Go, Take a Ride!

Wayward Bus (1957)

Director: Victor Vicas

Sometimes, they say that when you're upset with something or someone, just take a walk. Get away from the problematic situation and go for a stroll or a drive. When you come back, things will seem clearer. It is similar to saying, take a nap; things will often look better in the morning. The issue will still exist, but you'll be in a better frame of mind to deal with it.

This film is an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. It also attempts to present Jayne Mansfield as a serious actress, but unfortunately, it did little to shake her stereotype as a ditsy blonde. Rick Jason, known to 80s children as Lt. Henley in Combat! (1962-1967), plays one of the main roles. To be frank, there is no single central character in this film. Everyone is given significance.

Set in a rural US-Mexico border town, the story begins with a young couple. Chicory drives a battered bus, taking passengers across the border. His wife, a frustrated young woman, runs a small café with a B&B to accommodate the occasional traveller and passengers. She is openly suspicious of any young woman who appears there. She fears her husband might run off with one of them. Even the many young waitresses who have worked there as casual staff suffer from her mistrustful glances. She is also struggling to overcome her addiction to alcohol. 

Rick Jason (of 'Combat' fame) and Jayne Mansfield
are seen in the frame. Also appearing in the film is
Joan Collins of Dynasty fame.

Her latest waitress resigns and leaves for San Juan on the bus Chico is driving.

 

On the bus, there are several other intriguing characters. A cultured older couple with a rebellious adult daughter, a travelling salesman, a pretty blonde with a shady past, and an elderly man rushing to make his 4 pm appointment in San Juan. 

Everyone has their internal disagreements. The older, overprotective couple is unhappy with their daughter's choice of life partner. They hope the trip will make her see reason. A travelling salesman isn't taken seriously enough by any lady as a boyfriend. The blonde, Jayne Mansfield, is currently away from her life as an exotic dancer in LA for a stint in San Juan. The hurried old man, who, as he mentioned, has a life-or-death appointment, is actually meeting his beloved to propose in San Juan. Chico, the driver, is also annoyed with his money-minded and suspicious wife, who is also drinking excessively. Chico had left home after a quarrel and had promised never to return.

The journey, marred by heavy rain, landslides, and detours, proved to be a soul-searching endeavour that helped everyone on board gain better insight into how to handle the uncertainties that had befallen them.

Good storyline. Good acting. 7/10.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

I'm afraid of no ghost?

Diary (Tamil; 2022)
Director: Innasi Pandiyan

The story is based on an urban legend that arose in Beijing in November 1995. A local bus, no 375, left its station late one night to a remote destination. An old lady and a young man were travelling on it. Three people in traditional garb waved it down as the bus moved on. When the old lady saw these people, she started a quarrel with the young man she had come up with. She accused him of stealing her purse. Startled, the man fought back. They were both forced to get down by the bus conductor to sort it out at the local police station.

Once they were off the bus, the old lady apologised to the young man for creating a ruckus. She told him the three characters who boarded the bus had no feet, so she thought they were ghosts. She just wanted to get away from them. They both went to tell the police about their experiences, but their story was laughed off.

The next day, it was reported that the bus never reached its destination, and two days later, the bus was submerged in a reservoir. The driver, the bus conductor together, and three badly decomposed bodies were found. The level of decomposition of the bodies was not consistent with the alleged time of the accident. Nobody could give a rational explanation for these findings.

Bus No. 375

Stories like these are found in all cultures. The Chinese believe spirits roam the streets yearly during the Hungry Ghost Month in mid-August. Stories of scary ghosts, beautiful maidens, and lactating mothers luring and haunting people are abundant in every nook and corner of the world.

This Tamil movie is based on Beijing's Bus No. 375. Still, to whet the appetites of Indian viewers, the director, who also wrote the story, tries to stretch it to two hours with unrelated stories of runaway couples running from the disgruntled bride's father and his henchmen, a connection to a sub-inspector's case study, tribals performing a wedding for the runaway couple, robber's running their loot after a murder and the angle of time travel! It brings the story to the notorious Hairpin Bend no 13 in Ooty.

