1976 - Sila...Sa Bawa't Bangketa/"They…On Every Sidewalk" (Liliw Productions)
[Release date 17th December, 1976; re-released in cinemas 9th April 1977]
Director Dante “Boy” Pangilinan Writer "Cora C. Ridon"/Cora Ridon Caballes Producer "Twinkle" [Caballes] Executive Producers Peter M. Caballes, Cora Ridon Caballes Cinematography Nestor Orense Music Kuya Mimo
Cast Rez Cortez, Ramon “Boy” Bagatsing, Ingrid Salas, Yoyoy Villame, Weng Weng, Joy Navarro, Michael Vallar, Marie Grace Santos, Linda Castro, Sarah Gumaboa, Vivian Velez, Danny Glenmore, Ruel Romano, Odette Khan, Rudy de la Pena, Tony Orbeta, Angel Confiado, Gil Arena, Leo Langalong, SOS Daredevils, Larry Esguerra, Amay Bisaya, Peter M. Caballes
ACTION/COMEDY
THE LOST MOVIE PROJECT: Piecing together the fragments of the Philippines' vanished cinema
Andrew Leavold on Sila...Sa Bawa't Bangketa [from The Search For Weng Weng book]; the fill interview with Dante 'Boy' Pangilinan's interview is HERE, and the Rez Cortez interview is HERE
"We are supposed to make Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa," Dante 'Boy' Pangilinan related. "I am the Assistant Director and Maria Saret is the director. But eventually, Direk [“Director”] Maria Saret is already pregnant and almost to deliver. So my producer, Ms Cora Caballes, 'Direk, we're supposed to shoot this coming week!' 'Oh, Ms Caballes, I'm already delivering this baby!' 'Who will direct the movie?' I'm very lucky, direk Maria Saret pointed at me, 'Boy Pangilinan will direct the movie.' So I'm surprised! 'Boy, can you make it?' 'Oo [yes], Direk Maria Saret said I can make it, so I can make it.' (laughs) I'm very happy Direk Maria Saret gave me the strong [recommendation]. That's where I started, my first film, I'm very lucky."
The Caballes presented Dante with his diminutive star. "When Cora introduced to me Weng Weng, I was surprised…what can I do with this little boy? No…he's not a boy,” Dante laughed, “it's already 24 years old, I think. What? You make this boy one of the partakers in Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa? All I can say is, 'Ninang? Are you serious? OK, what talents do Weng Weng have?' So I began screening Weng Weng. Wow! Weng Weng do the martial arts… the only thing is the dialogue, I cannot… 'What? OK, subject for dubbing!'” Dante laughed heartily. “But, I like his voice, I don't make dubbing. That's why when you see the film, Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa, original voice of Weng Weng." How would you describe his voice? "Very small, like coming from the balloon? Understandably he's a small guy, but with a big heart, big strong… If you can feel him, he's very strong."
What were your impressions about his mental abilities? Did he seem like a child? "Mentally, Weng Weng is I think half-half. There is a time when we I talked to him, straight answers, and eventually he says, 'Hey, look at that girl, wow!' So he's normal. 'Wow, direk, she's sexy!' He's normal. But there was a time, I think, when small kids started playing with him, he also played. 'Oh you're playing, you're already a big boy!' But then, 'Just look at the legs of Ingrid Salas, my leading lady!' In fact, Weng Weng asked me, 'Direk, do we have a kissing scene?' 'What? OK, I made a scene where you have a kissing scene…' You can look at the face of Weng Weng, shines. But eventually, I think he's already thinking, 'How can I do that?' 'OK, just relax!' So, as the shooting goes on, I think Weng Weng is thinking their kissing scene, when will that scene be taken? Weng Weng is a normal guy, a nice guy."
Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa featured a fourth-billed Weng Weng as a jeepney barker collecting fares for driver Rez Cortez. The pair fall foul of the crime syndicate boss, played by Ramon 'Boy' Bagatsing Jr - a future politician, his father Ramon D. Bagatsing was the one-legged Mayor of Manila from 1972 to 1986 - who also has eyes for Rez's rich-girl sweetheart (Ingrid Salas). Weng Weng ends up a police informer posing as one of the syndicate's child drug couriers. Unseen since its brief theatrical run, even Dante has trouble remembering the plot. But for certain, it was made quickly and cheaply, made the Caballes' money back plus profit, and its two-foot nine star was noticed.
"I made that film in 35mm," said Dante. "I think, one of my goals there is to shorten my film shooting days. So hopefully I don't offend another director or another film producer, during that day they made a film in 30 days, one month, but Cora said, 'Direk, can we make this film about eight to ten days?' I told my producer, why? 'We have just a limited budget.' So I said, 'Ninang, why me?' It's a challenge to me. We even don't have a complete fully-equipped shooting unit! Just a cassette, one camera, and a number of lights. I said, 'Ninang, I will try my very best in doing this film.' So I started my first day film. My lead actor Rez Cortez, Weng Weng, and the first film of Vivian Velez. That was the first lead role of Miss Vivian Velez as an actress. So we start shooting, together with Ingrid Salas, one of the leading ladies, and Ramon 'Boy' Bagatsing, that was his first starring role - the villain opposite Rez Cortez, the father of the actor Raymond Bagatsing, now a big actor in television.
"We started shooting. First day, second day, third day…here comes the seventh day. So I told my Ninang, 'This is my last day.' 'Oh…are you sure?' 'Yes.' 'How many film did you expose?' I already exposed during that day - other directors expose 35 to 40 film rolls - so I already exposed 25 rolls. When I edit that film, I will already compress it to 12, the maximum reel to be exact in the theatrical film, it's already good. So when I make that last day of shooting, even my whole staff, and together with my Ninang we celebrated. For the first time we made an eight-day shooting. Here comes the editing process, so my producer, my Ninang was nervous. How come I made that film in eight days, but my editor, 'Oh, there's so many more excess!' I made more excess! So there's more plenty of materials. My producer was very happy. So even my film Sila… is not yet shown, oh, you make your next movie! 'OK Ninang, we just wait the outcome in the theatrical showing.' When my first movie, cross my finger, Sila… was shown, I thank God it made, not so big, but eventually it made money.
"Peter Caballes, as my Ninong, the husband of my Ninang, I make him as the villain. He's the villain, contrabida of that movie. The big guy - well, he's handsome - before I started that film, it happens I talk to my Ninong, 'Boy, who is your contrabida in that film?' I can see in his eyes the glow that he wants to be a movie actor. He makes his part OK in my film..."
Can we say, then, that Cora is the businesswoman and Peter is the movie lover? "Yes, I can feel my Ninang, Cora Caballes, goes to this show business because of my Ninong. Why? Because my Ninong is a frustrated actor, I can feel that! That's why my Ninang Cora continues doing movies, because of him."
What do you remember about the Caballes as a family? "As far as I remember, their family was too close, and I think even their children were enrolled in nice universities. Cora and Peter Caballes were good parents, they provide all the goods for their children." They were like family to you? "More. I think of Cora and Peter Caballes more of my parents. Because they treated us as a family, not as a worker." In what way? "Especially when you have your personal problems, they're the one attended to personally."
When I finally interviewed Rez about Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa, like Dante he recalled very little about the film itself. He did remember, however, being taken aback by his two-foot-nine co-star. “'What’s this Weng Weng?’” he asked himself. “‘Is he a TOY?’ Then I realize he’s human, he’s a person. He’s…" Rez took a while to choose his words carefully. "He's a very sad person. He tried to smile, but you can see it in his eyes that he’s very lonely, his connection with people is very superficial. But we play like humans, to be teased by women. When he looks at the actresses he’s working with, he’s titillated. You say, ‘Hey Weng Weng, this actress, I think she likes you!’ He enjoyed that.
“Of course his voice is very small, sometimes I had a hard time understanding what he’s talking about. I have to ask, ‘Anong?' ['What?’] He tried to connect. But he’s got limitations, I think he cannot get in touch with his feelings. Because when you ask, ‘Do you feel lonely?’ ‘Yeah, I cried…’ So his inner thing is somehow very superficial. As an actor you have to be in touch with your emotions. And that’s why there’s a style or a way to direct Weng. How can you draw out that emotion if he himself cannot recognize those emotions? When you ask him, ‘How do you feel?’, his answer is something else. It’s not a feeling that he’s thought about. It’s a factual thing that he can experience.
"Also I’m aware that he’s taken care of by the producers, that somehow the producers are not giving him the compensation that he’s supposed to get."
"You can tell this?"
"Yeah."
"Just from being on the set?"
"Yeah. The producers are taking care of him, but the problem is he’s the lead star. He’s very small, yeah? He’s supposed to ride in a car, but you can see him on the set riding in the utility service [truck]. Because maybe the production manager said, ‘Hey, pick up Weng Weng!’ They don’t repackage him as a star. Actually I think Weng Weng’s happy with that. Maybe for him it’s a blessing; for him it’s something higher than what he’s having. But he deserved more.
“I don’t like to be judgmental, but they’re part of the system. There are a lot of producers like them. They’re there for the wrong reasons. Not necessarily wrong, but it’s a reason that I don’t agree with. But if you’re going to be a producer, you must have the vision, you have to have a hold on your material. But of course everything came down to economics. They’re that type of producer.
“In the first place they’re not filmmakers. They’re just there because they know they can make money. So, that creative aspect of a producer is non-existent. They continue producing because of Weng Weng. It’s an opportunity for them to make money and spend less. But they’re good people, and I like them, Pete and Cora. They’re OK. But they’re not filmmakers, they’re businessmen, and they’re producers that believe money saved is money earned." He paused and smiled conspiratorially. "On an EXTREME!"
WENG WENG'S FIRST DIRECTOR SPEAKS! Dante "Boy" Pangilinan interview with Andrew Leavold, May 2013
Large sections of this interview appeared in both The Search For Weng Weng documentary (2013) and book (2017). It appears completely unedited here for the first time.
The early films of Weng Weng were for the longest time shrouded in mystery, which Boy Vinarao's provocative statement ("at least ten films") could only hint at.
A collector friend of mine unearthed a newspaper ad for a Liliw production, Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa (1978), which paired Weng Weng with the reigning Bruce Lee of the Philippines. All that remains of the film these days is the newspaper ad, starring popular martial artist and comedian Ramon Zamora as ‘Chop Suey,’ reprising his character from the 1975 Bobby A. Suarez production They Call Him Chop-Suey, and a twenty-year-old Weng Weng playing ‘Big Time Papa.’ The poster even lists Weng Weng’s vital statistics: "Weight 30 pounds, redbelt master, blood pressure 120/80". Most astounding of all was the fact that it was released a full three years before For Y'ur Height Only. The bees in my head were buzzing furiously - what other early Weng Weng treasures might still be buried?
The hunt began in earnest with a chance meeting with actor Rez Cortez in July 2007; the famous screen villain was at the Film Academy for a Screen Actors Guild meeting, and happened to mention in passing that even HE was in a film with Weng Weng. Of course he couldn’t remember the name of the film, or the year, or his other co-stars. It looked like another dead end.
Back in Australia, I chanced upon a note I’d scribbled down while in the ABS-CBN Film Archives a few months prior to the meeting: a Liliw film produced by Peter Caballes and his wife Cora from 1976 called Sila… Sa Bawa't Bangketa/“Them...On Every Sidewalk” starring Rez Cortez. I immediately rang Rez long distance: “Is this the one?” “Yes it is…”
I met its director Dante "Boy" Pangilinan mid-2012 via the Film Academy. The old goons of the FAP were downing brandies and congealing goat soup on a drinkery's first floor verandah just around the corner from the FAP's old Octa-Arts building parallel to Quezon Avenue, and opposite the long-closed Magnatech. Dante happened to notice Weng's face on my business card. "I was Weng Weng's first director," he announced gravely. "Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa?" I shot back. "Dante 'Boy' Pangilinan?" We embraced like lost brothers, and he seemed genuinely shocked at my Weng Weng tattoo.
