Boy In The Plastic Bubble

In 1976, John Travolta was one of the hottest new talents around. So a vehicle had to be created for the heart throb from “Welcome Back Kotter.” Something that would show the world his vast dramatic range and cast him apart from the…shall we say “challenged”…Vinnie Barbarino. And that dramatic vehicle was none other than the blockbuster TV Movie Of the Week “Boy In The Plastic Bubble.”

Yes, John Travolta was the first “bubble boy” to grace the screen, long before Jerry Seinfeld made it popular. Like the bubble boy in the Seinfeld episode, Travolta is an angry young man who likes to engage in board games with those on the outside from the inside of the plastic bubble. Unlike the Seinfeld episode, he plays chess instead of Trivial Pursuit. This is probably because this movie was made about 10 years before Trivial Pursuit was invented.

We first meet Travolta’s parents, played by Diana Hyland and none other than Robert Reed, in the beginning of the show. Apparently, they have had a son who was born with no immune system and lost him already. Hyland’s character finds out she’s pregnant. But there is no way of knowing whether this child will also have no immune system. Robert Reed looks like the original Mike Brady with his hair straight and parted on the side. Before he went all perm on us.

In a strange sequence, Hyland is giving birth to her son (who will grow into Travolta’s character, Todd) by cesarean in an operating theater that is packed to the gills. Reed asks the doctor who turns out to be some immunologist why they have to have “all these people” in the theater, who are presumably doctors. This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode of the Junior Mint operation. But in this case, they all get up and leave.

Had they tossed a Junior Mint, something different might have happened. But as they feared, Hyland has given birth to a child with no immune system who has to live in a bubble. At the hospital.

Hyland and Reed are pretty upset that their kid has to live in a bubble at the hospital when the little girl next door gets to swing on the swings with her mom. So they arrange to have the child, who is now about 4, brought home. On the first night that he is home, they decide to have a “romantic evening.” But the little boy starts choking and that spoils that. In retrospect, we can imagine Reed’s relief.

Todd, or Toddy as he is known, grow up to be John Travolta, who hangs out in a bigger bubble in the house in shorts and a t-shirt all of the time and stalks the little girl next door, who has grown up to be Glynnis O’Connor, the poster child of bad 1970s movies, by spying on her with binoculars. She is his only link to the outside. Periodically, the doctor comes by and tells Travolta of doctors who are experimenting with procedures that will free him from the bubble. In Russia. Finland. South America. Everywhere but the United States.

Reed turns into the afro version of Mike Brady. Complete with 1970s style mustache. You can almost see him cruising for action on Sunset Drive. Thank God he quit the Brady Bunch. First “Pray For The Wildcats” and now this.

Travolta cannot move outside a yellow mark that is on the outside of the entrance to his bubble world. Any gift has to be sterilized. He has an amazing assortment of albums, magazines and things for a guy who has to live in a sterile world. And for a guy who can’t take a regular bath or a shower (he admits this to O’Connor) his hair looks, well, very Vinnie Barbarino.

O’Connor’s character, Gina, is a little witch who invites Toddy to the beach for 4th of July. Where she rides a horse. Wherever that beach is, I don’t want to lay on the sand. Anyway, she decides to have some fun by “holding hands” with him with the gloves that go inside the bubble. He’s thrilled to bits. Then she tells him that it was a dare. He falls to pieces in the bubble and has to be removed from the beach.

Travolta spends some time in a hospital where he meets another boy who is in a bubble due to chemotherapy. The boy says that he wants to go out and get a hooker the minute he gets well. Travolta is worried about the germs. But we know what he’s thinking. He would like to be with a woman. And that woman would be O'Connor's character. Because she is the only girl he knows.

Anyway, he becomes very close to O’Connor, uses a spacesuit to actually go to school and desires to break free from the bubble world. One morning, while his parents are asleep, he calls the doctor over (who just happens to go inside while the parents are in bed). He asks him how long he can last if he goes out of the bubble. The doctor has no answer. He could live or he could drop dead from a cold. He has no idea. Apparently, Travolta’s body has built up some sort of immunities, but they have never been tested.