The plot could be clearer. Everything is rushed through towards the end. Before viewers could understand the loose ends, it was game over. 3/5.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A few more nostalgic pix...

Of course this was way before my time. My memory of this area is the stinky market, Lim Seng Seng Bus (which served Ayer Itam area), The Yellow Bus (which ploughed Gelugor and beyond to Balik Pulau -No. 66) and Hin Company which combed the beach district of Tanjung Bungah and beyond. Sri Negara (till Bagan Jermal area) and MPPP bus (No.2) had a stop there. After watching Deepavali movie, we had to run around for LSS bus 91A which plied Jln Boundary. Sometimes, we took the No. 91, walked to RRF from Kampung Bharu market.

The run down Rex theatre. My sister and I watched the first English movie together - 'Earthquake' in sense surround sounds. I also have fond memories of watching the mind boggling action adventure packed from beginning to end with no time to recover in the Indiana Jones first of the trilogy (Raiders of the Lost Ark) here with PFS buddies. And my best film of all time 'Back to the Future 1' when I was in USM.

The Victoria street MPPP bus terminal where I spend waiting for No. 1JB, 10 or SC6.  With me waiting will be Eddie Lee Leong Teik (who stayed in Bakau Street). He took No.3 for Jelutong. Just beside the public toilet (right of pic where the plant stands) used to be a ice vendor selling Soya Bean Milk and Liang Hoon Water -black jelly drink. Being thrifty one, I would watch Edidie and the others enjoying and slurping their Liang Hoon noisily!
The MPPP buses have a unique numbering system. The above bus (No. 37) is usually used for Route No.7 but this this time it is for Route No. 2. Bus No. 38 is for Route 8 to Penang Hill. All in all they had up to buses No. 108. Too boring to recollect all the numbers.

Efficient buses - a shattered elusive dream

Electric tram on Weld Quay, circa 1910

Growing up in RRF, buses were the most important, of not the only form of transportation. In fact, for the middle class and the downtrodden part of the society, public transport play a crucial if not romanticized part of their everyday lives as evident from the numerous movies based on journeys! In our minds (the RRF dwellers), getting away from the clutches on the curse of dependence on buses as the sole form of movement is a way of escaping poverty. That would explain why we (my siblings and I) have not traveled in bus for years!

Buses in Malaysia (especially Penang) carry a very long history predating Independence in tandem with the advancement in railroads. Despite the accusations hurled at the colonial master for squandering wealth from the land of its conquests, they did establish a sound transportation system. In Penang, they experimented with many state of the art (then) gadgets like the tram service and funicular train service as part of community service responsibility.

Mana mau pigi?

I remember a time in our nation's history when many private bus venture companies were operating in major towns on the west coast of Malaysia. There was even a Punjabi family running a town bus service in Seremban. Workers from Selangor Omnibus company even created history when they erected a workers strike in their HQ with Communist Party of Malaysia having a hand in it sparking barbed wired barricades and showdown with FRU around Bukit Tunku area bringing the capital city to a standstill.

Lim Seng Seng Bus

Despite their imperfections, we still romanticize the moments of shoving through the crowd and running after a bus which stopped way off the designated bus-stop to drop passengers in the hope of squeezing through the sardine packed bus door!

Bus No 24-Ayer Itam route

All that has come to naught now! Buses in many states have stalled and brakes have been put on some of its so-called unprofitable routes.Why?
It all started in the gung ho days of the Mahathir era when the powers that be decided that we must have a unified establishment to oversee the running of buses (no-brainer to guess who the beneficiaries were). This was decided after short study-cum-holiday trips by officials to countries with enviable public transport system (whilst making a short stop with family and maid who incidentally flew 1st class). People  who were least interested in business or were hard working enough were assigned to run the show with unnecessary interventions by politicians who were more interested in populists' view. And it has come to this. This essential service has come to a halt. Public is held at ransom and sympathy is gained by sob story so that public funds can be channeled to them to satisfy their bottomless pit desire.