What movies become better by having a bus suddenly come out of no where and hit someone?
Exactly as the title says. What film becomes better if someone suddenly gets hit by a bus?
Could be at the very end for an unexpected laugh at the sheer suddenness and absurdity. Could be some karma against a much-hated antagonist. Could happen earlier in a film, and abruptly cut off an otherwise bad movie by just ending it then and there. Or maybe even change the film's trajectory by changing focus to the recovery and aftermath.
Can be played for laughs, can be played for drama. Could be fatal, could careen the story (and sequels) in a totally different direction. There are infinite possibilities, and this seems like a fun question to explore. I can think of so many slasher films that could be hilariously cut off at an early point by a bus just appearing out of no where to hit the killer.
And while I want to restrict this to settings with buses, I think I'll open the floor to other settings. Buses don't really exist in the Star Wars universe to my knowledge, but it's fun to think about the changes to the franchise from a bus hitting Jar Jar Binks in the first film (or not hitting him and revealing the Darth Jar Jar theory to be true in the process), along with the investigation into what the bus was and how it spawned on an underwater planet.
Great creative idea! I miss these kinds of low stakes funny threads from other Tildes-like sites that I frequented before. I admit I’m not the biggest film buff but:
That’s all I have so far.
Your Indiana Jones one got me laughing pretty good at the pure absurdity of a bus zooming past the long abandoned ruins on a remote island.
The impact would be huge given how early in the franchise it occurs.
The Waynes getting hit by a bus would change everything. Could be a villain backstory for why he grows up to dismantle public transportation, or alternatively why he champions the subway or monorail and Not Buses. Or maybe we get Busman instead of Batman.
With Jaws, I feel like a bus hitting someone would change a lot. If it hits a human, that likely changes who'll be present for the final confrontation. If you mean the bus hits the shark though, I can see the scene going two ways:
1: "How the heck did a bus drive through the ocean and hit the shark?"
2: "How the heck did a bus drive through the ocean and hit the shark? And HOW THE HECK IS THE SHARK OKAY AND TRYING TO EAT THE BUS!?"
This could easily be a quick little side character in Crisis on Infinite Earths (thinking similar to some of the wacky character cameos in the Spiderverse series)
I mean, with how messy the DC multiverse is (even has a "dark multiverse" with negative-numbered Earths), wouldn't be too weird to have some Bruce's who go the bureaucratic villain or Busman route.
Trope Codifier:
Spoilers
Mean Girls
Yep. Was tempted to bring it up by name in the post since that's obviously the one that inspired the whole question~
It really makes you wonder if they're even teaching Chekov's Bus* in film school these days. So many movies have buses in them, but hardly any hit someone.
*For those wondering, it was originally a bus, but Chekov's editor was worried it would be unrelatable to US audiences, so he changed it to a gun†.
†This misinformation is not from an AI, but was instead ethically and sustainably sourced from a free-range, locally run human.
The one that inspired this question was the original The Devil Wears Prada. At the end when Andy and Miranda see each other on the street from afar, I joked "and then she's hit by a bus" and was struck by how funny that could actually be.
If Andy (the protagonist) was the one hit, I could see Miranda (the boss) watching in shock for a moment before going "Well, alright then" and telling the driver to just go already. Would fit with a lot of the earlier scenes and how callous she generally acts about others.
If Miranda was hit, I could see Andy staring in horror for a moment, before muttering "Huh, karma" and walking off to live her best life while everyone else fusses over Miranda. That would probably be out of character, since a major part of the film was about Andy recognizing how human Miranda truly was and developong empathy for her, but... Honestly, would've made for a very memorable ending compared to them just going their separate ways.
Stranger Than Fiction is a really clever and sweet movie about a man who knows he is about to die but doesn’t know how it will happen. I’m not even going to spoiler tag this because it’s minor and inconsequential, but the bus that will inevitably hit him is foreshadowed multiple times and then subverted in a fun way. Absolutely worth a watch or two or three.
I don’t think that really answers your question though, so I’ll add that the bus-from-out-of-nowhere trope plays best when it comes after the protagonist has just gone through a harrowing trial and the finish line is finally within reach. Nothing like leading the audience through hell and back for 3 hours, only to undermine the whole thing with a pointless rug pull in the last minute. Frodo when he’s 50 feet from the fires of Mt. Doom. Alan Grant just as he’s about to board the helicopter off Isla Nublar. Buzz and Woody in the middle of rocketing down the boulevard toward Andy’s moving truck. Defeat, snatched from the jaws of victory.
Appreciate you offering some more serious and dramatic answers!
Frodo getting hit would be even more shocking since only because buses definitely don't exist there. I feel like at least one person would have a breakdown over the fact he was stopped by some metal contraption none of them could identify. Alternatively, perhaps the impact sends him and/or the ring careening towards the fires, still leading to a happy ending.
I can actually see there being some tour bus present at Jurassic Park that gets accidentally taken on a joyride by some curious dinos. I mean, given there's barely anyone on the island, it wouldn't be too strange to just leave the keys in the ignition for convenience, right?
Buzz and Woody getting hit by a bus... Now that's just evil. Reminds me of the tale of a movie theater where Toy Story 3 cut out at the climax, at the exact moment the toys were on a conveyer belt to their deaths and accepting their impending demise. Honestly, adding a bus to most Pixar movies would be pure evil.
Most. The Cars franchise could have some fun with it, and the second movie does have an actual kill count anyway...
The Usual Suspects
Spoilers
Agent Kujan could only stare helplessly as he watches Verbal Klint get off scot-free with his immunity plea deal. Enraged, Agent Kujan storms outside to cool off. Seething with anger, Kujan does not pay attention to traffic as he wanders into traffic when he is suddenly hit by a bus.