So after the doctor leaves, he steps out of that darn yellow line and into the germ world. He looks at his parents in bed, then rushes off to see O’Connor who is grooming her horse. All the while, corny music is playing. Not as bad as the music in Saturday Night Fever, but corny. He touches her face and then they ride off on the horse into the sunset.

Travolta had an alleged romance with Hyland during this movie. Hyland tragically died from cancer (she was the original mom in Eight Is Enough). Also starring in this film is PJ Soles, who was one of Travolta’s co-stars in “Carrie.” For some reason, she goes around wearing what appears to be a gown at school. I remember 1976 very well. I don’t remember anyone dressing like this. The photo above depicts a scene from the school where Todd is in his spacesuit and Soles is in her gown.

This film depicted Travolta as not being as dumb as Barbarino, but still having great hair. But a year later, he was back to playing the…shall we say “challenged” Tony Manero in “Saturday Night Fever.” A role that was very similar to that of Vinnie Barbarino. Except he danced.

I always liked John Travolta and he was fortunately able to overcome this film and continue with a career that has spanned several decades

Murder On Flight 502

Murder On Flight 502 -This 1975 Made For TV Movie was, like Pray For the Wildcats, an ABC Movie of the Week. This movie was made just prior to the “Farrahization” of America, Charlie’s Angels and the nipple poster. Fawcett-Majors (as she was billed then) had a starring role as a stewardess in this romp that almost seems like the movie “Airplane,” only it’s being played straight.

The fun begins in the private “first class lounge” where we get to meet all of the characters who will be sitting in first class and who will also be the only passengers shown on the plane. We see Dr. Anderson get paged and a man act in a very suspicious manner about this, shaking down the concierge of the lounge (played by Mrs. Robert Stack) but then backing off as if nothing is wrong. First clue that something is amiss with these people.

We also see the affable and very stereotyped Jewish mother, the down and out “rock star” (played by none other than Sonny Bono) and a very angry man with his fed up wife. Then who should come bounding in the room but a young post-Partridge and pre-rehab Danny Bonaduce with a large present. That he leaves behind in the room.

Fernando Lamas is there. Gold chains and open collar and all. As is Polly Bergen, who can’t seem to drink enough to overcome her nervous jitters.

Robert Stack is the head pilot and boards the plane, says a few pleasantries to Fawcett and asks how many people are aboard the plane. She answers an even 250. This is an important number to remember because Stack mentions these 250 people (even though we only see the few in first class) throughout the flight.

On his way to the cockpit, Stack is greeted by actor Hugh O’Brien who tells him that he has a gun and asks if it is okay?????? He assures Stack that he’s a cop and licensed to carry a gun. Stack tells him “I’m the only law here.” It’s almost like he’s still playing the roll of Eliot Ness, but a lot more amiable. He gets O’Brien to hand over the gun without shooting him first.

Shortly after take off, as the first class passengers recline in what appear to be lazy boy recliners, there’s a little problem in the first class lounge at the airport. It seems the package was rigged to explode with a “harmless puff of smoke.” After a panic in the lounge, they find out that it is just a joke. But the letter next to it that warns that a “passenger will die” is more ominous. They radio the plane.

By this time, the plane is over the Atlantic Ocean, on its way to London. Stack gets the message and decides to have a “little talking to” to that mischievous little rascal, Bonaduce. He takes him up in the lounge and warns him that “some pranks are funny, but others aren’t.” Bonaduce admits to leaving the bomb like package “as a joke” but knows nothing about the letter. Stack believes him. Boys will be boys.

In the meantime, we see that a barbeque fork (don’t they just serve pre-packaged meals?) is stolen from the kitchen and that the irate guy sees Sonny Bono talking to a young girl (played by Stack’s daughter - he managed to get his whole family involved in this debacle) that makes him even more irate. The guy who was worried about the doctor is even more angry and tries to kill him with the fork. Apparently, the doctor could not save this guy’s wife.