Cut to June 2013. A week before my interview with Boy Pangilinan, I spent a morning in the CCP's library digging through twenty years' worth of articles on Pinoy cinema and censorship. Near the back of the library I discovered an article in Manila Bulletin's weekly Panorama insert. Dated 4th February 1982, it was published a week after MIFF 1982's closing night, at the dizzying heights of Weng Weng's fame. Instantly the article challenged one of my most ardently-held assumptions: that Weng Weng's story had never been told, and that no-one had ever asked. The two-page article did more than just tell Weng Weng's tale. The writer interviews Peter and Cora Caballes and Ernesto himself, discloses the first personal facts about the Caballes, and it gave me an invaluable framework onto which I could pin my questions for Boy Pangilinan.
The day before the Boy Pangilinan shoot we'd been optimistic about the weather despite bleak reports of a typhoon sitting south of Manila in the Bicol region, and had packed up the camera gear just in time to watch the Sky Gods dump their bedpans for several hours onto Metro Manila. All we could muster was a dry spot at a faux-Mexican cantina, order beer and street tacos, and watch Facebook reports of endemic flooding in Quezon City drown our next two interviews like unwanted kittens. Typhoon season in the Philippines lasts for around eight months, and the remainder of our Search For Weng Weng shoot seemed poised precariously in the lap of the Film Gods.
Luckily for us the following day's torrential downpours were intermittent, and even Manila gridlock couldn't prevent us from reaching Blumentritt Extension, the main vein leading to Sampaloc in old Manila via the President's Malacanang Palace and through the neighbouring Pandacan where Weng Weng's producers once lived. The cab pulled up outside a house atop a karaoke bar which our interview subject rents out to his sister-in-law. Inside, various female relatives lounged around the bar as hostesses to the local drinkers honking Bon Jovi "tunes" into microphones. Someone once described the sound of Manila as chickens, car horns and off-key karaoke singing, and on Blumentritt they were bang on the money.
Dante ‘Boy’ Pangilinan - 60, jockey height, polite - guided us past the plastic tables to a private karaoke dungeon in the back. Inside the concrete walls, painted red over pockmarks of decay, were lit by a harsh fluoro strip, giving skin a garish body-under-the-ice-blue tinge. I turned to Jordan, mindful of the morose thump-thump of Beyonce from the karaoke machine in the main bar. "Should we film in a more quiet spot upstairs?" "No way, man," Jordan foamed as he fired up the Canon C300 camera. "This is going to be some of my best work ever!"
Andrew Leavold: Let's talk about your father, Johnny Pangilinan.
Dante "Boy" Pangilinan: Oh yes, my father, Johnny Pangilinan, is the old, old scriptwriter of the Filipino film. He made plenty of movies for several directors - during those days, direks Villar, Armando de Guzman, and plenty more.
What kinds of films was he making as a director, or writing as a scriptwriter?
As a scriptwriter he made several different kinds of movies, like action, drama, in fact he won FAMAS Best Screenplay for Sapagkat Kami'y Tao Lamang (1963) with the stars Eddie Rodriguez, Marlene Dauden, the start of the "triangle".
With your father being a director and a screenwriter, obviously this has an effect on you. What were your ambitions as a child?
During my early days I was so lucky, I have a scriptwriter like my father, so when he talks to his director, "Please put my son as the child actor of the film", obviously the director will say okay! So whether I like it or not, I am included in the film! So I made plenty as a child actor, mainly I'm the sidekick of Dolphy during those days, with Utos Ni Mayor (1968), Mga Bagong Salta (Sa Maynila) (1966), and many more. And even with Joseph Estrada, I'm already the sidekick, and Chiquito, Pulis Walang Kaparis (1964), I'm already the sidekick. And even the late Eddie Fernandez, Clandestine (1967), Bernard Bonnin - I'm their sidekick.
And you were also involved in many international productions being filmed in the Philippines?
Oh yes. I'm very happy that Mr Vicente Nayve noticed my acting ability. So he made me as the child actor, whatever American movies were making here, like Ambush Bay, The Longest Hundred Miles, Special Star (??) - namely I'm the one, the child there, along with Mickey Rooney - I'm very proud of mentioning I'm the only child actor, American movies.
You're growing up on film sets, so obviously this is going to have an effect on your later ambitions to be a filmmaker.
As a person, I have another ambition, but I already loved to, the way my father is bringing up as a filmmaker, so "Father, can I join you in another project?" "Are you serious?" "Yes" "OK" I started as Assistant Director of my father. Namely Gomburza (1977), the story of three priests, namely Gomez… So I started as Assistant Director and plenty more. And, my father made the greatest movie ever made here in the Philippines. Dugo At Pag-ibig Sa Kapirasong Lupa (1975). Five episodes, beginning in the Spanish era, up to Martial Law. My father was the one to organize, and he gets the other four directors, namely Chat Gallardo, Armando Herrera, Romy Suzara, and he as one of the five directors.
You were also acting in that film?
In the last episode, my director is Romy Suzara, I played there as the activist, I'm the leader of Kabataang Makabayan. "Mabuhay Kabataang Makabayan!" I'm the one shouting that in front of many soldiers. Together with Vilma Santos, Walter Navarro, Rudy Fernandez…
Did you continue your acting career after that film?
Yes. In fact I made, after Asiong Salonga, we made Asiong Seven (1962). I'm one of the Asiongs, I play Asiong Tirador. That's a nice movie.
How old were you at the time?
I'm about eight to nine years old.
After the mid-Seventies, when you were in your mid-twenties, did you also act?
My last film, when I was already 19 to 20 years old, together with Rudy Fernandez, the title, I already forgotten the title, but we played as one of the lead roles. After that I am very lucky. I am supposed to be the assistant director of Ms Maria Saret. We are supposed to make Sila…Sa Bawa't Bangketa. I am the Assistant Director and Maria Saret is the director. But eventually, direk Maria Saret is already pregnant and almost to deliver. So my producer, Ms Cora Caballes, "Oh direk, we're supposed to shoot this coming week!" "Oh, Ms Caballes, I'm already delivering this baby!" "Who will direct the movie?" I'm very lucky, direk Maria Saret pointed at me, "Boy Pangilinan will direct the movie!" So I'm surprised! "Oh direk…" "Yes, you can do that." Cora Caballes is my godmother, as Ninang, in my first marriage. "Boy, can you make it?" "Oo [yes], Direk Maria Saret said I can make it, so I can make it." (laughs) After my producer left, I talked to direk Maria Saret. "Direk, can I make it?" "Yes!" I'm very happy direk Maria Saret gave me the strong.. . That's where I started, my first film, I'm very lucky.
You said that Mrs Caballes was your godmother. Can you tell me what you know about Cora's background?
Cora Caballes is an Ilocana. She is a relative of, during that day, the chief of… Olivas, General Olivas [Maj. Gen. Prospero Olivas, Chief of the Metropolitan Command (METROCOM), was cited as one of General Ver's collaborators in the shooting of Benigno Aquino in 1983]. They are related, with Marcos' time. So Cora Caballes is the one responsible for doing one of the biggest films, Gomburza. In fact the producer of that film is Cora Caballes and General Olivas.
Mrs Cora Caballes is the relative of during that time, General Olivas, the one next kin also to President Marcos. So, General Olivas gave Cora the opportunity to produce a film. So one of the films Cora made, Gomburza, and Sila... Sa Bawa't Bangketa, that's where it started, starring Rez Cortez and that one, here comes…Weng Weng! When Cora introduced to me Weng Weng, I was surprised…what can I do with this little boy? No…he's not a boy (laughs), it's already 24 years old, I think. What? You make this boy one of the partakers in Sila... Sa Bawa't Bangketa? All I can say is, "Ninang? Are you serious?" "Yes" "OK, Ninang, what talents do Weng Weng have?" So I began screening Weng Weng. Wow! Weng Weng do the martial arts… the only thing is the dialogue, I cannot… "What? OK, subject for dubbing!" (laughs) But, I like his voice, originally, I don't make dubbing. That's why when you see the film, Sila... Sa Bawa't Bangketa, original voice of Weng Weng.
How would you describe his voice?
Very small, like coming from the balloon? Understandably he's a small guy, but with a big heart, big strong… If you can feel him, he's very strong.
So these are your first impressions of Weng Weng?
When you stand up here, he's just this tall…
What were your impressions about his mental abilities? Did he seem like a child…?
Mentally, Andrew, Weng Weng is I think half-half. There is a time when we I talked to him, straight answers, and eventually he says, "Hey, look at that girl, wow!" So he's normal. "Wow, direk, she's sexy!" He's normal. But there was a time, I think, when small kids started playing with him, he also played. "Oh you're playing, you're already a big boy!" But then, "Just look at the legs of Ingrid Salas, my leading lady!" "Hey Weng Weng, she's your leading lady!" In fact, Weng Weng asked me, "Direk, do we have a kissing scene?" "What? OK, I made a scene where you have a kissing scene…" You can look at the face of Weng Weng, shines. But eventually, I think he's already thinking, "How can I do that?" "OK, just relax!" So, as the shooting goes on, I think Weng Weng is thinking their kissing scene! "Just relax…" He was thinking, when will that scene be taken? Weng Weng is eventually a normal guy, a nice guy.
What were the number of shooting days, number of crew? Would you call Sila Sa Bawa't Bangketa a pito-pito film?
No… During that day, Sila…, we consider that film not pito-pito [seven days to shoot, seven days to edit]. Why? Because that was 1976. I made that film in 35mm with I think one of my goals there is to shorten my film shooting days. So hopefully I don't offend another director or another film producer, during that day they made a film in 30 days, one month, but Cora and I, Cora Caballes my producer said, "Direk, can we make this film about eight to ten days?" So I told my producer why? "We have just a limited budget." So I said, "Ninang, why me?" It's a challenge to me. We even don't have a complete fully-equipped shooting unit! Just a cassette, one camera, and a number of lights. I said, "Ninang, I will try my very best in doing this film." OK. So I started my first day film. My lead actor Rez Cortez, Weng Weng, and the first film of Vivian Velez. That was the first lead role of Miss Vivian Velez as an actress. So we start shooting, together with Ingrid Salas, one of the leading ladies, and Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing, that was his first starring role - the villain opposite Rez Cortez, the father of the actor Raymond Bagatsing, now a big actor in television.
So, we started shooting. First day, second day, third day…here comes the seventh day. So I told my Ninang, "Ninang, this is my last day." "Oh…are you sure?" "Yes." "How many film did you expose?" I already exposed during that day - other directors expose 35 to 40 film rolls - so I already exposed 25 rolls. When I edit that film, I will already compress it to 12, the maximum reel to be exact in the theatrical film, it's already good. So when I make that last day of shooting, even my whole staff, and together with my Ninang we celebrated. For the first time we made an eight-day shooting. Here comes the editing process, so my producer, my Ninang was nervous. How come I made that film in 8 days, but my editor, "Oh, there's so many more excess!" I made more excess! So there's more plenty of materials. My producer was very happy. So even my film Sila… is not yet shown, oh, you make your next movie! "OK Ninang, we just wait the outcome in the theatrical showing." When my first movie, cross my finger, Sila… was shown, I thank God it made, not so big, but eventually it made money.
So my Ninang, "Where's your material?" So during that day Ramon Zamora made I think with [Bobby] Suarez, The Man Called Chopsuey? "So, Ninang, this is my material: Chopsuey Meets Big Time Papa." Cora told me, "Who is Big Time Papa?" "Weng Weng!" "Oh yes…" I have my belief to that small kid to be a big star. "Oh yeah?" "Yes…" So, she read my synopsis and my treatment. "OK, when do you like to start your filming?" Right then and there. "OK." I'm very thankful to my Ninang. "You're ready? Go see …..? Shoot!" So…Weng Weng is very happy. "Direk, can I already make that film as one of the lead roles, with the famous Ramon Zamora?" "Yes! You already proven that in our first film. That's your testing ground. And this time you have plenty of leading ladies!" "OK!" Weng Weng is very eager to start already. My Ninang said "OK, you arrange your timetable, etc." So that started the film Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa.
What kind of budgets are we talking about?
This time Ninang Cora Caballes gave me an even higher film budget, because this film already, one of the lead roles, Ramon Zamora, is already proven as an actor, and box office, during that day. So she gave a little bit higher cost of production.
How much?
