Bob Soler: One For Four

Bob Soler (real name: Roberto Gutierrez) was a late actor from the Philippines who was one of the contemporaries of the late Fernando Poe, Jr.  (FPJ) as lead characters during the heydays of action oriented films in the country in the 1960s.

He had also appeared as leading men in films which genre are drama and love story

In his latter years as an actor, he portrayed character roles and villain roles.

For this feature post, we are going into a throw back mode by a select list of four feature-length films where he appeared as the lead title characters who are categorized as masked men who fight crimes and other villain characters who are considered menace to the society and to the world.

The following films were released in Philippine cinemas from 1964 to 1966. They were made under a film production outfit called D’LANOR which is a sister company then of the FPJ Productions.

The name of the outfit came from the real first name of FPJ which was spelled backwards.

1. “Alyas Batman And Robin” –  With Lou Salvador, Jr. as Robin.
   
2. “Alyas Phantom”
   
3. “Captain Barbell” – With Dolphy as his human alter ego.
4. “Captain Philippines And Boy Pinoy” –  With Lou Salvador, Jr. as Boy Pinoy
   

FPJ Productions was founded by FPJ during his early and younger years in the movie industry. Its studio from then up to now is still located in Biak-Na-Bato, Quezon City.

This online piece is dedicated in memory of Bob Soler (April 15, 1937 – May 24, 2023) who died recently at the age of 86.

The four chosen images for the movie posters which were used for this online feature post as our visual aids were courtesy of the Video48.Blogspot.com. The photograph of Soler during his younger years was courtesy of the online resource imdb.com

This is to acknowledge the use of the said above materials as our references of this online article.

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

Life And Dream

For this feature post, this blogger would like to share with the readers of this blog a pair of inspiring words of wisdom to live by:

1. “Life is like a Rainbow, full of radiant colors. Live in the life of Goodness and you will reap the Love and Graces of our Almighty God. Otherwise, we will live in the life of Darkness.”
2. “Dream, it is the source of inspiration. Laugh, it is the music of soul. Love, it is the ultimate joy life can give. And PRAY, it is the key to everything. God is good all the time.”

The chosen images that were used for this feature post were taken from the following selected online resources as our references:

• en.wikipedia.org
• rottentomatoes.com

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

Ike And Bebong

The title of our online article refers to the two boys who appeared in films produced and released by LVN Pictures, Inc., one of the major movie companies based in the Philippines which had its heydays in the late 1930s up to the early 1960s. They were the late Ike Jarlego, Jr. and the late Bebong Osorio. They were also actors in their teenage and adult years. They later worked behind the cameras as screenplay writers, film editors and directed their respective movies as the case maybe.

IKE JARLEGO, JR.

As a child actor, Jarlego appeared in the following LVN movies:

• “Pag-asa” (1951) – The title means hope in Filipino language. Jarlego was introduced in this movie. He played the younger brother of the character played by Priscilla Cellona. The siblings who came from the province later lived in the residence of an old woman (Rosa Aguirre) and her son (Armando Goyena) who bring them home when he learned that the two have no place to stay in the City of Manila. Jarlego’s character died in the movie because he does not want to live under the custody of a wealthy but arrogant lady (Naty Bernardo) who hates the siblings in the earlier part of the movie because they are poor.
• “Higit Sa Lahat” (1955) – Jarlego played the role of the son of Rogelio De La Rosa whose character was a father who chose to give his family a better life by the proceeds of a life insurance he supposedly got after his “death” when his factory was burned to the grounds. The character became incognito by purpose but he kept watching his family from afar. He even gave his son a birthday gift in the form of a bicycle by sending someone to give it to his son instead of him. Jarlego’s character was surprised at the identity of the person who gave him the bicycle.
• “Sonny Boy” – The title role was played by Jarlego as the son again of De La Rosa’s character. His mother was played by Cecilia Lopez who is not married to the boy’s father. Sonny Boy later lived with his father with his mother’s permission. However, he misses his mother. Towards the end of the movie, his parents reunited.

He later appeared in teenage roles in LVN movies. He appeared as one of the villains in “Lastikman”, a Filipino superhero who was played by Von Serna.

Jarlego followed the footsteps of his father as a film editor. He worked as a film editor for the following classic Filipino movies which was made by the best and veteran movie directors:

• “Maynila Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag”
• “Itim”
• “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos”
•  “Himala”

He later became a film director for the following movies:

• “Andres Manambit: Angkan Ng Matatapang” (1992) – The title lead character was played by Eddie Garcia. The movie was an official entry of the 1992 Metro Manila Film Festival.
• “Nena” (1995) – Sharmaine Suarez played the lead title role of this movie.

BEBONG OSORIO

As a child actor, Osorio appeared in “P 10,000 Pag-Ibig” which was released in 1957. Among his fellow cast members were Charito Solis, Eddie Rodriguez and Jose Ejercito (who later became known as Joseph Estrada) who is being introduced in this movie.

He played the role of the boy who did not leave the side of the lead male character (Rodriguez) when the latter went into heavy drinking when he learned through gossip which was not confirmed that his lady love (Solis) left him for another man (Ejercito) who is the son of a wealthy businessman who hired Rodriguez’ character to court and win the heart of Solis’ character in exchange for a certain sum of money as his payment.

However, the lead male character really fell in love with the lead female character. The boy reminds Rodriguez’ character to control his drinking habit and to eat at meal times instead of drinking heavy liquor. But the latter is so hard headed and this almost caused his death when he was hit by a vehicle one evening after another drinking binge. Fortunately, the boy was with him who was able to bring him to a hospital with the help of other people.

Earlier, Osorio portrayed the role of Crispin, the youngest son of Sisa (Anita Linda) in the movie “Sisa” which was released by another film production company in 1951.

He later appeared in various roles in the movies and in television during his teenage (one of which was a youth oriented movie released from LVN entitled “Barkada” with Lou Salvador, Jr. and Hector Reyes)  and adult years.

He later worked behind the cameras as screenplay/story writer and/or director in the following movies:

• “Taong Labas” (1982) – Director
• “Biokids” (1990) – Director
• “Bad Boy II” (1992) – Story Writer and Director
• “Mistah – Mga Mandirigma” (1994) – Director
• “Ayos Lang, Pare Ko” (1997) – Director
• “Alab Ng Lahi” (2003) – Screenplay Writer and Director

The lead character in the first movie mentioned was the late action star Eddie Fernandez. Robin Padilla played the lead character role from “Bad Boy II” to “Alab Ng Lahi”.

The chosen images that were used for this feature post were courtesy of the Video 48 Blogspot.com. This is to acknowledge use of the materials from the said site as our references.

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!

 

“The May Partners”

For the merry month of May, this blogger would like to share with his readers the following selected text messages which he entitled “The May Partners” which were forwarded and were shared to him:

1. ” Life is a walk to remember… our TOMORROWS are determined by the steps we take each DAY. Every Sunset gives US one day-less to live, but every Sunrise gives US one day-more to HOPE. So, savor every step and live it well. Because GOD walks with US every step of the way….”
2. “Be in touch with your deepest beliefs and act on them for it will give you a serenity that will serve you well through the most stressful times. GOD BLESS YOU!”

The chosen images that were used for this feature post were taken from the following selected online resources as our valuable material references:

• ishn.com
• beliefnet.com

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead To All Of Us!