War Bus (1985) User Reviews

Explosive Nam-sploitation fun.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 30 July 2017]

Just one of the many Italian-made Vietnam war titles to proliferate the video shelves in the '80s, director Ferdinando Baldi's War Bus is light on plot, but heavy on the action, making it a mindlessly entertaining way to pass the time.

The film opens as the North Vietnamese attack a jungle mission, the outpost's occupants narrowly escaping on a school bus. Soon after, the missionaries encounter three U.S. marines who commandeer the vehicle. What follows is an arduous trek through hostile territory, with the odds for survival stacked against them.

Although the movie's characters are clichéd and the dialogue predictably dumb, it matters not, Baldi delivering precisely what fans of this kind of flick demand: almost non-stop action, with lots and lots of machine gun fire and great big explosions. Pyrotechnically speaking, the film is a blast (pun intended), with huts and vehicles erupting in fireballs throughout, a vast portion of the budget clearly spent on TNT.

The finalé is particularly fun, as the NVA launch a final attack just as help is on the way, with a massive battle in which the hitherto unscathed heroes finally suffer some casualties (although it's not all that hard to guess who survives and who buys the farm).

The movie is like a 79 minute action SCENE, not so much a fully fleshed-out movie.

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 6 September 2013]

In the thick of the Vietnam war, Viet Cong killers attack some Christian Missionaries. Some U.S. Special Forces come to save them, but their only means of escape is an old school bus. Seizing the only opportunity available to flee from the enemy onslaught, they begin their trek on the bus. But it's going to be a treacherous ride. Now faced with this not-particularly-ideal situation, will the soldiers protect the Missionaries and destroy the enemy? Warbus is director Ferdinando Baldi's take on the Vietnam jungle actioner replete with multiple shots of waterfalls, plenty of machine gun shooting, huts which may or may not explode, and all manner of blow-ups. But these blow-ups are notable in that they are of a high quality. It appears most of the budget for this film went to the pyrotechnics. And if you do indeed have a limited budget to work with, that's actually very smart, because Baldi clearly knows his audience. If you're renting/buying or somehow viewing a movie called WARBUS, you don't want to disappoint action buffs. On that same topic, there is minimal dialogue, but what dialogue there is has that funny dubbing we all know and love.

As far as the characters, we really don't know who these people are, but does it really matter? The movie is a brief 79 minutes, which makes sense because it's probably hard to do an entire feature-length movie about a Warbus. The bus in question has the words "SCHOOL BUS" proudly emblazoned all over it, and its license plate is NGH 666. So make of that what you will.

On the negative side, Warbus is a little more run-of-the-mill than it should be for a good portion of the film's running time. The problem is this one simple idea. The movie is like a 79 minute action SCENE, not so much a fully fleshed-out movie. Nothing sticks with you, there's nothing to hang on to once the movie ends. Adding to that, the Mercs DVD has some tracking issues. You wouldn't think in the age of DVD, a DVD would have tracking issues, but because it was obviously taken right from a VHS, there you go. But we're lucky to see the movie to begin with. Let's not look a gift bus in the mouth. Plus Warbus should get some credit for being the original Speed (1994) There's nothing actively bad about Warbus - we'd say it's a minor and inoffensive entry into the Exploding Hut Movie sweepstakes. With Warbus, we're solidly on one-time-watch territory.

Good stuff!

[HaemovoreRex · 7/10 · 15 August 2007]

This is a surprisingly solid, low budget Vietnam flick that boasts some excellent battle scenes and a plethora of big and beautiful pyrotechnic displays throughout.

The plot concerns a small group of people who are forced to flee from their base (which happens to be a Mission) in an old school bus when the VC launch a vicious assault upon it. Along the way they are joined by a group of three battle hardened American Special Forces soldiers and together they desperately fight to make it to safety.

Whilst admittedly not particularly ambitious plot wise, it's the action that counts here and as previously stated, the film really delivers the goods in this department. It's especially great also to see the actors doing their own stunts including some stylish tumbling moves.

If war flicks are your cup of tea then you would be well advised to check this little known gem out.

Good exploitation action film

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 23 July 2009]

Fleeing a Christian mission under Viet Cong attack some soldiers and missionaries make their way into the jungle in a school bus. The bus is stopped and commandeered by some other soldiers on a mission and in desperate need of transport. Ridding the bus of the VC agent driver they take the bus on their mission putting everyone in danger.

Solid action film isn't anything special other than it moves along at a good clip and keeps things moving in such away that things never have a chance to get dull or boring. The action scenes are suitably explosion filled and the non-combat stuff is just different enough that you don't feel like you're getting bogged down in cliché. Never aspiring to be more that the action filled exploitation film that it is, the film manages to provide enough entertainment that you don't feel you've wasted your time. Its perfect for curling up on a couch and watching on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Lost Italian Cheese Classic

[Bezenby · 8/10 · 9 December 2006]

On the surface Warbus appears to be a standard boring Italian Vietnam war flick, but in actual fact, and to my surprise, it turned out to be hilarious.

It seems that the director realised that in these war flicks the between-battle scenes can get draggy and boring, so rather than have faceless characters standing around doing nothing, he inserts all manner of quirkiness to keep the viewer glued to the screen.

Ever watched an action movie where the heroine ignores the hero and cops off with a middle aged man? Or a movie where the hero has to use reading glasses to operate a radio? How about a main character who suffers from epilepsy for no reason at all? Warbus has it all, to the extent that the action scenes get in the way of the quirks.

It's relatively well directed too, and the dubbing is competent for a late-era Italian genre movie. The action scenes seem to have more extras than your average Nam flicks, although no effort has been made to conceal the obviously Phillipino actors.

I paid 75pence for this. It was worth every penny.