(Laughs) During that day, around 300,000 to 400,000, it was already a big budget, excluding the publicity. Just for filmmaking. For Chop Suey...
And the previous budget for Sila… was much smaller?
It's already from 100,000 to 250,000. During that day. That was 1976, already a bigger compensation, the value of the peso during that day is very big.
Rez Cortez remembers Weng Weng riding in a utility service. This was to cut costs?
Yes. During that day, Rez Cortez has already made so many films, like sexy films. But I find Rez Cortez is a real actor, is a good actor.
Do you roughly remember the plotline to Sila…? Rez Cortez was a syndicate member…?
As much as I remember, the plot of the story is…Rez Cortez is a jeepney driver, and Weng Weng is the barker. Like, "Pandacan, Pandacan, going here…Quiapo, Quiapo…" That's the role of Weng Weng, he collected [from] the payer. And Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing is the villain, he's the leader of the syndicate. When Rez Cortez happens to bump the organization of Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing, that's when the conflict started. So, I think Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing started to chase the two, being I think they happen to bump the organization of the syndicate…that's the theme of the story, as far as I remember. And Vivian Velez is a sexy dancer of the bar which Rez Cortez happens to work in that place. So Vivian Velez dancing, Weng Weng went, "Ooooh, sexy…" But already Weng Weng begins to feel the danger, because on the other side of the table there's Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing, the villain. So, he started to make Rez Cortez note him, "Hey don't be so…" That's the role of Weng Weng, the people like Berting Labra, the sidekick. That's the viewer notice to Weng Weng, he's a good feeder in the movie.
Were children used as drug couriers?
Yes… In fact I think they used this guy, Weng Weng, they think that Weng Weng is a child, but they don't know that Weng Weng penetrated the syndicate. At the time. But Weng Weng is, again, the eye of the policemen inside the syndicate.
So he's an informer?
The exact word. Informer.
And Ingrid Salas plays…?
She plays the rich girl in love with Rez Cortez, and Ramon "Boy" Bagatsing is the suitor of Ingrid Salas. That's where the conflict begins, the triangle of the three.
Sila... made enough of a profit for Cora to invest more money in Chop Suey... This is Weng's second film, right? He plays a secret agent…
Ramon Zamora played the karate instructor where Weng Weng is practicing his expertise. But eventually Ramon Zamora, as the trainer of Weng Weng, is agent, is already involved in the activities of Weng Weng. So Ramon Zamora, "Let me join, you're an agent, I'm just an ordinary instructor." "No, help me…" Weng Weng has the belief to Ramon Zamora, because he's an expert in karate. So they join force in breaking the syndicate. Weng Weng's "You're very good…" So the title itself, Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa, collaborated.
Do you remember who the head of the syndicate is?
I think…as far as I remember, an American actor - Mike Cohen. He's the leader of the bigger syndicate. But he's already well-versed in Filipino [film]making. Mike Cohen. he already understands more Filipino dialects, and he even talked Tagalog when I directed him! Mike Cohen's a good actor.
He was also in some Tony Ferrer productions, and For Your Height Only.
What I most admire about Mr Mike Cohen, as far as compensation is concerned he understands the budget of the Filipino filmmaking.
And this is the first film you worked with Eddie Nicart?
As my assistant director.
Can you talk about Eddie and his trainer Mando Pangilinan coming to work on your film?
Eddie Nicart in The Search For Weng Weng (2013)
Dante "Boy" Pangilinan: Chop Suey..., Eddie Nicart is my assistant director, and Mando Pangilinan, my cousin, is the fight instructor of Eddie Nicart. Because they both belong to SOS Daredevils, they are like brothers in that association of stuntmen. That's why Eddie Nicart got Mando Pangilinan as our fight instructor. He's very nice, Eddie Nicart is a good man, even in my small way, I even, "Direk, can you teach me how to direct?" "Yes…" "Eddie, I'm very open, this is how to, the usual, the directing…" Here, after Chop Suey..., I have, thanks God, I have plenty of offers like in Regal Films, RPM Productions, SQ Film Productions, so I came to my Niang, "This company want my services as director…" "Why not?" My Ninang is very kind. "I want to serve you as director, but I don't want to miss this opportunity." So my Ninang said, "OK, why not, but who is our next director?" Ninang - same way, like direk Maria Saret, "Here, Eddie Nicart can do the job as director in Liliw Productions." "Oh yes!" "Ninang! And Eddie Nicart can do justice in directing in your future films." "Is that a guarantee?" "Yes! I can guarantee Eddie Nicart as next director." So that's when Eddie Nicart knew, so Eddie approaches me… So I made Eddie Nicart all the support. "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," "OK, Direk." That's where Eddie Nicart started.
For Chop Suey..., were Eddie and Mando training Weng Weng to be a stuntman?
Yes. That's when Mando and Eddie Nicart already started Weng Weng training more on the stunts, more on action, whatever, fight directors. So Weng Weng became more. I mean, in this small size, become more effective as an action star, or whatever they call him.
He was trained as a stuntman to become a leading man?
Yes. That's why, I think the next movie is Agent 00, I think Eddie Nicart gave justice to that film. As Weng Weng, as a good stunt man. Even Weng Weng overpasses other action stars!
Eddie told me that he thought of Peter and Cora as parent figures. Was this your experience as well?
More. I think of Cora and Peter Caballes more of my parents. Why? Because they treated us as a family, not as a worker.
In what way?
Especially when you have your personal problems, they're the one attended to personally.
The story was that Peter and Cora would take Weng Weng into their home like a son. Is that how you remember it?
Yes. I remember Cora and Peter Caballes took Weng Weng as their own son. They treated him as their own son. Even their children introduced Weng Weng as their oldest - youngest? - brother. You could imagine Weng Weng during that time, their children thought Weng Weng… But they feel the heart of Weng Weng. Weng Weng is a real person, not just a…
Why do you think they felt this connection with Weng Weng?
I think Weng Weng as a person, even a normal person, cannot do what Weng Weng did to the family of Caballes. As far as I know, Weng Weng even washed dishes too! I saw it with my own eyes. Even Weng Weng has already made two films to me. I saw Weng Weng wash dishes to Caballes family.
Why did the Caballes take Weng Weng in? Was there something special about Weng Weng?
I think so, yes! Because Weng Weng as a person, you can easily love him. Weng Weng is so, in Tagalog, he's so "malambing". Nice to talk with, even with "po" and everything, he's nice. Even when you are smoking, Weng Weng will give you ashtray. That's Weng Weng. You're already thinking, "Ah, Weng Weng, sip-sip…" "No, Direk…"
Some people said that Weng Weng had something of the Santo Nino in him.
Personally, as an ordinary person, not as a director, in my experience to Weng Weng, I can feel Weng Weng is extraordinary people. Why? Because he has touches of luck - lucky guy. Like in my part, when I directed him, the luck comes through, force to me. God's will. I'm a Catholic, but still believe that if you believe in God, I feel Weng Weng is special child or guy that comes to me and gave me a bigger plate, a bigger luck, and even a bigger person.
Can we talk about the Caballes' initial films for Jo-An Productions?
I think Jo-An Productions is the first name of their company before Liliw, because Jo-An is the first child of Cora and Peter Caballes, that's where they put that production. Jo-An Productions made I think two or three films. One of the films made by Jo-An is scripted by my father. That's when my father and Cora Caballes began their relationship as producer and scriptwriter. So when my father did that film to them, they made during that day, I was to marry my first wife. So, they made Cora as my Ninang, Godmother. So as far as I remember, my father worked for them as a scriptwriter, to that Jo-An Productions. Even, as far as I remember, Silakbo, made Cora one of their films in Jo-An Productions.
Silakbo is also a film where Weng Weng appears as an extra?
No. Not yet.
So his very first film appearance is Sila…?
Yes. The first film participated by Weng Weng is Sila… That's when they met Weng Weng, I don't think, someone introduces Weng Weng, and that begins their adoption to the kid Weng Weng. And then they made Weng Weng as an actor during that day, in my film. That's the first time Weng Weng appeared in a film.
So he never appeared as an extra before in any films?
No, not yet.
Do you remember hearing how Cora and Peter met Weng Weng?
I think, as far as I remember, somebody went to the house of Caballes family and introduces Weng Weng because, sad to say, they are poor. Lack of financing to make… As far as I'm concerned, Weng Weng had four other brothers, and fifth is Weng Weng. So, their parents have no money to spend for the five children. So they made Weng Weng to adopt, they ask Caballes family to adopt Weng Weng as their whatever, as their washboy or whatever, just to make Weng Weng survive. But Cora Caballes, that's where Cora Caballes is good. My Ninang is a bright woman. She saw something to Weng Weng aside from household. Being the producer, she saw Weng Weng has a potential as an actor. So Sila… is the start of Weng Weng. "Direk, can you make Weng Weng as the co-star of Rez Cortez?" So I made him as the barker, that's where it started. So when we previewed the film, Cora saw Weng Weng can be more, more, as an asset of the Filipino film industry, as an actor etc.
We don't know a lot about Peter, who sadly passed away in 2007. From what I understand he was a big movie lover…
Dante "Boy" Pangilinan: Peter Caballes, as my Ninong, the husband of my Ninang, I make him as the villain in my first movie Sila… he's the villain, contrabida of that movie. The big guy - well, he's handsome - before I started that film, it happens I talk to my Ninong, "Boy, who is your contrabida in that film?" I can feel he wants to be. "You," right there and then, "you will be my contrabida in this film." "Oh, can I make it?" "Yes…" So I can see in his eyes the glow that he wants to be a movie actor whatsoever. He makes his part OK in my film, you can see in Sila… he's the villain, the husband of my producer.
Can we say that Cora is the businesswoman and Peter is the movie lover?
Yes, I can feel my Ninang, Cora Caballes, goes to this business, this show business, because of my Ninong. Why? Because my Ninong is a frustrated actor, I can feel that! That's why when I said, "You are the villain in this film", "Aaaaah! Can I make justice?" That's why my Ninang Cora continues doing movies, because of him.
Peter's from Liliw?
My Ninong Peter Caballes is from Liliw, Laguna. That's where they adopted that production, Liliw Films, because Peter Caballes is from Liliw. I can say that Peter is not so rich, not so poor, middle family in Liliw, Laguna.
Do you know how they met?
No, I cannot say.
Cora stopped making movies because she went into politics?
No. I think Cora and Peter Caballes started making movies because, as far as I know, Peter is, sad to say, a frustrated actor.
Why did they finish?
As far as I know, Peter got involved with another movie actress. That's when my Ninang, I heard, they separated ways. Sad to say. I'm honest - as far as I know, Peter got involved with another woman, and my Ninang, sad to say, felt lonely. So my Ninang stopped this moviemaking. Why? Because as a brain, Cora is the brain of the filmmaking, sad to say, not Peter.
We heard Cora went into politics, and for that reason they stopped.
I don't think politics will stop. I fact, politics will make her more known in the movie industry - why will she stop?
Their home was in Pandacan, but they also had a home in Sampaloc?
As far as I know, in Pandacan, in the start, they only rented that small apartment in Pandacan. Before I started the film, they only renting the one-space apartment. But when I made these films Sila… and Chop Suey…, they already own that place. Why? Because of the outcome of my movies. That's when I visited them, wow, they already owned that apartment.
They were making a very good profit from their first two films?
Yes. She's not yet involved in politics during that time, only movies.
Do you remember when Weng Weng went to the Palace to be made a secret agent?
During that time I'm already in Regal Films but I still monitor the activities of Weng Weng. I heard, I'm very glad, that Weng Weng was invited during that time, I think Marcos' time, at Malacanang to congratulate him as a goodwill or something in other countries, I'm very proud. President Marcos and even First Lady Imelda Marcos invited him to the Palace - imagine that.
The story also goes that because Cora had a relative who's a General, they awarded him with a badge and a pistol, and trained him as a paratrooper. This was before Agent OO. I learned that.
Do you think it was a PR stunt, or was he genuinely trained as an agent?
I think that was a genuine. You can just imagine a small guy, penetrating the bad guys - I mean, who is this guy, he's short but he's well-trained! That's why Malacanang was amused to give him that award.
What do you remember about the Caballes as a family?
