The Love Bug (1969) Tennessee Speaks Cantonese

Tennessee talks to Mr Wu. about Herbie

[@ImInLoveWithBulla]

“You have a little feel for courtesy and tradition, you’d be surprised you can unscrew the inscrutable..” one of the great lines in movie history.

[@Mysterio1412]

A line that needs to be more relevant today

[@BenJabituya]

I agree. I relate to that line, especially at my job when I dealt with a customer who spoke only Spanish. Not even a single word of English he knew. I went and did all the talking. That was when I started working.

[@canman5060]

When this part of the movie was shown in Hong Kong no subtitle needed and everybody laughing so hard !

[@brendanmatelan2129]

This scene is great, I loved Mr. Wu's process of seeing which car hit his store. Such as which sound the car made by the horn and even finding a dried squid in the car. 😆The part where he speaks English to Tennessee and Jim was the cherry on top. Love this movie

[@certifiedherbielover9208]

I still don’t understand how a fried squid got in Herbie

[@Mason58654]

I always thought each one of those battered cars have strange funny sounding horns!

[@80sDude990]

@@certifiedherbielover9208I think it was when Herbie crashed into the Chinese outdoor market, then the fried squid fell in through an open window.

[@DannyBeans]

Not speaking Cantonese myself, I used to think this was a toned-down version of Hackett's cringey old "no tickee, no shirtee" routine. Learning how dedicated he was to getting it right for this scene has really improved my opinion of him.

[@charliered420]

I believe when Buddy started speaking Cantonese, Michelle Lee was watching and supporting from behind the camera. Buddy was nervous to mess up and make Benson Fong upset.

[@chrisamon80]

I thought it was in Simplified Mandarin Chinese language.

[@RoberPuente]

Beautiful Video I love herbie and I love that Tennessee speaks in cantons, it is a pity that from this great movie there are very few actors alive, dean jones died, buddy hackect died, and davis tomlinson also died, but herbie is still there after all. A hug from sanabria (zamora, spain ) .

[@joadcock4221]

Rober Puente u

[@RobConstantine]

@@joadcock4221 Michelle Lee is still Alive :-)

[@ijnfleetadmiral]

As of November 2023, the only cast members remaining are Michelle Lee (Carol), Nicole Jaffe (the girl in the dune buggy), and Peter Renaday (the young cop on the Golden Gate Bridge).

[@canman5060]

This is the only part with no subtitle when shown in Hong Kong except the very end when Benson Fong speaks English.

[@josephmullin5845]

Why did they not subtitle the Cantonese dialogue?

[@jediskunk67]

1:00 Mr. Wu is using an abacus, the old version of a modern day calculator.

[@amysymiltongamequeen]

I still have that thing until now. I used it for math course at the time, it was in the 2008 or 2009 at the time

[@herbiefan5392]

They could've added English subtitles for us to read what Wu and Tennessee are saying in Chinese.

[@fabulousprofound]

Sorry for the brutal translation because i can only barely understand about 70% of what Tennessee is saying... greetings sir, how are you? good health, etc... and something about my friend loves this car (this part i couldn't understand)? this is a fast car, look at the number, it's 53, is it this car (referring to the print article)? i want herbie!

[@chrisamon80]

I thought it was in Mandarin Chinese. Not Cantonese.

[@PlushyDom2004]

I’ve been watching this movie since I was 4 or 5 and I still have no idea what they were saying😂

[@BenJabituya]

Where did Buddy Hackett learn Cantonese?

[@12classics39]

“Now you speak my language.” Classic!

[@herbiefan5392]

Tennessee: (takes his cloth from his pocket and wipes the dirt off Herbie's racing number, 53 on his hood)

[@eangsyerbic6942]

0:07 *fooooooh* 0:11 *ooohwooohhhhh* 0:22 *ooohfoooooohhhh* 0:30 *EEEEEEEHEEEH*

[@403CLT]

Horns

[@firecriss1392]

"now you speak my language....."

[@joshwonkim0895]

I was in Taiwan when this video was uploaded!

[@Janet71990]

0:48 poor Inkling boy or girl

[@fordmustang98guy]

0:46 Uh Huh

[@herbiefan5392]

0:19 to 0:31 a white Studebaker

[@ZackieBoi-te7wb]

I never noticed that until now.

[@dossiecolvin4664]

Cry heaven was old days saying $ andio0

[@atasker7432]

0:08, 0:13, 0:23 Those are some funny sounding car horns.

[@thomaskessinger2114]

Yeah, the first one is more appropriate for a doorbell.

[@filmsforallnations]

If Jim Douglas had no money to live on and he couldn't pay Mr. Wu for the damages to his shop, then why didn't Mr. Wu claim on the insurance for his shop? Was Mr. Wu not insured for vandalism or damages to his shop? Also, if Mr. Wu was extremely wealthy and had a number of varied enterprises, surely he could have afforded to pay for the damages. Mr. Wu should have let Jim Douglas keep the prize money that he made in El Dorado, as Jim and Tennessee barely had enough money to eat or sleep, whereas Mr. Wu was very rich (like Peter Thorndyke was).

