[Release date 5th November 1976; exported to Hong Kong, on-screen title “The Shaolin Masters”]
Directors Luis San Juan, Ronaldo P. San Juan Story/Screenplay/2nd Assistant Director Ben Peralta Producer Benny Manalo Executive Producer Florencia P. San Juan Cinematography Joe Tutanes Music Carlos Rodriguez Editors Jose Mendoza, Joe Solo Supervising Editor Edgardo “Boy” Vinarao [as Boy Vinarao] Trovador Ramos’ Fight Instructors Rey Ognita, Rudy Evangelista Rey Malonzo’s Routines Rey Malonzo, Larry Esguerra Production Manager Baby San Juan 1st Assistant Director Renato L. Villapando Publicity Director Sol Antipala Sales Manager Ella San Juan Manalo Assistant Editors Rafael Alberto, Rene Tien Stills Roger O. Burullo Schedule Master Bong Sagul Makeup Artist Deborah Fernandez Setting Ben Cruz Sr Assistant Setting Sabino P?, Oscar Sapko? Propsman Juanito San Juan Utility Man Moises Bicol
Cast Rey Malonzo, Suzanne Gonzales, Ingrid Salas, Tange, Trovador Ramos, Nello Nayo, Marilyn Gutierrez, Roma Mercado, Penggot, Larry Esguerra, Rudy Evangelista, Chinita, Peping Mendoza, Dagul Se, Ben Peralta, Anthony “John” Kennedy, Andro Andrade, Cito? Santos, Doming Reyes, Mel Esparza, Ric Bautista, Ben Romano, Rico Fariman?, Danny Zurband?, Rey Yemus?, Henry Sapukgaw, Tito Hermosa, Teddy Vito, Pete Francisco, Willie Harris, Cristine Grace, Rose Lacuata, Marites Gonzales, Jack Montes, Gonzalo Ramirez, Jun Matagay, Tracma Consolidateo?, Arap Taipa Boys?, SOS Daredevils, Jessie “Jet” Bullido, Protacio Dee, Ben Perez, Danny Rojo, Louie Florentino, Ruben Ramos
Would-be Lee of the Philippines, Trovador Ramos, 14th Dan Red Belt: his claim to fame was training once with Bruce!
Rey Malonzo fights off three opponents on top of a jeep!
Trovador in Chinese
Rey Malonzo's part in the 30 minute finale, shot in a Cirio-friendly quarry
Rey scissors an opponents head almost clean off
Trovador faces off against a vicious knife-wielding Ruben Ramos
1966 - Napoleon Doble And The Sexy Six(LSJ Productions)
[Release date 1st June 1966; released on Philippines VCD as “Napoleon Doble”]
Director/Story Carling Marquez Screenplay Tony Camonti Producer Femy Rillo Executive Producer [uncredited] Luis San Juan Music Restie Umali
Cast Dolphy, Lourdes Medel, Lucita Soriano, Gina Laforteza, Chona Delgado, Rita Reyes, Leni Trinidad, Ponga, Miniong Alvarez, Sancho Tesalona, Bill Nino, Carlos Diaz, Charlie Mendez, Angel Casaje, Pete Andal, SOS Daredevils, Prospero Luna (Bulba), Mary Walter, Jose Garcia, Bert Martinez, Eva Marie, Rodolfo “Boy” Garcia, Aruray, Menggay, Ike Fernando, Agnes Moran, Babalu, Jeff Elechosa, Mat Lazaro, [uncredited] Tange
Review by Andrew Leavold
For connoisseurs of Pinoy parodies, the recent appearance on Filipino VCD of Dolphy's Bond-like action comedy Napoleon Doble And The Sexy Six signals an unearthing of grail-like proportions. I realize it's hard to be entirely objective about comedy, and even more so when you're removed from its host culture by time, language, and the shared experience of growing up in the shadow of Dolphy's schtick. To this pulp-addled brain at least it was worth the wait, but keep in mind I've already devoured over twenty of Dolphy's back catalogue and haven't even made a dent. If you're a casual Trash Tourist, a cursory examination of Napoleon Doble...'s discs reveals a film that looks, sounds and feels like Dolphy's James Batman, also from 1966. Actually you're not far from the mark: it's a similarly crazed surfadelic romp through appropriated Sixties pop culture, with wildly tilted camera angles, cartoon goons and go-go girls, and the omniscient Dolphy filling almost every frame – and sometimes twice! However, in order to rescue Napoleon Doble... from history's “like James Batman but not as silly” bin and place it into some kind of cultural context, there are a number of facts to consider.
