Come Alone (ข้ามาคนเดียว, 1978)

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.