4 Great Movies To See Before Visiting Thailand

If you’re considering visiting Thailand, there are a number of movies worth seeing before you travel that wonderfully capture the unique beauty of this wonderful part of the world.

Let’s take a look at the beauty, the charm, the character of Thailand as seen in four great movies.

The Man With The Golden Gun

James Bond swaps his love of the casino for a game of quick-draw against the villainous Francisco Scaramanga. 007’s face-off against this particular adversary takes place on Khao Phing Kan beach, in Phang Nga Bay northeast of Phuket. The film helped the island (along with Ko Ta Pu) become better known as James Bond Island. If you’ve bitten Bond’s habit for baccarat and blackjack at one of Asia’s popular online casinos like W88 it won’t take much persuasion to pull yourself away to fully experience this breathtaking part of the world. Known for its memorable Asian locations, The Man With The Golden Gun was also shot in Macau where many Asian casino sites with no agents are based. For those that, like the British secret agent, enjoy placing a bet, due to Thailand’s laws prohibiting gambling, it’s sites like these that’ll fill the void during your travels.

The Beach

The Beach saw Danny Boyle expressing his increased creative freedom as a filmmaker as well as the credentials to coax a bona fide star (in the shape of Leonardo DiCaprio) to play the lead role. It did throw a spanner in the works of his relationship Ewan McGregor though; a friendship that would be rekindled eventually when the pair made T2: Trainspotting. The adaptation of Alex Garland’s novel was shot in Hat Maya, one of the most popular spots near Phuket. The main beach of Phi Phi Leh Island remains one of the most visited in the region with 90-minute taxi boats running from both Krabi and Phuket Pier. The notable waterfall in the film is Haeo Suwat Falls in Khao Yai National Park.

The Deer Hunter

Using the Thai jungle to serve as the base for this tragic drama about the Vietnam War, The Deer Hunter remains one of the most effective anti-war movies. Its unique interpretation of the horrors that took place are often most memorably recalled through the film’s Russian roulette scenes. Nick (Christopher Walken) endures his money-making death-defying schemes in a red light district towards the end of the movie and this was shot around Patpong in Bangkok. The Katchanburi district, near the Burmese border in the north Thailand, is also used to represent Vietnam in the movie with the Don Muang Airport, Bangkok’s main international airport, standing in for the US military base.

The Railway Man

The Railway Man is another film shot in Thailand that, like The Deer Hunter, has tragedy running through the drama. But the film’s on-location photography – which showcases the delights of parts of Scotland and Australia as well as Thailand – deserves to be marvelled. And if the city of Kanchanaburi is a consideration for your journey to East Asia, The Railway Man is a film to see. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the fact-based story tells how British officer, Eric Lomax, was captured by the Japanese during WWII and sent to the railway-building camps to install a line between Ban Pong in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma. “Old Eric”, at the end of the movie, is standing on the River Kwai Bridge in Kanchanaburi.