Dolphy contra Dolphy! Napoleon Doble (left) comes face to face with his nemesis Elias
In a career covering an astounding 250-plus features to date, 1966 was Dolphy's peak year: starring roles in nineteen features, or almost one movie a fortnight. In Dolphy's peak period from '65-'66, Luis San Juan was writer, producer or director for seven films, including an executive producer role for LSJ Productions' Napoleon Doble. The sheer volume of Dolphy's output suggests a much larger, well-oiled machine grinding out quickly-made and comfortably generic - though certainly not inferior - product, with the Dolphy brand ensuring audience goodwill and return trade. In the '65 to '66 period, Dolphy's films were primarily “goon” parodies, or more precisely, spoofs on then-popular trends with dedicated action sequences; as a trained dancer and physical comedian, Dolphy was a natural, if unlikely, action star. In contrast to his lighter Sampaguita vehicles from the Fifties and early Sixties, Goon Comedies downplayed frothy romance and song and dance numbers in favour of relentless stunts and on-screen fist fights. In his western spoofs [1] he's eyeball-to-eyeball with a baddie in a black hat and an army of apes in stetsons; in Pambihirang Dalawa: Sa Combat (1966) it's him, Panchito and a bevy of women in long skirts against the Japanese army.
During Dolphy's busiest phase, the genre du jour was the James Bond craze. Most Western-influenced film cultures were churning out one gadget-laden spy caper after the other, and the Philippines' copycat industry was more eager than most. Following Goldfinger's worldwide release in 1964, no fewer than twenty Pinoy Bonds appeared within a manic two year cycle. And, as every popular Pinoy genre must have its parodic mirror, so too did the Bond Parodies begin in earnest, most notably from the dual Kings of Comedy: Chiquito as James Bandong or Agent 0-2-10 (“oh-two-ten” is a play on “utoten”, the Tagalog word for “farter” for “fart-face”), and Dolphy as Agent 1-2-3 (the name suggests a person's been tricked) or in variations on the “Dolpinger” theme. In Dolphy's filmography from 1965 to 1966, a minimum of fifteen features can lay claim to parodying the spy genre, or at least include elements of the Bond films [3] – and that's a considerable number of Bondian villains with goon armies at their disposal.
Opening bank heist: Dolphy shoots at himself
As Napoleon Doble, Dolphy trades in his secret agent badge for one with the NBI [4]. The film opens in wham-bam style, with Napoleon shooting it out with machine guns as his nemesis Elias (also Dolphy, much-gnarled but, under the latex buboes, still recognizable) robs a bank and makes a hasty getaway. The Thirties gangster-style car crashes and somehow Elias drags the stolen loot back to his mansion hideaway, where Girlfriend Number One (Lucita Soriano) and his trusted scientist-slash-plastic surgeon (Carlos Diaz) perform a face-changing operation – under strict orders to make him look JUST like Napoleon Doble.
