Itinerant Air-Cooled

Wow thats gonna be a good movie !!!

OK, it's Fall 2011 ( alright Friday will be ), where is this movie gonna show around here? The quote about being "one hour from home on your way to...." is the best.

StevesBug wrote:OK, it's Fall 2011 ( alright Friday will be ), where is this movie gonna show around here? The quote about being "one hour from home on your way to...." is the best.

Yeah, that's about how long it takes before I relax and start believing that nothing's going to break down.

JLT wrote:

StevesBug wrote:OK, it's Fall 2011 ( alright Friday will be ), where is this movie gonna show around here? The quote about being "one hour from home on your way to...." is the best.

Yeah, that's about how long it takes before I relax and start believing that nothing's going to break down.

I'm the same way. For the first hour I'm all kinda frazzled...what did I forget??...did I turn the coffee pot off??...what's that new smell/noise?? After that, if I make it that far, the road takes over and I settle in for the journey.

One of my dreams, one of the things I was working towards and need to work towards more is to be on the road for a good majority of my time in the bus, with maybe a little simple place to call home and park the bus.

StevesBug wrote:where is this movie gonna show around here?

It's going to open in Missoula Montana (where the filmmaker is located). Allegedly editing'll be done by the end of the year, but does that mean the movie will be done then? I dunno.

http://www.vimeo.com/29327958

Amskeptic wrote:[W]e could kick it up a few notches, believe me. We can start by blasting some of the totally predictable conventionality. We could do a little more of the engineering of these cars followed by some dynamic high speed winding road clips where we can help dispel the phlegmatic melloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow in favor of a more vital relationship with our fellow journeyers in the American road scene. Want a rear shot of dusting off an Explorer in the rear view mirror? People need to know the Porsche heritage!

There is also a serious serious serious integrity in the air-cooled VWs that needs to be crammed down the advertising-addled marketed-drugged typical American consumer, that we enjoy the gift of a superior quality offered at bargain prices by a company that cared once upon a time . . . .

Anyways, yes, the preview looks "acceptable" so far.
Colin

As it so happens, I have been in contact with Damon Ristau, the maker of The Bus Movie on an unrelated matter (he's filming a PSA at my library (yes, I'm a librarian); he knows I'm a bus owner/operator however) and I intend to pitch this very idea to him at the next opportunity, which is next Sunday. Colin--do I have your permission to give him your email address?

Last week he told me he had 50 or so usable, edited minutes of footage and wants at least 20-25 more.

My guide biz is bus-based, if he's interested.

Colin should be IN the movie.

PS - When is your darn book coming out Colin?! Time marches on!

whc03grady wrote:I have been in contact with Damon Ristau, the maker of The Bus Movie on an unrelated matter Colin--do I have your permission to give him your email address?
Last week he told me he had 50 or so usable, edited minutes of footage and wants at least 20-25 more.

Sure.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:Neal, we could kick it up a few notches, believe me. We can start by blasting some of the totally predictable conventionality. We could do a little more of the engineering of these cars followed by some dynamic high speed winding road clips where we can help dispel the phlegmatic melloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow in favor of a more vital relationship with our fellow journeyers in the American road scene. Want a rear shot of dusting off an Explorer in the rear view mirror? People need to know the Porsche heritage!

There is also a serious serious serious integrity in the air-cooled VWs that needs to be crammed down the advertising-addled marketed-drugged typical American consumer, that we enjoy the gift of a superior quality offered at bargain prices by a company that cared once upon a time . . . .

I was thinking, if we had some good music and good editing, I could do several clips over the summer of entering and leaving every major city from New York to Los Angeles from a dashboard perch, do some interstate shots, speed it up a bit, and end up with a tightly edited cross-country clip from coast-to-coast set within one excellent song.

Anyways, yes, the preview looks "acceptable" so far.
Colin

I got my advance copy and I have to say my feelings are mixed.
I love buses so it's great to see them getting a movie made for them. Beyond that, well....

Way, way, waaaaaay too much leaning on the hippie angle. Too much "My bus only goes 50!" with no, "Oh yeah? Then something's wrong with it partner! Fix it!" There's got to be--got to be more to what's great about buses than the fact that thousands of ex-hippies drove tens of thousands of them into the ground in the 1970s and 80s in their quest to carry on some torch of a time when their bus (bay windows, at least) wasn't even around.

Bus-wise, it focuses mainly on Splitties (because they're cute and because the Shasta trips make for good footage) and Vanagons--specifically, Syncros (because they're too cool for school). Bays are only very cursorily mentioned though they appear in many of the shots.

Yes, this film would've benefited greatly from the addition of some CK footage and interviewing. A different point of view (as stated in the quote above; the more correct one, if I may be so bold). Colin, did he ever contact you? Maybe it was too late in the game by the time I gave him your email address.

It's kind of a shame. It's good for the visuals and for what it has, but it really needed about twenty minutes to half an hour of another, non-grooooovy perspective.

whc03grady wrote:Way, way, waaaaaay too much leaning on the hippie angle.

I've got nothing against the hippie angle for entertainment value, but I agree that there are many other bus pilot types out there these days. The movie definitely did a good job with the history of the bus though I thought. Damon was at this year's Black Star beer barter where I bartered my 2 1970 parts busses for a year's supply of free beer (was moving out of my house and they desperately needed a new home & I'd gotten all the parts I wanted for my '72 out of them anyway). I was hoping that footage would make it into the Bus Movie, but it was too late. Hell I work at a ski resort and write web code all day. I have 2 very close friends in town with 70s bays and 1 is a teacher and the other is a hard core advertising salesman. All types.

Can't deny it was an awesome movie over all! Glad I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign and saw it in Missoula with two non-bus friends that now both want a bay. Ha!

http://blackstarbeer.com/blog/heating-u ... sh-montana

BumbleBus wrote:Can't deny it was an awesome movie over all! Glad I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign and saw it in Missoula with two non-bus friends that now both want a bay. Ha!

Yeah, I contributed too (not under my name though) and I think it was a worthy effort. I just thought it was about twenty minutes short. And what's more, I think I know exactly what that 20 minutes needed. Big time outta line armchair director here, I guess.

In any case, it looks like it's shaping up to be the definitive documentary on buses and I'd recommend anyone here buy it. I suspect most will like it more than I did.

We got an advance copy and screened it at BusFusion two weekends back and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the ~200 in attendance.
Depends what you want I guess. I found it entertaining and informative, and will buy myself a copy to sho wto friends and relatives. Then I guess we'll see if it actually does appeal to non-bus folks.
There were some pretty good moments. The guy beside me was getting pretty teary-eyed when they got to the part about Jerry Garcia dying.
I think if y'all want everything in it, it would be a very long movie....

grandfatherjim wrote:We got an advance copy and screened it at BusFusion two weekends back and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the ~200 in attendance.
Depends what you want I guess. I found it entertaining and informative, and will buy myself a copy to sho wto friends and relatives. Then I guess we'll see if it actually does appeal to non-bus folks.
There were some pretty good moments. The guy beside me was getting pretty teary-eyed when they got to the part about Jerry Garcia dying.
I think if y'all want everything in it, it would be a very long movie....

That would have been me if I had been in that seat. I certainly dewed up in the seat I was in during that part.


neal