Spanky Manikan

Acting

Spanky Manikan

Born 1942-03-22 · Philippines

Began as a theatre actor at the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), he ventured into film and television work years later. Spanky Manikan was recognized in films like "Manila in the Claws of Light" (1975), "Bona" (1980), and "Himala" (1982). He died on 14 January 2018 due to stage 4 lung cancer.

Acting credits

Amigo poster
4.9

Rafael is a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War. When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael's brother is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country.

Amigo

2011

Fatal Vacation poster
6.9

A pleasent trip to the Phillipines is turned into tragedy when the tour bus is kidnapped by a group of rebels that want to exchange the prisoners for the Rebel Leader's brother...

Fatal Vacation

1990

Fatal Vacation poster
6.9

A pleasent trip to the Phillipines is turned into tragedy when the tour bus is kidnapped by a group of rebels that want to exchange the prisoners for the Rebel Leader's brother...

Fatal Vacation

1990

Ploning poster
5.3

In the picturesque island of Cuyo, Palawan, an illegal Taiwanese fishing vessel docks carrying the fisherman named Muo Sei, a man looking for something or someone with the name Ploning. He has from sunrise to sundown to look for this "Ploning".

Ploning

2008

Miracle poster
8.0

When plain orphan Elsa begins having visions of the Virgin Mary, the rest of the residents of her isolated village find themselves questioning their own beliefs and values. Soon, Elsa is healing people with a variety of ailments. As word of this phenomenon spreads, tourists, pilgrims, patients and a documentary filmmaker all arrive on a quest to partake in the miracle.

Miracle

1982

Lakambini, Gregoria de Jesus poster
NR

Beloved by revolutionaries Andres Bonifacio and Julio Nakpil, Lakambini Gregoria de Jesus' quest for justice mirrors the film's journey to reclaim the legacy of a forgotten heroine.

Lakambini, Gregoria de Jesus

2025

Bona poster
6.6

Bona, a middle-class student, becomes infatuated with a struggling actor, Gardo, and drops out of school to live with him. She becomes his unpaid maid, performing chores and enduring his relationships with other women, in the hopes of reciprocation.

Bona

1984

Manila in the Claws of Light poster
7.4

Julio, a young fisherman from a provincial village, descends into social alienation as he arrives in Manila to search for his loved one.

Manila in the Claws of Light

1975

Saigon Commandos poster
5.7

A series of drug-related murders haunt Saigon. Ex-Green Beret Mark Stryker and his MP's must find the culprits. With the help of Jean Lassiter, a nosey reporter covering the crime beat, Stryker uncovers the involvement of corrupt politicians in the heroin trade and in the killings. But before he can pin them down, Stryker is framed for the murder of his commanding officer and now he must clear his name, free Lassiter from her captors, and stop his men from carrying out their own kind of vengeance before it is too late.

Saigon Commandos

1988

Behind Enemy Lines poster
4.9

An ex-marine returns to Vietnam when he learns his former mercenary partner whom he thought was killed is being held by a sadistic general.

Behind Enemy Lines

1997

Piding poster
NR

Once upon a time, you were born. In the Philippines, there was no science education when you were a child. When they began to offer it in your adulthood, you leapt at the chance and studied harder than everyone else. You learned of kingdoms and species and genes and atoms. Science helped you to see the bigger world beyond. You studied so well, an American university paid you to keep studying with them, so you left. You gained mastery over the evolution of birds there, but you missed home the whole time. You lost your first wife and son to Science. So with degree in hand, you went back to your people. You found that they had burned their forests, and had exploded their seas. So you gave a new bird to your people; because, now you knew how to use it to save them. This was the piding. And the rest is the story of Oliver Carlos.

Piding

2016

No artwork available
NR

An American woman hopes to have a happy reunion with her long-lost Filipino father and finds instead an aloof and unforgiving stranger who hasn't gotten over the painful past.

Lure of the Nest

2010

The Strangers poster
5.5

A family becomes trapped in a village full of mysterious people and transforms into black dogs.