Lumpy-faced Elias (top) and his new sardonic sneer
Elias, the dark Hyde to Dolphy's likeable Pinoy Everyman, is a hoot: cold, calculating slits for eyes and a sardonic smirk, and with a harem of five girlfriends on call, all top-shelf Pinoy starlets who are forced to line up and have their cocktail frocks ripped down in one of Elias' cleavage inspections! Not content with merely a Foxy Five, Elias decides to recruit a sexy Sixth, and as fate would have it, stalks the gorgeous Anna (Lourdes Mendel), a dancer at his own nightclub – and, the same girl courted by Napoleon. Anna, of course, only has eyes for the REAL Napoleon, yet Elias is undeterred, and takes her refusal to bare her cleavage as a sign she's the new Number One Girlfriend, a position jealously fought over by the Sexy Five in a messy, drunken, all-in catfight. A complicated web of mistaken identities – that old hackneyed comedic standby! - ensues, with Elias stealing NBI files while posing as Napoleon, and ends with Napoleon and Anna trapped in a cell in Elias' mansion at the mercy of a leering, power-hungry and clearly insane Elias.
The Sexy Six cattle call (top) and catfight (bottom)
Viewed as part of a much larger whole, Napoleon Doble And The Sexy Six makes perfect sense. Dolphy's individual films are elements of a much grander story arc, almost a meta-narrative spread over fifty-plus years, with its main protagonist growing older disgracefully, and his supporting cast and crew entering and leaving at will, more often than not becoming familiar parts of the background scenery. Wives, girlfriends and siblings appear, along with children and eventually grandchildren. Families are at the core of Filipino culture and is reflected in the Dolphy's own film company RVQ Productions: from its inception in 1967 and through its Glory Days into the Eighties, it was a dynastic studio dynamo for the Quizon clan, and Dolphy more than generously shared, and still shares, the limelight. The cherry-picked icons from both foreign and domestic pop culture, the interchangeable plotlines of Western spoofs and goon comedies, domestic barrio soap operas and their ilk, the recycled characters (the droopy-shouldered Ompong, the flamboyant Pacifica Falayfay), the movies, radio shows, stage performances and TV series, are all episodes of a seemingly endless variety show, with Dolphy centre stage as its amiable emcee.
Although Dolphy's Napoleon Doble presents himself to the filmic world as an undercover policeman, he's essentially Dolpinger: a government representative of the forces of Good, facing off against a Super Villain with a lair choked to the brim with Bondian gadgets (a pen, for instance, that doubles as a Ray Gun!), not to mention his very own Q on tap. Bond allusions aside, Dolphy takes characteristically low swipes at other Sixties pop icons, not least The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - Napoleon “Solo” being the obvious reference point, plus a sizeable portion from U.N.C.L.E. feature The Spy With My Face (1965). Let's not forget the Pink Panther series, notably Ponga's Kato-like Mr Tan [5], a Chinese caricature saved by Napoleon during the bank robbery, and whose housebound karate fights with Napoleon usually end up trounced by the equally chop-frenzied maid (Aruray).
Napoleon takes on both houseguest Mr Tan (Ponga) and disinterested housemaid (Aruray), Pink Panther style!
“Thrifty” is is not a surprising term for a low-budget quickie, and there are constant reminders of the budgetary shortcomings, from the use of limited locations (Elias' mansion, with its now-familiar warren of rooms, balconies and shadow-lined stairwell is put through the ringer, as is his nightclub) to its tin-can sound recording and compact, cut-to-order thrills. As rough as the seams are, however, the film never threatens to tear a hole in its pants' seat; LSJ Productions' camera crew are imaginative with their comic-strip framing and composition, not to mention weirdly effective though glaringly primitive lighting techniques, and Restie Umali's horns-and-bongos jazz score, despite its occasional Bond stings, never becomes glaringly cliched. Like most populist Pinoy films, Napoleon... trots out its regulation array of marquee-value “Special Guests” like well-rehearsed sideshow exhibits - the big-chinned Babalu (one of Dolphy's regular sidekick in his later films) makes a blink-and-he's-gone cameo as a shirtless waiter, crone-ish Menggay tries out as the Sexy Sixth (and is accused of being less than human!). It's modest yet easy money for an afternoon's work, and all are welcome faces, along with the remainder of Napoleon Doble's cast: Sancho Tessalona, Rodolfo “Boy” Garcia, Prospero Luna, the SOS Daredevils and many others, some of the hardest working actors and stuntmen in show business and equally at home in a Fernando Poe Jr or Dolphy and Chiquito flick.
