1967 – Eden Boys (Dan-Sil Productions) AGENT 69 #8
[Release date 24th January 1967]
Director Rod Navarro Story/Screenplay Henry Cuino Music F. Buencamino
Cast Zaldy Zshornack, Alex Flores, Max Alvarado, Ruben Ramos, Merle Fernandez, Daniel Patena, Alberto Alonzo (Agent 69), Greg Guerrero, Jaye Stevens, Tina Lava, Rocco Montalban, Lope Policarpio, Vic Andaya, Art Veloso, Tony Dantes, Nort Nepomuceno, Angie Razon, Steve Alcarado, Joaquin Fajardo, Arthur Lavidez, Bert Delfino, Andy Garchitorena, Ross Cuneta
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: The eighth in a series of Filipino spy thrillers starring Eddie Fernandez as Agent 69, the very first of a long line of Pinoy James Bonds. The entire series is currently believed to be lost.
Director/Story Armando Garces Producer [uncredited] Attorney Espiridon Laxa Music F. Buencamino Layout Artist Marvin B. Panganiban
Cast Alberto Alonzo (Agent 69), Miriam Jurado, Divina Valencia, Menchu Morelli, Bessie Barredo, Marina de Veyra, Max Alvarado, Victor Bravo, Manolo Robles, Ezar Visenio, Nort Nepomuceno, Joaquin Fajardo, Steve Alcarado, Alex Flores, Jun Aristorenas
SPY/ACTION
NOTES: The first in a series of Filipino spy thrillers starring Eddie Fernandez as Agent 69, the very first of a long line of Pinoy James Bonds. The entire series is currently believed to be lost.
1971 - The Criminals (Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions)
[Release date 26th December 1971]
Director A. Gregorio Story Quentin de Guia Screenplay Henry Cuino Producer Attorney Espiridion Laxa Cinematography Fortunato Bernardo
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Jessica, Georgina Fairy, Rod Navarro, Danny Rojo, Bert Olivar, Joaquin Fajardo, Max Alvarado, Jose Villafranca, Steve Alcarado, Leon Pajaron, Larry Esguerra, Greg Lansang, Romy Luartes, Rey Sagum, Pons de Guzman, Joe Cunanan, Cris Cruz, Sancho Tesalona, SOS Daredevils
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is number 28 in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
Director Nilo Saez Story/Screenplay Eliseo Corcuerra Music Danny Crisologo
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Marissa Delgado, Max Alvarado, Joe Sison, Victor Bravo, Jose Garcia [as Joe Garcia], Renato Robles, Rocco Montalban, Manolo Noble, Doming Viray, Joaquin Fajardo, Ruben Ramos, Sancho Tesalona, Lope Policarpio, Johnny Rio, SOS Daredevils, Gina Laforteza, Roberta Collins, Dolly Fuentes
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is number 26 in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
Director Leody M. Diaz Story Quentin de Guia Music Carding Cruz
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Rod Navarro, J. Thomas Westmorland, Jimmy Walker, Lauro Delgado, Liza Belmonte, Georgina Fairy, Bess Gramby, Ann Akins, Gina Stuart, Rocco Montalban, Joaquin Fajardo, Ruben Ramos, Leon Pajaron, Steve Alcarado, Alex Flores, Lope Policarpio, Rudy Dominguez, Greg Lansang, Larry Esguerra, Romy Nario, Art Veloso, Joe Andrade, Criz Cruz, Eddie Palomar, Dan Manlapaz, James Polanski, Gil Sison, Romy Luartes, Gaston Garcia, SOS Daredevils, "Jennifer", Arthur Villegas, Joe Cunanan, Protacio Dee
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is number 23 in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
THEATRICAL
PHILIPPINES - released 26th October 1969
GUAM - screened at the Johnston in Agana over the Easter Weekend, 30th March to 2nd April 1972
HAWAII - screened at the Waipahu Theatre 12th October 1972 and 1st June 1973; also at the Zamboanga in Honolulu on 29th December 1972
1967 - Target: The A-Go-Go Generation (Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions)
[Release date 29th October 1967]
Director Leody M. Diaz Story Felipe Baron Screenplay Henry Cuino Producer Attorney Espiridion Laxa Music D’Amarillo