Lying in the middle of the road, staring up into the sky, Kujan feels his life slipping from him. Nothing matters anymore, he thinks, as his head slips to the side. And that's when it hit him.
Kobayashi. Redfoot. Kovash. These were all people that Klint mentioned in his debriefing. But they are also bus ads. Kujan sits straight up and scans the busses around him. There, and there, and there. They were all on bus ads. Verbal Klint had been staring out the window and reading bus ads.
Kujan gets up quickly, ignoring the crowd that had gathered to help him. As Kujan desperately looks around, Verbal Klint can be seen on a bus, leaving the scene, leaving the bewildered Kujan behind him.
Klint squints through the cracked windshield as he keeps the bus under the speed limit. "Next stop, Front Street," he says.
Ghostbusters
Ray Stanz: I'm sorry, Venkman, but I'm not going to take out a third mortgage on my parents' house. We'll just have to find another way to bankroll our new bluecollar venture.
Peter Venkman: You're right, Ray. I wouldn't worry about it. There are plenty of ways we can get a quick cash settlement from an overworked public transit infrastructure. [pushes Ray in front of a moving bus]
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Random Teem: Guys, don't you see? He can only get us if we're asleep! All we have to do is stay awa-- [gets hit by a bus]
Freddy Krueger [driving the bus]: That's what you get for being a bus kill!"
You need to be involved with more motion pictures! The Ghostbusters one is genius.
It would be pretty damn good. It would probably ruin Peter Venkman as a character though.
He's a lazy, perverted, dishonest creep, but he's also pretty lovable despite all of those flaws, so it kind of tips him over into a character most people like. He's straight up a pretty shitty guy, but he's just a touch under the line. The problem is that with all of the flaws he has, one more slight feather of immorality turns him into a straight up villain. Having him be a stone cold psychopath would make you never want to root for him again.
It would be funny though.
Brilliant. All of these are brilliant.
With A Nightmare on Elm Street, gotta wonder what happens if a bus crashes through a bedroom wall and hits someone while mid-murder dream...
The bus crashes into a position in which its wheels are off the ground, at about chest-high. But they aren't wheels anymore, they are the glass doors of a clothes dryer.
Freddy grabs the set piece fodder, throws them into the clothes dryer, and turns it on. As the teen begs for mercy, Freddy glibly says, "The wheels of the bus go round and round, bitch."
Why didn’t I think of this sooner… it’s the obvious choice:
Speed. Jack and Annie escape out the bottom of the bus, rolling away to safety as it careens into a jet and explodes. They pause for a beat to catch their breath. Jacks asks Annie, “Are you alright?” Before she can answer, both are flattened by a second bus from out of nowhere. At exactly 2:02 in this clip.
Ah, Speed. The most classic choice for any prompt with a bus.
My one question: is the second bus also rigged to explode if it slows down or stops?
Nah, this one's rigged to speed up to 50mph if the first bus explodes.
Star Wars would be immeasurably funnier if Darth Vader's fighter were hit by a bus instead of Han Solo.
...For some reason, I specifically imagined that the bus hitting Darth Vader's fighter was the Magic Schoolbus. Do with that what you will.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Meet Joe Black. When I think of a bus randomly hitting someone, that's the first movie that comes to mind
Well, turns out I misremember the scene. It doesn't involve a bus. Still funny though.
https://youtu.be/41H2BNgnhks?si=yvMevTjsXKgcroO5
Oh my gosh, that scene is brilliant and the perfect tone for this question. I looked up the film since I'd never heard of it before, and I'm shocked it's not a comedy. Based on what I'm reading, this scene may have been the high point of the film.
To you or anyone else who's seen the movie, is this scene supposed to be serious? Because some of the comments indicate it was, which makes it even funnier to me.
It's been a long time since I've seen it, but IIRC the movie is serious, but the premise is that Brad Pitt's character is new to being human, so there are various comedic realizations peppered throughout. Things like this scene where he learns about the dangers of traffic, or when he tries peanut butter for the first time.
It was supposed to be serious ... ish. Not somber or depressing, but sudden and pitiless.
It was definitely funnier than I think they intended it to be.
I also misremembered that it was a bus, so maybe I'm misremembering other details, but from what I remember, it was a serious scene, shock from the initial hit, then disbelief, and finally laughter from the second hit. I remember it being very unexpected based on everything up to that point.
But I also really did think it was a bus, so 🤷♂️.
I also really did think it was a bus, and would not have believed it was otherwise until you mentioned this.
In looking at the clip, I'm thinking the van being larger than a car plus the taxi being yellow, got jumbled up and created my memory of him being hit by a single vehicle, and that it was a bus.
Thanks for giving me an episode of TIL 😁
The first thing that came to mind is Amazon's 2015 show Patriot (not to be confused with the year 2000 movie). Out of the blue the main character shoves his co-worker in front of a bus just so he can take his place on a trip and really sets the stage for the whole series showing just how far he'll go to do his mission. I'm still impressed Kurtwood Smith recorded like 6 hours of complete BS for this show.
This makes me realize people shoving someone else into the path of a bus can add a whole new dimension to potential outcomes. Revenge shoves, business shoves, accidentally tripping and knocking someone into the path of a bus... So many new options for comedy and/or drama!
All those brief synopses got a chuckle from me. I'm just surprised Land Before Time didn't compound trauma by having Littlefoot's mom killed by a bus. Imagine how many kids would grow up hating buses...
Also that description of Saving Private Ryan reminds me of all the fun discussions about strapping knives to Roombas.
Honestly that could get its own spin-off question, just explore all the possibilities that arise from chucking and invincible roomba into any movie or show.Meet Joe Black --- just have everybody get smoked at some point.