Customer Reviews

Pontiac Moon [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This must be one of the most underrated movies of the nineties. Fabulous story!! I was out of town on business, and I stumbled into the ole Blockbuster, and I thought I would give this un-known movie a try, as Im a big Mary Steenburgen fan. I was so delighted by this funny, serious, and heart touching movie, that I couldn't understand, why I never heard of it? Did it come and go in the movies? Great acting all around, with a lot of unknown actors. My favorite was the car mechanic living out in the desert played by Arthur Senzy, who I saw again in (I also rented) "A Few Good Men".Ted Danson, the Kid, and Eric Schweig were great as was Mary Steenburgen. All in all, a great cast, and a very delightful movie for this weary traveler.

PONTIAC MOON is a movie treat watching a simply good story unfold. I haven't had a movie catch my interest as much as this one for quite some time. It a film which relies on strong acting and strong script, with a few Greek-Navaho special effects tossed into the scenes now and then. It is a humorous quest with a story of Apollo moonwalk that is counterpoint genius on film; father and son in a 1949 Pontiac whose ignition starts a journey the moment America's Apollo first moon landing blasts off. From that point the counterpoint of Appollo and Pontiac continues until the quest is . . . well, I'll let you see the movie and find out if father and son reach their quest. To be a real quest, of course, the father and son must be detoured--in this case literally, then stranded under a desert starry sky, next stalled at a supper club which features an Americana singing contest--how I enjoyed hearing the vocal of "Kansas City"--then the Pontiac is off the trail for the father to borrow money from a family sheep-rancher relative, they are once more stalled by a cracked engine block, followed by more tense scenes of delay; all this action in a quest to reach the Spires of the Moon, Idaho before the moment of moonwalk touchdown. Together with the emphasis on the quest Danson's wife, Mary Steenburgen, has developed a phobia--she doesn't dare leave her home having holed up there for seven years. She is hyper-careful with an attitude that has put her family into mental recession. Mary has to decide whether she has the courage to follow Danson and son. Her decision leads to some interesting and amusing scenes. Will she seek her husband and arrive as an ex machina to save the day? This movie will teach you the two rules of getting along in life. To repeat, I haven't seen a movie managed as well as PONTIAC MOON for a long time. Ryan Todd, the son, together with Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson gave excellent off-beat performances.

As a movie collector for decades who considers himself very critical & picky about films, I can't help myself, I love this movie. Yeah, it's maybe a little far-fetched or sentimental sometimes but there isn't a second of it that's not enjoyable - it's just too charming and well directed with exactly that effect in mind, and with a beautiful musical score, superb cinematography and a tight script. I think Ted Danson possibly gives his best performance ever as Washington Bellamy, an enraptured-with-knowledge elementary school teacher who also collects beautifully oddball classic cars. The story line described above about trying to match the distance the Apollo crew travels by simultaneously driving over a large part of the country to the Spires of the Moon National Park is already a remarkably charming idea. This will be his "one perfect act" as he brings his very cute young boy with him, leaving behind an quirky paranoid wife who is always afraid to leave the house. Mary Steenburgen plays this part with superb humor as she sets off after her husband and son. Of course, interesting adventures and troubles occur during the journeys but it's Washington's never failing enthusiasm for life and its wonders that really make the film's ideas all work. I've watched this film a number of times and will watch it again into old age and when I'm no longer able to enjoy it I'll be ready to die.

Embedding in a stirring and wonderful musical score is the story of a road trip that chronologically parallels the landing on the moon. Always interesting with comedic highlights, a superb piece of clean entertainment that is truly a rarity today. A must see for all families.

This was a funny movie! It is about a father who is crazy, and tells his son to look at everything from another perspective. (The father admits to being in the nuthouse at one point in the movie. His wife does too.) His son is very moody, and his wife is deranged and is afraid to leave her house. The father takes his son on a trip to the grand canyon, to coincide with the astronaut's landing on the moon. Along the way, the father does some amazing things. He gets drunk, and hits on women in a bar, and he is almost shot when his son's pet snake escapes. (The bar customers paniced.) The father also beats the living s**t out of some ruffian in a diner. He also gets in trouble with the police. The father is a very cool character. (And I'm serious he REALLY is!) His wife also spends the movie driving around trying to find them. And the son also drives a car! (Well, kind of.) They also travel with an Indian. (Who does not believe in fighting, but the father sure does!) A lot of zany stuff happens in this classic fairy tale! It involves a pontiac. It is a fantastic movie, it deserved an academy award, and it MUST, under ANY circumstances be rereleased on DVD! A true classic, this is one not to miss!

To me a simple inspirational story about a family, with imbedded problems, simply moving on.

Sure, the movie's perfectly enjoyable on its own merits, but owners and admirers of the Amphicar, an amphibious "boat-car" manufactured in the '60s, will especially appreciate having this film in their collections. For them it will be clear that while the Pontiac of the title actually craps out underway, the Amphicar is the truly transcendent vehicle, which in the end redeems all of them. Perhaps they should have called it "Amphicar Moon."

