I'm looking at this new version that's getting releaed and all over the internet. Different dubbing, and doesn't have that great cheesy music.
Not the same movie I grew up on.
This is the real Spartan X/Wheels on Meals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZJSDCzvjr4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqq9-jidlD0
Who cares? the movie's about the action.
I do like the ladies, you know. I do like 'em. Hmm, I like-a them, and they like-a me back.
I do care... everydayboredom1980 am so with you, the one you say is the UK VHS version, not only Wheels on Meals but all of the movies he did back home and that came out on VSH in UK and all of Europe, those were the ones
Project A on DVD is the same as the VHS, dont know if you know, the rest are all redubbed and spoiled coz of that, action scenes ye, they all the same but the same magic is not there.
The version what you are talking about is the UK VHS release, released somehwere during the mid 80's, allot of people make the mistake to think that this is an American version, the UK version has the synth/rock music which you call cheesy, it's composed and performed by Keith Morrison...
As far as I know, Keith Morrison's music was only released on LP in Japan, where the movie was called Spartan X.
By the, way the music isn't cheesy at all, it's fun, exciting, catchy and really fits the tone of the movie...if you want to hear cheesy music in Meals on Wheels, check out the American remastered DVD release.
I will always prefer the UK VHS release over the original Cantonese version and even more so, over the crappy American release.
mikebaks
I agree.I,ve jut recently bought most of the Jackie Chan films on dvd from Hong Kong legends and they are not the same as the UK VHS releases I loved watching as a kid.This,Dragons Forever and the rest have been redubbed.It,s not fair.
The picture quality on all of them is fantastic,but the redubbing isn,t.
Strangely,the Project A dvd contains the version I remember watching on video as a kid.That cheered me up.
How about the version that is being streamed by Amazon as part of its Amazon Instant Video service? Which version is that? It has Cantonese dialogue (for all characters, including the Americans and the Spanish), with English subtitles, but the onscreen credits are mostly in Chinese. There is no mention onscreen of the score.
The image is clean, but not super-clean. Although most of the sound looks synched properly, some of the fight scenes have some really horrible mis-timed sound effects. The sounds of the hits come before the punches are even thrown.
I agree, the UK music makes the film far better, especially in the last fight. During that scene Jackie Chan is losing to Benny Urquidez and decides he needs to loosen up and treat the fight more like a training session. The music that then begins to play (in the UK version), actually sounds like 80s work-out music. It's funny and it gives the fight a much more energetic and fun feel.
The other soundtrack ends up taking itself too seriously. Part of the charm of this era of martial arts films was their humor.