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Pepeng Shotgun
English Translation: Shotgun Pepe
Year of Release: 1981
Director: Romy V. Suzara
Screenwriter: Edgardo M. Reyes
Producer: Sining Silangan
Cast: Rudy Fernandez, George Estregan, Tetchie Agbayani, Bob Soler, Tony Carreon, Dick Israel, Ruben Rustia, Mark Gil, Joey Padilla
For years, the Sablantes and the Medranos have bitterly feuded with each other. Their conflict worsens after Pepe Medrano accidentally kills Rex, a scion of the Sablantes. When Rex’s brother Manolo is elected as mayor through the use of dirty tricks, he orders for the murder of Pepe’s father. Driven by vengeance, both families refuse to rest until their blood feud has been settled.
Action, the most successful genre during the martial-law period, left only a few entries worth reconsidering, but this one remains exemplary for the subtlety of its critique of tyranny and its dignified sympathy for the persecuted. During the present, when even Hollywood films turn to computer-generated imagery effects as a matter of course, one could continue to marvel at a whole set of now-eroded skills in gunfight effects and martial-arts performances, all deployed with a grace and timing—and the occasional dash of humor—which today’s post-production houses could draw years of lessons from. Pepeng Shotgun also represents the peak confluence of several otherwise always-competent practitioners, from its production company to its director, writer, and lead performer, but the entire enterprise is literally held together by its always-impressive editor, the late Ike Jarlego Jr. During a year when critics were divided between two arthouse samples and wondered what either seemed to have missed, the modest charms and unpretentious skills display of Pepeng Shotgun has endured more satisfyingly because it had the answer: a connection with its audience.
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