User Reviews

I sat down to watch this, not knowing what it was about. I was surprised to find it is a filmed stage play. I typically don't enjoy these as there's always a bit of disconnect. My mind keeps wanting to go into movie mode but it's clearly a "live" play on the screen.

Still, it's not at all badly done. Plus it's always fun to watch actors such as Margot Kidder and Claude Akins, particularly in this setting.

The camera work is solid enough so that you get a live audience feel. It even contains shots of the audience itself, including the cast bowing at the end.

While "Bus Stop" is nothing spectacular it is an enjoyable two hours. Recommended if you happen to catch it on.

Maybe the fault is in the writing or perhaps in the direction, but seeing this filmed production (in front of a live audience) of the hit 1954 play (which was substantially rewritten for the movie two years later) makes me wonder what critics saw in the original production outside of its now legendary cast. The fault isn't with the cast (for the most part), but I found the situation forced and the leading male character (played by Tim Matheson) to be a delusional non-human monster, aggressively pursuing entertainer Cheri (Margot Kidder) in an obnoxious, abrasive manner, allegedly hanging onto her while they were on the bus so she can't get away. Then there's the character of drunken doctor Pat Hingle, a middle aged masher coming onto teen waitress Marilyn Jones in a way that turned my stomach. Any teen girl would just pick up his beer and throw it in his face.

Standing out in the cast outside of Kidder and Jones (quite likeable in spite of the situation she's forced to deal with) are Joyce Van Patten as greasy spoon owner Grace, Claude Akins as the local sheriff and Barry Corbin as Matheson's older friend who tries to slap some sensibility into the good looking Matheson His wild antics get him no sympathy, unlike Don Murray in the movie who manages to add some sweet innocence to a thankless part. When Kidder puts on an improv show, singing "That Old Black Magic", it makes no sense, only enticing Matheson further, and escalates the situation that she was desperately trying to get away from. Maybe this play was groundbreaking in its day, but even by 80's standards feels out of place.