But he’s not the one who sent the message.

Is it the irate guy who hates Sonny Bono? It’s hard to tell. Stack suddenly becomes convinced that the murderer is a “psychopath” and it is up to him to protect “250 people.” Even though he spends most of his time roaming around the plane, he still figures someone has to fly it. So he gives O’Brien back his gun and takes him into his confidence. He also asks the doctor about psychopaths and how to spot them. The doctor says that they can be anywhere from 11 to 80.

That means it can still be Bonaduce or that nice Jewish lady who’s coming on to Walter Pidgeon.
Despite the fact that she’s drunk and being hit on by Fernando Lamas, Polly Bergen is very astute. She notices that the priest who is sitting in the back of the plane is wearing….nail polish! Stack quickly radios into control tower about this. He wants the details of all of the passengers in first class…pronto. After all, he has 250 people to think about.

We then see the angry guy attack Sonny Bono in the lounge. Apparently, his 15 year old daughter was found in Bono’s bed, dead from a drug overdose and the father blames Bono. The girl had runaway and was a drugged up groupie for Bono’s band. But Bono never met her. But Bono makes nicey nicey with the dad, assures him that his daughter was a “real nice girl” and that she talked about him all of the time. Her drug overdose was just “one of those things.”

Is it any wonder that this guy became a politician?

Stack is still on the prowl and the passengers are getting worried. One dead body is found in the elevator to the food supply and a stewardess (not Farrah, of course) is killed. Stack tries to calm everyone down, but you have to wonder if any of them are worried about who’s flying the plane as he plays detective.

Meanwhile, Fernando Lamas is quickly discovered to be a master thief by the drunk, but very observant Polly Bergen. And then we have the motive and the murder.

No, not Lamas! It’s Hugh O’Brien! He has spent so much time tracking Lamas that he has gone mad. Now that Stack gave him back his gun, he orders a select group of the first class passengers (leaving a good 230 alone) up to the lounge in the plane where he taunts Lamas and waives his gun.

Stack tries to talk him out of shooting Lamas. But then asks for a break so that he can tell the co-pilot how to land the plane! O’Brien lets him do this. But instead he tells the co-pilot and navigator to kill the lights. No one seems concerned about a gunshot in an airplane. Finally, after confessing his madness and motives, O’Brien shoots, Stack tackles him in the best Eliot Ness style and the drama is over. After Stack puts out the fire that erupts in the lounge. That is right near the cockpit.

This is one that you have to see to believe. But the one thing that I can’t get over, after seeing this Made For TV 1970s Movie, “Murder on Flight 502,” is WHY O’BRIEN TOLD STACK ABOUT THE GUN IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Pray For The Wildcats

Pray For The Wildcats. 1974 was a stellar year for films. It was the year we were treated to “The Godfather Part II,” one of the best movies ever made. It was also the year of the release of a lesser known title “Pray For The Wildcats.” This movie did not grace the big screen - but, like The Godfather Part II, it had a top cast and mesmerizing plot that kept you tuned in to the TV. Except for commercial breaks when you ran to get something in the fridge.

Andy Griffith - the beloved sheriff of Mayberry - stars as Sam Farragut, a businessman who convinces a bunch of ad executives to take a trip with him to Baja, California on motorcycles. The ad executives are played by none other than William Shatner, Robert Reed and Marjoe Gortner.

Angie Dickenson also stars as Reed’s wife, who is having an affair with Shatner’s character. Marjoe Gortner was a big name in 1974, having been a big hit in the documentary “Marjoe” that exposed evangelical healing. He was still a couple years away from his big screen break - “Food Of The Gods,” but was still a hot commodity. Shatner and Reed were, of course, riding high from “Star Trek” and “The Brady Bunch,” respectively. Ironically, Reed had left “The Brady Bunch” just before the last show as it was “too silly.”

