Platoon The Warriors on YouTube...

I didn't know till now that Youtube is full of users who upload tons of full-lengh movies into their accounts...I was used to see clips from all kind of movies but this thing of uploading full movies has really surprised me. But I have to say my heart is divided into two parts because of this....First, I am happy because we are given the chance to watch many rare movies from every corner of the world. I have seem movies that are not avaliable on DVD, VCD or VHS outside third-world countries or they are just collectors pieces...but in the other hand, I don't agree about uploading  copyrighted movies...I consider myself a collector, I enjoy cinema & I think I have to pay for a work other people have done for my own entertainment. It is fair...You make a work, you develope your owns ideas, you have the right to get your benefit...I hate piracy & I despise pirates...

Platoon The Warriors is a copyrighted feature from IFD that is still on their catalog...someone has uploaded it to YouTube. The source is an English-dubbed language VHS from Greece, since the film has not known DVD release, I have decided to include it here, just in case some reader hasn't seen it yet. Anyway, I encourage you to purchase legal releases...

 Platoon The Warriors, as you may know, was directed by Philip Ko who used as main body a 1984 filipino production titled Diegong Bayong, starred by filipino star Anthony Malonzo. Diegong Bayong is a powerful, bloody & gritty action drama that was nicely edited by Philip Ko. Platoon the Warriors is a personal favourite of mine. Oh, I also found in Youtube the original Spanish trailer. I have to say, I had never seen it before on any spanish release...& I like it a lot!!!!!...

War City 3: The Extreme Project Uncovered: Original Filipino Movie!!

War City was an IFD 5 movies saga that tried to emulate the modern day actioners that were being produced in Hong Kong in the middle 80's. We ccould say IFD War City saga was a kind of cheapo Ultraforce ( aka In the line of duty) version where gunplay mixes kung fu in a perfect way.

Philip Ko directed the first 3 episodes of this saga.  The common nexus of these 3 movies were, apart from the director Ko, the gweiloh actors who starred them : Mike Abbott as the villain & Brent Gilbert as the hero Jack Kelly who must destroy Abbott in different adventures. Well, we also find a BIG difference among the three first episodes: War City: Die or Win & War City 2: Red Heat conspiracy used korean movies as source while War City 3: The extreme project ( and the following episodes, as well) used Filipino actioners directed by great pinoy action directors.

War City 3: The Extreme Project was the last episode of War City saga directed by Philip Ko & starred by Mike Abbott.

In this case War City 3: The Extreme Project was done using a 1981 filipino production titled DEADLY BROTHERS, directed by Jun Gallardo and starred by filipino superstar Rudy Fernandez among other well known filipino actors. As always, Philip Ko shot new scenes with Mike Abbott & Brent Gilbert & mixed them into the original film, creating a very interesting product that offers very good action scenes from both directors Ko & Gallardo.

Andrew Leavold, webmaster of the superb site Bamboo Gods & Bionic boys & Simon Santos webmaster of Video 48 kindly help me to identify this filipino production bought by IFD & re-edited by Philip Ko. But that's not all, someone uploaded the original film to Youtube cut in several parts. So we can enjoy this fantastic film on its original version & running time.

HKMDB is listing IFD movies as they deserve

I have always believed HKMDB was the most accurate movie data base of Hong Kong cinema ( HKCinemagic is its twin sister but a bit younger) but I always complaint HKMDB didn't register IFD / FILMARK "cut & paste" movies. I didn't undertand it. Even if they used movies from other South East Asian movies they were registered in Hong Kong & some of them used HK movies as source movies.

A month ago, one day, a lucky day for me, I was contacted by Teddy Wong one of the editors at HKMDB, he is possibly the person who knows everything about Philip Ko's filmography & a very very very nice guy. We talked about Philip Ko's works in IFD & we started to idenfie actors & movies used by Ko while he was working under Joseph Lai's commands.... then, we continued working giving names, faces & original title movies that are being included on HKMDB.

Yes, at last, these movies & the people who worked on them will have their place in the biggest movie data base about Hong Kong movies. At last the gweiloh actors who have been seen in dozens movies but we never were able to guess their names will have face & name, filmographies will be more completed & mistake will be erased.