Okay, THIS movie is listed twice:
==============> 1. As it is here.
==============> 2. Elsewhere as a budget-edition.
Lots of the reviews are from the VHS-video-cassette version...
I'm almost certain that that wasn't current (either) in 5.1-surround
sound, nor in widescreen.
The DVD-keeper-case didn't have the best photo most representative
of the film's content. For example: I bought THIS film for 50-cents.
That's right, fifty-cents. It was NOT used, either. It sat--gathering
dust--on one of my video shelves. I aired it tonight. It DOES probably
help that I have a great audio-video system, and am old enough to re-
member where I was when the first man stepped on the moon: Vietnam.
Anyway, I don't know WHICH film some of those OTHER reviewers were
watching, but I felt G=U=I=L=T=Y that I spent SO little for a GREAT
movie that I never heard of! It was released in 1995. Not, particularly,
being a TED DANSON, nor MARY STEENBURGEN fan, I probably wouldn't've
sought out the film. Also, I moved to Europe-- where I've been since-- the
year it was released. Maybe it ESCAPED. Well, anyway, the movie is a trek
UNDER the stars. Superb! What a great road-trip! I had as much fun watching
this film as I do my cat... when she is startled by something and jumps,
vertically, three feet. Maybe a BETTER example is when she ate a slice of
bologna, and the next day she exited the cat box with that red-wrapper-string-
thingy hanging out her butt. The cat was just as happy when the string came
ALL the way out, as I was when this "unknown-never HEARD of it" movie started
catching ME under its spell. Marvelous! Super! Tremendous! Wow!
Probably would be lost on anyone...say...under...uh...fifty. I loved it--
I'm 60. My wife loved it-- she's 54. My sister loved it-- she's 50.
Enough said!
Didn't you buy it yet? Try the [...]-version if THIS one is too expensive--
do you R-E-A-L-L-Y need it in FRENCH?

A movie with such talent as Ted Danson (Cheers, Bodyheat) and Mary Steenburgen seems bound for critical and commercial success. But when the actors try to portray a character that is out of their creative range, the movie falls apart. Washington Bellamy (Danson) is a nutty elementary school science teacher, with a shut-in wife (Steenburgen) who hasn't left the house in seven years, and a eleven year old son (Ryan Todd) that has never taken a ride in an automobile. The year was 1969, Bellamy, as was the rest of America, is captivated with the voyage of the Apollo XI to the moon. Bellamy calculates that the mileage on his 1949 Pontiac Chief needs only 1776 miles before the mileage on the odometer is the exact same distance to the moon. Bellamy and his son run away without Mrs. Bellamy knowing. He has timed the car trip to reach the Spires of the Moon in Idaho right at the time the lunar module is landing on the moon. But this turns out not to be such an easy trip. They meet trouble on the highway, argue with one another, getting into a brawl at a restaurant, taking along an Indian recluse, and hide from the law.

Danson's acting is sour, trying to hard to act serious. This is the rough post-Cheers, pre-Becker era in his career, taken along this project just to stay in the spotlight as long as he can. Steenburgen is pathetic as a agoraphobic, over dramatizing every line. Other than those two, as well as Todd, the movie is filled with unknown actors, accumulating one of the worst acting performances of a cast in a movie, ever. The story overall is good, but the acting just plain and simple ruined it for me. From the backside, I wish Danson would have never taken off that toupee.

A movie with such talent as Ted Danson (Cheers, Bodyheat) and Mary Steenburgen seems bound for critical and commercial success. But when the actors try to portray a character that is out of their creative range, the movie falls apart. Washington Bellamy (Danson) is a nutty elementary school science teacher, with a shut-in wife (Steenburgen) who hasn't left the house in seven years, and a eleven year old son (Ryan Todd) that has never taken a ride in an automobile. The year was 1969, Bellamy, as was the rest of America, captivated with the voyage of the Apollo XI to the moon. Bellamy calculates that the mileage on his 1949 Pontiac Chief needs only 1776 miles before the mileage on the odometer is the exact same distance to the moon. Bellamy and his son run away without Mrs. Bellamy knowing. He has timed the car trip to reach the Spires of the Moon in Idaho right at the time the lunar module is landing on the moon. But this turns out not to be such an easy trip. They meet trouble on the highway, argue with one another, getting into a brawl at a restaurant, taking along an Indian recluse, and hide from the law.

Danson's acting is sour, trying to hard to act serious. This is the rough post-Cheers, pre-Becker era in his career, taken along this project just to stay in the spotlight as long as he can. Steenburgen is pathetic as a agorophobic, over dramatizing every line. Other than those two, as well as Todd, the movie is filled with unknown actors, accumulating one of the worst acting performances of a cast in a movie, ever. The story overall is good, but the acting just plain and simple ruined it for me. From the backside, I wish Danson would have never taken off that toupee.