#WHEELS ON MEALS (1984)

[of-fear-and-love]

Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez fight scene, part I - from 快餐車 / Wheels on Meals (1984)

[part II]

[fibula-rasa]

Biao Yuen & Jackie Chan in Wheels on Meals / 快餐車 (1984)

Director: Sammo Hung

Cinematographers: Yiu-Tsou Cheung,  Francisco Riba,  Arthur Wong

[baddawg94]

Biao Yuen

Sammo Hung

Jackie Chan

“Wheels On Meals” (1984)

[abs0luteb4stard]

W a t c h i n g

看 電 影

I'm not as impressed by it. I know it's seen as a classic, but it took an hour for the real action to start.

I think Jackie and Sammo have better collaborations and individual movies.

[boardsdonthitback]

Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao - Wheels On Meals (1984)

[chernobog13]

The Three Dragons - Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, and Jackie Chan - between takes while making Wheels on Meals (1984).

[mementoboni]

Kaoru and Hong Kong Movies

X ( Long post!! )

It's been a while, but I found that Kaoru mentioned a lot of classic Hong Kong movies in this tweet.

These are the movies I used to watch when I was a kid, and I never thought I'd ever hear them from Kaoru one day, so I want to give a brief introduction to these movies. 😀

01. スパルタンX (Spartan X)

繁體中文：快餐車 / English: Wheels on Meals

Wheels on Meals is a 1984 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy film written and directed by Sammo Hung (洪金寶), with action choreographed by Jackie Chan (成龍). The film stars Jackie Chan (成龍), Sammo Hung (洪金寶), Yuen Biao (元彪), Lola Forner, Benny Urquidez and José Sancho.

In 1984, it was adapted into the video game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master internationally).

The final fight between Jackie Chan and Benny Urquidez

🎥 Best Fight Scene 👇

02. 五福星 (ごふくせい)

繁體中文：奇謀妙計五福星 / English: Winners and Sinners (or 5 Lucky Stars)

Winners and Sinners is a 1983 Hong Kong action comedy film written and directed by Sammo Hung (洪金寶), who also starred in the film. The film co-stars Jackie Chan (成龍) and Yuen Biao (元彪), the latter serving as one of the film's action directors.

The film is followed by My Lucky Stars (福星高照) and Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (夏日福星), insofar as the "Five Lucky Stars" concept (福星系列) and many of the same actors return in those latter films. However, the character names and indeed their roles differ - Stanley Fung's character is the nominal "leader" of the quintet in Winners and Sinners (奇謀妙計五福星), whereas Hung's character takes the mantle in the latter films.

🎥 Best Fight Scene 👇

03. 霊幻道士 (れいげん どうし)

繁體中文：殭屍先生 (or 暫時停止呼吸) / English: Mr. Vampire

As this is one of my favorite movies, I will introduce more 😃

Mr. Vampire is a 1985 Hong Kong comedy horror film directed by Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) and produced by Sammo Hung (洪金寶).

The vampire of the film is based on the jiangshi (殭屍/ㄐ一ㄤˉ ㄕˉ), the hopping corpses of Chinese folklore (similar to both zombies and vampires).

"殭" means "to die immortal" (死而不朽) or "stiff" (about the same as "僵"), and "屍" means "dead body".

The film was released under the Chinese title 暫時停止呼吸 (literally: Hold Your Breath for a Moment) in Taiwan. This is because most (not all) of the 殭屍 can't see with their eyes, they can only tell where people are by their breathing, so if you hold your breath you won't get caught by 殭屍.

🎥 ※ This video is dubbed in Mandarin (with Eng subs) 👇

The film is set in the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China (清朝末年~民國初期), that is, the late 19th century to the early 20th century, and most of the 殭屍 are wearing the costumes of Qing Dynasty officials.

(That's why, when I first read about the Qing Dynasty (清朝) in the history textbook, I wondered why people were all dressed as 殭屍 🤣)

🎥 ※ This video is dubbed in Mandarin (with Eng subs) 👇

The box office of Mr. Vampire success led to the creation of a Mr. Vampire franchise, with the release of four sequels directed by Ricky Lau (劉觀偉) from 1986 to 1992, and subsequent similarly themed films with different directors released between 1987 and 1992, with Lam Ching-ying (林正英) as the lead for the majority of them.

The film was the breakthrough success of the jiangshi genre, a trend popular in Hong Kong during the 1980s, and established many of the genre's recognisable tropes.

🎥 ※ This video is dubbed in Mandarin (with Eng subs) 👇

I highly recommend this movie!!

Also, I love the the movie song - Ghost Bride (鬼新娘).