As far as I remember, their family was too close, and I think even their children were enrolled in nice universities. Cora and Peter Caballes were good parents, they provide all the goods for their children.
You then went from the first two Liliw films to making over fifty features for other companies. You were a very busy director, and we can say most of your films were action. Why action?
Why? Because as an ordinary person I experienced going out with these kinds of hoodlums, so I can relate myself to their activities. Like OXO - I made OXO vs Sigue-Sigue, because I know what they're doing, especially with their aims, their motives. As a person, why they do that. That's why I made all "versus" movies here - vs Sputnik, I made these films.
At some point, action films were no longer popular. Why?
I think it began when our movie king, Fernando Poe, died. Because FPJ is the King of the Action Film, then followed by Rudy Fernandez, also fades. So the Action Movie King so weak, so the love story began to bloom, especially our film now is manipulated by two movie companies, let's face it. Only Star Cinema and GMA are now making money. They monopolize. They control marketing. How can small producers to be shown in SM? They control SM movies. And the small theatres are already closed, where our small producers will show their movies. I'm a Regal director - a big one. But, we joint venture with GMA or ABS-CBN, before we can make a project? Sad to say that this movie industry was dying. Why? Because they monopolize the industry, especially the marketing. Plus they monopolize the star system, they handle their own stars. When you try to get that star, how much will it cost you?
Let's go back to the late 70s, what was the market like then?
During that day, it was brilliance. You can do your thing as a filmmaker, you can make your movie free for marketing, especially these small producers were very alive. Why? Because they expect more movies to be showing their films. Not like now, when no movies to be shown. That's the biggest comparison. During those days, there are plenty of theatres to be shown, not like only SM is monopolized this marketing. How can our small producer make film without marketing? So, limited marketing, limited money, limited everything.
1969 – Musmos Na Mandirigma/"Child Warriors" (Jo-An Productions)
[Release date 21st October 1969]
Director/Story Tommy G. Citco Jr Screenplay Johnny C. Pangilinan Producers Peter M. Caballes, Cora Ridon Caballes Music Joseph Mendoza
Cast Dante Varona, Sofia Moran, Roderick [Paulate], Cora Varona (Kumander Delgado), Martin Marfil, Bruno Punzalan, Miniong Alvarez, Fernando Marin, Chito Reyes, Jack Moreno, Leo Longalong, Abelardo Dacer, Benny Mallari, Buddy de Jesus, Felix Marfil, Lilia Castillo, Val Dalton, Eddie Mac, Dolly Fuentes, Luis Florentino, Norma Blancaflor, Angel Confiado, Rudy dela Pena, Dindoy, Joyce Padilla, Peter M. Caballes [as Pete Caballes]
WAR
NOTE by Andrew Leavold: Future producers of Weng Weng's films, Cora and Peter Caballes, released MUSMOS NA MANDIRIGMA ["Child Warriors"] to Manila theaters on 21st October 1969. A former department head at the Mariwasa tile company, Peter harboured a not-so-secret obsession to be part of the film industry. In 1968 he convinced Cora and both sets of parents to invest in a film production company named Jo-An Productions, after one of the Caballes' daughters. Their September 1969 debut was a racy science fiction-themed pulp flick ZOOM-ZOOM APOLLO starring sex siren Divina Valencia, Pampangan action specialist Bernard Belleza, and stuntman-turned-action-hero on the rise Dante Varona. The following month saw Jo-An's second feature MUSMOS... with ZOOM-ZOOM's child star Roderick Paulate in a prominent role alongside Dante Varona and Sofia Moran. Along with much of the Philippines' pre-80s cinema, both Jo-An productions have long disappeared, with only their black and white newspaper ads surviving. Not surprisingly, producer and frustrated actor Pete Caballes is listed in MUSMOS' acting credits.
Image courtesy of Simon Santos and his Video 48 blog
1978 - Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa (Liliw Productions)
[Release date 3rd February 1978; newspaper ads list the film as "Chop Suey Met Big Time Papa", which according to Dante "Boy" Pangilinan is a typographic error]
Director Dante "Boy" Pangilinan Screenplay Coran Ridon Caballes Producer "Twinkle" [Caballes] Executive Producers Peter M. Caballes, Cora Ridon Caballes Music Anthony Castillano Assistant Director Eddie Nicart Fight Instructors Mando Pangilinan, Oscar "Oca" Reyes
Cast Ramon Zamora (Chop-Suey), Weng Weng (Big Time Papa), Mike Cohen (Crime Boss)
KUNG FU/SPY/COMEDY
THE LOST MOVIE PROJECT: Piecing together the fragments of the Philippines' vanished cinema
Andrew Leavold on Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa, from The Search For Weng Weng book; full Eddie Nicart interviews are HERE, and Dante 'Boy' Pangilinan's interview is HERE
In late 1977, Dante "Boy" Pangilinan presented Weng Weng to Cora Caballes as main foil to Ramon Zamora (They Call Him Chop Suey [1975]). "I have my belief to that small kid to be a big star. So, she read my synopsis and my treatment. 'OK, when do you like to start your filming?' Right then and there. 'OK!'
"I'm very thankful to my Ninang. 'You're ready? Shoot!' Weng Weng is very happy. 'Direk, can I already make that film as one of the lead roles, with the famous Ramon Zamora?' 'Yes! You already proven that in our first film. That's your testing ground. And this time you have plenty of leading ladies!' 'OK!'" Dante laughed.
Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa (1978) was Weng Weng's first lead as secret agent "Big Time Papa" roping in hapless martial arts instructor Zamora to bring down an American crime lord (Mike Cohen, aka Professor Von Kohler in For Y'ur Height Only) and his syndicate. Once again, Dante was sketchy on the film details, but did remember the film's contrabida well. "Mike Cohen's a good actor," recalled Dante of the squat, big-browed White Goon from countless local and international productions, Tony Ferrer actioners and Chiquito comedies; a retired Colonel operating a theatre in Malate’s Harrison Plaza while lending out is rotund, officious presence to local and international productions. "He's already well-versed in Filipino [film]making. He already understands more Filipino dialects, and he even talked Tagalog when I directed him!"
Don Gordon Bell served time as one of Cohen's red-jumpered goons in the Tony Ferrer-starring Sabotage 2 (1979). "Colonel Michael Cohen was a great man. Served in the guerilla forces during World War 2 in several places of Luzon. He had stories that have proven true about the actions of Filipino guerrilla units against the Japanese/Korean troops during the occupation. He was a Captain in the US Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, made honorary Filipino citizen by former President Marcos. Mike was a great friend of the lads during our years in Filipino cinema, working with us as a character actor in a number of films. A Russian Jew, Mike was willing to do anything, even suffered a bite from a poisonous snake during a shoot. He insisted on finishing the scene after treatment!" Sadly, Colonel Cohen died soon after the snake bite.
"What I most admire about Mr Mike Cohen," said Dante, "as far as compensation is concerned, he understands the budget of the Filipino filmmaking." What kind of budgets are we talking about? "This time Ninang Cora Caballes gave me an even higher film budget, because this film already, one of the lead roles, Ramon Zamora, is already proven as an actor, and box office, during that day." How much exactly? Dante laughed... "During that day, around 300,000 to 400,000 [pesos], it was already a big budget, excluding the publicity. Just for filmmaking, for Chop Suey…." And the previous budget for Sila… was much smaller? "It's already from 100,000 to 250,000. During that day. That was 1976, already a bigger compensation, the value of the peso during that day is very big."
Eddie Nicart in The Game Of Death! (1974)
Chop Suey… also marked Weng Weng's first association with Eddie Nicart, a person who, after Peter and Cora Caballes, would transform his life beyond recognition. "Eddie Nicart is my assistant director, and Mando Pangilinan, my cousin, is the fight instructor of Eddie Nicart. Because they both belong to SOS Daredevils, they are like brothers in that association of stuntmen. He's very nice, Eddie Nicart is a good man…"
For Chop Suey…, did Eddie and Mando train Weng Weng to be a stuntman? "Yes. That's when Mando and Eddie Nicart already started Weng Weng training more on the stunts, more on action. So Weng Weng, in this small size, become more effective as an action star."
Eddie Nicart’s previous stunt and acting work with Johnny C. Pangilinan and son Dante on a number of films - most notably in Dugo At Pag-ibig Sa Kapirasong Lupa (1975), and playing the revolutionary Luis Prang in Gomburza – led to the offer of Assistant Director with Liliw Productions, as well as supervising Weng Weng’s training. “Although not like the other outfits which were big, but they were doing lots of films - even non- Weng Weng. So I sometimes join those films as [fight] instructor, or actor. So when Weng Weng arrived, Ninang Cora knows me. When they did Weng Weng, Boy [Pangilinan] did not have his crew, unlike me, I have a five-man crew, and we can already make movies. It’s all there - the caterer, the crew, we were all working. Even though I’m the director, sometimes, I’m still the caterer, I would be cooking. We all were moving, working. We can do it cheap. So when I say that we can finish a film in one week, we can do it. Fifteen days, seven days… We can do it. We were intact. We were together. It was teamwork.
“The first time I saw him,” Eddie told me of his first meeting with Weng Weng, “they said that he was discovered in the streets of Baclaran. When I first saw him in the [Caballes’] house, I told myself that if this kid will be dressed and trained properly, his [career] will fly. Because he can comprehend things. He obeys. And when I [teach] him karate, he has good footwork. And I said that if he will be trained properly, he will have better moves. And that’s what happened. We taught him. We brought him to the gym.”
Eddie and his assistant directors-cum-fight instructors Mando Pangilinan and Oscar 'Oca' Reyes put Weng Weng through an SOS Daredevils’ version of Boot Camp for several months. By training’s end, Weng Weng was the real deal, a professional stuntman and genuine miniature Goon.
Everyone says he was already a blackbelt in karate before he started in films? “I do not [believe that]. It was with our trainings that he became a blackbelt. Because when he was with us in the gym, he was made to wear the belts. First, the white belt, and then he was promoted to brown, and then red… because of his abilities. But at first, I did not notice that. When he was still not with Ninang Cora, I did not know how he was. I know that he was just a stand-by in Baclaran. Because nobody was really taking care of him. His brothers did not know that he would turn out like that.”
Where did you train Weng Weng, I wanted Eddie to answer. "Mostly at SOS, and at the Karate Club of our friends. That’s where we train him karate. And for his stunts, he trains at the SOS gym. That’s where we teach him. Jump off the building, jump off the bridge! It was okay. The kid was obedient, even though he was like that. Because he’ll do whatever you tell him to. When you tell him to jump, he’ll jump. He does not have any fear. Probably because he’s slow in the head, but it was good because he was obedient."
How long did you have to train him? "Months. A couple of months, I think. Karate, jumps, fight scenes. Most especially the fight scenes. It should not come off awkwardly. And this is because Peter and Cora want to turn him into a leading action star."
Chop Suey Meets Big Time Papa was enough of a minor hit to make money for the Caballes. “As far as I know,” said Dante, “before I started the film, they only renting the one-space apartment. But when I made these films Sila… and Chopsuey…, they already own that place. Why? Because of the outcome of my movies. When I visited them, wow, they already owned that apartment."
