Early days and the 1960s
Thai cinema has a history that reaches back more
than eighty years. The first locally produced film was
released in 1927. Early films were mostly melodramas
with everything thrown in, and specific film genres were
only established after a decade or two. One of the first
action films was Supabburut Sua Thai (1949). With an
indicative title ( Supabburut means “gentleman” and
Suameans “tiger” or “bandit”), the film introduced an
enduring theme in the Thai action genre - a rural goodman-
turned-outlaw hero fights for justice or takes justice
into his own hands.
Another early milestone was Leb Krut. Released in
1957, it was based on a novel about an undercover
police officer who assumes the identity of a notorious
rogue to infiltrate an underworld organization aiming to
seize control of Bangkok. It had elements of Cold War
politics and anti-communism, most evidently in its superpowered
evil villain of mysterious Manchurian origin.
Following closely on its heels was Jao Nak-leng, the first
of six highly successful Insee Daeng ( Red Eagle) films.
The film was released in 1959 and featured Mitr
Chaibancha, the country’s best-loved superstar, playing
the role of a hard-drinking playboy who dons a red,
eagle-shaped mask at night to fight crime.
Throughout the 1960s the genre was dominated by
two main kinds of films, one influenced by Hollywood
westerns, the other by espionage thrillers and pulp crime
novels. Their approach was generally right-wing and the
content was unvarying. The heroes, whether grass roots
men or suave spies, are patriotic types who sacrifice
themselves, on the right side of the law or not, for the
people and the country.
The 1970s
The early era ended dramatically with the tragic,
untimely death of its iconic star. Although he had played
every type of role in some 300 films, Mitr Chaibancha
was first and foremost an action star. In late 1970,
while shooting a stunt for the final scene of Insee
Thong, his last film in the Red Eagleseries, he lost his
grip hanging from a helicopter and fell hundreds of feet
to his death. The sudden loss was a shocked, and it
signified a change. It prompted filmmakers to find new
faces, try new things, and put more effort into improving
existing formulas.
The most notable action filmmaker was Chalong
Pakdivijit, later known outside the country as P. Chalong
or Philip Chalong. A veteran who started working as a
cinematographer in 1950, Chalong shot the remake of
Leb Krut in 1968 and made his directorial debut that
year with Jao Insee, one of the films in the Mitr
Chaibancha Red Eagle series. His big break came in
1973 when Gold (aka S.T.A.B.), a violent action film
about a commando team looking for a huge cache of
stolen gold in Vietnam, became the first Thai film to be
widely sold to international markets. The strategy was
simple - make a good-looking film with large budget, put in copious sex and violence and use Hollywood or
internationally known actors to attract buyers. In Gold,
Greg Morris from the Mission ImpossibleTV series was
cast alongside Thai stars Sombat Methanee, Krung
Srivilai, and Vietnamese beauty Tham Thuy Hang. The
film was a phenomenal success locally and, though
considered only a B-grade actioner in most markets
outside the Asia Pacific region, made a profit internationally.
Chalong followed the same route well into the
1990s with films like H-Bomb (aka The Great Friday,
1975, with Chris Mitchum and Olivia Hussey), Gold
Raiders (1983, with Robert Ginty), The Lost Idol
(1990, with Eric Estrada) and In Gold We Trust(1992,
with Jan-Michael Vincent).
The majority of Thai action films in the 1970s were not
affected by Chalong’s success. Most films were still made
with low budgets and targeted at local audiences, especially
the large and growing population in the rural areas.
There was no apparent need for action filmmakers to
expand into unfamiliar territories.
From the mid-1960s onwards, Spaghetti westerns
had become much more popular in Thailand than their
Hollywood counterparts. Their influence on Thai cinema,
however, was much more evident in the 1970s,
when more action films were set in the rural areas.
Arguably, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)
was the film that started it all. But smaller films with a
simpler and more comedic approach, like A Pistol For
Ringo(1965), Django (1966), and They Call Me Trinity
(1971) reached wider audiences in the countryside
through outdoor travelling shows. They made Italian
leading men like Giuliano Gemma (aka Montgomery
Wood), Franco Nero, and Terence Hill as big as Clint
Eastwood. Even Spanish supporting actor Fernando
Sancho became a star.
Borrowing gimmicks from Spaghetti westerns in an
attempt to please the same audiences did not mean that
Thai action films were less popular in their own country.
