter-reactions while Margolin plans to bomb the bus, causing Bologna and
Beck to jump into action. That crisis is eventually averted, but pales next to
the biggest emergency when an old pick-up truck with a hillbilly family becomes
lodged in the front of the bus and the bus teeters over the side of a cavernous
canyon. Then Channing soon has a major league problem of her own in the kitchen
when, as part of a rescue strategy, the soda fountain starts spewing soft
drinks, several flavors at once, into the small galley, nearly drowning her!
Somehow,
in these days long before CGI, the makers truly did teeter the gargantuan bus,
with actual people in the front of it, on the edge of a precipice, amidst
a vast landscape of rocky terrain, trees and valleys. It’s a rare case when a
film’s poster depicts something that really does occur in the movie! Again, I
must stress that in pan and scan, this couldn’t possibly play as well as it does
in high-def widescreen. While I’m sure the drop-off isn’t actually as severe as
it looks, this entire segment of the movie looks surprisingly dangerous.

Thanks to the injection of cold mountain air into the passenger cabins,
Redgrave has to dole out her chiffon and feather-laden fashions – her new spring
line – so that people can stay warm (even though these are not materials known
for their thermal qualities!) Thus, Auberjonois winds
up in green satin and Mulligan has on a wedding dress complete with veil and
Redgrave fusses around to make sure everyone’s done up just right!

Since
it’s all in fun, I don’t have to tell you that the situation is resolved.
However, the movie ends with a bit of a cliffhanger (more than a bit, actually),
so we never do learn for certain if Cyclops makes it to Denver unscathed…

There
are elements of the then-popular disaster movies being spoofed, of course,
throughout The Big Bus, but what’s most interesting to me is
how this 1976 film somehow foreshadows the later Airport ’77 in
its overall scheme. There’s even a sequence with passengers looking out the
windows as the driver/captain, outside of the vessel, attempts a rescue. More
than that, however, is how incredibly similar the plotline of this film is to
1980′s Airplane!, a film released by the same studio
(Paramount), but by completely different hands (Jim Abrams and The Zucker
Brothers.) Airplane! features a once-capable pilot, now down on
his luck after a controversial incident, who finds himself flying
a plane alongside his former girlfriend, a woman who has lost her faith in him.
The pilot, in flashback, is also present at a crazy bar fight. Also, the
girlfriend, who is helping to guide the plane is sexually accosted by the
inflatable autopilot. Here, Channing is done similar damage by an asleep at the
wheel Beck, whose arms are still about her as she drives! The similarities are
quite intriguing, even considering the narrow subject matter from which these
spoofs could draw their plot lines.

Even
the promotional photos seemed to be handled by someone in the know. Look how
this cast shot mirrors one from 1960′s The Crowded Sky, a flick
about a navy jet ramming a passenger liner, right down to the placement of the
crew and passengers! While the highly successful Airplane!
seemed to clamp the lid on the genre for more than a decade, The Big
Bus came out right in the middle of the disaster craze’s heyday.
Perhaps people were still getting enough legitimate enjoyment out of the various
big-screen cinematic catastrophes that
they weren’t yet ready to see them made fun of. Upon release, The Big
Bus barely made a dent at the box office. It wasn’t until several years
later on cable that it really began to amass the fans it now has. It goes
without saying (even though I keep saying it!) that, if you’re going to see it,
see it in widescreen since the bus is so long!

Bologna, not the very
first name who comes to mind for this sort of thing, had previously scored a hit
as a playwright (along with his wife Renee Taylor) with the 1968 Broadway show
Lovers and Other Strangers. That was adapted into a film in 1971 and was a big
hit. He and Taylor followed it up with Made for Each Other,
this time writing and starring in the movie. He later won acclaim for his role
in My Favorite Year opposite Peter O’Toole and was featured in
Stanley Donen’s final feature, the lascivious Blame it on Rio
with Michael Caine. He still acts today, though he is in his late seventies, and
has been married to The Nanny‘s Taylor since 1965. (By the way, check
out the amusingly tacky – and oh-so-’70s – carpeted spiral staircase behind him
in the cockpit/driver’s area!)

