Bet To Kill

SUPERCOCK (1975) (yes, this is its real original name)

Runtime: 80 minutes

Directed by: Gus Trikonis

Starring: Ross Hagen, Nancy Kwan, Tony Lorea, Joonee Gamboa, Louie Florentino

From: Hagen-Wayne Film Organization

Yes, there was a legitimate movie made with the name of Supercock. It's amazing, yet true. You definitely want to read all about it below: 

I am not sure quite when I first heard of this movie. Of course it is impossible to forget a movie which sounds like a XXX feature starring Ron Jeremy or John Holmes but instead is a PG movie about cockfighting. It is incredibly obscure, so I was delighted when last night I stumbled upon an article which stated that Troma-but of course-had the movie uploaded to their YouTube channel, under the name Bet to Kill (presumably that name is because the Warren Oates movie Cockfighter is also sometimes known as Born to Kill); Supercock has several different names.

The version Troma has is a print which doesn't call it Bet to Kill, but rather Fowl Play. The distributor who originally released it under the name actually marketed it as a FAMILY movie, which is quite perplexing to me. As far as I know nothing was cut from the film and as you can see from this short video (the link is here), this movie you were supposed to bring the whole family to see at the local cineplex has a number of cock-related puns. I have twin nephews who are 4 years old; I wouldn't want them to see this!

Honestly, I knew that the movie would be impossible to live up to what I had built up in my head, between its plot description and incredible original title. Sure, I laughed a lot at all the mentions of the word “cock” and also at the phrase “little pecker”, which is uttered a few times... a lot of the movie is decidedly average, but I managed to be entertained nonetheless, thus the decent rating. It's about an American cowboy (Ross Hagen) who goes to The Philippines to enter his cock in a big cockfighting tournament. He runs afowl of the local champion, and use Nancy Kwan to do so.

There were some hilarious moments. Hagen meets a skeevy guy who calls himself G.I. JOE and as he's a huckster, he befriends the guy with the large cock. Later on, Joe uses street children to try and help him out (which they do), and there is some action, including an inspired bit involving horse-drawn carriages. For those squeamish about seeing actual cockfights (after all, it's banned in the United States), even though these peckers use spurs, the little footage you do see of the fights is not really nauseating at all and I think the majority of people will be fine with what is shown.

I am glad that this movie which I saw for entirely juvenile reasons was at least competent and wasn't a slog to get through. I am not a fan of cockfighting myself but I did not let that get in the way while I was watching this motion picture. I do have to mention that the version Troma has up, the picture is wonky a few times and there's about a minute of film (around 35 minutes in) where the audio is so garbled it's impossible to make out. Otherwise the print is fine. Oh, and if you can believe it the opening credits are basically the animation from the opening to Disney's Robin Hood and the song is also a ripoff of what you hear the rooster sing and play... except that this opening is not good, like at all. Then again, Disney's Robin Hood doesn't have street kids beating up a mute Japanese man so a supporting character can escape...