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.

I first saw this film about 25 years ago at the movies and then on video about 6 years ago. There is a good cast here in this movie and thats its saving grace. Well actually one of the saving graces. Pretty good action here , even though there is a bit much of the stick fighting ! A passable story line too. Its set in the Philippines when ruled by Spain.Roland Dantes a former Mr Philippines plays the hero's part and the wonderful Gilbert Roland plays his father. Nancy Kwan his mother. Alejandro Rey plays a very nasty role as the Spanish Governor here and Dean Stockwell is bad guy too.Two of the most memorable things about this movie are the credits that seem to keep popping up for quite a while. The other is the perverted type of person Alejandro Rey becomes as a result of a pretty nasty event.The hero will have to battle against the governors son who is now being tutored by a Japanese Samurai. To be able to do this there are some tests that he must first accomplish as well as learning to do things in a totally different way, Its not all as text book as other martial arts films though.There are a few silly scenes in this film but the rest of it is pretty good. Don't worry too much about things that don't add up , just enjoy it.Roland Dantes .. Nancy Kwan .. Guy Madison .. Alejandro Rey .. Gilbert Roland Dean Stockwell