Elias menaces the helpless Anna (Lourdes Mendel)
Likewise, Luis San Juan successfully balanced straight action films and “goon” or action parodies over a thirty year career as producer/writer/director – from Dolphy and Chiquito vehicles to Ramon Zamora and Rey Malonzo chop-sockeys. It's this double helix of thrall and gall, the essence of Goon combined with the sheer chutzpah of James Batman and company, that makes Napoleon Doble And The Sexy Six a satisfying Sixties pop cocktail, brimming with pure unadulterated Pinoy Pulp.
[1] Kulog At Kidlat and Keng Leon, Keng Tigre Ecu Tatakut, KekaPa (both 1965), Da Best In Da West (1967)
[2] Sometimes listed as “Dolphinger” or “Dolfinger”
[3] Released in 1965: Dr Yes, Dolpinger, Agent Dolpinger Sa Lagim, Dolpinger Meets Pantarorong, Scarface At Al Capone: Espiya Sa Ginto, Genghis Bond: Agent 1-2-3. Released in 1966: Alyas Don Juan: Agent 1-2-3, Doble Solo (with Chiquito), Dolpong Scarface Agent 1-2-3, Dolpong Istambol, Dressed To Kill, James Batman, Napoleon Doble And The Sexy Six, Operation Butterball, Sungit Conference: Ng Pitong Dakila
[4] National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippines' police force
[5] Burt Kwouk as the karate-crazed Kato makes his debut in the second Pink Panther film, A Shot In The Dark (1964).
Director Romy Villaflor Executive Producer RVQ [Dolphy] Story Roy Vera Cruz, Ben Feleo Screenplay Ben Feleo General Manager Manny “Boy” Quizon Choreography Lito Calzado Lyrics Dolphy Sound Supervision Luis Reyes Music Dominic Editor Efren Jarlego Director of Photography Alfonso Alvarez Sound Effects Darn Velasquez Layout Artist Eddie Domier Stills Roger Barvelo Schedule Master Butch Peralta Prop Masters Maning Cabides, Doming Ocenar Assistant Editors Armando Jarlego, Dante de Leon Re-Recording Technicians Ramon Reyes, Oscar Magnaye Field Soundman Ledwino Robiso Cameraman Lito Lapara Stunt Co-ordinators/Fight Instructors Fred Esplana, Eddie Nicart, Jay Grama, Jun de Guia Tailoring D’Sharp Shoes E. Morris Shoes Special Effects Eddie Torrente Set Director Pepe Cruz Assistant General Manager Laura Cooper-Nurse Executive Assistant & Comptroller Paquito Principe Bautista Production Manager Boy Pineda Project Co-ordinator Danding Inocencio Assistant Director Danny Hernandez Production Co-ordinator in Baguio City Barangay Capt Manny Tibayan Colour LVN Studio
Cast Dolphy (Wild Bill Hika), Lito Lapid (Dalton), Yehlen Catral (Jane), Nina Sara (Estralita), Romy Diaz (Facundo), Teroy de Guzman (barman), Conde Ubaldo, Weng Weng (Deputy Bronson), “Antonio Carrion”/Tony Carreon (Don Oligareon), Naty Santiago (Estralita’s Aunt), ER “Canton” Salazar, Manny Tibayan, Ben Johnson (Mayor), Amay Bisaya, Luis San Juan, Fred Esplana, Eddie Nicart, Jay Grama, Jun de Guia, Sancho Tesalona, Joe Cunanan, Romy Nario, Robert Talvy, Jing Caparas, Mel Arca, Nonong de Andres, Rene Tupez, Telly Babasa, Raquel Sayson, Dante Javier, Boyet Argame, “Pete”/Peter M. Caballes, Pete Andal, Kent Gonzales, Roger Saulog, Vic Santos, Neri Santos, Eddie Villamor, Remy Nocum, Ben Sanchez, Mando Pangilinan, Oscar Reyes, SOS Daredevils, Lito Calzado’s Body Machine, Panchito (Inkong Gaspar), Paquito Diaz (Diablo), Rodolfo “Boy” Garcia (Vic Tango), Max Vera (Joey Tango), Max Alvarado (Tito Tango), Dely Atay-Atayan (fat woman at film’s beginning), Georgie Quizon, Don Pepot (tribesman spokesman), Florence Carvajal (large native princess), Johnny Madrid, Efred Lapid, Robert Rivera, Steve Alcarado (bandit), Ruben Ramos (thug with sword), Avel Morada, Josie Andico, George Henry Jr
