Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Eddie Nicart
Starring: Weng Weng, Beth Sandoval, Yehlen Catral, Carmi Martin, Anna Maria Gutierrez
From: Liliw Films International
A movie viewed thanks to Letterboxd discussion. Several days ago, I reviewed the lousy 1979 Thai Jaws ripoff Crocodile, and mentioned how the version Shudder had was the International Cut as done by producer Dick Randall. A Letterboxd mutual commented that he was wary of the movie despite its producer and mentioned how fun the dub was of this movie.
Of course I’ve known of this Bond spoof for ages; how can you forget that a(n in)famous Filipino export was a movie starring a dude named Weng Weng, a little person only 2 foot 9 (i.e. 83 centimeters) tall. As the movie is on YouTube, about time I saw a technically bad but bizarrely entertaining picture where Weng played secret agent 00, tasked with defeating lead heel “Mr. Giant” and his dozens of goons, all of whom are crippled or killed. Truth be told, there seemed to be an endless onslaught of 00 killing SOB’s and it became monotonous after awhile; so did the same few soundtrack tunes played ad nauseum.
That duly noted, the movie’s still fine. Plenty of the charm is in the inept filmmaking & seeing an adult man w/ dwarfism dress in fancy clothes, use several gadgets from the Bond universe (including a jetpack!) and romance normal-sized women. Believe it or not, the original Tagalog language version is lost media; without knowing the original script, the English language dub from Dick Randall helped with adding a goofy tone to a movie that shouldn’t be treated seriously. The dialogue was full of puns & camp, which helped with the monotony of the movie at times. To steal a line, Weng Weng sounded like JON LOVITZ, no kidding.
I don’t know about now but in the past, Y’ur was a cult classic. I was happy to finally discover why the film is still one of the most popular cinematic exports from The Philippines.
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