It was rather, a case of finding a more relevant and suitable
source of inspiration. In retrospect, we can see that
Thai action films had actually adopted and adapted the
style of Hollywood westerns since Supabburut Sua Thai
in 1949. Like Spaghetti westerns, though for different
reasons, these adaptations were considered inferior to
their American models. Most of the Thai films used 16
mm color reversal film stock that gave them the unique
look of high contrast and over-saturated colour. Decades
later, this look was beautifully recreated in Wisit
Sasanatieng’s Tears Of The Black Tiger (2000), a festival
favourite and a celebrated tribute to the “Thai westerns”
of a long-gone era.
Even closer to home - and sharing the same values as
Thai action - were Hong Kong and Taiwan wuxiaand martial
arts films, like Shaw Brothers’ One-Armed
Swordsman(Chang Cheh, 1967). This had been popular
in Thailand since the late-1960s. Emphasising this close
relationship, Mitr Chaibancha even went to Hong Kong to
play in three wuxiafilms in his last year, though only one
was finished and shown after his death1.
The similarities with Hong Kong action films were not
that noticeable. The plot lines were similar, as they
included heroes who fought for justice or took revenge
against overwhelmingly powerful enemies. But Thai westerns
had more in common with Spaghetti westerns than
martial arts films did with Hong Kong films. The fighting
in Thai action films was at best undistinguished when
compared to their Hong Kong counterparts. But some
filmmakers did about this situation. Most important
among them was actor-turned-director Khom Arkdej
(aka Kom Akadet), who had made his mark in the action
genre in the mid 1970s. He reached his creative peak in
late 1970s and early 1980s, beginning with the kung fuinspired
In The Name Of The Tiger ( Sua Phukao) in
1979. The film is a tense actioner about a lone Hmong
who, with only the help of a knife-throwing girl, has to
fight an army of Lahu hunters after losing his wife in a
hill tribe conflict. The film was one of the first to demonstrate
that elaborate stunt work and imaginatively choreographed
fight scenes were two essentials in creating
a really stunning action flick.
The 1980s and 1990s
Apart from the works of Chalong Pakdivijit and Khom
Arkdej, who continued along the same path as in the
1970s, the action genre in the 1980s was largely
unmemorable. One exception - these were the formative
years in the film business for the country’s future ace
fight choreographer, Panna Rittikrai.
Born in the North-Eastern province of Khon Kaen,
Panna grew up watching the outdoor action movies of
Mitr Chaibancha. He later became intrigued by the
Hong Kong martial arts superstars, Bruce Lee and
Jackie Chan. He began as a physical education college
graduate and self-taught martial arts expert with special
admiration for Sua Phukao. He left his hometown to
work with Khom Arkdej in Bangkok for three years as a
physical trainer for actors, and also appeared in some
of the most daring stunts ever put on the screen at that
time. After that, he returned to Khon Kaen and formed
his own stunt team. He was determined to forge a new
style of low-budget action films which emphasised pure
stunt work.
Panna’s move reflected a situation that became clearer
from the mid-1980s on. After two prosperous
decades, Thai action cinema’s popularity was waning.
The action film output, which was around a third of the
approximately 100 Thai films produced and released
each year, was deceptive. In fact, cinemagoers in
Bangkok had turned their backs on the genre. With few
exceptions, action films were released only in suburban
theatres and disappeared quickly to play outdoors in the
countryside.
The main reason for the decline was the low-budget
routines that dominated the 1970s. Action stunts were
so repetitive that they were later jokingly referred to as
“bomb the mountains, burn the cottages” kind of films.
These films had their charms, but even the best of
them are now unknown to the world outside. They look
dated, and are sadly rejected by more sophisticated
cinemagoers. Panna’s Born To Fight ( Kerd Ma Lui), released in 1983,
was the first of some 50 films he would go on to produce,
direct, and act in over ten years. These were all B-movies
aimed at (declining) rural audiences. Some were made
with his own money, others for companies, but all used his
stunt team. The fact that they were made by a community
of action aficionados was not considered important
and they were simply overlooked at the time. But years
later, some audiences would watch them on VCD and
notice the future superstar and martial arts sensation
Tony Jaa doing stunts - or even playing a villain.
After multiplex theaters were introduced in 1994, the
whole Thai film industry was in serious danger of being
wiped out by Hollywood and television. In 1997 - the first
year the number of Thai films released dropped below
20 - B-grade action movies disappeared completely from
the theaters. The situation for the action genre and the
industry was precarious.
