Ko & Ho

 

 imdb)

THE UNTOUCHABLE GLORY-1988-Another Asian paste up job, this time from Phillip Ko. Once again some kind of Philippines made action drama has new inserted scenes with Pierre Kirby as a ninja Chuck Norris /Rambo machine who's supposed to be part of an elite force called "The Untouchables". Weird General Karpov (Patrick Frzebar; also in THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT) wants them destroyed. As usual the story (co-written by Geoffrey Ho) is made incomprehensible but there are some funny incompetent fight scenes in the added footage.

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I Want My Black Ninja and I Want Him Now!

  (wikipedia)

ENTER THE NINJA-1981-Cole, a newly inducted ninja (Franco Nero), goes to The Philippines to help his ex-mercenary friend Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) and his wife Mary Anne (Susan George) when corporate criminal Charles Venarius (Christopher George) wants his farm land because there's oil on it. Venarius has a wormy little German guy with a hook hand (Zachi Noy) and his gang bullies Frank's workers until  Cole beats them all up. When all his efforts fail Venarius sends a lackey to get him his own Ninja. He hires Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi) who trained with Cole and doesn't accept Cole as a true Ninja. Later Venarius (his name sounds like he should be an Egyptian mummy) has Frank killed and kidnaps Mary Anne. After killing him and everyone else, Cole has a showdown with Hasegawa. Guess who wins? 

Run of the mill '80's martial arts thing with a funny performance by Christopher George. Black belt/celebrity instructor/stuntman Mike Stone was originally cast as Cole but his acting skills weren't up to par so Nero (who's voice is dubbed) was brought in at the last minute. Two unrelated sequels followed. Kosugi later starred in his own movies. 

ENTER THE NINJA was directed by Menachem Golan who with his buddy Yoram Globus made many other movies under the Cannon banner until their break-up....

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Fong Again!

ENFORCER FROM DEATH ROW (aka NINJA ASSASSINS)-1978-Leo Fong (also a co-producer and co-writer) plays T L Young, a former Ranger on death row for a crime he didn't commit. He's busted out of the slams by some secret organization that want him to bust up NOMAD, a spy ring in this shot (badly) in the Philippines martial arts action drama. It's pretty inept with terrible fights, scenes that are way too dark, bad editing, stupid dialogue and long stretches of no action. A woman is tortured with a soldering gun. Ninjas occasionally attack and Young and his friend Danny and a demolition expert blow up a yacht after Young plucks a guy's eyeballs out. This ends so abruptly I think they forgot to film the final scene. Cameron Mitchell appears for less than a minute!

One of the directors Marshall Borden edited movies including THE NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT and JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL (he also edited this). The other credited director Efren C. Pinon directed Fong in BLIND RAGE the same year. Cinematography is by Frank Harris who later directed Fong in KILLPOINT and LOW BLOW.


Fong (who was born in China but raised in Arkansas) also starred in BLIND RAGE the same year.

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One from Japan; One from the Philippines

GAPPA-THE TRIPHIBIAN MONSTER-(DAIKYOJU GAPPA)-Japan-1967-Combining plot elements from RODAN and GORGO, this Japanese production tells the story of the accidental discovery and capture of a prehistoric creature on a remote island by a group of scientist-ex-plorers. The characters agonize over their find and their personal lives. A woman reporter is chastised by a male scientist (“Go back to Tokyo and learn to cook”) and at the end she decides he’s right and quits her job and marries him! The monster is actually a baby and it’s parents come looking for it. They are very, very phony looking even by 60’s Japanese standards, which probably explains why director Haruyasu Noguchi never made another film! Star Tamio Kawaji was also in TOKYO DRIFTER.




FIRECRACKER-New World-1981- This funny, made in The Philippines martial arts action-er features Julian Kesner as an American martial arts instructor searching for her missing sister. The search leads her to an illegal fighting tournament where she meets Chuck (Darby Hinton), henchman to the drug-dealing owner Erik (screenwriter Ken Metcalfe). Gresner‘s style isn’t very impressive and sometimes she acts like she’s high but she has a couple of fights in her underwear (and high heels) and one topless! The funniest character is Grip, another gangster played by Vic Diaz. She also gets help from Pete, a big American bar owner, Rey, a pretty tough local guy and a police detective.

All the fights are pretty funny. The weirdest scene involves a pre-sex knife cutting off of jeans! Some of the music seems stolen from The B52’s “Planet Claire”!

Eventually, Kesner finds out Chucky boy was responsible for her sister’s death (“Hey, look, I’m sorry. What can I say?”) and kills him in a death match.

Director Ciro H. Santiago directed around 50 Philippines based exploitation films (most with the bald headed Diaz as a sadistic henchman) including VAMPIRE HOOKERS (1979) and many Road Warrior type rip-offs. Julian Kesner later worked for Fred Olen Ray and Gary Graver. Darby Hinton was later in "The Days Of Our Lives" soap opera and Andy Sidaris’ MALIBU EXPRESS.

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