[Release date 6th September 1981; released internationally as "For Your Height Only"]
Director Eddie Nicart Story/Screenplay Cora Ridon Caballes, [uncredited] Eddie Nicart, Bonnie Paredes Producers Peter M. Caballes, Cora Ridon Caballes Executive Producer Dick Randall Cinematography Bhal Dauz Music Pablo Vergara Theme Song “Nilikha Ba Ako Upang Masaktan” sung and composed by Maraya, produced by Light Star Productions Inc Editor Edgardo "Boy" Vinarao Production Manager Evelyn Baruelo Assistant Directors/Fight Instructors Mando Pangilinan, Oscar Reyes
Cast Weng Weng (Mr Weng, Agent 00), [uncredited on export version] Max Alvarado (Columbus), Yehlen Catral (Lola), Mike Cohen (Professor Von Kohler), Tony Ferrer (Chief [Tony Falcon, Agent X-44 in local version]), Rodolfo 'Boy' Garcia (Mr Kaiser), Goliath (Mr Giant), Yehlen Catral (Lola), Anna Marie Gutierrez (Anna), Carmi Martin (Marilyn), Romy Nario (Cobra), Ruben Ramos (Jack), Beth Sandoval (Irma), Lauro Flores (Turbaned Assassin), Rago Apollo Roman (Baldo's Goon), Reme Nocom (Goon), Lee Scott (White Samurai) Mr Kaiser's Goons Bobby Oreo (Bobby), Eddie Samonte, Oscar Reyes, Artur Liobon Cobra's Goons Lito Labarro, Alex Pascual, Ray Abella, Doming Reyes, Rene Romero, Jun de Guia, Mando Pangilinan, Rey Esguerra Columbus' Goons Fred Esplana, Jay Grama, Renarto Ricarte, Lito de Guzman, Angelo "Lito" Tomenes, Rolan Falcis, Nonong de Andres, Tatlong Itlog [Raquel Sayson, Rene Tupaz, Boyet Argame] Aires Force Peter M. Caballes, Linda Castro
COMEDY/SPY/KUNG FU
Review and interviews by Andrew Leavold
[Previously published in Leavold's book The Search For Weng Weng (2017)]
No-one in the Caballes camp, least of all Weng Weng, could forsee the relatively phenomenal success of their follow-up project to Agent 00, Liliw’s most ambitious project to date. “I was the one who thought of For Y'ur Height [Only],” Eddie told me. “Because For Your Eyes [Only], the James Bond film, has just hit the theatres, and so I said, let’s make For Y'ur Height [Only], based on that. And it was agreed upon. Ninang Cora and I did the script, plus my script writer [reporter Bonnie Paredes], and that’s how it was formed.”
How much was the budget for For Y'ur Height Only? "It was Ninang Cora’s prerogative. I do not know. I do not know if we even had a weekly budget or not. The money just arrives. The film just arrives. And the production manager was also given money for expenses, but this is not like other outfits where you know the complete details of the budget. Here, we did not know."
As with Liliw's earlier films, For Y'ur Height Only proved to be another quickie AND cheapie. "We were only five in the production," Eddie remembered. "My production manager Evelyn Baruelo, me as Director, Mando [Pangilinan] as Assistant Director. My instructor, Oscar Reyes. And sometimes Lito [Labarro], the policeman. We were just five. That’s the whole production already. Unlike other productions which has a lot of people, us, we only had one car, and then when we arrive at the location - cook rice already!"
On this and the next several films, Eddie would draw upon a core crew from the films he worked on as Lito Lapid's instructor: Baltazar Dauz, credited as either ‘Bhal’ or ‘Val’ Dauz, brother of Ver Dauz, and previously assistant cameraman on Joseph Estrada's JE Productions; editor Edgardo ‘Boy’ Vinarao; and composer Pablo Vergara, great imitator of Hollywood themes, which in For Y’ur Height Only translates to the James Bond theme recycled in inventive ways. [73]
Despite its low overheads and breakneck pace, For Y'ur Height Only is a complicated feat, in which not one but SIX different villains take turns sending their goon armies after "that little Weng". I guess that's what happens when a stuntman turns director - all of his cronies get a turn. Stuntmen and character actors spend an entire career cultivating connections in the action trade, and for Eddie and the Caballes it was payback, allowing them to turn their simple production into a veritable Goonfest. For Y’ur Height Only opens with the kidnapping of a European scientist, Professor Von Kohler (the amiable countenance of Mike Cohen), by a crime syndicate hungry for his formula for the N-Bomb. The Secret Service secretes its agent Irma (the late Beth Sandoval) into the Syndicate, who then passes on information to fellow Agent 00, each harbouring feelings for each other (“You’re such a little guy, though. Very petite, like a potato.”). Irma’s real identity is soon discovered and she is transported to the island mansion of the Syndicate’s head. A distraught Agent 00 must battle each kontrabida in turn to rescue Irma and the Professor, and save the world from the dreaded N-Bomb.
VILLAIN #1 (in order of appearance):Rodolfo "Boy" Garcia as Mr Kaiser – a staple of Pinoy B flicks, usually playing a charming rapist, with colourful wide-open shirts and hair bordering on a wild afro, here barely tamed. Almost all of his lines are delivered with a cigarette clenched between his teeth: "One day you're gonna wake up and find yourself DEAD! The forces of Good are our sworn enemies and must be exterminated...and I mean LETHALLY!"
VILLAIN #2: Ruben Ramos, the beaked, snake-eyed, often bald SOS Daredevil, plays Jack. His single memorable scene takes place in his hotel room – "My gang bungled it...now you get a bullet in your belly, Lola. This is it, kid!" - before Weng Weng slides across the floor, shoots him, then hits the wall ("Oh, my little HEAD!").
VILLAIN #3: Romy Nario (Cobra) - SOS Daredevil, Joseph Estrada's body double since the Sixties, Godfather to Eddie Nicart's eldest son and who, with his thin moustache and black greasy hair constantly slicked back in familiar fashion, moved easily into comic bad guy roles in the Seventies, most memorably playing Dolphy's foil in Darna…Kuno? (1979). A subordinate to Columbus (see below), Cobra is in charge of the drug factory, cunningly disguised as a bakery.
Cobra: (surveys a table full of bread loaves) “Nobody could begin to guess there’s a lot of dough in this dough… the Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker!” (he sneers sardonically) “Happy pushing... happy pushing! The Boss says to cover every kindergarten and sand box. We’re gonna teach them something about PLEASURE!”
VILLAIN #4: Max Alvarado as Columbus - Goondom’s quintessential Bad Guy, now also deceased, renowned for his garish suits (tartan here, with matching golf cap), and reportedly a deft leg at the Tango. The cartoon Hollywood-inspired Columbus is a bizarre creation, dubbed to sound like a Dead End Kid all grown, pronouncing woids like “poimenantly”, constantly insulting his henchmen ("You’re members of the Crime Syndicate, please try to look the role!") and spouting Gridiron metaphors (“You got to take that ball into the endzone!”).
VILLAIN #5: An unfamiliar actor plays Baldo, also known as Tattoo, whose name even Eddie couldn’t recall. An unnecessary eleventh-hour ring-in in an already overcrowded main event, the no-name goon adds absolutely nothing to the action other than three minutes of padding, and only one quotable line - “Send Marilyn barrellin’”. So, at the Tomb of the Unknown Goon, we say, “Bye bye Baldo...”
VILLAIN #6: Three-foot Goliath - a busy dwarf character actor also doubling at the time as Hobbit House's door security - is Mr Giant, criminal mastermind and master of his domain on Hidden Island. He and Agent 00 finally face each other in Mr Giant's living room (they can barely see each other over the table!), before Agent 00 gives him the old FPJ slaparound and guns him down. Mr Giant’s death scene, Goliath’s face a mask of pain, clawing at the air before collapsing with a bloodcurdling howl, is priceless.
Their henchmen read like a Who’s Who of the SOS Dardevils: Mando Pangilinan and Oca Reyes; Dolphy's regular fight instructors Jay Grama and Fred Esplana (Grama was also Dolphy's double), Eddie’s fellow fight director Jun de Guia, Roland Falcis, Rene Romero, and a turbaned Lauro Flores. Then there are the Ladies of For Y’ur Height Only: in addition to Beth Sandoval as Irma, three out of the original four Dolphy's Angels. [74]
DOLPHY’S ANGEL #1: Yehlen Catral(Lola): Gorgeous, elven-eyed beauty, these days a lawyer living in the United States, has a brief appearance as a “would-be-hooker with a heart of gold”. Agent 00 saves her from a hotel sniper, then pumps her for information on the criminal gang.
Lola: “Well, they’re big on drugs, and they said they’d peddle my pretty bod as a prostitute… I told them, I said I wasn’t interested and, well, now I get shot at once or twice a week, and one of these days it’s ‘Bye bye Lola.’”
DOLPHY’S ANGEL #2: Carmi Martin (Marilyn). A confident crime reporter, Marilyn owns a massive photo collection of various baddies, and flirts with Double 0 relentlessly.
Marilyn: “What I do is borrow all the sequestered pornos.”
Agent 00: “I’m...er...hip?”
DOLPHY’S ANGEL #3: Anna Marie Gutierrez (Anna). The sexual tension generated by Marilyn is finally unleashed via the seduction scene with professional bar girl Anna. After saving her from a table of drunk hooligans, Weng Weng studies her intently as she reclines on her hotel bed clad in only a towel.
Anna: “You’re a great person, you know.”
Agent 00: “You know what they say, it ain’t the size, it’s the way you use it.”
Anna: “Maybe...but are you a SEXUAL animal?”
Agent 00: (looks blank) “I don’t know...”
Anna: (thoughtfully)“I’m crazy about you, Agent 00. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way you strut your stuff. You know...sex is like tequila. Take one sip and you’re a goner.”
Agent 00: “Shall we get it on?”
Anna: “Yes darling, bare your bod.”
Weng Weng takes off his shirt to reveal nipples the size of burnt fried eggs, while Anna spares us any further ignominious detail by throwing the bedspread over the camera.
Just months after Weng Weng's appearance in his Legs…Katawan…Babae!, Tony Ferrer repaid the favour by donning the Tony Falcon white suit once again, this time as Weng Weng's boss [75]. In perhaps the English version's most fully realized example of its absurdly self-aware dubbing, Falcon walks Agent 00 through his new gadgets - radio controlled hat, a ring that can detect all poisons - while his tiny clone, in shrunken white X-44-wear, watches intently from across the desk. "Your pen," states a deadpan Falcon. "It looks ordinary…yet…it's specially…built. It won't write words…but you can't have everything." Falcon then hands over a pair of X-Ray specs, presumably the same pair he wore in Ang Agila At Ang Falcon the previous year, and Agent 00 tries them out on X-44's secretaries - first clothed, then naked behind typewriters. Weng Weng's expression as he blows them a kiss goodbye is one of pure, unadulterated glee.
For a kid growing up on Tagalog action films, Ernesto's life must have appeared to take some inconceivable turns: co-lead in a Ramon Zamora film - twice! - as well as George Estregan, Dante Varona, Rez Cortez, and now Mini-Me to Tony Falcon, one can only imagine how Weng Weng's reality, as he perceived it, had become somewhat skewed. " That's the mentality," said Franco, "eight or nine years old. Very honest, and he can do anything. What is Tony Ferrer to him? 'Who is X-44? I can do that also! He's got girls, I've got girls also…'"
Weng Weng was certainly more than just Ferrer's Mini-Me. "He could do many things Tony Ferrer could not do. Can he jump from a seventh-floor building with an umbrella?" Weng Weng's achievements were indeed remarkable; Franco agreed. "The only reason why he was chosen as an actor was because he was a miniature and he really thinks like an actor. He wanted to be an artist, he got that chance so 'Weng Weng' happened. People who are similar would never enter the movies." In Franco's analysis, the creation of "Weng Weng" was as much an act of will as a fortuitous series of accidents.
One of the film's most memorable setpieces was Weng Weng's spectacular leap from from a ten-story hotel room. Eddie rigged up a wire thread through a hollow umbrella handle: once Weng Weng jumps from the window, he appears to glide down at least three stories before landing on the roof of a jeep (Eddie's own car, he revealed). "It was a ten-floor [building] close to Harrison Plaza. We were on the third floor. Then there's a small harness anyway, connected to the umbrella," said Eddie, miming holding onto the wire. "So it won't go off course, as a guide. Because there might be a tendency to change."
Because of the wind?
"Because it might hit the electricity wires.”
Unable to prevent myself from empathizing with a petrified and nearly electrified Weng Weng dangling from an umbrella, my blood turned to ice.
The budget-conscious and ever resourceful Eddie managed to cram the many locations into film's manic two-week shoot by shooting the street scenes, bars and cafes within a hat’s throw of the SOS Daredevils' gym on A. Mabini in Ermita (personally I hope that Disco Island, the club where Irma and Weng Weng boogie, once actually existed). The nearby Midland Plaza Hotel on M. Adriatico St hosted Weng Weng's umbrella jump, and the Daredevils' own crumbling walls feature in Agent 00's raid on Columbus' drug factory. In Pandacan, the homes of Caballes' wealthy friends and neighbours double as the various Villains' lairs. And Peter Caballes' own powder-blue Volkswagen is driven by the henchmen of Columbus while kidnapping Irma.
