Word: driverless
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...roars out of the desert like some mustang of the legendary West - but it is no horse, only modern horse power gone loco. Driverless, with a diabolical will of its own, it invades a Utah town and mows down a bicycling couple, the sheriff and a passel of deputies and a pert young teacher. Among the other victims: plot, dialogue and characterization. Deputy Sheriff James Brolin leads the counterattack, but it is an unequal contest: the car steals all the scenes. The ancient nightmare of machines turning against their masters has in recent years become something of a staple...
...notable mainly as the first in what promises to be an infestation of Jaws sequels, rip-offs and derivations. Universal is presently at work on the official reprise, Jaws II. Other studios will soon bring forth films about marauding crocodiles, deadly swarms of bees, a car - apparently driverless- that terrorizes a small town, and a plague of earthworms, this last called Squirm. Most of these items hold little promise, but perhaps some small consolation may be found in the fact that the folks who made Grizzly have already produced what will probably stand as the bottom of the cage...
...possibility is computer-controlled, driverless buses running along expressway lanes reserved exclusively for them. Another is "dial-a-bus" systems. These would employ small vehicles that would run frequently along fixed routes but have no set stopping points; a passenger would simply dial a central office and the next bus would stop at his corner to pick him up. Of course, the best answer to urban transportation problems will be a mix of buses and rail-based systems...
...will be able to shop either by cable TV from home, or else drive to automated highways that will whisk their cars to downtown parking lots that are a short, pleasant stroll from the stores. Or if people prefer to ride, there will be moving sidewalks and computer-run, driverless minibuses...
...Sherlock Jr., he rode the handlebars of a driverless motorcycle. In Steamboat Bill Jr., he flew through the air on a trunkless tree. In Our Hospitality, he went over a waterfall. When he employed sleight of lens, it was to achieve effects normally seen only on canvas. In The Frozen North, he climbed subway stairs-and emerged in Alaska. In The Playhouse, he staged a minstrel show with nine Busters. In the Pirandelloesque Daydreams, he left life to climb into a film within a film...