You’ve probably seen Ghostbusters. You’ve definitely seen Caddyshack. But there is a massive, weird, and beautiful hole in your 1980s comedy knowledge that involves Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and a bus trip to the moon.
It’s called Nothing Lasts Forever movie, and for forty years, the people who own it have basically tried to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Imagine it’s 1984. Murray and Aykroyd are the biggest stars on the planet. They just saved New York from a giant marshmallow man. Naturally, you’d think any movie starring both of them would be a guaranteed gold mine. Instead, MGM took one look at this black-and-white, surrealist fever dream and locked it in a vault. They didn't just delay it. They buried it.
The Most Famous Movie You've Never Heard Of
The story behind Nothing Lasts Forever feels like something out of a Pynchon novel. It was directed by Tom Schiller, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live and the genius behind those melancholy "Schiller’s Reels" shorts. Lorne Michaels produced it. It was supposed to be the SNL gang's big leap into "art" cinema.
Then it hit a test screening in Seattle.
The audience didn't just dislike it; they were baffled. They expected Animal House and got a monochrome tribute to 1940s cinema mixed with a dystopian nightmare. MGM panicked. They saw a "commercial disaster" and shelved the film indefinitely. Since then, it’s become the "Holy Grail" for cult film collectors.
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What actually happens in this thing?
The plot is, frankly, bonkers.
Zach Galligan—who would become famous later that same year in Gremlins—plays Adam Beckett. He’s a failed artist who gets exposed as a fraud after "playing" a player piano at Carnegie Hall. He ends up in a version of New York City run by a totalitarian Port Authority.
It gets weirder.
Adam discovers an underground society of homeless people who are actually the secret rulers of the world. They send him on a mission to find his soulmate. Where? On the moon. To get there, he has to take a regular city bus. Bill Murray plays the bus conductor, a character who is halfway between a charming host and a total sociopath.
- Directed by: Tom Schiller
- Produced by: Lorne Michaels
- The Cast: Zach Galligan, Lauren Tom, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sam Jaffe, Eddie Fisher
- The Vibe: Imagine if Frank Capra directed a sci-fi movie while tripping on acid.
Why Bill Murray Still Loves It
Most actors want to forget their "lost" films. Not Murray. He’s been one of the film’s biggest champions, occasionally insisting it be shown at retrospectives of his work. In 2004, he even showed up at a screening in Brooklyn to talk about it.
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Honestly, the movie is a time capsule of a very specific SNL era. John Belushi was actually supposed to be in it, but he died just weeks before filming started. That tragedy hangs over the production. You can feel a certain darkness in the humor. Murray’s performance is jagged and strange, nothing like the polished "Peter Venkman" persona the world was falling in love with at the time.
The Legal Nightmare Keeping It Hidden
You might be wondering: "If it's so good, why can't I just watch it on Netflix?"
It's complicated.
Warner Bros. (who now owns the MGM library from that era) has officially cited "legal difficulties." Most experts believe this is code for music and film clearance issues. Schiller used a lot of archival footage—clips from Birth of a Nation and Intolerance—along with old songs. In 1984, the contracts for these things didn't account for "home video" or "streaming" because those things barely existed.
Cleaning up the rights would cost a fortune. And for a movie that "failed" forty years ago, the studio doesn't see the ROI.
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Where can you actually find it?
Occasionally, the Nothing Lasts Forever movie leaks onto YouTube or the Internet Archive before the copyright lawyers pounce. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) famously aired it once in 2015 as part of their "TCM Underground" block. If you missed that 2:00 AM broadcast, you’re basically stuck hunting for bootlegs or attending rare 35mm screenings in cities like London or Austin.
A Masterpiece or a Mess?
Is it actually a good movie?
It depends on who you ask. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called it a "brilliant pastiche." Other critics at the time thought it was a self-indulgent mess that "stretched a ten-minute SNL sketch into 82 minutes."
The truth is somewhere in the middle. It’s a gorgeous-looking film. The cinematography by Fred Schuler is lush, and the score by Howard Shore (yes, the Lord of the Rings guy) is incredible. It captures a specific "New York as a dream" feeling that has mostly disappeared from cinema.
It’s not a "haha" funny movie. It’s a "that’s so strange I can't look away" movie.
Actionable Insights for Film Buffs
If you want to experience the legend of Nothing Lasts Forever, don't wait for a Blu-ray release. It might never happen.
- Set an alert for TCM: They are the only major network with the guts to show it. Check their schedule every few months for "TCM Underground."
- Monitor the Internet Archive: People frequently upload the 2015 TV rip. It usually stays up for a few weeks before being taken down.
- Look for the book: Nothing Lost Forever by Michael Turner is the definitive account of how this movie was made and why it was killed.
- Check local "Micro-cinemas": Independent theaters that specialize in 35mm cult films are your best bet for a theatrical experience.
The Nothing Lasts Forever movie is proof that even in Hollywood, some of the best stories are the ones that were never meant to be told. It’s a reminder that "commercial potential" is a terrible way to judge art. Sometimes, a bus ride to the moon is exactly what we need, even if the studio thinks we aren't ready for it.