Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Ping Kong Walled Village, Sheung Shui

Another one that has taken a while to find but still here we go, it's the Tin Hau Temple that JC stops in front of during the bike chase. I can't confirm whether or not this is the same village where some the other bike sequences takes place (would need to visit in person) but here is the temple from the film as a reminder.


There has been a recent renovation to the temple and the area next to the red door above has been knocked through but the temple is still fairly recognisable. Here is a modern view courtesy of Chong Fat's picture on the Tin Hau Temple wiki page.

Photo: Chong Fat on Wikipedia

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm I wonder if the wall hasn't been knocked through so much as never existed. Looking at both pictures it looks to me very much like the movie may have dressed the temple to be visually balanced left and right and closed the alleyway to the right to make it a dead end.

Anonymous said...

I know that they built a wall in Macau for one of the parts of the bicycle chase scene. No reason why they didn't do it more than once.

Anonymous said...

Um lol I will have to go look for the exact spot but it was around the point where he braces himself against the alleywall with both feet and lifts the bicycle up and knocks the guy out with the bike. The wall on the left is fake because the alleyway was too wide. If you give me a chance I'll do a screenshot for you. Jackie mentions it in one of the many documentaries about his career. He heard there was a bicycle chase in E.T. so he took the whole team to the movies. When he saw the chase scene he was OK .... BUILD ME A WALL!

Anonymous said...

Just an additional bit of information about the chamber pot. It is the only scene in the movie that is 'faked'. After repeated takes Jackie just could not get the pot to hit the guy, so the bit where the pot hits the guy is thrown by hand.

Here is a link to the screengrab of the fake wall. I can't tell left from right LOL (perennial problem) It is the wall on the right with the doors. Actually if you watch the movie you can see the wall wobble.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gDvGNe9LDcg/T7cxPUSg1WI/AAAAAAAAE08/ICcTLYWkya8/s800/snapshot_dvd_00.51.32_%255B2012.05.19_07.31.26%255D.jpg

Phil said...

aha, THAT wall. Okay, it does seem a bit narrow to have a window opening. I'll rewatch this whole sequence (well worth it anyway I think) with a new awareness - thanks for the tip.

Phil said...

oh yes - part of this very same sequence. I already have a screen grab of that, but now you're telling me it was filmed in Macau. I was hoping it was also filmed at Ping Kong but it looks like I will have to go back to the drawing board :-)

Phil said...

ooh, now you've piqued my interest. Which wall was that, and where was it built?

Actually, with regards to the temple location, building a wall here makes sense because in the film he has turned down a dead end and has to flick the chamber pot in the guys face to effect an escape - a pointless exercise had there been a gap in the wall.

Phil said...

You could be right - the wonderful world of film-making. Actually, in one of the screen grabs above it looks like the door is tucked behind 'the wall' which makes your theory look more plausible.

I'll have to go up there and ask around if anyone remembers the filming.

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