Identifying a movie from 1979

I tried Google, IMDB, and IMCDB and came up empty. Figured the cross section of knowledge and trivia here might be able to solve this one.

For no particular reason I'm trying to identify a sci fi movie from 1979. I only caught the tail end of the movie as a kid.

We were going to the drive-in to see Buck Rogers and this other movie was ending as we parked the car. All I remember from that movie was the characters were driving a blue '76-77 Monte Carlo, went to some place where there was something like an alien transport thing. The characters jumped through the thing then the Earth blew up.

So anybody know what that movie was?

http://www.filmsandtv.com/genre.php?gs=1970Sci-Fi&pg=5 any sound familiar?

Came across that site earlier and went through all the ones I didn't already know. No luck.

Maybe try this...?

movie cars database

You might want to bring a snack or something, because there's 21 pages with 30 Monte Carlos per page.

Went through all the Monte Carlo pages covering '73-77 Montes. Spent way too much time looking there earlier today. There were a bunch of Montes used in movies and TV over the years, but nobody put that movie in. Maybe it was so bad I'm the only one that remembered it.

OK, instead of relying on today's memories, suppose we do this by going back in time: if your community had a local newspaper with movie listings, it follows that the drive-in probably advertised what its shows were every week. What you want is a public library with newspaper files from when Buck Rogers was playing.

My only other idea is trying the archives department at the studio that released Buck Rogers and seeing if they had the movie you're looking for out on tour as a package deal. Bit of a long shot, but you never know.

That's an interesting idea. I'll have to ask my folks what the name of the drive-in was. It got leveled maybe a year or two after that movie. There's a shopping center there now. We don't live in that area now, so there's a little more digging to do.

That movie was so bad it took the drive in down with it. Maybe it's best we don't remember it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alien_Encounters

sounds bad enough to be it

Don't limit yourself to 1979. A lot of drive ins ran an older movie along with a newer release...

Which Buck Rogers were you seeing?

Wally, you're probably right. But like the plot from one of those B-movies, I'll keep looking even if it destroys the Earth.

TurboJunker, that does sound bad and a good possibility. And there's a character named Wally. This could add to the conspiracy since Wally suggests leaving the movie in the past...

Ease Side, good point. The movie couldn't be older than '73 since I remember the Monte pretty clearly. It stuck out since my uncle had a matching '76 at the time.

Egnorant, it was the '79 version with Gil Gerard & Erin Gray. It's the one that became the pilot for the TV series.

Watch Vanishing Point instead..............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlI4T7duHwI

pete240z wrote: Watch Vanishing Point instead.............. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlI4T7duHwI

I have it on DVD.

Wow, it is rare that someone comes up with a question that stumps this board. Seeing as how someone here seems to know or can find the answer to almost everything (other than 6÷2(1+2)= ?) I'm starting to wonder if your memory might be off as to the car in the movie?

Grtechguy wrote: http://www.filmsandtv.com/genre.php?gs=1970Sci-Fi&pg=5 any sound familiar?

Man, '79 SUCKED for Sci Fi...

Actually, my first thought was Cheech and Chong's next movie, but only that field blew up!

I was in the Navy, in Iceland, I think about that time. I wasn't aware that the Buck Rogers series pilot was a theatre release. Did anyone else think this series tied with Lost in Space for the cheesiest sets?

T.J. wrote: Wow, it is rare that someone comes up with a question that stumps this board. Seeing as how someone here seems to know or can find the answer to almost everything (other than 6÷2(1+2)= ?) I'm starting to wonder if your memory might be off as to the car in the movie?

I agree that its very odd when this board cannot find the answer. But I'm not giving up just yet.

No, I'm positive on the Monte Carlo in the movie. I have an uncanny ability to recall weird details in memories. And I was born a car guy. Around that same age I could tell the different cars at night just by the headlight/parking light patterns. Used to drive Mom nuts. Dad just laughed.

I have vivid memories of going to the hospital when I was about 4 years old. Dad was at work and still had his '71 Demon. Mom borrowed my grandfather's '72 Dart to take me to the hospital. When Mom parked the car at the hospital, I said "Pop-Pop's car is just like Dad's but the steering wheel is different." I still remember the look on Mom's face and her saying to me "How do you know that?"

Since my uncle had a '76 Monte (with the cool swivel buckets), the car in the movie stuck with me.

Not identifying the movie won't keep me up at night. But I am surprised the GRM board is stumped. Maybe the movie was really that bad that it fell off the face of the earth.

There's another movie I was going to ask about after this one was resolved. That one was on Creature Double Feature (Saturdays on the old Philly UHF channel 48). It had a 55 Chevy and it got zapped by some aliens or something. It was in color, and looked like it was probably made sometime in the later '60's or into the early to mid '70's.

integraguy wrote: I was in the Navy, in Iceland, I think about that time. I wasn't aware that the Buck Rogers series pilot was a theatre release. Did anyone else think this series tied with Lost in Space for the cheesiest sets?

Buck had Erin Gray going for it.

stroker wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: http://www.filmsandtv.com/genre.php?gs=1970Sci-Fi&pg=5 any sound familiar?

Man, '79 SUCKED for Sci Fi...

Crap, I just lost at least an hour watching bad '70's trailers on you tube. That's more than enough for tonight.

This guy:

http://www.incredibleinman.com/

Writes (or wrote?) a column in our local paper answering questions such as yours concerning old tv and movies and is pretty good at it.

Might try asking him. Didn't search the site but maybe there is a place to ask.

-James

There was a movie release of Buck Rogers before the TV pilot and series. I saw both, my parents being big fans of the original.

When my older son was about three, he identified a car on the street as the same kind his teacher at daycare drove. My wife looked at me and said, "How does he DO that?" I replied, "Well, when I was his age, I did it by the tail lights." I don't know if that helped, but it was the truth.

lol, I honed the car identification by only the headlights skill in high school. Too many hours driving around at night on the weekends up to no good I guess. I cannot do it today with today's cars, but I was good at back in the day.