Channing is certainly a familiar face to
most people thanks to her iconic role as Rizzo in Grease and
many other projects. This
was two years before Grease and she appears fleshier and more
mature than she would in the hit musical. In fact, for whatever reason, she’s
decked out throughout The Big Bus in clothes that evoke a 1970s
Elizabeth Taylor, with hair to match! A Broadway actress from 1971, she had
garnered attention for the 1973 black comedy TV-movie The Girl Most Likely
to…, directed by Joan Rivers, and costarred with Warren Beatty and Jack
Nicholson in 1975′s The Fortune. She continues to act in film
and on stage today and enjoyed a fairly high profile stint on The West
Wing for several years.

A stage actor from the age of sixteen (six
if you count his earliest school performances), Auberjonois, a
highly distinctive looking actor, seemed to be everywhere in the 1970s, be it in
movies like The Hindenburg, King Kong and
The Eyes of Laura Mars or onstage opposite Katharine Hepburn in
Coco (for which he won a Tony Award.) He later appeared as a regular on Benson
and assured himself a place in the sci-fi cult community when he took on the
role of Odo in Deep Space Nine, a gig that lasted from 1993 to 1999.
After that, he worked on Boston Legal from 2004 to 2008. He continues
to stay busy on TV, sometimes using only his voice.

Beck won his film
professional screen credit when he guest-starred on an episode of I Dream of
Jeannie in 1965. Many
film and TV roles followed, notably Woody Allen’s Sleeper in
1973 and the harsh, futuristic Rollerball, with James Caan in
1975, thus by the time of The Big Bus, he’d covered both the
spoofy comedy and the sci-fi action genres separately already, giving him the
experience to tackle his role here. Having worked with Larry Hagman on
Jeannie and in the 1974 TV-movie Sidekicks, prior to this, he
would do so again from 1983 to 1986 when he played Mark Graison on the popular
nighttime soap opera Dallas. Now pushing seventy, he only appears
sporadically these days.

In
his day, Ferrer had been one of the most celebrated actors around, winning the
first ever Best Actor Tony Award for Cyrano de Bergerac in 1947 and then an
Oscar for the film adaptation in 1950. By this time, he was entering something
of a schlock phase with The Sentinal, Crash!
(in which he also played an invalid) and The Swarm coming soon
after. Things got even worse as the ’80s dawned with Bloody
Birthday and Blood Tide. He died in 1992 following a
bout with colon cancer.

Elderly Gordon had made her first film (albeit
as an extra) way
back in 1915! Her impressive career on the professional stage began that same
year. Having made only a limited number of appearances in the cinema, she took
the world by storm as a crafty old biddy in Rosemary’s Baby in
1968 and copped an Oscar. This led to a substantial rebirth as opinionated and
amusing old lady character actress, with her largest roles being in What
Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? and Harold and Maude, but
also including the Clint Eastwood orangutan comedies Every Which Way But
Loose and Any Which Way You Can. She was still working
in films when she died at eighty-eight in 1985.

Gould
was a very familiar actor in many films and multitudinous episodes of popular
television series. Already a veteran of countless roles by 1976, he was starring
with Stefanie Powers on The Feather and Father Gang while also
portraying Valerie Harper’s father in a recurring role on, first, The Mary
Tyler Moore Show followed by Rhoda. He also made sporadic
appearances later on The Golden Girls as Betty White’s love interest
Miles.

Beatty,
who made such a memorable debut in 1972′s Deliverance, worked
on two subsequent films with costar Burt Reynolds and then appeared in both
Nashville and M*A*S*H. 1976 was a good year
for him as he had featured roles in not only this minor movie, but also
Mikey and Nicky, Silver Streak, All
the President’s Men and Network, for which he earned
an Oscar nomination. Two years later, he worked on the first of a few
Superman movies as Lex Luthor’s sidekick. He continued to give
masterful supporting performances and still does now, though, like some others,
he sometimes uses only his voice.

Hesseman
had been kicking around for close to a decade in film and TV roles, but would
soon score quite a hit with the 1978 series WKRP in Cincinnati. That
gig lasted until 1982 when he began recurring on One Day at a Time and
then in 1986 was the teacher on Head of the Class, staying there until
1990. Still an active performer, he is seventy-one as of this writing.