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Helen Gamboa (The A-Go-Go Girl), Anna Gonzales, Victor Bravo, Rocco Montalban, Joaquin Fajardo, Leon Pajaron, Steve Alcarado, Alex Flores, Lope Policarpio, Greg Lansang, Doming Viray, Romy Luartes, Jimmy Roldan, Gaston Garcia, Moises Platon, Frank Laurence, Danny Rojo, Joe Sison, Cora Varona, Ric Avellano, Campus Capers, The Rolling Beats, The Tilt Down Men
SPY/ACTION/MUSICAL
NOTE: This is the eighteenth in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
[Release date 17th May 1967; sometimes listed as “Crack Down”]
Director/Story Armando Garces Executive Producer Amelia A. Santos Associate Producers Jose “JRS” Magno, Peping Ortega Cinematography Ricardo M. David Music Raul Silos Singer Helen Thompson Editor Teofilo de Leon Sound Supervisor Luis S. Reyes In-Charge Of Production Ricardo E. Gonzales Production Manager Ben Fortuna Assistant Production Manager Itchie Mercado Art Director Nasario M. Marquez Assistant Director Roger Vivero Special Effects Totoy N. Torrente Makeup Artist Generosa Garcia Setting Director Ariston de la Paz PropsMan Francisco de la Paz Cameraman Ding Austria Field Soundmen Felicismo Hidalgo, Ernesto Goltiano Schedule Master Ben Dayao Assistant Editor Benigno de Leon Stills Ben Corachea Titles “D’Antonio” Layout Artist [uncredited] Eddie Domer
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Paquito Diaz, Victor Bravo, Nort Nepomuceno, Miriam Jurado, Helen Thompson, Vicky Garcia, Elvie Gonzales, Boy Chico, Joaquin Fajardo, Leon Pajaron, Rolan Montes, Douglas Dahlen, Rommel Alcala, Doming Viray, Vergel Santos, Ely Ventus, Napoleon Tort, Polly Azarcon, Freddie Guinto, Buddy Salvador, Chit Lopez, Eddie Gracia, Eddie Cabal, SOS Daredevils, Manolo Noble, Patria Plata, Rico Roman, Ponga, Danny Rojo
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is the sixteenth in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
Review by Andrew Leavold (coming soon!)
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
THEATRICAL
- mp4 file [b&w, in Tagalog with no subtitles] (sorry, not for sale, so please don't ask)
[Release date 15th January 1965; sometimes listed as Taga-Usig Ng Kaaway/“The Enemy Interrogator”]
Director Eddie Garcia Music Carding Cruz
CastTony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Alberto Alonzo (Agent 69), Divina Valencia, Bessie Barredo, Menchu Morelli, Max Alvarado, Rod Navarro, Victor Bravo, Manolo Robles, Rocco Montalban, Nort Nepomuceno, Joaquin Fajardo [as Joachin Fajardo], Lope Policarpio, Leon Pajaron, Steve Alcarado, Alex Flores, Danny Rojo, Rudy Dominguez, Ruben Tizon, Greg Lansang, Manolo Noble, Arnold Mendoza, Ezar Visenio, Lucien Pan, Val Castelo
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is the initial entry in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer, as well as the second film for Alberto Alonzo as Agent 69. G-2The film is currently considered lost. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
1969 - The Infiltrators (Gilbert Roland Productions/Empress Pictures)
[Release date 7th February 1969]
Director A. Gregorio Story/Screenplay Greg B. Macabenta Cinematography Avelino Peralta Music Carding Cruz Layout Artist Marvin B. Panganiban
Cast Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Josephine Estrada, Eddie Garcia, Rod Navarro (Martin Savedo), Jack Davis, Manolo Noble, Ronald Remy (Mr Banez), Alicja Basili (Marlene Marquez), Mallory McCraig [McCrae?], Rocco Montalban, Joaquin Fajardo, Leon Pajaron, Steve Alcarado, Alex Flores, Rudy Dominguez, Greg Lansang, Larry Esguerra, Ruben Ramos, Ben Dato, Romy Nario, Joe Cunanan, Art Velaso, Tiva Lava, Eddie Nicart, Sancho Tesalona, Mandy Bustamante, Hosping Pregonero, Amado Gasmin, Oscar Simbulan, Doming Reyes, Joe Andrade, SOS Daredevils, Arthur Villegas, Frank Godinez, Pons de Guzman, Joe Canlas, Sim Jorge, Baby Alvarez
SPY/ACTION
NOTE: This is number 20 in a long-running series of Agent X-44 films starring Tony Ferrer. For a full filmography and detailed article on the X-44 series, click HERE.