The Strangers

2012

Deathrow poster
7.3

A neglected and unloved orphan raised by poor relatives in the slums of Manila is wrongfully convicted of murder that resulted from a heist he was compelled to join. Unable to prove his innocence and his minor age, he is thrown into the cruel, perilous and horrifying world of death row where he is introduced to other inmates all awaiting their execution by lethal injection. One of them is a 70-year-old man who detests the jungle of jail and is feared by all the convicts. He would serve as the boy’s protector and savior and in the process touch and shape enormously the violated youth’s life in prison and beyond.

Deathrow

2000

Broken Marriage poster
8.4

Trapped in a world of hectic schedules, pressure, and little time for each other, married couple Ellen and Rene decide to have a temporary separation.

Broken Marriage

1983

Amok poster
4.0

The bustling and sweltering rugged intersection of Pasay Rotonda serves as the main setting for this story of interconnected fate and destiny. As a raging man's bullets strays into different directions, the fate of several different characters are sealed and determined. As the temperature rises, the tension escalates and the story unravels with unforgiving immediacy and explodes in the end as each one struggles to survive and escape their inevitable end.

Amok

2011

Forever and a Day poster
4.2

Eugene arrives in Bukidnon with only one intention: to forget his problems at work. But when he meets Raffy and as they travel and go on ridiculous and death-defying activities together, they start to form a friendship that goes beyond Euge’s original plan. Raffy helps Euge appreciate himself more and to look at things in a positive way. With Raffy, Euge begins to believe in himself again. Soon, against his own expectations, he admits to himself that has fallen in love with this girl. But life is truly ironic. The moment Euge expresses his feelings for her, Raffy suddenly starts to push him away. She admits that he can never have her, and she doesn’t want Eugene to hope for a happy ending with her, because she cannot be loved.

Forever and a Day

2011

No artwork available
NR

Alfredo S. Lim has just been awarded as one of Manila's ten most outstanding policemen. The celebration has abruptly ended when one of his co-honorees is killed while trying to stop a robbery. Lim tracks down these criminals which ruffles the feathers of powerful people. His work takes a personal toll on his marriage and also puts his family in danger.

Alfredo S. Lim: The Untold Story

2013

Buhay Kamao poster
10.0

Pepe upon the order of his father did not want anything to do with boxing, after all it was boxing which took his brother’s life. But the easy money involved in the sport attracted him when he was desperate to pay off a long standing debt he incurred during the accident of his dad.

Buhay Kamao

2001

Himala Ngayon poster
9.0

A 2012 documentary about the making and the legacy of the 1982 drama masterpiece directed by Ishmael Bernal that ended up being one of the greatest Asian films of all time. The revelations about the theory of "Who killed Elsa?" will be answered and also, the impact of the film to the Filipino culture and society.

Himala Ngayon

2012

Dung-aw poster
8.3

Diego and Gabriela Silang are landed Ilocos natives disaffected with the imposition of the indulto de comercio (a law giving right to Spanish officials to buy rice and tobacco at the price they prefer). The year is 1762 and the British invade Manila, the childless couple is among the landowners denying aid to the Spaniards in thwarting the British. When the Spaniards in retaliation jail Diego, his wife gathers their confederates and leads the uprising herself.

Dung-aw

1975

Kulimlim poster
7.0

A man takes the law into his own hands when his wife's rapists are released from prison on a technicality, only to be possessed by the spirits of the criminals.

Kulimlim

2004

No artwork available
5.0

Nick Vandom met his local friend Mai as a soldier during the Vietnam War. When the US troops flee the withdrawal, Nick manages to make his way to the airport with Mai, where the two become their own. Nick returns to the US and leaves May to an uncertain fate. In the years ahead, Nick had a bad conscience. When he responded to a letter from Mai with a cry for help six years later, he immediately set off for Thailand. When Nick found out there that Mai was hiding in the girl's descriptive, forcible ...

Cruel Horizon

1989

No artwork available
10.0

A retired university professor who refused to leave his home in the campus despite an administrative order for eviction. With his whole life bearing witness to Diliman estate's evolution, he is the only remaining gatekeeper of the histories of his homeland.

Alienasyon

2014