Mulligan was another actor who’d appeared on I Dream of
Jeannie. One of those faces (like many in The Big Bus) who
seemed to be everywhere at the time, he went the year afterwards into the hit
sitcom Soap for four years. In the late ’80s, he was able to take part
in a Golden Girls spin-off
called Empty Nest that ran from 1988 to 1995. Since shortly after that
show’s cancellation, he’s been in semi-retirement and is now sixty-seven.

Though she hit her stride in the early ’70s, Kellerman had been acting
in movies and on television since the late ’50s. 1970′s M*A*S*H
gleaned her an Oscar nomination (as Hot Lips O’Houlihan), which led to other
work, though some of it (like 1973′s Lost Horizon) constituted
more of a disaster than a sabotaged nuclear bus! Like Redgrave, she sports some
fun ’70s duds here, changing for nearly every scene! Now in her mid-seventies,
she still works, including a couple of appearances on the revamped version of
90210.

Dishy
has worked on Broadway in many productions spanning 1955 to 2004. His face might
be most familiar to fans of The Golden Girls since he guested on one of
that hilarious series most annoying episodes, playing Mr. Terrific, a wacky
boyfriend of Rose’s. His busy career as a character actor included sporadic
appearances on Law & Order and appears to have dwindled since about
2008. Schull was another Broadway actor (though a stage manager at first) and
was hot off a Tony nomination for Good Time Charley in 1975 when he was cast in
The Big Bus. Afterwards, he starred in the brief TV series
Holmes and Yo-Yo and gave many further TV, movie and stage
performances. He died of a heart attack while appearing in a Broadway play at
age seventy.
Redgrave,
apart from some rather yellow teeth, looks pretty smashing here and is more than
likely my favorite performer in the film. Love the dark hair and heavy makeup!
None of the supporting parts is particularly large, but she seems to be having
fun at playing a vampy, over-the-top persona and I tend to go in for those. As
one of the members of the legendary Redgrave acting family, she had a lengthy
roller coaster career, not quite reaching the level of her sister Vanessa, but
certainly making a mark of her own. Just a year or two prior to The Big
Bus, she had worked with Ruth Gordon in the Broadway play Mrs. Warren’s
Profession. She
had also just played the title role in The Happy Hooker… Both
she and Sally Kellerman worked on the mammoth miniseries Centennial in
1978. She got a fair amount of attention for 1998′s Gods and
Monsters, something of a comeback for her, though she hadn’t gone away.
Sadly, she was taken away from us in 2010 from breast cancer at the age of
sixty-seven.
Piano-playing
Dunne is probably quite familiar to fans of The Blues Brothers
and its sequel, Blues Brothers 2000. Margolin is probably best
known for his Emmy-winning recurring role on The Rockford Files with
James Garner. He appeared 40 times on the show between 1974 and 1979 and even
returned for a series of TV-movie updates in the mid 1990s. He remains busy as a
supporting actor in films even now at the age of seventy-one.

Needless
to say, Hagman, who
was in a career transition at this time from his role on I Dream of
Jeannie to roles in movies like Harry and Tonto and
Mother, Jugs and Speed. Within two years, he would land the
part of a lifetime as J. R. Ewing on Dallas, a part that made in an
international household name and led to many years of money-making success. In
fact, he is slated to appear in his old part again next summer in the 2012
edition, which will focus on the youngest generation of Ewings, born during the
series original run!

I
cannot recommend The Big Bus as a screamingly funny laugh riot
(I don’t know if I so much as chuckled out loud during a recent viewing! Maybe
once or twice…), but I can recommend it as an interesting time capsule and the
chance to see a lot of familiar faces working together in zany circumstances.
Someone out there in cyberspace wrote that the problem with this film versus
Airplane! is that we already expect most of the people in this movie’s comedic
cast to say and do something ridiculous,

but where the latter film excels is that it put people who were more known for their
serious work into the loony situations and that’s what helped make it so funny.
I think that’s about right. Nothing in The Big Bus is
necessarily roll-on-the-floor, but there always seems to be something going on,
at least. I can tell you that when I saw it the first time in the late ’80s, I
hated it, but now I don’t. I found myself enjoying it, surprisingly enough. It
now seems sort of clever and it’s comfortably brief as well, in any
case.