Brokedown Palace (1999)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Jonathan Kaplan

Writers (WGA):

Adam Fields (story) &
David Arata (story) ...

Release Date:

13 August 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

What is your dream? How far would you go? Who could you trust?

Plot:

Two women are arrested for smuggling while vacationing in Thailand.

Plot Keywords:

Jail | Best Friend | Sacrifice | Kickboxing | Defense Lawyer

Cast

Claire Danes	...	Alice Marano
Kate Beckinsale	...	Darlene Davis
Bill Pullman	...	Hank Greene
Jacqueline Kim	...	Yon Greene
Lou Diamond Phillips	...	Roy Knox
Daniel Lapaine	...	Nick Parks
Tom Amandes	...	Doug Davis
Aimee Graham	...	Beth Ann Gardener
John Doe	...	Bill Marano
Kay Tong Lim	...	Chief Detective Jagkrit
Beulah Quo	...	Guard Velie
Henry O	...	Emissary to Crown
Bahni Turpin	...	Jamaican Prisoner
Amanda De Cadenet	...	English Prisoner
Intira Jaroenpura	...	Prisoner Shub

Also Known As:

Two Girls (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, drug related material and some violent content.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Thai

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG (theatrical rating) | Finland:K-11 (2005) | Finland:K-12 (2000) | Taiwan:R-12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #36385) | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Adam Fields Productions

Trivia:

Filmed in the Philippines due to the unfavorable portrayal of Thailand. This involved converting a mental institute to the prison and changing street signs from English to Thai.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of the tape that Alice sends to Hank, the tape visibly stops before the last few sentences of her narrative are heard.

Quotes:

[first lines]
'Yankee' Hank Green: I scheduled the hearing for the Burmese.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Brokedown Palace (#6.7)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Fingers (Original Mix)

Innocent Until Proved Guilty Only Applies In The Anglo-American World

Brokedown Palace is the title of this film and euphemistic description of the prison that two young American women find themselves in after being caught in Thailand with a couple of kilos of heroin. Not the vacation getaway that they plan.

As it turns out I was in Thailand that same year and in the Phillipines where this movie was actually filmed as part of an Asian whirlwind tour I had planned for myself. I certainly didn't see that seamy side of Bangkok or Manila for that matter. But you know you're in a different culture and mindset even in the places that cater to American tourists.

Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale are a couple of teens from small town Ohio ready to go to college in the fall and lifetime friends about to be separated. While in Hawaii and away from their parents and the mores of middle America, the two decide to go off on a cheap jaunt to Thailand for an experience.

While there they fall into the hands of a smooth talking Aussie hustler who sets them up beautifully to take a fall for drug smuggling. It's a story told time and again, the concept of innocent until proved guilty is one that only applies in the Anglo-American world. And prison in a third world country makes our penal system look like country clubs.

Danes and Beckinsale do beautifully as these innocents caught up in a world they're not prepared for. Danes maybe more so because her family is less affluent than Beckinsale's.

Bill Pullman plays their American attorney in practice in Bangkok with his Thai wife and Lou Diamond Phillips is a DEA agent more concerned with the 'big picture' as opposed to these two young women and their plight.

But the best performance in the film for me is Tom Amandes as Beckinsale's father. It's established early on that Danes is the more adventurous of the two and Beckinsale probably just tagged along in their various endeavors. In any event the best scene for me in the film is when after Amandes visits Beckinsale and reassures her he's doing everything possible is when he asks to see Danes. He makes it very plain that she led his little sugarplum down the garden path and he hopes she rots there forever.

The narrowness of the streets is the same in Manila as in Bangkok, they weren't designed for automobile traffic. But one thing that the Phillipines didn't have and probably 20th Century Fox couldn't bring in was the sight of elephants and cape buffalo wandering through the streets of Bangkok. That takes a bit of getting used to let me tell you.

Still shooting in Thailand was out of the question given the way Thailand is portrayed. The film should serve as a warning to those contemplating being a tourist in a third world country.