The 2000s
In the new millennium, recovery was slow though not
without good signs. Nonzee Nimibutr’s successful Dang
Bireley’s And The Young Gangsters (1997) and Thanit
Jitnukul’s Bang Rajan (2000) were well-made action
films, although they failed to generate a change in fortune
for the genre. Neither was really a shot in the arm
for genre films. That was provided in 2003 by Prachya
Pinkaew’s Ong Bak, a film which performed much better
than anyone had expected. The film prompted many
questions. Why had no film used Thai martial arts so
impressively before? Where had Thai action cinema been
hiding all these years?
Considering Muay Thai has been around for as long
as the nation itself, it’s understandable why such questions
should be asked. The best answer is another
question: how many real martial arts stars had
emerged anywhere since the heyday of Jackie Chan? A
star of his calibre was - and still is - hard to find. The
process takes time and needs some luck. Tony Jaa was
27 when the world-wide success of Ong Bakmade him
famous. Before that, he had spent 12 years working
hard, bracing himself for success under his mentor
Panna Rittikrai. The way Panna worked was to bring the
best out of his protégé, and to develop him in the mold
of his heroes, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Jaa was
made to kick harder, leap higher and stay in the air
longer. Prachya, a director with a music video background,
decided that Jaa was special but still not distinguished
enough in his own right to launch an action
revolution. He realised that by using ancient Muay Thai,
he could create something truly different.
Muay Thai had been used in films before. Some earlier
films produced and directed by Khom Arkdej in the
late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as some of Panna’s
B-movies, are worth checking out for their use of the
form. But before Ong Bak, no film had shown why it was
one of the world’s most thrilling fighting forms. Some
think that’s because most Thai action films were meant
for local audiences who were considered to be too familiar
with Muay Thai to be excited by it. There was also the
question of vision. Ong Bakwas designed to both open
the eyes of outsiders and remind the Thai people to
“take a look at what we have”. With the phenomenal
work of Jaa as actor and Panna as fight choreographer,
the film succeeded in both aims.
Since 2003, the year of Ong Bak, the Thai film industry
has recovered. The annual number of films released
has now risen to around 40 to 50. The action genre, now
revived, has also been on the rise. One problem is that
there seems to be no room for medium- or small-scale
films. Each action film has to be bigger than the one
before, so it takes longer to finish. The Ong Bak team,
working together and separately, has only completed
four more martial arts films. Panna remade his Born To
Fight in 2004 and introduced Dan Chupong
Changproong as the next martial arts hero. Prachya
directed Tom-Yum-Goong, in 2005 and went on to make
Chocolate, introducing Jeeja Yanin Wismitanant as the
female answer to Tony Jaa, in 2008. In the same year, Jaa
made his directorial debut with Ong Bak 2.
It’s obvious that the focus of recent Thai action cinema
has been on martial arts, an area yet to be fully
explored. This alone makes the films different from the
majority of works produced in the 1960s and the
1970s. It remains to be seen how long it will take to
reach new heights after Ong Bak. Indeed, will such
heights ever be scaled again? Nowadays one can’t help
but feel that there is too little variety and the genre now
seems to depend too much on Tony Jaa. He is a skilled
and versatile martial artist, but as an actor he is a minimalist
- the ultimate no-nonsense action hero. This
may not be a problem as long as he sticks to playing
intense heroes - which he may have to, at least for the
next five years.
Suthakorn Santithawat is a former film critic; director of
Kwan-Riam [2001]; current executive member of the
Thai Film Directors Association and also working as a
documentary producer and film subtitler.
NOTE
1. Hooded Swordsman (1971, Cheung Lok Ping) aka
Flyer And Magic Sword- in Romeo and Juliet fashion, the
son and daughter of two families feuding over a salt
mine, fall in love. The film also featured Ling Fan, Tin Yau
and well-known player of villains Sek Kin. There were two
versions of the film, one with Petchara Chauwarat as the
daughter, and the other with Ling Fan in the role.
Petchara and Mitr were a popular pair at the Thai box
office, making some 150 films together including the
classic Magical Love Of The Countryside ( Monrak luk
thung) . The martial arts choreographer was Liu Jialiang
(aka Lau Kar-leung) who fulfilled the same role in Duel
Of Fists (Chang Cheh, 1971) where David Chiang journeys
to Thailand to find his Thai-boxing half brother, Ti
Lung. By the end of the 1970s Liu would become one of
Hong Kong’s greatest martial arts directors.
Suthakorn Antithawat