Mini-review by Andrew Leavold
[From Leavold's book The Search For Weng Weng (2017)]
Director Tony Ferrer Story/Screenplay Jerry O. Tirazona, Antonio S. Mortel Producer Tony Ferrer [as "Margarita Productions"] Cinematography Ver Reyes Music George Canseco Editor Edgardo “Boy” Vinarao Sound Effects Editor Jun Martinez Sound Effects Assistants Danny Sanchez, Kokoy Sanchez Sound Engineer Bimbo Chong Production Manager Bonnie C. Esguerra Assistant Director Pepito C. Diaz Special Effects Rolly Sto. Domingo Fight Instructor Alex Bolado Car Stunts Lauro Flores Makeup Artist Francis Perez Settingman Jose Peralta Propsman Robert Abihay Assistant Cameraman Freddie Medez Field Soundman Mer Arguella Unit Manager Jess Bunga Schedule Master Roger Macapagal Post-Production Manager Leonides D. Laxa Assistant Editor Francis Vinarao Layout Artist Jess Garcia Stills Fred Guevarra
Cast The Hagibis [Sonny Parsons, Mike Respall, Bernie Fineza, Joji Garcia, Mon Picazo], Myrna Castillo (Sahlee), Nick Romano (Nick Serbos), Marissa del Mar (Marissa), Mike Cohen (Stan Masterson), Victor Bravo (Rod Valdez), Val Iglesia (Mohawked Biker Leader), Rey Sagum, Renato Robles (Tony Santos), Dinah Dominguez, Monica Brocka, Laarnie Enriquez, Edna Gatchalian, Laura Lopez, Frank Lapid, Ben Dato, Lauro Flores, Alex Bolado, Vic Varrion, Danny Riel (Agent Danny), Mark Joseph, Roger Santos, Rusty Santos (Biker), Rolan Montes, Romy Blanco, Joe Baltazar, Mel Arca, Kent Gonzalez, Danny Ortega, Dante Javier, Mat Fuloso, Cesar Iglesia, Boy Ranay, Bebeng Amora, Ernie David, Big Boy Gomez, Fred Esplana (Tony Falcon's Agent), Rolan Falcis, Ric Sagum, Eric Fresnido, [uncredited] Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44), Jess Lapid Jr [listed on poster] (Jessie), Weng Weng [listed on poster] (Midget Dancer), Franco Guerrero (Tony Falcon's Agent), Max Alvarado [listed on poster] (Fat Hagibis), Joaquin Fajardo [listed on poster] (Fat Hagibis)
ACTION/ COMEDY/MUSICAL
STOLEN MUSIC ALERT!!! Steve Wariner’s “Like A River To The Sea” [around 0.16.00]
1981 would prove to be the busiest year for Weng Weng: a total of five film roles, including Legs…Katawan…Babae! ("Legs…Body…Babe!"), a disco biker kung fu musical starring The Hagibis, the Philippines' irony-free version of The Village People, and directed by Agent X-44 himself, Tony Ferrer. Made around the same time of For Y'ur Height Only, it features an uncredited Weng Weng joining The Hagibis for the film's final, glorious showstopper.
If VST were the Pinoy Bee Gees, the local Village People were, without a shadow of doubt, The Hagibis. Five line-dancing guys in leather and motorcycle chaps fronted by the charismatic future action star and director Sonny Parsons, The Hagibis were an unmistakable presence in local films, having already strutted through a show-stopping musical number in Dolphy's Angels (1980), and crooned the theme song to Lito Lapid's Macho Gigolo (1981). In contrast to VST’s satin harmonics, Hagibis were a rugby war chant, ready to bulldoze all comers. Amidst the hubbub of hair helmets, open shirts and gold chains, you get the impression that Hagibis hadn't received the memo that the Village People were in fact a not-so-subtly coded in-joke for the West's homosexual community, which makes their aggressively heterosexual and almost predatory performances even more incongruous. Still, in the Philippines' incredibly macho, and goon-centric male society of the early Eighties, the moustachio'd, motorcycle-riding, denim-hugging Hagibis were chosen by Destiny itself to become the pinnacle of Penile Cool.
Extending the Village People comparison, Hagibis' starring feature Legs…Katawan…Babae! - named after three of their biggest hits to date - was their very own Can't Stop The Music. That is, if the Village People's only starring feature was a biker kung fu goon action spy comedy disco musical.
With Agent X-44 at the helm, it was impossible for Legs…Katawan…Babae! to have been a different beast. As producer, first-time director AND guest star, Tony Ferrer was in Modern Renaissance Man mode. After more than a decade headlining films for his brother Espiridion Laxa's Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions, Ferrer emerged from his family’s formidable shadow to form his own company, Margarita Productions, in 1977. By then Ferrer was well past his prime. His body was thickening, his turbot lips more pronounced that ever; the Pinoy Bruce Lees were attracting the greatest share of attention from the chop-sockey-obsessed crowd, while Ferrer had never fully made the transition from karatista to kung fu master. Younger stars such as Rudy Fernandez and Lito Lapid were waiting in the wings, and even the older Ramon Revilla Sr was comfortably coasting through his regulation bandits-with-anting-anting features. Nevertheless, with himself and his brother Nick Romano in generous roles and crony Efren C. Pinon often in the director's chair, producer Ferrer enjoyed a reasonably good six-year run, making a total of ten features.