🎥 ※ This song is in Cantonese (廣東話/粵語). 👇

04. Mr.Boo

繁體中文：半斤八両 / English: The Private Eyes

The Private Eyes is a 1976 Hong Kong comedy film written, directed by and starring Michael Hui (許冠文) and co-starring his brothers Samuel Hui (許冠傑) and Ricky Hui (許冠英) as well as Shih Kien (石堅) and Richard Ng (吳耀漢) in his second film role. Sammo Hung (洪金寶) served as the film's action director and Jackie Chan (成龍) was also a stuntman.

In 1979, when Jiahe Corporation (嘉禾公司) promoted Bruce Lee's (李小龍) kung fu film in Japan, it added "The Private Eyes" and changed its propaganda department to "Mr Boo!" as a call to action, it became a huge hit, earning a billion yen at the box office in Japan, followed by several Huh Brothers (許氏兄弟) comedies featuring "Mr. Boo!" as the title.

It is worth mentioning that Hsu Kuan-chieh's (許冠傑) character was voiced by the famous Japanese actor Kitano Takeshi (北野武). In 1981, Takakura Ken (高倉健) starred in "駅 STATION ", there are also male and female protagonists watching "The Private Eyes" kitchen fighting scenes. Japanese manga master Akatsuka Fujio (赤塚不二夫) has written the preface and Japanese lyrics for this film.

🎥 The kitchen fighting scenes 👇

#吳耀漢

繁體中文：吳耀漢 / English: Richard Ng

Kaoru mentioned 吳耀漢 in the tag because he passed away in April 2023. 吳耀漢 is a famous actor in Hong Kong, and he has appeared in all the movies mentioned above except Mr. Vampire.

※ In fact, 吳耀漢 appeared in 霊幻道士3 (繁體中文：靈幻先生 / English: Mr. Vampire III), a sequel to the Mr. Vampire series, which was released in 1986. I guess this is the movie Kaoru was referring to.

Speaking of 吳耀漢, I would like to recommend another Hong Kong movie: Rigor Mortis

05. Rigor Mortis

繁體中文：殭屍(2013) or 殭屍 七日重生

Rigor Mortis is a 2013 Hong Kong horror film directed by Juno Mak (麥浚龍) and produced by Takashi Shimizu (清水崇，the director of 呪怨 Juon). The film is a tribute to the Mr. Vampire film series. Many of the former cast are featured in this film: Chin Siu-ho (錢小豪), Anthony Chan (陳友), Billy Lau (樓南光) and Richard Ng (吳耀漢). *吳耀漢 is the 殭屍 on the poster. 👆

Unlike the usual Hong Kong comedies, the overall atmosphere in Rigor Mortis is very depressing. The whole movie is full of nostalgia and reluctance for Mr. Vampire, which reminds people of the glory of Hong Kong jiangshi movies back in the day. Personally, I think it is the best jiangshi movie of the last 20 years.

🎥 OFFICIAL TRAILER 👇

🎥 The Hallway Scene in the movie also uses the song Ghost Bride (鬼新娘), and the song is even more creepy as it slows down. 👇

--- --- ---

It's really happy to know that Kaoru has watched these movies.

💜 Thanks for reading 💜

Btw, today (2023/08/30, the 15th day of the 7th lunar month) is The Ghost Festival (中元節).

[nine-frames]

快餐車 (Wheels on Meals), 1984.

Dir. Sammo Hung | Writ. Edward Tang & Johnny Lee | DOP Arthur Wong, Cheung Yiu-tso & Francisco Riba

[yelena-bellova]

UNLUCKY: A STRANGER THINGS STORY (OC) - CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chapter Eleven: Happy Birthday, America

Series Masterlist l OC Profile

Plot: In the midst of a perfect summer, Christine works to take back a bit more of what the lab stole from her.

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: none

A/N: More of a mini-chapter, but important nonetheless. We’re getting so close to s2, I can taste it. I’m so excited to take that eventual label off the the title 😏 Enjoy!!

UPDATE: Two years later, I’ve converted this to an OC story. All chapters are being rewritten ☺️

—————————

June 29th, 1984

“Okay, remember, the most important thing is to center yourself.”

“I don’t want to do this.”

“C’mon, you got this.”

“No, I don’t want to do this.”

My breath was caught in my chest as Steve held onto the handlebars of Nancy’s bike. She was down at the end of the cul-de-sac yelling instructions.

“You’ve done great so far,” she encouraged, “You haven’t fallen once!”

“Yeah, with training wheels,” I cried, anxiety raising my voice for me.

“Chris, you’re gonna be fine, and if you fall,” Steve slapped his hand against my helmet, “This’ll keep you from cracking your skull open.”