REVIEW COMING SOON! The second and more significant of Weng Weng’s collaborations with Dolphy (after 1980's The Quick Brown Fox) is Da Best In Da West from 1984, an elaborate 2 hour parody of Pinoy westerns again from RVQ Productions featuring Weng Weng in a cameo as Dolphy’s micro-deputy. Weng Weng’s director and instructor Eddie Nicart is stunt co-ordinator here for SOS Daredevils, and Peter Caballes is listed as an actor in the cast, as is For Your Height Only’s Yehlen Catral, Max Alvarado, Rodolfo “Boy” Garcia, and Weng Weng co-stars Romy Diaz and Tony Carreon (The Impossible Kid, D’Wild Wild Weng), Nina Sara (TIK), Steve Alcarado (DWWW) – the Weng connections are seemingly endless.
Dolphy plays a reluctant hero who inadvertently shoot’s a town’s corrupt sheriff, is proclaimed the new Head Honcho, and ropes in the local midget Bronson (nice touch) to be his deputy. To be honest, Weng has little to do in Da Best... other than provide a bizarre novelty backdrop, wear garish black-and-white cowboy outfits and gesture excitedly during the fight scenes. At one point you hear his real voice - as expected, child-like and even higher pitched than his vocal double in For Y’ur Height Only (1981).
[Philippines release date 8th June 1974; exported via Hong Kong distributor Ngai Kee & Sons Ltd, released in US cinemas as “Kung Fu Death Wish”]
Director Luis San Juan Executive Producer Florencia Peralta San Juan Music Pablo Vergara Associate Director Panganiban Marvin B.
Cast Tony Bernard, Connie Angeles, Myra Nagale (?), Rey Malonzo [also listed in the credits as "Bruce Ly"], Andres V. Genito (?), Joe Cunanan, Gerry Geronimo, Pol Ramos, Oscar Reyes, Sun Matagay, Gina Marie Genito, Milian Cedeno, Lily Duran, Nida Eeisa (?), Aida Marovez, Phredy Salon (?), James Larry Gaines, William Macly Jr, Samuel Sm (?), Ric Bavtista, Vic Colinares, Ricky Manson (?), and introducing Mary Grace De (?), Anthony Johns, Romvic De La Cue (?). Killers Fernando Mejias, Vic Gaza, Edgard Ramos, Doming Reyes, Frank Zarate, Oscar Del Rosario, Val Acasio Stunts Yao Yan Boys, LSJ Boys, PMP Stuntmen, The SOS Daredevils
This ridiculous semi-intentionally funny Filippino martial arts actioner should only be viewed in a state of total inebriation. A chap by the name of Bruce Lee (Bruce Ly) returns to his Philippines coastal hometown after being away in China, Thailand and Japan learning different fighting techniques, only to find his town overrun by a bloodthirsty crimelord and his many goons. As soon as Bruce sets foot in town, he is attacked by four men in a car (one guy eats a razor blade and swigs from a bottle of booze to prove how tough he is). After defeating them (and getting his pretty white suit all dirty), he heads to his home where he learns about what has been going on since he has been away. The townspeople are glad he has returned and look on him as their saviour. After the crimelord has his men kill most of Bruce's friends (including a little boy), Bruce goes on the warpath but the crimelord sets him up to take the fall in the shooting death of another young boy. He is arrested and thrown in jail, but escapes after making some fake blood and tricking the jailer into thinking that he's hurt. Bruce must prove his innocence as well as bring down the crimelord. Now using the alias "Mario", Bruce defends a young woman and her father from two thugs named Lui and Fedal. To show her appreciation, the young woman gives him a job on her farm