Legs…Katawan…Babae! opens with pretty agent Sahlee (Myrna Castillo) tested by Tony Falcon, then congratulated by on a job well done (and is promised a bit of fun after the mission's complete). Sahlee is assigned along with agent Nick Serbos (Nick Romano) to crack a confederation of international drug smugglers lorded over by American crime boss Stan Masterson (who else but Mike Cohen, aka Professor Von Kohler in For Your Height Only?). Naturally, Sahlee catches the eye of Sonny Parsons, aspiring action star and leader of vocal group and loose motorcycle gang Hagibis, and between chasing chicks and disco numbers - some line-dancing on stage in a Manila beerhouse, one while splashing around in the surf ("Katawan, katawan, katawan, katawan…oooooooh, katawaaaaaaaan!") - all five Hagibis are dragged into the case.
Before long Agent Falcon, impressed with their kung fu and motorcross skills, deputizes them into the Secret Service and hands them a licence to kill Goons. They then trade kicks with the Syndicate's muscle, a mohawked biker thugs straight out of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), and head to an all-out assault on Masterson's drug factory. Nick watches approvingly as Sahlee, in singlet and hotpants, blasts the goons' cars with her grenade launcher; cut to cowboy hero Jess Lapid Jr on his horse as he receives Sahlee's signal via walkie-talkie. Jess then rides in on horseback, blasts a few baddies with machine gun fire, before riding off into the sunset. Which, technically, makes Legs…Katawan…Babae! a biker kung fu goon action spy comedy disco musical WESTERN.
It's like an endless, delirious Disco party inside Tony Ferrer's cocktail-addled head, a distillation of all things gaudy, goonlike, and definitely not gay. Two members of the original Goon Convention appear in bit roles: Rusty Santos as a bald biker, and Franco Guerrero as one of Tony Falcon's agents – in my interviews with Franco, he couldn't remember that he, too, was one of Weng Weng's co-stars! Even veteran kontribada Max Alvarado gets in on the act, joining Joaquin Fajardo and three other fat and toothless goons at a beach hut as they dance and mime and wobble their exposed bellies in front pf plus-sized models to a Hagibis number ("Legs! Legs! Legs!") - before the Real Hagibis arrive and beat up Fat Hagibis. Inside the beach hut the five guys mount the stage for their final number, a magnificent hand-clapping, proud proclamation to hetero love - think "In The Navy", only straighter and chintzier - and are joined on stage by Sahlee and a random selection of jiggling bikini girls.
Without warning Weng Weng appears from the audience, does a handstand, then flips onto stage, boogies in front of Myrna, and is then held aloft on one of The Hagibis' shoulders, from which he beams, jiggles and fist-bumps the air in time with the music, more or less, during the film's closing moments.
The effect? Devastating. Mind-exploding. Like watching the greatest car-crash moments of Filipino B cinema crushed into a compact 100-minute cube of exquisitely boneheaded Crazy.
Sonny Parsons (Hagibis)
Mike Respall (Hagibis)
Bernie Fineza (Hagibis)
Joji Garcia (Hagibis)
Mon Picazo (Hagibis)
Myrna Castillo (Sahlee)
Nick Romano (Nick Serbos)
Marissa del Mar (Marissa)
Mike Cohen (Stan Masterson)
Victor Bravo (Rod Valdez)
Val Iglesia (Mohawked Biker Leader)
Renato Robles (Tony Santos)
Danny Riel (right - Agent Danny)
Rusty Santos (Biker)
Tony Ferrer (Tony Falcon, Agent X-44)
Jess Lapid Jr (Jesse)
Weng Weng (Midget Dancer)
Franco Guerrero (Tony Falcon's Agent)
Max Alvarado (Fat Hagibis)
Joaquin Fajardo (Fat Hagibis)
...and unknown actors (if you can identify any, please contact us)
THEATRICAL
PHILIPPINES – 2nd July 1981 [image courtesy of Video 48]
GUAM – week starting 21st April 1983 at the Hafa Adai 3, Tamuning [on a double bill with Just Say You Love Me starring Gloria Romero]
HAWAII – week starting 9th March 1984 at the Kam Theatre [on a double bill with Ligaya Mo, Kasawian Ko]
mp4 file (sorry, it's not for sale, so please don't ask)
