''Pontiac Moon'' is a 1994

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Peter Medak Péter Medák (born 23 December 1937) is a Hungarians in the United Kingdom, Hungarian-British film and television director. Early life Born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary, he was the son of Elisabeth (née Diamounstein) and Gyula Med ...

, and produced by Robert Schaffel and Youssef Vahabzadeh. The film stars

Ted Danson Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe A ...

as Washington Bellamy, a "pigheaded" science teacher in a small town of California, as well as Mary Steenburgen as his wife Katherine. Danson was also one of three executive producers of the film, along with Jeffrey D. Brown (co-writer) and Robert Benedetti.

Plot

The film takes place in the summer of 1969, when

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronauts successfully landed on the Moon for the first time, in the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

spacecraft. Katherine Bellamy, suffering from

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

s caused by an automobile accident which resulted in the loss of their unborn child, suffers from

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no way to escape. These situations can include public transit, shopping centers, crowds and q ...

. In contrast, her husband Washington Bellamy is a man of adventure who enjoys travel and experiencing life. As a result of the conflict between them, their 11-year-old son Andy has never traveled in a car, nor has he ever left town. Washington, who also maintains a ragtag collection of automobiles of various vintages, decides to travel with Andy to the Spires of the Moon

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

(a fictitious park possibly based on

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a National monument (United States), U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along U.S. Route 20#Idaho, US 20 (Concurrency (road), concur ...

). They plan to arrive at the very moment that the Apollo 11 crew lands on the Moon. They make the trip in Washington's 1949 Pontiac Eight Chieftain DeLuxe

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

(the grille indicates it's a 1950) nicknamed "Old Chief". The car's mileage, when arriving at its destination, will be exactly the distance in miles from the Earth to the Moon. On the way they make some enemies, new friends, and learn the meaning of family. When Katherine finds out where her husband and son are going, she faces her fears (she hasn't been out the house for seven years), and follows them in one of Washington's cars, an Amphicar. She learns the importance of living as she follows the Pontiac to Spires of the Moon. On the way, the Pontiac's engine dies, and Washington arranges for a mechanic to install a replacement one, only to leave the premises without paying for it as he doesn't have enough money to pay. At the moment of the Apollo 11 landing, the Pontiac crashes into a

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

at Spires of the Moon, with Andy at the wheel. Katherine arrives, and they escape a police chase by driving the Amphicar into a lake to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and safety. The adventure brings the Bellamy family together, and they are now ready to begin a more normal life.

Cast

as Washington Bellamy * Mary Steenburgen as Katherine Bellamy * Ryan Todd as Andy Bellamy *

Eric Schweig Eric Schweig (born Ray Dean Thrasher; 19 June 1967) is a Canadian Inuvialuk actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1992). Early life Schweig was born in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. He is ...

as Ernest Ironplume *

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress whose career spans five decades. Born and raised in New York City, she made her acting debut opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's ''Raging Bull'' (1980), for which she recei ...

as Lorraine * Max Gail as Jerome Bellamy

Production

Parts of the film were shot in

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

, Crescent Junction, Ruby Ranch Road, and

Arches National Park Arches National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. The park contains more than 2,000 natural arch, natural ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Year-end lists

* 4th worst – Bob Strauss, ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

References

External links

* [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/11/movies/film-review-all-gassed-up-with-not-much-place-to-go.html All Gassed Up With Not Much Place to Go] NYT Review
Pontiac Moon (1994) "a sincere but tedious road movie"
- Variety Review
Pontiac Moon (1994)
-

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

Pontiac Moon (1994)
-

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

Pontiac Moon (1994)
- BFI * *
Pontiac Moon (1994)
- The Numbers - Financial Information * {{Peter Medak 1994 films 1990s adventure films American adventure films Films directed by Peter Medak Films set in 1969 Paramount Pictures films Films scored by Randy Edelman Films shot in Utah 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language adventure films