Brokedown Palace (1999) is an American film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and starring Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale. It is also a song by the Grateful Dead and a novel by Steven Brust (not related to the film).

Plot

• Tagline: They were willing to go anywhere for the perfect summer. Until a stranger changed everything.

Lifelong best friends Alice Marano (Danes) and Darlene Davis (Beckinsale), change their pre-college summer vacation destination from Hawaii to Thailand. While there, they meet a captivating Australian man, Nick Parks (Lapaine), who befriends them and invites them along with him to Hong Kong. The girls are found with heroin and arrested for drug smuggling while preparing to board their plane.

The story takes an abrupt turn as the girls find themselves sentenced to long sentences (33 years, plus fifteen for an escape attempt) in a Thai prison, called the Brokedown Palace by its residents. The girls accuse each other of attempting to smuggle the heroin, possibly at the behest of Parks. They turn to an American attorney in Thailand, 'Yankee' Hank Greene (Pullman), in hopes that he can free them. He fails, and Alice strikes a deal to serve both girls' sentences. The film ends with Darlene leaving to come back to the USA.

Cast

• Claire Danes – Alice Marano
• Kate Beckinsale – Darlene Davis
• Bill Pullman – 'Yankee' Hank Greene
• Jacqueline Kim – Yon Greene
• Lou Diamond Phillips – Roy Knox
• Daniel Lapaine – Nick Parks
• Tom Amandes – Doug Davis

Because it presented a critical view of the Thai legal system, Brokedown Palace was filmed in the Philippines.

External links

• Official site

1999 films | American films | Drama films | Films shot in Super 35

Brokedown Palace