Weng Weng's thirty-foot leap from a rail bridge was filmed in rural Pampanga province, as was Weng Weng’s memorable jet pack flight to Hidden Island, during which he straps on Eddie’s homemade prop and is winched upwards and outwards, supposedly “flying” but the sheer terror on his face suggests inwardly he’s dying of fright! He does, however, have the foresight to paddle his legs mid-air, just to make the crane he’s suspended from, and on which his life depends, go that little bit faster. Hidden Island is in fact three locations edited together: the long shot is an island near Olongapo, the exteriors are Lido Beach in Cavite, and Mr Giant's mansion is the home of Congressman and Bataan's former Governor Ding Roman. For Y'ur Height Only's final sequence – the all-out assault on Mr Giant’s island to rescue Irma and Professor Von Kohler - was filmed in just one 9am to 5pm shooting day, using just one camera, and with only ten black goon outfits and red berets… which explains why the same five to ten identically clad goons are mown down time and time again.
The films ends with Irma’s death on Hidden Island’s beach (“Irmaaaaaaaa!”) and final shots of Weng walking away from Irma's grave, filmed in a cemetery near Angeles City – an odd and bittersweet ending to a complex, enigmatic film which belies its basic narrative. For me, who has been pondering its unending joys for more than two decades, For Y’ur Height Only represents a distillation of twenty years of action trends, of character actors trading on and inverting their carefully cultivated on-screen personas. It’s both a celebration and self-glorification of goon cinema made miniature; a microcosm of the Gooniverse where, in Imee Marcos' words, "we shrank the Goon!"
Corliss and Dick Randall
As the fates would have it, an important figure enters the Weng Weng story. Dick Randall has always been one of those wonderful fringe characters in cult filmdom – a truly eccentric B-film producer in the classic roadshow mold whose marketing hooks and gimmicks created some of the most bizarre genre titles in existence. In a career that straddled three continents and five decades right up until his passing in 1996, he was the High Priest of Hyperbole who conjured up sex films (Black Deep Throat [1976] and a whole string of ratty-ended Emmanuelle titles), horror films (the Spanish-made Pieces, with the classic tag-line “You don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre!”), you name the then-popular fad, and you’ll find an idiosyncratic Dick Randall redux. Of all his exploitative Bruce Lee rip-offs, the most memorable is the granddaddy of all Bruceploitation titles, The Clones Of Bruce Lee (1977) starring Bruce Le, Bruce Lai, Brice Tai and Dragon Lee.
For the last twenty years of his film career, his wife Corliss was at his side, the two an unlikely-looking Bonnie and Clyde making deals from a suitcase full of cash, and occasionally fleeing the country from an overly enthusiastic local official brandishing a pistol.
Dick Randall’s involvement in Weng Weng’s first international film For Y’ur Height Only had always been a mystery to me, and so getting the opportunity to talk to Corliss over the phone from her home in London was a golden moment to fill in some of the missing pieces of the Weng Weng puzzle.
“We got invited by Marcos, because Dick was one of the big film buyers in the area. We got invited to stay at the Imperial Hotel, and I got to go to Marcos’ tailor – I had about four things made!" With Dick's Spectacular Trading Company based alternately in London, Rome and Paris (no doubt for shady reasons), the Randalls spent much of the late Seventies and early Eighties in Hong Kong, seeking out co-productions in Thailand and the Philippines. Starting with Bruce The Super Hero (1979), in which Bruce Le teamed up with Lito Lapid, and followed by Pleasure Island and Invaders Of The Lost Gold, filmed back-to-back around 1980, Randall was a hands-on producer and never far from the set.
“Dick was never interested in the ‘usual’” said Corliss. “The way Dick made his movies, he always took the things that had happened that were important to him, that had some momentum to them, and he’d reinvent it. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, but sometimes it REALLY worked. Weng Weng was so successful, sold around the world. Nobody had ever done that before, had they? That’s far out, isn’t it?” The hook here, of course, was a midget James Bond. “The unusualness of it, Dick was really into all that.”
Corliss insists Randall was present during the filming of For Y’ur Height Only. She remembered the first time she saw Weng Weng: “He was sitting in Dick’s lap in his office – I have a photo of that somewhere! Weng Weng was a very nice man, very sweet. And the nice thing about it is, Dick really understood the nature of what Weng Weng was all about. And he cherished it.” Randall’s investment, according to Corliss, was between US $30,000 to $40,000, and in return he received the rights to Europe and North America.
Accounts differ as to Randall's exact entry point. Was it before, during or after the filming of For Y'ur Height Only? I'm forced to wear my detective hat to make a calculated guess and say BEFORE the shoot. It’s a tough call: despite Corliss insisting Dick was there during the shooting, there's no evidence at hand. Even Eddie Nicart was a little vague in his recollection of Randall. "I think there was someone that they were talking to, but of course, they did not tell it to us, they might have thought that we will demand a higher talent fee. But it was all okay with us. Whatever the amount they give us, even if we do it for free, because we’re all friends. So it’s all okay." On the other hand, there's more than sufficient photographic and anecdotal evidence of Dick present at MIFF '82.
However...Dick Randall prepared the film for international buyers, which would have included an English language track (to be either subtitled or redubbed). For Y'ur Height Only was released to local cinemas in its Tagalog language version in September 1981; logically the English-dubbed version would have been prepared between September and its grand unveiling to international buyers at the Manila International Film Festival the following January. Some articles state Randall bought the worldwide rights AFTER territories had been sold BUT Corliss, as the sole inheritor of Randall’s estate, was the eventual owner of the worldwide rights excluding the Philippines, suggesting the rights to each territory reverted back to Randall.
Jim Gaines' story about dubbing the film in the Philippines while drunk and stoned for three days, was a tempting lead down a blind alley. Some would say, and quite rightly, the true geniuses behind For Y'ur Height Only's extraordinary surreality are the American voices, and I wish to the blind, mad Filipino B Film Gods that Big Jim was one of their ringleaders. But it was not to be: Dick Randall used his usual dubbing team based in Rome, as the same anonymous voices crop up again and again in countless European crime, action, sex and horror films throughout the Seventies and Eighties. One identifiable voice actor, however, is Edward Mannix, Max Alvarado's gruff American voice ("That’s Boy Scout doo-doo!"). Mannix's voice can be heard as Bud Spencer in several films including Odds And Evens (1979), and as ‘Aussie’ Joe Bugner in I'm For The Hippopotamus (1978). He's also on the English soundtrack for 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) along with the plummy female stylings of both Irma (Beth Sandoval) and Anna (Anna Marie Gutierrez), and the male voice behind Mr Giant (Goliath). As for Agent 00 - until someone more reliable than Jim Gaines can supply me with a lead, the American voice of Weng Weng remains another locked secret.
From all appearances the film For Y'ur Height Only was always planned to be an international release. "I don’t know,” said Eddie, “because [the Caballes] were the ones who marketed it. I only realized it when the film was in the Cannes Film Festival. Because before, the purpose was not for international [market], just here, locally. Because it was low budget, and the aim was just to break even. And then, it was entered in Cannes [Film Market], because they have a lot of connections there. So they went there. Even Weng Weng went to Cannes with them. That’s when it started to have a following abroad. That’s how they sold it."
Having already attempted and failed to buy the American Film Market and relocate it to Manila, she decided instead to bring the foreign movie industry to Manila from January 18th to 29th, 1982, showcasing not only Filipino culture and cinema, but the glory of the Philippines under the culturally (if not politically) enlightened Marcos regime.
“The Manila International Film Festival was a vanity project by the government,” said Teddy Co, “and they were advised by the public relations firm they had hired in the United States, Rogers and Cohen, that a film festival is a great way to promote your country, to showcase the achievements and the culture of your country. Even before the Manila International Film Festival had become a reality, the First Lady Imelda Marcos had already been invited previously by the then Shah of Iran to attend Tehran International Film Festival, which was an extremely grandiose and opulent undertaking of the Iranian government then. I think she picked up ideas from Tehran on how a film festival should be staged. And even before the first Film Festival in 1982, some of the MIFF staff had been sent to Cannes Film Festival to study how they organized such an event. So these were the templates for how to hold a festival, and for the very first Manila International Film Festival in '82, they were attempting to do a Cannes Film Festival by way of the opulence of the Tehran [International] Film Festival.”
Ed Lejano was also an active participant in the Manila International Film Festival. “Imelda pulled out all the stops to make this into a grand international affair. It was like a Cecil B. de Mille production! She had structures built like the PICC, the Folk Arts Theater, and of course the Parthenon-inspired Manila Film Center, which she drew on a table napkin - she told the architect, 'This is how I want the Film Center should look like.’”
The building of the controversial Manila Film Centre was rushed for the unveiling of Imelda’s inaugural Manila International Film Festival. In monsoon rains the roof collapsed and a number of workers were entombed in the wet concrete. These days housing a drag show for Korean tourists, there's an eerie mausoleum-like quiet about the place, perched on reclaimed land on Manila Bay away from the buzzing traffic of Roxas Boulevard. The concrete walkway surrounding the outside is now a complex spider’s web of cracks; once you talk your way past security guards, the inside is unnaturally cold and uninviting. Understandably the Manila Film Center is known locally as the most haunted building in Manila.
“There are several accounts,” said Teddy, “but during that period it was hard to piece it together, to get the definitive version of what happened exactly.”
“There was a news blackout as well,” added Ed.
“But it's been three decades later now,” Teddy continued, “so I think a lot of people have spoken, documents have been made public, videos have been shown of the tragedy. What essentially happened was this: around November of 1981 the construction workers were trying to finish the Manila Film Center building in time for its grand premiere and opening in January of 1982. So everything was rushed, twenty four hour shifts, around the clock work had to be done, and in the rush to complete the building, I think one floor fell, the scaffolding from that floor fell, and several workers - the number varies, some people have said a dozen, some said thirty, a few have said it's about a hundred workers - were trapped on the floor below the scaffolding, and because there was no time left, I mean there was a deadline to meet, there were orders to just pour cement all over these workers who were dead anyway. That started all the rumours also about ghosts haunting the film screenings, things like that. So it's not an urban legend, it really happened.”
Imelda took great pains to give me her detailed side of the tragedy. “First of all, when I discovered we were the second biggest producers of films, and we were sending the films to be processed in Hong Kong and elsewhere, and millions were spent for this, I said ‘My goodness, if I had my own film centre, we would not have to waste so much on foreign exchange.’ So what I did, I reclaimed some land behind the CCP which cost me then 90 centavos per square meter, when of course I had about one hectare of land… I got the best contractors, only to be reprimanded by government – ‘Mrs Marcos, you cannot choose the best…’ I said, ‘This is not government money,’ but even then you must have it bidden, and the cheapest. So I had it bidded, and true enough, the cheapest bidder. After they started it, they’d poured [the foundation] already, they had roofed it, there was rain of two weeks non-stop, the heavens rained and the water was so heavy that the roof collapsed and there were three or four people dead.”
"Pour quick-drying cement over the bodies,” the overseer Betty Bantug-Benitez, Imelda Marcos's Deputy at the Ministry of Human Settlements, is reported to have said, in order to meet Imelda's impossible deadline (“Hack off their limbs and paint over them,” goes another version of the story).
“I was in Rome then,” said Imelda, “and then this happened, I rushed back. It is not true that we left them buried there, no way. We had them taken, the people that had died, and took care of the families. This is a big, big lie. We did not leave any dead people there, and the International Convention Center by the way was finished on time for the International Festival.”
“Ah, but did you hear what happened to Betty Bantug-Benitez?” laughed Teddy’s right hand man Monchito Nochon over Halloween drinks in 2010. “A few months later, she was a passenger in a car driven by the Education Minister, Onrofe Corpus, en route to Tagaytay. It was the dead of night, and along the way their car veered off the road and slammed into a tree. Corpus survived, but Betty died instantly and was decapitated.”
“Holy shit!”
“That’s not the whole story,” Monchito continued, eyes widening. “In an interview after the incident, Corpus recalled that Betty suddenly went frantic, shouting ‘Can you see them, can you see them!??’, referring to the construction workers, carrying hammers and other such implements, that she saw crossing their path.”
