WERE you old enough to remember those years when scores of movie houses (not the in-the-mall ones) dotted the streets of Metro Manila? Some of them, known as first-run theaters, showed only newly-released films; the second-run ones showed “double” programs or two older films at the price of one ticket.
Among them were those that ran only Tagalog movies, such as Globe and Dalisay theaters in Quiapo, Mania.
I remember how, in the 1960s, Filipino movie stars competed for the limelight with their Hollywood counterparts. Tony Ferrer as Agent X-44 was as popular as Sean “James Bond” Connery. Susan Roces and Amalia Fuentes – often paired with Eddie Gutierrez and Romeo Vasquez, respectively – were the box-office giants of that era. Divina Valencia and Stella Suarez flourished in the sex genre.
I was an entertainment reporter in Manila in the 1970s when Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III on one hand, and Vilma Santos and Edgar Mortis on the other, hit their peak as the most-mobbed teenage pairs.
It’s a completely strange niche that Filipino movies now occupy. All it takes is a visit to the mall cinemas to realize that the outnumbered Filipino movies fare poorly against foreign films.
Today’s generation, I am sure, would like to see a bird’s eye view how it was in our childhood days.
The 1950s and ‘60s were the golden decades for the Philippine movie industry. The major studios like Sampaguita Pictures, Premier Productions and LVN were bursting at the seams with as many stars as there were in the heavens. Dolphy and Panchito were already tickling us to laughter in those decades.
But it seemed that there were always forces that conspired to clip the wings of this nascent industry and prevent it from ever soaring. First, there was the United States whose Hollywood culture pervaded every facet of Philippine Society.
The second reason the Philippine movie industry was doomed from the start was the highly stratified Philippine society. The rich and well-off, including the middle class never really patronized the local movie industry. Thus box-office receipts came mostly from those in the lower strata of society – the so-called “bakya crowd who enjoyed Tagalog movies.
Third, because the movie industry had to cater to the standards of the “bakya crowd”, the quality and content of its products reflected that bias. Storylines were unimaginative and predictable, comedy was slapstick, and the acting was either mediocre or overly dramatic.
Fourth, since the late seventies, the industry has become a magnet for all sorts of unsavory characters – pimps, gangsters, cross-dressing homosexuals, and the like – further diminishing its chances of gaining acceptance from the more respectable segments of society.
Lastly, much of the industry’s bad practices in those days have now exacted their toll. Most Filipino movies today are cranked out within one month, with a predictable mixture of comedy, sex, drama and star-value so as to do well at the box-office. Producers are averse to innovation or risk taking.
But of course, there are serious movies today, the “indie films” that do not win the commercial patronage they deserve. They have to win awards to gain public attention and, hopefully, ROI (return on investment).
The “bakya crowd” has become so poor they could no longer afford a movie ticket, now costing more or less two hundred pesos. And so they content themselves with old or free movies on TV and on websites, as well as cheap pirated movie DVDs
Worse, the TV networks have found gold mine from serializing seemingly endless and ad-heavy TV telenovelas.
No wonder the Philippine movie industry is dying. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
