NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > DAVID CARRADINE’S NIGHT IN BANGKOK HUMBLES A HARD MAN

DAVID CARRADINE’S NIGHT IN BANGKOK HUMBLES A HARD MAN

June 4 2009

Bangkok, Thailand – Bangkok is known for being many things but being a laid back town is not something of which it has ever been accused. With prostitution of every imaginable scenario rampant, drug trafficking one of the most important businesses, gangs on every corner, and the centre of the world’s child sex trade, Bangkok has
consumed many a hard man in its excess. More than earning its title as the modern day Sodom, very few have ever gone into the city and come out unscathed.

Such is the case with former ‘Kung-Fu’ and ‘Kill Bill’ star David Carradine who was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel room on Wednesday. The details of the death are still forthcoming, it appears as though the legendary martial arts star and real life tough guy was apparently consumed by the excesses of the city and apparently died after a failed attempt at auto-erotic asphyxiation. Now many are questioning not only how hard life is in Bangkok, but whether Carradine’s reputation was simply that and not a result of him actually being tough.

“When Murray Head wrote about Bangkok being a tough place it popularized the notion. After all that song was a huge hit and was just about all anyone knew about
the city and so that became their vision of it. That and the confusing video which involved giant chess pieces which I guess just made everyone think that people in Bangkok had homosexual sex and played chess all the time,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “Of course pop songs shouldn’t really be the only representation of a city and culture. Pop songs have never really proven themselves to be accurate representations of real places and real situations and that holds no matter how popular or unpopular the song is.”

Released in 1984, ‘On Night in Bangkok’ was an international pop and dance hit which peaked at #3on the Billboard charts in the United States. The single, produced by former ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator Tim Rice, was featured on the original soundtrack for thehit film ‘Chess’.

“I mean the tune is still catchy today. It’s got that epic intro, the pounding baseline,
and the oddly compelling rap by Head. It’s a totally 80’s song but it still holds up today and I defy anyone to not get caught up by it. That aside, it’s a little irrational to hold even a great pop song up as a primer for sociological behaviour,” continued Temple. “Nonetheless, the drugs, the child prostitution, the violence all indicate that Bangkok is indeed a tough town. Those kind of metrics are valid to provide an accurate portrait of a city and all those indicate that it is indeed a tough place to get along. Of course the question with Carradine is whether or not he was consumed by the overwhelming power of the city or that maybe he wasn’t nearly as tough as people thought he was.”

Carradine was well known for having substance abuse problems and had spoken publicly about his battles with suicidal thoughts and depression. There is no accurate record of any real life fights he had no the results of such occurrences, though he reportedly did kick down a door at Toronto’s CN Tower while filming in the city in the 80’s.

“There’s probably no one in the history of film or television that got into as many fights as Carradine but he is after all an actor and acting like a tough guy and actually being a tough guy are two different things. Mickey Rourke does both, as does Steven Seagal, but the combination of those two things are incredibly rare,” continued Temple. Regardless of why he broke, he did and the unfortunate reality is Bangkok takes both the strong and weak amongst us without any regard as to their star status or their sexual quirks.”

An autopsy is currently being conducted. Early reports indicate that investigators believe the death to be accidental, though are investigating the possibility of the Pai-Mei five-point palm-exploding heart technique being used.   

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent  

NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > DAVID CARRADINE’S NIGHT IN BANGKOK HUMBLES A HARD MAN