I shot him a look, “How is that reassuring?”

“C’mon, you fought a monster with your mind. This is a piece of cake.”

“Say it a little louder, Steve. I don’t think the neighbors heard you!”

“Christine, you’ve got this!” Nancy yelled.

Of all things I’d ever faced, abduction, poverty, homelessness and inter-dimensional momsters, learning to ride a bike should not have mattered. But it did.

Shakily, I inhaled, and placed a foot on one of the pedals. Steve had promised to hold onto the handlebars until I told him to let go. I hadn’t fallen yet. I could do this. They became rhythmic chants in my head as I lifted my other foot off the ground and started to roll down the road.

“Good, good…” Steve moved alongside me, “You’ve got it, you’ve got it…”

My breathing quickened as I kept going, pedaling with both feet. Steve began to sprint just to keep up with me.

“You’re doing it!” Nancy cheered.

“I’m doing it!” I smiled nervously, “Okay, I-I think I’m ready.”

“You sure?” Steve asked.

I gripped the handlebars a little tighter, “Yeah.”

“Okay,” he removed his hand but kept running beside me, “You’re doing it!”

It finally hit me what I was doing, I was riding a bike by myself. A weekend of lessons from Nancy and Steve, the two of them determined to teach me one of life’s essential skills, and I was actually doing it.

The two of them cheered me on as I made the turn around the cul-de-sac and back to the end of the street. My braking was a little rocky, but I made it off without crashing. Nancy threw her arms around me and Steve and I high-fived. Another but of normalcy was mine.

—————————

The high didn’t last on account of the fact that I didn’t own my own bike.

“Okay, but think of it this way,” I followed Hopper around the kitchen, “It’ll save you money in the long run.”

“Uh-huh,” Hopper unenthusiastically listened, a spoon hanging out of his mouth, “And how’d you figure that?”

“You drive me everywhere,” I stated as he handed me items from the fridge. It was the day before grocery shopping day and we were trying to put together some sort of dinner. El and I had named them Puzzle Piece Meals. “Meaning you spend a ton of money on gas taking me to and from school, the Wheeler’s, downtown…if I had a bike, I could do it all myself, freeing up all those wasted dollars for things like food and water and electricity.”

Hopper shut the fridge door, looking mildly amused. “How poor do you think we are?”

“I just mean that your money is better spent things other than driving me to pep rallies,” I explained in between sniff-testing vegetables, “Plus, while you’re driving me around, who knows what kind of crime is taking place? If you think about it, I’m benefiting the whole town by not taking up so much of your valuable time.”

Hopper threw me a jar of peanut butter, “So it’s an act of public service, me buying you a bike.”

“Hey, you swore to protect and serve,” I shrugged my shoulders, “That comes in many different forms.”

I peeked over to where he stood to see if my argument was working, and was met with a smirk that I’d learned typically meant good things.

Hopper crossed his arms and smacked his lips. “If I buy you one, you do realize curfew is still in effect.”

My back straightened, had it actually worked? “Wouldn’t dream of a world without it,” I rushed out.

“And I’m gonna make you run errands,” he continued. It was a test to see how badly I really wanted it.

“I know where all the stores are,” I replied, challenge accepted.

“And there’ll be perimeters for where and you can and can’t go.”

I squinted, “How is that different than now?” There were designated places in Hawkins that Hopper deemed to dangerous for me to go. There weren’t many, but he’d marked them on a map in red marker and I’d never once tried to visit them.

“A bike makes it quicker to get to places you shouldn’t be,” he answered.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I answered honestly. Hopper and I had found our groove over the last few months. I had no intention of messing that up now.

Hopper thought it over a second while I held my breath. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, but was really only thirty seconds, he answered.

“It’s not gonna be some super, mega, gold-plated thing, but it’ll have wheels and-“

I surged forward and hugged him, “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.”

His hand came around my back and patted it. In the course of our relationship, I’d hugged him maybe three times but when I did, I meant it with everything in me.

“Everything okay?”

I turned around at the sound, it was El. She’d been napping when I got home and had just woken up, looking so much like when she was a little kid.

I was starting to feel more guilty over going out while El was forced to hide at home. When it came to talking about my life outside the cabin, I had been trying to keep it to the bare minimum. Especially when it came to talking about the Wheelers. She missed Mike terribly.

“I…Hopper’s making me learn how to ride a bike so that he can stop driving me to school.”

“Oh,” she nodded, “Dinner?”

“Yep,” I nodded, moving around Hopper and holding up the last Eggo in its bag and some frozen carrots. “Puzzle piece meal?”