“He saw nothing?”
“No. And in the middle of the frenzy, she grabbed hold of the wheel which led to the freak accident.”
Ed: “After that tragedy, there was a formal blessing of the building, and from what I remember they performed a Cañao - it's a pagan ritual where a caribou or an animal is sacrificed as part of an exorcism rite. So it was quite surreal when that thing was done, but it was all connected to that recent tragedy. So it came off to a spooky start, and yet it did not stop the authorities from conducting the glamorous event that was to follow.”
Teddy: “I think the government tried to play safe - there was not just this Cañao blessing, Catholic rites held… I heard there was also a Taoist priest that was asked to exorcise the place! It was very…ecumenical! And one time, this was already some months after the first Film Festival, the whole building was in operation, because they operated three cinemas showing films of all kinds, art films, commercial films, and there was a regular patronage already, they were trying to build it into a true blue Cinemateque.
“One time I was there preparing an exhibit, and around midnight while we were still trying to do the exhibit, who would turn up but the First Lady herself, Madame Imelda Marcos, of course with a coterie of bodyguards. And we found out that, even before entering the building, she walked outside - I mean, it's designed like the Parthenon, so there are all these pillars around the building, still open space - and then she first walked around the building holding a rosary, followed by her guards of course, and a runner in front, and after she circled the Film Center, that's when she entered the building, to inspect her showcase. It was her, shall we say, brainchild.”
As the Festival opened on January 18th 1982 to huge fanfare, local industry bigwigs rubbed shoulders with Hollywood celebrities and international filmmakers like John Frankenheimer and Satyajit Ray. Expectations were running high, and local auteurs prepared themselves to be packaged and sold to the world. One of the Festival’s brightest shining stars was First Lady Imelda herself, cutting the ribbon at the press preview next to Franco Nero and Brooke Shields, while the world’s press noted just how glamorous a Filipino film festival could be. “This was a huge, grandiose affair,” exclaimed Teddy, “and many stars were invited from all over the world. I think around three hundred international guests were invited, all expenses paid, their air fares, five-star hotels, and each one had an attached guide during their stay here in Manila. For example, when I was just at the cinema lobby of the Manila Film Center, just a few paces away to my right was Toshiro Mifune in a tuxedo! I was hanging around in the press office seated at one table, and at the next table lounging around there was Jeremy Irons. Many big stars were invited - people like Brooke Shields, Franco Nero, Virna Lisi. Even Priscilla Presley was here. I couldn't believe it, no!”
“And the festival was an ambitious project!” said Ed. “It was not only a Red Carpet festival, it was a film market, a film archive, a film production company, a distribution company as well… It was a true-blue Film Commission, but financed by the government. Never mind if it's sustainable or not.
“I was barely out of college, and that was my first job to work on an international festival, so it was like getting the Golden Ticket in the Chocolate Factory! I come hobnobbing with Brooke Shields and Peter O'Toole, Mifune…”
“It was great fun actually,” Imee told me. “I was very skeptical to be quite honest. I always thought film festivals involved Europeans, and I didn’t think anyone would come over to Asia, despite the fact that of course we had Indian and Japanese directors. And still I think there was a stunning turnout, and suddenly the spotlight was focused on Philippine film. Even we discovered that the Philippine film industry was the second largest in the world at the time. It was a revelation to all of us; we were just scurrying about doing our business, and didn’t quite realize how big it had become. Whether it was rubbish or whether it was bomba, whether we had all these idiotic action flicks which were so popular and were being churned out, goon cinema forever, and really toilet humour – the point really was that so many films were being made. And of course that high of just under three hundred films a year has never been achieved again.”
Weng Weng became one of MIFF’s unofficial mascots, making a daily appearance at the festival, prowling around the Festival’s three venues, the Convention Center (PICC), the Folk Arts Theater and the Manila Film Center, as he performed push-ups on his thumbs, challenged on-lookers to his custom hand-gripping contests [76], and kissed foreign starlets before the startled press. Dick Randall couldn’t have wished for a more effective walking billboard for his movie: everyone was talking about “that midget Bond”. "In between screenings,” Teddy remembered, “I was just hanging out with some friends at the lobby of the second-floor level of the PICC, and up the elevator comes this little midget. When I suddenly see him, I blurted out, 'Weng Weng!' And then Weng Weng just waved at me. I mean, it was so…I don't know whether to call it 'unreal', really it was more surreal. You see all these big names - even the head of the jury was Satyajit Ray - and then suddenly Weng Weng shows up, of all people!"
Ed Lejano was also taken aback. "My first encounter with Weng Weng was when I saw Pia Zadora, the Eighties sexpot. I got an autograph with her, and when I turned I came across him. I said, 'Oh, it's what's-his-name, I've seen him in the tabloids!' I said, 'This is really surreal. Big Hollywood stars, international filmmakers, and a midget star of the Philippines.'"
Franco Guerrero: "With Bobby Suarez, we had our movie [The One-Armed Executioner] shown there. And then, here comes Weng Weng. He stepped right up to there...” He motioned near his hip. “...just beside me, everybody said, 'Hey, that's Weng Weng!' Then came some Caucasians, and little kids, and said, 'What's that?' Then Weng Weng starts talking…" Franco affected a high-pitched squeak. "'Hi, I'm Weng Weng…' Oh, they freak out!" Franco chortled with laughter. "He terrified those little girls. 'Oh my God, what's that? That's a freak!' They thought he was a leprechaun! That little girl was crying. I imagine, they thought he was a doll, but it's talking, so small, with a head as big as this…" Franco's hand formed a claw, "…talking, 'I'm Weng Weng.' Complete with a white jacket, everything white, boots white, moving around.
"People became very interested after that. 'What is that, small guy is acting as James Bond - it's a dwarf!' No, it's not a dwarf. He's a small guy, miniature. He's not even a midget or a dwarf. He's a regular man - it just happens that he's miniature. That's one thing that's special about Weng. A very small miniature guy who can act."
Teddy Co: “The Filipino film industry was out in full force during the Manila International Film Festival in '82, and they put up all of these films that they thought would bring honour and prestige and commercial sales to the film industry. Some of the films' names for example included Mike de Leon's Kisapmata (1981). Really big names. FPJ put out some of his best films in the market. Many Grade-A Filipino directors were there, from Ishmael Bernal to Peque Gallaga, Mike de Leon. Lino Brocka I think did not attend under protest!” He laughed. “And so movie insiders all thought the Philippines would make its mark through its talented Grade A films and filmmakers.”
“At the film market,” a circumspect Tikoy Aguiluz told me, “all these filmmakers came out with Filipino stories. Nobody bought them. But what did we sell? It was Weng Weng!”
One of the buyers was an old familiar face around Manila. As the Seventies segued into the Eighties, Trinidad distributor Tony Maharaj pondered the fate of Tony Ferrer and company. "The Philippines was always on my mind. I wondered will [the films] improve, will they get better? It was then announced that the Philippines would have its first Manila International Film Festival…. And since I had been responsible for taking Filipino films to the West, an invitation ended up on my desk, which I accepted.
"So I came to the first Manila International Film Festival. At that festival I decided nobody was buying anything, and I said this isn't right, somebody's got to buy a Filipino film, otherwise this Philippines' film festival would not have been what it was put here fore, it would die. As fate would have it I saw a poster saying 'Weng Weng – For Y'ur Height Only'. And I thought this is a great gimmick. I'm going to take this film back to my country and promote this as James Bond for the kids." In a twist of fate, Agent X-44, as Weng Weng's boss, would also make his triumphant return to the West Indies.
"Edwin Bote was the one who introduced me to [Cora]. My deal was specifically with her. I went to the office, I paid for the film in cash." Can I ask how much? “You're going to fall off the chair – I paid $2,500 for the film, for the West Indies. In those days the West Indies would pay $10,000 for a big American film. So for a Filipino film, $2,500 was considered a good price, because it was not an American film with American stars. I opened the film for Christmas, cinemas in Trinidad. I opened the film against Raiders Of The Lost Ark [1981]. I beat Raiders...
"It was a great gimmick. It was faces and images that people had never seen. It was different, it appealed to the kids... It was a miniature Bond, 007 and a half! And the kids loved it! And with the kids came the parents.”
Once the junket was officially over and dust had settled, it was time to evaluate the real benefits to the local film industry. Out of the sixty local productions offered through the Philippine Motion Pictures Producers Association, around 20 were sold for a grand total of approximately $500,000, a disappointment to most companies expecting easy winnings on their home turf. English-dubbed action films were the fastest sellers, regardless of their destination of country of origin. But by far the single winner of the festival was For Y’ur Height Only, reportedly netting US $200,000 - a mind-boggling amount for a novelty action film considering its initial price tag.
Buyers also approached Liliw from France ($30,000), Egypt ($25,000), Pakistan and India, the Middle East, Thailand, Mexico, Scandinavia, Libya, Singapore, Malaysia… Dick Randall's Spectacular Trading Company picked up the residual world rights for a reported sum of $150,000 (Corliss said the figure was much less), and advanced Liliw $200,000 for the unfinished D'Wild Wild Weng. By far the most substantial deal for a single territory was for West Germany. Frankfurt-based distributor Kurt Palm of Repa Film Production-Gmbh reportedly inked a deal with the Caballes, purchasing Agent 00, For Y'ur Height Only, and the forthcoming D'Wild Wild Weng, for $20,000, $30,000, and $40,000 respectively. [77] Business Day reported:
"…a special arrangement was firmed up between the two producers for the promotion and marketing of the three films in Germany. The German producer will shoulder travel, hotel accommodation and living expenses for four representatives from Liliw Productions, for a two-week promotions stint in Germany in April this year. The delegation will, of course, include Weng Weng; Ma. Corazon Caballes, the film's scriptwriter; and wife of the producer and producer Caballes himself. 'We never expected our sales to turn up this well,' remarked Mrs Caballes, as she had informed Business Day that the transaction went so fast, she could hardly believe the money paid for the sale of the three films had already been safely stashed away in a bank." [78]
London-born John Kater was a sales agent who became friendly with Pete Caballes during MIFF '82. "I was a movie salesman. The last company I worked for was Rank. At Rank they fired me, if you want, or they made me redundant. They paid me off. It was political basically - it always is in these big companies. A friend of mine was a guy called Bombing Trinidad [Anselmo Trinidad Jr], he was a cousin of Imelda Marcos, and his wife was a cousin of Marcos, and Imelda was starting this Entertainment Philippines. Bombing, being Filipino, he was in charge of one section of it, and was hoping to spin it off for himself eventually. He'd been kind of romancing me, if you want to put it that way! Trying to get me out here. My wife was very sick, and things got unfriendly between my wife and I, so when Rank fired me I said to Bombing, 'OK, I'll come out to Manila.'"
Stockbroker Bombing (stockbroker and owner of ATCO - Anselmo Trinidad Jr & Co and son of the president of the Stock Exchange) was heavily entrenched in the film industry, not only with Entertainment Philippines, but with Sining Silangan, the production company behind Lino Brocka's PX (1982), and later with Trigon, the major Tagalog-language videocassette distributor in the Philippines and abroad. "We were opposite Imee, we were across the road in the Convention Center, she was in the Film Center. This was a company Imelda started with public money. When I saw the list of directors, or the shareholders, all the shares were personally held by Imelda, by Aspiras, by the cronies.
"As far as Pete was concerned, this was a separate thing between Pete and myself. I was working as an independent representative." John also helped introduce Cirio H. Santiago to sales agents in the UK, who would make his Stryker one of the widest-known Road Warrior copies. "I met Pete around that time and he wanted somebody to sell Weng Weng. Weng Weng was easy to sell, for me. It wasn't really like the average Filipino film where you have five guys making bola-bola outside the carinderia… it was fantasy. And the Germans loved it, particularly."
