Lunch Wagon

Lunch Wagon
September 1981
Seymour Borde & Associates
Comedy, Musical
VHS
B-

Unless you're bothered by fat jokes, this is a surprisingly amiable sex comedy.  Since my copy is off TV, I haven't actually seen any of the nudity, although it's very clear that the four main women are bra-less most of the time.  And yet, I'd sort of describe the movie as feminist.  I mean, it does pass the Bechdel Test, and it does show the power of female friendship, as well as show two young women recovering from being fired by their under-paying sexually harassing boss and starting a successful business with another friend.  Yes, they dress skimpily with their "Love Bites" wagon, which was given to them by Dick Van Patten.  (His character inherits a fortune and disappears from the movie, although sons Nels and particularly James show up to keep the Van-Pattenness flowing.)  But considering the genre, the plot is actually progressive.

That fourth main woman is the cheerful bimbo girlfriend of the main villain, and even her character isn't what you'd normally expect.  Nor is her boyfriend Al Schmeckler (Rick Podell), who talks like a stand-up comic all the time, answering the phone with greetings like "Roy Rogers Home for Unwed Boys."  The actual stand-up comic character, host of a talent week, is named Danny Death and he adds to the offbeat wisecracks.  And then there's Missing Persons as a popular local New Wave band, playing "Mental Hopscotch" three times.  And Chuck McCann as the unaffiliated-with-Schmeckler crook called The Turtle.  His sidekick Ralph is played by Vic Dunlop, who would be Rene in Meatballs Part II.  As in Super Fuzz, the criminals dress like it's still the '30s.  (At least Johnny Dangerously would actually be set in the '30s.)  This movie is very much a time capsule of the early '80s, cocaine jokes and all, but it also feels like a throwback in some ways.

Rose Marie breaks the longevity record of her International House (1933) co-star George Burns by appearing here as Mrs. Schmeckler.  (And since she's still alive at 91, it's not impossible she may show up in another of my movies.)  Michael Tucci (Sonny in Grease) is cast as a "little guy in glasses" that the body-building Wagoneer likes.  George Memmoli, who plays fat, harrassing ex-boss Andy, was Pinky Fun in Americathon.  Missing's Terry Bozzio would perform "Wipe Out" in Back to the Beach.  Peter Marc (Jacobson), who has a small role, is Fran Drescher's ex-husband and still creative partner.

Fun, friendship, and fashion.