Wendy: Oh.Danny: What was the Donner Party?Jack: They were a party of settlers in covered-wagon times.They got snowbound one winter in the mountains.They had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive.Danny: You mean they ate each other up?Jack: They had to, in order to survive.Wendy: Jack...Danny: Don""t worry, Mom.I know all about cannibalism.I saw it on TV.[There are many future references in the film to TV, such as he obvious quotes: "Here""s Johnny!" and "Honey, I""m home!"]Jack: See, it""s OK.The subtle film""s slogan proclaimed:"Getting there is half he fun.Being there is all of it."The film was directed by Hal Ashby (already known forHarold and Maude (1971),The Last Detail (1973),Shampoo (1975),Bound for Glory (1976),and the acclaimed Vietnam war filmComing Home (1978)).She was cute as lace pants.A red-head").Recently-released from prison, the half-witted, primitive ex-boxer Malloy was obsessively searching for his mysterious, missing ex-girlfriend/lover Velma Valento (Claire Trevor), a showgirl, who had sold him out eight years earlier and abandoned him."Axel visited WonderWorld (the amusement park was actually Paramount""sGreat America, in Santa Clara, CA, in the South Bay Area of Northern California], where he was eventually forced to pay the exorbitant admission of $35 when dropping Ellis DeWald""s name failed at the gate.He described how:"Some woman, she went f--king nuts.Killed all these counselors.Blamed them for her son""s drowning.He was like deformed, or retarded or something.Mom got hers.Apparently there was one survivor.This girl, she cut hat lady""s head off with a machete.It gets weirder...Her son, Jason, he came back.He was actually there.He watched his mom being beheaded."Everyone was skeptical of his story and didn""t believe it.Mike and Whitney left the group to walk in the woods, while Richie and Amanda were forced to listen to Wade""s ramblings about technology at the campfire.