He had bigger ambitions. Pray For The Wildcats was one of them.

Griffith gets the guys really cool jackets and shirts that look exactly like the shirt that Shatner wore in Star Trek, only without the emblem. In fact, Shatner and Griffith wear the same mustard yellow colored shirts. Gortner and Reed have different colors. But the guys all match as they head off to Baja, California.

Prior to the trip, Gortner’s girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant. Not something that he wants to hear. Reed’s wife is fooling around on him and Shatner is contemplating suicide. They all need a vacation. But not quite the one that Griffith has in store.

It’s hard to picture the loveable Andy Taylor pounding down shots of Tequila and lewdly ogling a girl young enough to be his granddaughter in a seedy Mexican bar, but Hollywood is where the magic happens. As the girl dances closer and closer to Sheriff Taylor, his eyes get a wild look in them that you never saw before - even when he ate some of Aunt Bea’s cooking.

Making things even more tense is Marjoe, who is busy pounding on the table like he’s been snorting speed capsules or having a seizure. Or both. Robert Reed just looks on mildly. He’s probably thinking “at least I don’t have to put up with Cousin Oliver.”

Enter Shatner - gold Star Trek shirt and all and bad toupee - he looks at the scene and appears disturbed at Griffith’s lust crazed look. Before he can do anything to get the group out of there, Griffith takes another shot of tequila, jumps up and proceeds to “dance” towards the girl.
Sure, DeNiro was good as the young Don Corleone in “The Godfather Part II,” but was he really playing against typecast? He wasn’t that well known back then and he didn’t do one bit of dancing. But Griffith…he dances like….hmmmmm doggie!

After he tries to molest the young girl and punches her boyfriend, Mayberry’s sheriff is led out of the bar by Captain Kirk and the rest of the group where they proceed to get back on their road trip. But our hero is not done yet. No sooner are he and Gortner alone that he comes across the young girl and her boyfriend camped out in the desert. When the boyfriend refuses to take $100 from Griffith in exchange for sex with his girlfriend, Griffith gets mad. Madder even than the time that Opie shot that mama bird. He smashes the radiator of the hippie van and takes off, Gortner looking embarrassed, in tow.

Of course, they later learn the hippie boyfriend died trying to walk for help and the girlfriend is hanging on for dear life in the Mexican hospital. This is when the guys seem to have a bit of a conscience, particularly Gortner, who was accessory to the fact. They start to think that maybe ole Andy isn’t….well, a nice guy. Even if he did give them matching jackets and cool Star Trek shirts.

Shater especially struggles with his conscience, much like Al Pacino’s character in Godfather Part II when he realizes that it was Fredo who betrayed him. But then, for anyone who has seen both films, it is an easy comparison to make. When they learn the girl has died, Griffith is happier than….well, a slippery worm on a bad hook. He decides to take the little Mexican kids for dangerous wheelie motorcycle rides up and down the streets. The sheriff of the town is very nice and accommodating, just like Sheriff Taylor. But not as shrewd. He has no idea what happened to “the heeepies.”

So the guys decide to turn on Griffith who they realize is a real sociopath killer. And in a grueling motorcycle race that rivals the tension felt during the senate trial in The Godfather Part II, Griffith’s character finally drives off a cliff.

Not everything ends happily ever after, though. Just like in The Godfather, the finale includes deaths. Gortner’s girlfriend had an abortion. Angie Dickenson asks Mike Brady for a divorce. But Shatner….decides….to…live.

And thankfully he does. Because now he is hawking personal injury law firms on TV. With a really naturally toupee, I might add. And where is Pacino? No where. He makes one movie every other year or so and you never, ever see him advertising stuff on TV.

So 1974 was a good year for film. Although I think the Academy was way off in awarding The Godfather II and DeNiro Oscars, they had no choice. Pray For The Wildcats was a TV movie and not eligible. But Pray For The Wildcats didn’t even win a lousy Emmy. I just don’t get it.