A fast
glance as the poster make Come Alone looks like some samurai movie, or something
related to native Americans - but this is actually quite traditional action
movie with guns, jeans jackets and the usual suspects starring, but with a
surprisingly slapstick-filled beginning. What we see on the poster is Sombat
Metanee dressed like a crazy hippie, always up for a good song or maybe a fight
or two with those who might wanna stop him. I haven't found any English
synopsis so I'm not sure what this movie is about, but what I could understand
Sombat goes undercover as a hippie, infiltrates an area with gangsters - maybe
he wants to take revenge, maybe he's an agent of some kind - and the plan is
obviously to take everyone down in brutal fashion, often with knifes or any
other sharp objects.
But
everything begins with Sombat taking a piss, getting caught by the baddies,
then he has to take a dump and makes his guards dance while he's singing at the
same time, which also gives him the opportunity to overpower them and be a free
man again. It actually takes a while until he takes of his hippie costume and
reveals himself, and the gets back on a more serious track again.
The lack of
subtitles makes Come Alone a bit hard to follow, especially in the middle when
the action takes a break and intrigues and drama takes over. There's a lot of
talking, but the story moves along quite OK anyway and finally there's more
action and bloodshed to entertain us non Thai-language geeks. Come Alone is also
one of the more violent and bloody Thai movies from the seventies I've seen
with squibs and bloody knife-attacks, plus a generous amount of good fighting.
Most of it is the usual fist fights, but one guy (sorry, just can't remember
his name!) goes full-blown Bruce Lee, including a cue from the soundtrack of
Enter the Dragon, in one sequence. Not bad at all.
A lot of characters are introduces during the show, but I can honestly say that
the one who seem to have the most fun is Sombat. When dressed as a hippie he's
just like a totally different actor. Maybe it was something with the ridiculous
premise of his characters disguise that set him off? A weird detail is that
after half the movie he suddenly wears a wig, which is quite visible. I guess
he probably shot another movie at the same time, a movie that demanded that he
needed to be either totally shaved or with a crew cut or something similar.
Come Alone
is yet another fine, but in the middle a bit too slow, example of traditional
Thai action cinema. The whole cast is filled with every actor you expect and
the action is violent and quite creative. Just don't expect a samurai and sword
epic! :)
Released by
Triple X, which means the quality is slightly better than usual. Only slightly,
because it still has scratches and something that looks like water damage
during the final reels, but it's also in anamorphic widescreen and the glory of
watching Thai action from this period in the correct ratio is always a pleasure
out of the ordinary.
