Devil's Three (1979)

Original Title: Pay or Die

Director: Bobby A. Suarez

Writers: Bobby A. Suarez, Dick Adair, Joseph Zucchero

Composers: Gene Kauer, Douglas M. Lackey

Starring: Marie Lee, Franco Guerrero, Florence Carvajal, Johnny Wilson, Dick Adair, Cynthia Rodrigo, Ted Deelman, Lauro Flores, Jennie Perez, Joe Cunanan, Nesty Mercado

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It's fight back - or crawl back

Plot: When drug lord Lucifer Devlin's own men kidnap his daughter and hold her for ransom, he's forced to call his arch nemesis, high-kicking Interpol agent Cleopatra Wong. Wong, with the help of a flamboyantly gay kung fu master and a 300 lb. psychic wonder named "Rotunda", kicks mucho butt, blows stuff up and kicks more butt.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This is the first sequel to CLEOPATRA WONG (1978) and the only one in the CW trilogy I've seen so far.  I hope the rest aren't as silly as this one because that was the film's biggest turn off.  I don't mind comedy and action but this one put too much emphasis on the comedy.  There are some funny bits but it gets old when you see the 300 pound woman eating in most of her scenes (or chewing).  Rotunda (Carvajal) has her moments, though.

There's another scene where she climbs across a rope between two buildings.  Now that would be cool if they showed a wide shot of her and the buildings but it was always a closeup of her hands and face.  She did break the rope and swing through a cinder block wall (and it was really her - no edits) which was neat. The gay guy was in flamer mode the entire time and I mean extreme stereotype flaming homomode which got annoying after five minutes.  Lee as Cleopatra Wong was fun.  She's a great action actress.  Her kung fu skills are much better than mine.

The music accentuates the comedy which is already too much to begin with.  Because of this, it's not nearly as fun as it should or wants to be.  There's probably a lot of folks out there that will disagree but for me it's just average silly action at best.  It doesn't come close to the king of Philippine action, FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY (1981).  Weng Weng rules!