Right now, Teddy Wong & I are working together to offer for first time the most completed & true information about the movies & the people who worked for IFD & FILMARK. No more bullshit or urban legends about Tomas Tang, Godfrey Ho or Joseph Lai & their movies.

To start with you can already check many of the IFD ninja movies at HKMDB just writing the title you prefer in the browser, the same cab be done with some of the main actors who acted on those movies & many of them include a link to other pages where you can learn about the original source movie used by them. HERE

Also, if you are a fan of Philip Ko, please check, Teddy Wong's site about this genius of martial arts & editing work just clicking here.

Teddy Wong's site in in Russian Language but the design, the contents & everything there will catch you.

Platoon The Warriors Vs Diegong Bayong ( Part 1)

There have been and there still are) many fake rumours & stories about IFD & its movies. One of the most repeated, disgusting, false & wrong ones is the " leyend" Joseph Lai used un-finisshed asian movies for his ninja / action films. Others said he used different 2 or 3 un-released movies to create a new film. Since I opened this site I have tried my best to prove all those bullshit was totally false & unfair to Mr Lai & his company.

There are some posts in this blog that give the original source movies used by IFD when they designed a new released. So, all my dear readers & friends have found out some asian titles from different countries that were updated by IFD adding new fotage & re-dubbing them.

I really hope this first post of August 2011 could be useful to eradotace & banish once for all that JOSEPH LAI'S IFD NEVER USED UNFINISHED NOR UNRELEASED MOVIES to design their own motion pictures.

One of my favourite IFD movies is Platoon the Warriors. It was starred by my friend Mike Abbott as a ruthless but coward drug lord trying to control the drug market & smashing other dealers like him using ninjas, guns, knives & machine guns. The show was directed by Philip Ko & his stuntmen. As always the plot & the way they film was not enough for a standar movie since the storyline can be resumed into 30 minutes.

IFD new pressbook for Platoon the Warriors, one of its best action movies due to a gorgeous source movie from the Philippines & the directing skills of Philip Ko.

Then, Philip Ko used a high octane filipino action movie to add another subplots related to the main story about drugs, killers & revenge and more actors. So they used a Filipino movie that was FILMED, FINISHED & RELEASED in the Philippines in 1984 titled Diegong Bayong, starred by one the very best action heroes from the Philippines Anthony Alonzo.

"Diegong Bayong" Stars Anthony Alonzo, Janet Bordon, Sarsi Emmanuelle, Ruel, Vernal, Dace Brodett, Lucita Soriano, Mario Escudero, Rocco Montalban.

Diegong Bayong was not an average action movie from the Philipines directed by Ron Gallardo Pablo in 1984. His main actor Anthony Alonzo was at the peak of his popularity among 1981/ 1984 when he played roles based in real people with criminal true stories like Danny Lee Sau Yin did years later in many films produced by his Magnum Films productions.

Besides Anthony Alonzo was already a popular cult- action hero in the international markets because he also played in many co-production in the Philipines. Titles such as Intrusion Cambodia starring along Richard Harrison; W means war, Trident Force, Clash of the warlords were everywhere during the video boom in the 80's & those movies were on tape in each video rental shop in Europe, the Us and even Africa & South America.

Diegong Bayong is one of the many movies that proves IFD never used unfinished or unreleased movies. In this case Joseph Lai provided to Philip Ko with a very popular film in the Philippines for his Platoon The Warriors.

Platoon the Warriors new fotage directed by Philip Ko & starred by Mike Abbott & Mark Watson was shot in 1987 & then edited into Diegong Bayong that was premiered in 1984. So, I truly hope not to find more bullshit about unfinished, unreleased films while I dig for more information related to IFD, Joseph Lai or the people who worked on those films. The truth only has one way.

Special thanks to Mr Simon Santos from the wonderful site VIDEO 48 for his kind help, all the information he passed me about Diegong Bayong and Anthony Alonzo & the original poster of Diegong Bayong.
You may find more information about Anthony Alonzo movies at VIDEO 48 here