The Bamboo Gods Project: Agent 00 (1981)

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Agent 00 (1981)

1981 - Agent 00 (Liliw Productions)

[Release date 29th May 1981; working title "Kunin Silang Lahat"/"Take Them All"]

Director Eddie Nicart Screenplay Cora Ridon Caballes Executive Producers Peter M. Caballes, Cora Ridon Caballes Music Pablo Vergara Assistant Director Mando Pangilinan Fight Instructors Mando Pangilinan, Oscar Reyes

Cast Weng Weng (Agent 00), Ramon Zamora (Agent 001/“Dragon”), Philip Gamboa (Agent 002/“Diego Salvador”), Dante Varona (Agent 003/“Ermitanyo”), Lito Lapid ("Brusko"), Dolphy ("The Quick Brown Fox"), Linda Lee, Linda Castro

COMEDY/SPY/KUNG FU

Eddie Nicart and Dante "Boy" Pangilinan interviews by Andrew Leavold

[Previously appeared in Leavold's book The Search For Weng Weng (2017)]

Dante ‘Boy’ Pangilinan: “After Chop Suey [Met Big Time Papa (1978)], thanks God, I have plenty of offers like in Regal Films, RPM Productions, SQ Film Productions, so I came to my Ninang [Cora Caballes], ‘This company want my services as director…’" Dante recommended his Assistant Director on Chop Suey… as his replacement.

“‘Eddie Nicart can do justice in directing in your future films.’

“‘Is that a guarantee?’ ‘Yes! I can guarantee Eddie Nicart as next director.’

"‘You can make it,’ I said to Eddie Nicart, ‘Be humble enough. Don't put in your head you're already a director. And try to learn more.’ That's where Eddie Nicart started.

“Agent 00 - I think Eddie Nicart gave justice to that film. As a good stunt man, even Weng Weng overpasses other action stars!"

Did you have ambitions to direct before this, I asked Eddie? “Yes. And, in SOS, when they get me as assistant director, sometimes, I get to direct as well. It was my ambition to direct even before, but not for Weng Weng… Because it would be a big [complicated] task to direct Weng Weng. But I accepted.

“Ninang Cora [was supportive]. Even though I was just a newbie [in directing]… Because that time, 100,000 pesos is almost equivalent to one million pesos now… [Ninang Cora] said, yes, you can do it. I’ll be the one to gamble on you. She did not think twice. And it was good. It paid off."

As the film's most famous star, Ramon “Dragon" Zamora is numbered Agent 001. Action regular Philip Gamboa plays Agent 002/“Diego Salvador”, possibly after a 1973 Visayan western starring Von Serna – such is the Pinoy action film’s sometimes aggressively self-congratulatory, self-promoting, self-aggrandizing nature; Dante Varona, Agent 003, is “Ermitanyo” after his recent starring role for Carlo J. Caparas. Weng Weng, however, is the undeniable star of the show, his slight frame not even registering an agent's number. "Ninang Cora said, okay, let’s make him Agent 00 for the film. That’s when it started."

What is the film's story? "I’m not quite familiar with that first film. It was so long go. And I only started to focus on For Y'ur Height [Only], because it was the one that boomed. The first one, the one with Dante [Varona], he was just the fourth lead, because we were just building him up then. That’s why we even had Dolphy as a guest." In one of the surviving stills, Dolphy - as his Quick Brown Fox character – can be seen standing next to Weng Weng outside the entrance to a building. "In Midland Hotel," said Eddie, claiming they pressed his buzzer just in case he was at home. "So we waited for him. Because he was living there. He said, Ok, just wait for me at the lobby. And when Dolphy arrives, I’m already rolling, while he was talking with Weng Weng, and so, he’s already a guest." Lito Lapid also makes a cameo as his recent character Brusko.

The project was announced to the press during shooting as Kunin Silang Lahat ["Take Them All"]. Emboldened by Weng Weng's raised profile thanks to The Quick Brown Fox, Stariray and the soon-to-be-released Da Best In Da West, the film was released on May 29th 1981 as Agent 00. For the first time, Weng Weng became the primary focus of the film's advertising ("He loves! He flies!"), his name twice the size of the well-established Ramon Zamora and Dante Varona. It was a gambit on the Caballes' part, releasing their film on the same day as Vilma Santos' Pakawalan Mo Ako (“???”) and Joseph Estrada in Kumander Alibasbas:

WENG-WENG MADE IT! Despite the strong opposition posed by two giants of Philippine cinema, WENG-WENG's first solo starrer has managed to hit it big at the box-office and continues to attract vast crowds of moviegoers! Our sincerest thanks to everybody for this unexpected success, most especially to DOLPHY and LITO LAPID. PETER CABALLES Producer, Liliw Productions (Philippines Express, 3rd June 1981)