El smiled and moved to help me fix the plates up. Hoper raised an eyebrow at the lie I’d told, to which I shrugged. Someone had to be the bad guy and I couldn’t bear El resenting me.

The next day, Hopper brought home a standard blue bike with a basket. It wasn’t anything fancy, which didn’t matter to me. The freedom it came with was all I needed. I rode up to Nancy’s that night and surprised her. A whole new world of possibilities had opened for the summer.

—————————

July 4th, 1984

Hawkins’ 4th of July Celebration was in full swing when Steve, Nancy and I pulled up to meet the Wheelers. I’d been content to bike there, so had Nancy, but Steve had insisted on driving us over in his BMW. He said we’d look way cooler.

We ran into a few people from school, though most people our age, I’d been told, were more interested in shooting off fireworks at home. As was more common lately, the three of us stuck together. Third wheeling had stopped feeling like third wheeling after Steve and I became better friends, which made Nancy happy.

Our trio was eating on top one of the picnic tables set up in the open field. There was a massive buffet filled with everything from burgers to watermelon to ice cream. The air smelled like charred meat and sugar. This was, I was learning, summer in all its glory.

We were in deep discussion about burger toppings when a woman came by, handing us each a red, white and blue cupcake. “Happy Birthday, America!” She greeted us.

“That might be the strangest way to say ‘Happy 4th of July,” Nancy mused once she’d left.

I stared at the cupcake, pondering the statement. We had never known our real birthdays in the lab. I wondered from time to time if mine fell on a school day or a night I slept over at Nancy’s or grocery shopping day. It existed somewhere on the calendar, it just wasn’t mine to know.

“Hey,” Steve’s voice pulled me out, “You’ve got a birthday, right?”

It was like he was in my head. “I do, I just don’t know it,” I tried to joke.

He shrugged, “So why don’t you just pick one?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, people chose America’s birthday,” he further explained, “Why can’t you pick yours?”

“He’s got a point,” Nancy agreed, “You know how old you are, right? The day doesn’t really matter.”

They weren’t wrong. I would need to pick one eventually. It had already caused Hopper a lot of headaches with school and adoption paperwork to not have any day to fill in.

I thought over any days that meant enough to me to make mine. The day I came back to Hawkins? The day Hopper took me in? The day El came back?

I ended up choosing the day that I realized I could steal back whatever I wanted from the lost years of my life.

“Today,” I beamed, “Today’s my birthday.”

“Today?” Steve repeated.

“Yeah, today.”

“Okay,” Steve shrugged while Nancy cheered, “Today’s your birthday. America and you.”

“America and me,” I repeated, high fiving and squeezing his hand.

“Ooh, hang on,” Nancy handed her plate to Steve and ran off in the direction of the dessert table.

“I’m forgiven if your present’s late?” Steve teased.

“Is it lame if I say you and Nancy are gift enough?” I smiled and meant it. The summer spent with them had been the most fun I’d ever had.

“Oh, God, yes,” we both started laughing.

A chorus of my name got called out from a ways away. Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Will came running in our direction. They’d been an equal part of my summer. Overlapping one another, they all started asking me if I’d finished filling out my D&D character card. They were determined to teach me how to play.

Nancy came running back a moment later holding a candle, having gotten it from one of the moms who’d brought America a birthday cake. Steve had a lighter on him and pulled it out.

“Okay, guys,” Nancy announced, carrying the lit cupcake to me, “Make room for the birthday girl.”

“Wait, whose birthday?” Mike asked.

I looked proudly down at my dessert, “I decided today is my birthday.”

“Cool,” Dustin grinned, before breaking out into song, “Happy Birthday to you…”

Soon enough, they were all singing. Dustin and Will came on one side of me and Nancy on the other, the rest of them creating a circle around me. I had never felt more loved.

When I blew out the candle, it wasn’t just a flame extinguishing. It was another defiance against Dr. Brenner. Another piece of myself I was building back up. Another victory against everything in life that had tried to break me.

———————

Unlucky Taglist: @lanadelray1989

[omercifulheaves]

Wheels on Meals (1984)

[andy121019]

My @letterboxd review of Wheels On Meals (1984)

[of-fear-and-love]

Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez fight scene, part II - from 快餐車 / Wheels on Meals (1984)

[fibula-rasa]

Jackie Chan in Wheels on Meals / 快餐車 (1984)

Director: Sammo Hung

Cinematographers: Yiu-Tsou Cheung,  Francisco Riba,  Arthur Wong

[cinemafia420]

Wheels on Meals (1984)

Dir. Sammo Hung Kam-bo

[curioussmoker]

Wheels On Meals (Sammo Hung, 1984)

[kaipanzero]

Wheels on Meals 快餐車 (1984)