Mega Mall Moment

I wandered into a theater in Manila's Mega Mall in the early 90s on a weekday afternoon. Among the previews was a trailer for a Debbie Harry movie in which she played a phone sex worker. In the U.S., this movie never saw the inside of a theater and was titled Intimate Stranger. In other countries, it could play in a first-run theater, and since it starred Blondie was given the more appropriate title Call Me.

The feature film was the cage fighting masterpiece Cage 2. I didn't even know there was a Cage 1, but here was the sequel playing to a half-filled theater. That afternoon, I became a Reb Brown fan, for better or worse. As I left the theater, I thought, "A Reb Brown-Lou Ferrigno flick playing in a real theater. Cynthia Rothrock movie posters lacquered to telephone poles all over town. What a country!"