Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters
Encyclopedia
Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters (Thai
: 2499 อันธพาลครองเมือง or 2499 Antapan Krong Muang) is a 1997
crime drama film
about young Thai gangsters in 1950s Thailand
. Featuring John Woo
-style heroic bloodshed
, it was the debut film from director Nonzee Nimibutr
and was the first screenplay
by director and screenwriter Wisit Sasanatieng
.
The 2499 in the Thai title refers to the year in the Buddhist calendar
when the story starts, corresponding to the Gregorian year 1956.
. With his right-hand man Lam Sing, Dang is highly protective of Piak, and is also friends with Pu Bottle Bomb and Pu's sidekick Dum.
Dang attracts the attention of a young night club singer named Wallapa, who pressures Dang to stop being a gangster and live a normal life. Dang's mother also wishes that he would stop being gangster and ordain as a Buddhist
monk.
Dang carves out more territory by killing the local crime boss Mad Dog. Meanwhle, Piak is caught up in a fight between rival school gangs, instigated by Pu and Dum. The fight leads to a falling out between Dang and Pu the beginning of a feud between the two. Following a military coup all the gangsters must leave Bangkok for the countryside, Dang, Lam Sing and Piak go to work for Sergeant Chien, a former policeman turned gangster, at Chien's bar and gambling den next to an American military base. Chien needs more muscle to go against a rival operator, Headman Tek, and brings in Pu and Dum against Dang's wishes. Pu and Dum stir up trouble in the gambling den and reignite their feud with Dang's gang although Sergeant Chein tries to calm them. However Sergeant Chien is killed by a motorcyclist gunman and Pu and Dum go to work with his rival Headman Tek forcing Dang's gang out of the town.
Dang returns to Bangkok, where he plans on fulfilling his mother's wishes and taking his oath as a monk. However Pu and Dum show up during the ceremony and gun battle ensues. Lam Sing is killed, and Dang and Piak are wounded, but Pu and Dum are killed.
In an epilogue, narrated by an older Piak, it turns out Dang survived his wounds, but continued as a gangster seemingly unable to become a monk, and then died in a car accident at age 24, just like his idol James Dean.
Thai alphabet
Thai script , is used to write the Thai language and other, minority, languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks ....
: 2499 อันธพาลครองเมือง or 2499 Antapan Krong Muang) is a 1997
1997 in film
-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...
crime drama film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
about young Thai gangsters in 1950s Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Featuring John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
-style heroic bloodshed
Heroic bloodshed
Heroic Bloodshed is a genre of Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption and violence. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically...
, it was the debut film from director Nonzee Nimibutr
Nonzee Nimibutr
Nonzee Nimibutr is a Thai film director, film producer and screenwriter. Best known for his ghost thriller, Nang Nak, he is generally credited as the leader among a "New Wave" of Thai filmmakers that also includes Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong...
and was the first screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by director and screenwriter Wisit Sasanatieng
Wisit Sasanatieng
Wisit Sasanatieng is a Thai film director and screenwriter of Chinese descent...
.
The 2499 in the Thai title refers to the year in the Buddhist calendar
Buddhist calendar
The Buddhist calendar is used on mainland Southeast Asia in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Sri Lanka in several related forms. It is a lunisolar calendar having months that are alternately 29 and 30 days, with an intercalated day and a 30-day month added at regular intervals...
when the story starts, corresponding to the Gregorian year 1956.
Plot
Dang, the son of a prostitute, growing up in 1950s Thailand, compensates for his inferiority complex by boosting up his ego. At the age of 13, he killed a man who was beating his mother. By age 16, he had dropped out of school and started his own protection racketProtection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
. With his right-hand man Lam Sing, Dang is highly protective of Piak, and is also friends with Pu Bottle Bomb and Pu's sidekick Dum.
Dang attracts the attention of a young night club singer named Wallapa, who pressures Dang to stop being a gangster and live a normal life. Dang's mother also wishes that he would stop being gangster and ordain as a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
monk.
Dang carves out more territory by killing the local crime boss Mad Dog. Meanwhle, Piak is caught up in a fight between rival school gangs, instigated by Pu and Dum. The fight leads to a falling out between Dang and Pu the beginning of a feud between the two. Following a military coup all the gangsters must leave Bangkok for the countryside, Dang, Lam Sing and Piak go to work for Sergeant Chien, a former policeman turned gangster, at Chien's bar and gambling den next to an American military base. Chien needs more muscle to go against a rival operator, Headman Tek, and brings in Pu and Dum against Dang's wishes. Pu and Dum stir up trouble in the gambling den and reignite their feud with Dang's gang although Sergeant Chein tries to calm them. However Sergeant Chien is killed by a motorcyclist gunman and Pu and Dum go to work with his rival Headman Tek forcing Dang's gang out of the town.
Dang returns to Bangkok, where he plans on fulfilling his mother's wishes and taking his oath as a monk. However Pu and Dum show up during the ceremony and gun battle ensues. Lam Sing is killed, and Dang and Piak are wounded, but Pu and Dum are killed.
In an epilogue, narrated by an older Piak, it turns out Dang survived his wounds, but continued as a gangster seemingly unable to become a monk, and then died in a car accident at age 24, just like his idol James Dean.
Cast
- Jessadaporn Pholdee as Dang Bireley
- Noppachai Muttaweevong as Lam Sing
- Attaporn Teemakorn as Piak
- Supakorn KitsuwonSupakorn KitsuwonSupakorn Kitsuwon is a Thai film and stage actor. Among his starring roles are as Pan in Monrak Transistor and Khun Krabi in SARS Wars...
as Pu Bottle Bomb - Chartchai NgamsanChartchai NgamsanChartchai Ngamsan is a Thai actor. His most notable role is as Sua Dum in Tears of the Black Tiger, a 2000 Thai western film. Before that, he had a supporting role in Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters, also playing a character named Dum, who was a sidekick to Puu Bottlebomb, portrayed by...
as Dum Esso - Champagne X as Wallapa
- Apichart Choosakul as Sergeant Chien
- Parichart Borsudhi as Dang's mother
- Piya Bunnak as Pol
- Teerachai Plugpimarn as Mad Dog
- Suthakorn Jaimun as Headman Tek
Awards and nominations
- 1997 Vancouver International Film FestivalVancouver International Film FestivalThe Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
- nominated for a Dragons and Tigers award.