''Amang Hustler'' is a 1987 Filipino action crime film written and directed by Mike Relon Makiling and starring

Rhene Imperial Renato Chua (born February 15, 1950) better known as Rhene Imperial, a former action star, former producer and currently born-again Christian minister in the Philippines. Career Imperial starred in ''Boy Singkit'' (1980) with Tony Ferrer and Car ...

in the title role of George "Amang" King, alongside Ramon Zamora, Philip Gamboa, Melissa Mendez, Robert Lee, and Anita Linda. Set in

Binondo Binondo () is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas and Tondo. It is the oldest Chinatown in the world, established in 1594 by the ...

, Manila, the film is about Amang, a Chinese mestizo who is jailed for a crime he did not commit, only to be lead into a life of crime after his release and become the new kingpin of a gambling syndicate. The film was released on March 6, 1987. Critic Justino Dormiendo of the '' Manila Standard'' gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's exploitative violence and poor characterizations of Chinese Filipinos.

Cast

as George "Amang" King * Ramon Zamora * Philip Gamboa * Melissa Mendez as Amang's fiancee *Robert Lee * Anita Linda as Amang's mother

Release

''Amang Hustler'' was released in theaters on March 6, 1987.

Critical response

Justino Dormiendo, writing for the '' Manila Standard'', gave the film a negative review, disparaging the "senselessness and meaninglessness" of the violence in its action scenes. He stated that "Here,

he violence He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

is used for sheer exploitation, unsparingly, reveling in bloodshed after bloodshed, until the whole movie crumbles in the pool of its gore." Dormiendo also criticized the film's poor characterization of its Chinese Filipino characters with their lack of cultural nuances, as well as the lack of policemen in the story other than Philip Gamboa's character, all of which results in an unconvincing film.

References

1987 films 1980s crime action films 1987 action films Filipino-language films Films set in Manila Philippine action films Philippine crime action films Films directed by Mike Relon Makiling {{Philippines-film-stub