shucking coconuts. Finding out that the young woman is the sister of the boy he is accused of killing, Bruce leaves to end the life of the crimelord. His overseas training comes in handy, as he will have to fight Chinese, Thai and Japanese fighters (including a lengthy fight with a sumo wrestler) in order to get to the crimelord. It all ends on the high seas, as Bruce and a sympathetic cop fight the crimelord and his henchman on a junk. Be prepared for an abrupt ending.I can't begin to describe how utterly delirious this film actually is, but I'll try. There's one scene where Bruce defeats a guy named Nando and he then does a backflip into some chick's moving Mustang. They park underneath a tree and begin to make out when a bunch of bad guys fall out of the tree and fight Bruce. After he defeats them, he goes back to making out with the girl. She begins to give him a blowjob and we see the look of ecstacy on Bruce's face, intercut with scenes of zoo animals eating and licking their food! There's another scene of a young boy getting shot in the chest and when the dying kid asks Bruce if he's going to be OK, he says, "Don't worry, it's only a scratch." The boy then dies. It's quite plain to see that this print comes from England because every time Bruce pulls his nunchucks out of his socks, there's a huge edit which concludes with the bad guys lying on the ground and Bruce is no longer holding the nunchucks. The film is missing over four minutes of nunchuck action, thanks to Britain's stance on showing how nunchucks are used may influence children to perform copycat violence (a stance which has since been abolished).
It's really difficult to tell if director/producer Luis San Juan (DOLPHY'S ANGELS - 1980) was trying to make a comedy here (the dubbing makes it seem so, as there were a few moments when I actually laughed out loud at what was being said). The reason why it is so hard to tell is because Filipino productions have no problem mixing slapstick with extreme violence (including the death of children). What's even harder to establish is the year this film was made. Judging from the bell-bottom trousers and disco-style large collar shirts, I want to say anywhere between the years of 1976 - 1980. But, knowing how the Filipinos tend to catch on to American fads later than most other countries, this film could have been made as late as 1984. I did find a 1977 Filipino film titled THEY CALL HIM BRUCE LEE on IMDB that sounds a lot like this film, but the IMDB lists a different director (Francis Posadas). We all know how inaccurate that site can be at times, though, don't we? THE CHAKU MASTER (a kind of ironic title considering what was edited out of it) is grand entertainment, even if it's for all the wrong reasons. Have plenty of alcohol handy. Also starring Tony Bernard, Rey Malonzo (of CLASSIFIED OPERATION and SEARCH FOR VENGEANCE, although I couldn't spot him in the cast) and a brief appearance by Phillipines action stand-by Jim Gaines. An InterVision Ltd. DVD Release. Not Rated.
1976 - Shaolin Master (Luis San Juan Productions) 
Would-be Lee of the Philippines, Trovador Ramos, 14th Dan Red Belt: his claim to fame was training once with Bruce!
Rey Malonzo fights off three opponents on top of a jeep!
Trovador in Chinese
Rey Malonzo's part in the 30 minute finale, shot in a Cirio-friendly quarry
Rey scissors an opponents head almost clean off
Trovador faces off against a vicious knife-wielding Ruben Ramos
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