[@matas9458]

Circumstances. His shop might be struggling and even being a man of respect in the Chinese American community outside San Francisco is enough to keep it afloat. The damages will cut in whatever profits he made that year. Some certain customers coming to his shop might not believe in money and try to barter with songs or flowers in order to have dried squid. Some lingering anti-Chinese sentiment was still present and Wu could have accused Jim and Tennessee of working for some white supremacist trying to run him out of business out of bigotry (thankfully, he does not). To let Jim off the hook in his eyes would be like caving to bullies and embolden more racial violence in a time when there was plenty of it. Then there's Alonzo Hawk in the next movie who, according to Nicole, "drove 30-old-time Chinese families off the Grand Avenue just to make room for his skyscraper." I like to think Wu was one of the victims of that. So, if Wu only did what you suggested, he was going to lose long term in the last chance. For all we know in the current canon, his acquiring of Thorndyke's dealership allowed for Wu to have something to fall back on after Hawk came along (and Hawk is rich enough to make Messrs. Wu and Thorndyke look like men of limited means by comparison), assuming he was still alive in the events of Herbie Rides Again.

[@broadstreet21]

@@matas9458 Ahh rats. Hawk. Yeah, that man with such a violent temper, all of San Francisco could hear him yell.

[@furtherback6131]

Oh how i wish i knew what Buddy is saying there, been wondering for 40 years!

[@cretaceouswarriorzstevensager]

Scuttle, Are You Speaking Cantonese?

[@marthalezama6954]

Tan bello tennese and Herbie❤

[@gab19tv]

Where’s herbie

[@80sDude990]

Lol at 2:20 I’m sure Tennessee says shit. It’s in Cantonese though, not English. So it doesn’t really matter.

[@chrisamon2988]

Tennessee speaks Mandarin Chinese.

[@canman5060]

Cantonese Chinese.I speak Cantonese.

[@ChoosePhilippinesPeaceLove]

Herbie ❤!

[@michaelmaristela9115]

0:59 1:02 1:05 1:09

[@dbsk06]

Lol that’s horrible Cantonese

[@doodledangernoodle2517]

That's the joke. It is so bad, you think it won't work, but Mr. Wu ends up speaking English

[@fabulousprofound]

it's a bit cringey, but i can understand most of it? and i've heard much worse (tv show firefly for example)...

[@roguepetrolhead4787]

3:15 - 3:21 I'm not an idiot but what does Jim mean?

[@michaelbutorac5114]

It's a little challenge between both men to both get what they want. Jim needs to finish the race matches and can't just let Herbie go, since without him he won't win and especially Jim will look like a disgrace as a person to forfeit. Since he already had enough previously. Mr. Wu needs payment for his damages that Herbie accidentally caused, but instead wants herbie since actually having him is payment itself in his eyes and he would find another way himself to pay for the damages. Now, with Jim's offer is a nice way of saying without eventually getting him back from Mr. Wu to Mr. Wu's face. It's like this, "I will borrow YOUR (Previously my Car) car to get the money you need". Asking only $1 in return for the car, which is very small, only $7.27 in this years worth which Jim could only afford, since he is poor already and desperately wants Herbie back. The Second half of this is hilarious to me. Mr. Wu knows this is either him keeping Herbie forever or getting the prize money. He doesn't know yet at this point. Since after all he has to wait and see if Jim wins or not. I am sure Mr. Wu doesn't have an immediate plan before Jim mentions his offer on what he would exactly do to satisfy both or one of the other satisfactions either his personal and/or business situations. But that's a whole other story to talk about. Bottom line. It's in most men to have a satisfying bet, and to more play with these men in this and become friends with them for this temporary sake (eventually becomes life long in the end) is more rewarding in itself than either just getting the money and leave, or herbie and leave OR money AND Herbie and leave! Since after all, Mr. Wu is a "car buff" and part of the vehicle atmosphere is competition! With Jim's offer involving racing, it screams for him to be excited to watch. Which causes him to say (my point of the funny part) "Now you speak MY Language!" -That line cracks me up every time HARD every time I see it!

[@roguepetrolhead4787]

@@michaelbutorac5114 thanks so much for taking the time to write that reply I understand fully now

[@michaelbutorac5114]

My pleasure, it was enjoyable to write it out, and my Goal was to tell it out fully.

[@EBNall]

@@michaelbutorac5114 Its a win-win bet for Mr. Wu. If Jim wins,Mr.Wu gets the prize money. If he loses, Mr. Wu gets to keep Herbie. You better believe Wu and Jim speak the same language.

[@BenJabituya]

Because Herbie caused the damages to Mr. Wu's business, Jim couldn't afford to pay. Tennessee barters with Mr. Wu. Jim says that if he wins the El Dorado, the prize money will benefit Mr. Wu, but Wu will have to sell Herbie back to Jim for $1.

[@michaelmaristela2507]

0:06 0:23 0:32 0:42 0:44 0:45 0:46 0:59 1:00 1:02 1:03 1:04 1:05 1:08 1:09 2:03 2:12 2:57 3:23