People are voting emotionally.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie was made around 1975 and yes, it had its cheesy, silly moments. But the concept was interesting and preceded some sequences for future movie greats. It had touches of Braveheart, Gladiator and Blood Sport! SPOILER! Set in the Spanish era, it's about a local hero who is made a prisoner by the Spaniards after his parents are murdered. Bent on revenge, he trains under a blind master to fight in the dark using iron-made arnis because he is on a collision course with a Samurai warrior hired by the Spanish governor as his bodyguard.Although the treatment of the lead's duel with the formidable Samurai bodyguard lacked the build-up, the idea of pitting an underdog stick fighter against a highly-trained swordsman was unprecedented at that time. Over-all a decent action/martial arts movie.

"Ben" (Roland Dantes) is a young man who is living with his parents on an island in the Philippines during the period when the Spanish governed it under the reign of Queen Isabella. "The Governor" (Alejandro Rey) is an extremely corrupt official and his two sons, "Allan" (Gilbert Roland) and "Miguel" (Dean Stockwell) are just as lustful and evil. At any rate, this movie begins with some soldiers led by both Allan and Miguel coming to the home of Ben and demanding money from Ben's father. Although they are given a bag of gold Allan decides to get fresh with Ben's mother and a fight breaks out. Not long afterward the Governor and both of his sons come in the night and kill Ben's father, rape and then kill his mother and take Ben as a prisoner. However, while escorting him to a prison the ship encounters a storm and he is swept overboard to a nearby island where he is rescued and returned back to health by the friendly islanders. Unfortunately, this isn't the end of Ben's problems with the Governor and his sons. Now rather than reveal any more of the plot and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie had some good things going for it. For example, it had some decent actors, several beautiful women like Nancy Kwan (as "Leni") and some nice tropical scenery. Unfortunately, the director (Luis Nepomuceno) failed to take full advantage of these strengths and instead chose to feature a number of dull martial arts scenes interspersed with a couple of really ludicrous scenarios. Throw in some bad editing and the movie overall turned out to be less than it should have been. Accordingly, I rate this movie as below average.

Before I knew that I had met Remy Presas , the master who taught Roland Dantes , I loved the movie I also love cheap rubber monster flicks and need to see one every now and then for my well being.Others who have reviewed this movie negatively apparently have never studied martial arts or have indulged in silly kung fu movies where everyone yells at the screen. Tarentino I would wager is on board with this idea and I will compare this movie with the Shogun Assassin . I will not say Why they are alike . I and my sons have been looking for this silly cheezy action movie for twenty years. I rented it once in the 1980s. My oldest son and I used to watch the Shogun over a d over . I imagined we were the characters of the movie. We could have done the same with this movie.

This movie is also known as "Stickfighter." No matter what they call it....it's still bad. Lots of sword play. Lots of stickfightin' martial arts. Lots of gratuitous violence. Throw in some island girls in skimpy sarongs, bad bad acting, and incomprehensible film editing....and you end up with this mess. The stickfighting sequences were not filmed interestingly enough to hold my attention. I was downright bored. A few name actors are actually in this stinker....Alejandro Rey and Gilbert Roland look like they should have been in a better film. And Dean Stockwell camps outrageously....obviously preparing himself for Ben in "Blue Velvet."The story is set in the distant past in the Phillipines. The Spanish governor rules the islands...the Queen of Spain is Isabella...there is a Japanese Samurai....so, I'm thinking 1500's? But the clothes look like the 1700's. Well, actually, the clothes look like they were bought at K-Mart in the 1970's, and refashioned with a few accessories. The Spaniards are mean. The indigent population is good. That's the story. Hang up now.