The Wayward Bus

• Directed by Victor Vicas
• May 27, 1957 (US)
• Based on the 1947 novel The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck

A long and arduous bus trip becomes a life-changing journey for a group of strangers.

I first heard about this movie when viewing the documentary My Mom Jayne made by Mariska Hargitay. A small snippet of Mansfield from The Wayward Bus indicated to me this was something worth watching so I tracked it down on a streaming service to watch.

What I found was an interesting drama that while not perfect was good though it seems to have been largely forgotten by the present day. The Wayward Bus has believable characters and realistic dialogue yet is something I only heard I learned of quite by accident. Their words are far more authentic than those found in better known dramas of the time. It has all the ingredients of something to be appreciated by classic film enthusiasts.

Maybe some of it has to do with weak reviews at the time. I can see it not appealing to the people of the era. It is also my understanding the book upon which this is based is a bit of a satire while this movie plays it straight. I am also sure that the film rights changing hands and the cast changes played a part. Those things always hurt movies regardless of the end product.

This contains a series of intertwining or even forced together stories (depending on your point of view) involving the passengers on a bus that takes a detour because the complainers in the group don’t want to wait a day or two after a landslide closes off the highway. What a bunch of whiny brats! 

The main story involves bus driver Johnny (Rick Jason) and his dysfunctional relationship with his alcoholic wife Alice (Joan Collins). His part connects with jailbait Mildred Pritchard (Dolores Michaels) travelling with her parents Larry and Bernice (Larry Keating and Kathryn Givney respectively) to get away from yet another poor life choice on her part. Another involves burlesque dancer Camille Oakes (Jayne Mansfield) who begins a romance with traveling salesman Ernest Horton (Dan Dailey) having seen her in a girlie magazine though never making the connection himself.

With these assorted plots The Wayward Bus gets a little bit soapy but not nearly to the extent a good disaster movie would. Each character grows and learns something by the end. This ride and the things it forces the cast to confront changes their lives in one way or another.

It’s better acted than many better-known films of the time. The characters react logically with most experiencing some level of growth. The only exception to all that is the old man who is just going into town to get married. That seems to be meant as a humorous gag saved for the end.

For a drama of the time it’s good. Excellent performances all around. Mansfield, much like Marilyn Monroe who she copied, has a bit of a public image these days of a breathless sex symbol but her talent is on full display as a stripper wanting more or just better though how they display that can occasionally be lacking. I don’t think her character should have been excited over an electric range at any point. Instead, she should’ve been talking about finally meeting a wonderful guy and feeling an immediate connection, but such was the day and age this was made.

Johnny’s story had some realism. On the one hand he did feel genuine connection with Mildred but on the other there was just something about crazy Joan Collins that was better. You know they say about them crazy ladies. Seriously though, he felt special with her and she with him. Together they accepted and somehow blunted the other’s shortcomings.

Mildred sought out any bad or inappropriate relationship for some never stated reason to get at her parents. They were a bit smothering though it was her mother that drove that but that is never the direct reason. The father finally standing up (a little) to the wife made things more about him than Mildred.

There are two instances where rather than imply or hint, they instead decided to show events using miniatures. It’s the landslide scene which sets the events of the film in motion and a scene where the characters must cross a bridge. Miniatures are tricky things. You need them large enough to be detailed and convincing, but not so big you should just go with the real thing. I found the bus used very much like a toy I got on a family trip.

Rear projection was used to communicate a moving vehicle and that is something that generally bothers me because it is so rarely done well. Even today with better tools available it gets buggered up. The angle of the camera needs to coincide with what you see outside and here often it looked like it was looking down on things or filmed at an angle that the bus could not physically travel at. It broke the suspension of disbelief and I have a nasty habit of noticing that kind of stuff.

That aside The Wayward Bus was an interesting movie. Good drama and just an overall engaging story. Highly underrated but worth your time.