“Weng Weng: Mighty Mite” was one Philippine column’s headline. Most articles on Weng’s staggering triumph had the same theme. “Weng Weng makes it big at MIFF”, “Pint sized Weng Weng goes int’l”, “Sizable market for midget’s movies”. The German distributor was reported to have offered a two week, all-expenses-paid press junket to promote their new acquisition. The Caballes were receiving offers of co-productions from international producers, the articles continued. It was also announced that Weng Weng would headline another miniature Bond-inspired film, in a co-production between Liliw and Hong Kong's largest distributor Intercontinental Films [Bobby Suarez's former company], to be shot in both countries. Yehlen Catral was slated to co-star. [79]
Most telling is an article entitled “Superstar at the fest”, in which Weng Weng’s personal narrative was moulded by the press via Peter and Cora:
“…unknown to most fans, Caballes and his wife adopted Weng Weng ten years ago ‘to help him’. Touched by the plight of the midget, now 23 years old, the couple helped his latent talents. And, as Caballes recounts it, when he first plunged into the Weng Weng films, many skepticallty viewed his future prospects. The two projects [Agent 00 and For Y'ur Height Only] were 'virtually break even only.' But, according to Weng Weng, his adoptive parents believed in his potentials and wanted to give him a break. 'They borrowed money heavily to finance my films. Now, they may be able to meet our obligations,’ Weng Weng disclosed.” [80]
For a brief moment in January 1982, it appeared as if the Philippine film world were at the collective feet of Weng Weng and his myth-making “adopted” parents.
The Press were moved by two intensely Filipino stories: the Caballes' phenomenal rags-to-riches story, and their overwhelming act of generosity and compassion in taking in Weng Weng as their adopted child.
"With the unexpected dollar bonanza reaped by Weng Weng's picture at the festival, Peter Caballes is wearing a happy smile on his face these days. Before, when he was producing For Y'ur Height Only, he always had a harassed look on his chubby face due to his being hard strapped for cash to finish it. He could only afford to have one print made of the picture and it was Dolphy who advanced the cash for four additional prints so that he could show the picture in 15 theaters in the metro area. I even volunteered to help out by doing the publicity for free.
"Pete said he had faith that his 'anak' [child], as he calls Weng Weng, would make it… it was only last year that he decided to gamble on Weng Weng's first starring picture, Agent 00, for something like P600,000. For Y'ur Height Only cost slightly more, about P850,000, due to the gimmicks. Pete had to think of cost-cutting methods to meet the budgets of both films, like his wife doing the catering and asking actors to lower their per day asking price. Now that he has made it big 'abroad', Pete could consequently be more at ease and he can act like a big-time producer." [81]
WENG WENG: "Kaya ngayon, trabaho muna, wala nang iba." ["So, for now, it's work first; nothing else."] [82]
I asked Eddie Nicart what he attributed the film's phenomenal success to. "The audience got curious. Because it was just after James Bond’s For Your Eyes Only, and so, the audience all lined up f[or For Y'ur Height Only], because imagine, a small person, doing [(all sorts of stuff], and with gadgets that I thought of - I made him fly, and cross wires], and nobody knew how, it was just I who thought of those. I was the one who prepared the gadgets - Let’s buy this. Why? Because we’ll have him cross this. And it’s good that it clicked. When it was shown internationally – fuck! The audience was amazed that a small person could do that."
What was the general reaction, I asked Imee Marcos? “Everyone passed out!” she laughed. “We had begun to assume all kinds of artistic pretensions, and what we saw as a very low budget, low humour sort of thing, suddenly gets bought in Cannes above all of our rather self-important films from the ECP and so on. But the point I suppose was that my parents were determined to open the door to Filipino films – we may not have agreed with the final product…” she smiled again knowingly, “but we were certainly determined to open the door and showcase to the rest of the world. Of course to our amazement it was Weng Weng that got bought.
“Weng Weng of course is a typical Filipino phenomenon of transforming what is horrific and frightening and prevalent in Filipino culture into something silly, humorous and ultimately manageable in human terms. So I suppose we shrank the Goon! It makes perfect sense; it’s exactly what Filipinos do. We transform our pain into ridicule. The bad guys always become laughable and somehow pathetic. So Weng Weng epitomizes all of that." Imee smiled. "Why the rest of the world got it, I will never know!”
Nick Deocampo: “Oro, Plata, Mata, a big masterpiece, was not even sold. That’s why people were beginning to talk, that what was sold was a Weng Weng film. And it sold big, you know? And so, wow. Are we doing things right or wrong here, you know?”
“How like us," Peque, Oro, Plata, Mata’s director, ruminated on the steps of the CCP. “For all the names and the stuff that we have here, it would be a Weng Weng that would make it internationally. And it did. It's good for us. It gives us the right amount of humility.”
“I had misgivings,” Ed Lejano confessed to me, “for probably understandable reasons. I didn't think much of him because he was an odd type of personality you don't take seriously. And by the time the Festival was finished, he became the first Filipino global star, that surprised a lot of people. Also people were not comfortable about that type of success. Remember, this is the Eighties, and we didn't have world class Filipino boxers like Manny Pacquiao or leading Broadway stars like Lea Salonga. We have this small actor to represent as an iconic image to Filipinos - not too many people were comfortable with that. And so they grudgingly accepted that success as a fluke: 'OK, he's good for one, two movies, maybe straight to video, and maybe he won't last long.' So that was my initial impression.”
Teddy joined in. “But to the surprise of everybody it was this diminutive - not even diminutive, but midget! - little action star named Weng Weng, who made waves! This really caught everybody by surprise, and because it was his films that actually got sold abroad in several territories, I think in the Middle East and also in Africa, of all places. So it was kind of like the story of an upstart person upsetting all the major talents.”
“Like a David and Goliath story!” laughed Ed.
But really, isn't that a very Filipino story in itself - the upstart, the rebel, going up against the Establishment? “Yes,” Teddy agreed. “Well, it's not very Filipino, I think it's pretty universal. But definitely, in the Filipino system, people root for the underdogs, and eventually the Champ is dethroned. But nobody would have imagined that the underdog was packaged in the two foot nine frame of a midget named Weng Weng!” He laughed once more. “I don't know exactly how to say it, but it was just…out of this world!”
“Maybe during that time,” Ed speculated, “we are not conscious of the metaphorical reading of Weng Weng's short-lived global success. It took many years later, and it took the eyes of a foreigner like Andrew, to see interpretations of that chapter in Filipino cinema which is an alternative reading of our cinema. Because it's not about big, artistic, quality films, but it's about the small films, the fly-by-night productions, the C-Celebrity as opposed to the A-Celebrity. So it takes many years for that to achieve perhaps a cult appeal, like what is perhaps happening now with the cult of Weng Weng. So his later fame was like a Rorschach test…maybe some can see a hegemonic, post-colonial, exoticized interpretation of how this odd celebrity came to be, some can read it as the state of Filipino filmmaking in that particular era. It can be the ultimate ‘otherness’ as well, because he's not like Jean-Claude Van Damme, he's not Clint Eastwood at the time, he's not Jackie Chan… It's not a very comfortable image, and so a lot of people at the time I guess were not accepting of the growing international celebrity of this pint-sized action hero. So there was some discomfort, and it takes many years to have an alternative reading of his short-lived fame and subsequent downfall - which is also a cautionary tale in itself, because there are issues of exploitation and betrayal. It's a familiar story. You become a success, you look exotic, after a while you don't get decent roles, you get cameo roles, silly roles… So the industry doesn't know how to treat him or to make a career of that, in a sustainable type of career.”
Imelda was understandably glowing in her assessment of MIFF 1982: “The Festival at the time, which was at the height of the Cold War, we were able to invite the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians, the Russians, everybody. We had representatives from all over the world, and this was at the height of the Cold War. So it was quite a gathering, with different races, different cultures and different nations. And it was amazing, it was a very, very happy occasion because it was so enriched by different cultures, and so enriched by the different films which at that time they were shown here. And believe it or not, we almost recovered all of our expenses, more than 100 million [pesos], at the first Film Festival! So it was a big moneymaker too, and without government funds. I discovered so many people went to the movies here in the Philippines, that we were the second biggest movie producers in the world. And it was a big moneymaker considering that we were using a lot of foreign exchange to pay for the costs. It was a big, big plus for business for the country.
“Financially, it was very, very profitable, but more than that, that continued the exchanges of different cultures of the world, the good, true and beautiful of each and every one, and culture, the nurturing of nature… In film festivals and in films, they usually show what is Good, True and Beautiful, because how can you sell what is ugly? It will be only selling what is enriching and makes you happy, it enlightens you, makes you more educated and more knowledgeable. So this is one of the best ways to put things together, but people were so short-sighted, thinking it was a frivolity. I was very much maligned on this. But I knew in the end I would make them all realize the importance of this in the end, it is only the good, true and beautiful that could bind us together, and the best medium here is the media, that is film. Especially if you see the good show, of the good parts and different parts of different cultures, and show different cultures, different natures, and the nature of every country, it would be so enricher. You can have a more beautiful world together. And then,” she said grandly, “we will have peace with one another. And who knows, with this, you can have Paradise.”
I asked Ed Lejano for his conclusion. “I think it was a success. But of course, that being said, it was also a vanity production - it's something that has to be done to camouflage the controversies of the Marcos regime. There were of course human rights violations, questions about Martial Law being constitutional, so it was like an opiate for the masses: 'Let's hold a glamorous event that would sanitise many other things of the regime.' So to that extent it was successful, in making the Manila International Film Festival one of the top festivals in Asia at that time. But is it sustainable? Is it coterminous with the Marcos regime? Yes. So, while it peaked for maybe three years, it died a natural death when demonstrations started to happen after the Aquino assassination, and even after they had plans of staging another Festival, foreign guests weren't open to cooperating with this tainted administration with a questionable vanity project. So it didn't take off any more."
Weng Weng (Mr Weng, Agent 00)
Max Alvarado (Columbus)
Yehlen Catral (Lola)
Mike Cohen (Professor Von Kohler)
Tony Ferrer (Chief [Tony Falcon, Agent X-44 in local version])
Rodolfo 'Boy' Garcia (Mr Kaiser)
Goliath (Mr Giant)
Anna Marie Gutierrez (Anna)
Carmi Martin (Marilyn)
Romy Nario (Cobra)
Ruben Ramos (Jack)
Beth Sandoval (Irma)
Lauro Flores (Turbaned Assassin)
Rago Apollo Roman (Baldo's Goon)
Reme Nocom (Goon)
Bobby Oreo (Bobby, Mr Kaiser's Goon)
Eddie Samonte (Mr Kaiser's Goon)
Oscar Reyes (Mr Kaiser's Goon)
Artur Liobon (Mr Kaiser's Goon)
Nonong de Andres (Columbus' Goon at Factory)
Tatlong Itlog [Raquel Sayson] (Columbus' Goon at Factory)
Tatlong Itlog [Rene Tupaz] (Columbus' Goon at Factory)
Tatlong Itlog [Boyet Argame] (Columbus' Goon at Factory)
Lito Labarro (Cobra's Goon)
Alex Pascual (Cobra's Goon)
Ray Abella (Cobra's Goon)
Doming Reyes (Cobra's Goon)
Rene Romero (Cobra's Goon)
Jun de Guia (Cobra's Goon)
Mando Pangilinan (Cobra's Goon)
Rey Esguerra (Cobra's Goon)
Fred Esplana, Renato Ricarte (Columbus' Goons)
Jay Grama, Angelo "Lito" Tomenes, Lito de Guzman (Columbus' Goons)
Rolan Falcis (Columbus' Goon)
Lee Scott (White Samurai)
Peter M. Caballes (Aires Force)
Linda Castro (Aires Force)
THEATRICAL
PHILIPPINES - released 6th September 1981
PANAMA - released as "Solo Por Su Tamaño" in August 1983
GUAM - released (possibly in its original Tagalog version) at the Hafa Adai 3 in October/November 1984, with Weng Weng making personal appearances
VIDEO
USA - released on VHS in 1991 as in a small sell-thru carton via HQV
DIGITAL
- Australian VHS [signed by Eddie Nicart, editor Edgardo "Boy" Vinarao, and Weng Weng's brother Celing de la Cruz]
- UK VHS
- Australian DVD
- German DVD [with my "Weng Weng Story" as a bonus feature]
- Spanish DVD [as "Bruce Linito", dubbed into Spanish]
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