Thursday, March 27, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Lung Cheung Road Rest Garden

Lung and Interpol dude (Bruce Leung) are chased by the bad guys along Lung Cheung Road and pull over into an open space at the side of the road for a fight. Not to be confused with the nearby Lung Cheung Road Lookout, this large open space was the levelled-off part of a small hill that was later turned into Lung Cheung Road Rest Garden/sitting out area. The road has been widened a bit since then and the rest garden is small shadow of its former size and much of this former space is now taken up by the current outside lane of the westbound side.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Estrellita, Repulse Bay Road

The establishing shot for the house where Lung's friends live is the famed "Estrellita" on the higher levels of Repulse Bay Road. The building is quite old and was one of the first "hacienda" style private homes in Hong Kong according to the Gwulo page for it.

These days it's owned by Henry Cheng, the retired patriarch of the New World business empire that is currently undergoing some bad times so perhaps we will see it on sale again soon? It was in the news a few years ago because it was targeted by some obviously very unpatriotic burglars.

I don't think the closeups (not shown here) used the same property, so that's an ongoing search. Sadly, the picture quality doesn't provide me with quite enough information, but from what I can gather the interior and garden scenes were most likely shot elsewhere.


Tuesday, March 25, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

It wouldn't be a proper trip to Macau without the old church facade being featured in at least one scene. This is after the fight with Purple Snake and the nefarious blow piped villain had adulterated his spiked tonfa with some sort of poison that has begun to affect Lung. Lung stumbles down the steps in front of the church.

Monday, March 24, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Monte Fort, Macau

Purple Snake is back with his blowdart as he tries again to take out Lung. This leads to yet more karate around the fort's scenic grounds.

Sunday, March 23, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay

The film tries to trick us into believing that the Excelsior Hotel is in Macau, because this is Lung's next stop as he tracks down the man responsible for hiring the thugs to kidnap the woman at the airport. It looks like the interior scene may have also been shot in the hotel with the obvious view over to Kowloon and Beacon Hill in the distance. Then, the next scene we are back in Macau again.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Avenida da República, Macau

The pedicab takes Lung along the old coastal road of the Avenida da República where he is rammed by the baddies car after the pedicab driver deserts him. It looks as though some sections of this sequence were filmed on another road, possibly the (former) Avenida do Dr. Oliveira Salazar, but there's not enough background information to confirm so I will leave those screencaps out for the time being.

Friday, March 21, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Ponte-Cais do Porto Exterior, Macau

We move again to Macau for this film as well as Lung goes in search of his master's killers. I think this first shot must be the entrance to the old ferry pier, although I can't seem to track down an old photo for confirmation. So if anyone can confirm, please let me know. If it's where I think it is then you can read a bit more about it here and what is on the site now (hint: it's not the pier).

Thursday, March 20, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - White Jade, Midlevels

The establishing shot for where the head bad guy is holed up is a quick zoom across the harbour to focus on a mid-rise apartment block known as "White Jade" located at 51 Stubbs Road. As you can see from the image below it looked  quite new in 1975 and that's because it was completed the year before. Purple Snake heads there after failing to eliminate Lung.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Tuesday, March 18, 2025