Way of the Dragon was filmed, guerrilla-style, on the streets of Rome (and nearby) with all the interior shots (Chinese restaurant, bosses office, back alley and final fight with Chuck Norris) shot at Golden Studios in Diamond Hill. The exception is this confrontation scene with Bob Wall and Whang In-sik that was filmed in Sheung Shui.
The picture below is a crop from a Government aerial picture (taken in 1973) that I obtained some time ago. It's of the large sandy area where the filming took place the year before. Look carefully at the bottom edge of the picture and you can see a small dark circle. It's a well that can be seen in the background of the second screencap which gives a good idea of where filming took place.
The buildings at the bottom of the picture form part of what was once part of a restaurant and "country club" called the Twin Dragon City Restaurant at the top of a small hill (Tin Ping Shan). The hill, the restaurant and most of the sandy area were redeveloped into the current Woodland Crest residential development and unfortunately for us - as you might be able to tell from my comparison 3D GoogleEarth shot - the area used in the filming now largely sits underneath the private garden and tennis courts of the development.
3 comments:
Amazing! This is so cool Phil! This is one of my favorite parts of the film. Bruce's kicking speed against Bob Wall was other worldly.
Always wondered about this location, but didn't get around to looking for it on the blog until watching it again last night to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the man's passing. I knew it was not Rome because the NSU Ro 80 and the Mercedes-Benz (I think it was Bruce Lee's own car) were RHD.
If the Twin Dragon City establishment occupied the two buildings atop the small hill, what was that building behind the well in the second picture?
Hi Rodney, yes, it was Bruce's car. I believe originally it was Raymond Chow's car but he gave it to Bruce. Jon Benn used to tell a funny story about how Bruce threatened to kill him if he damaged the car during this shot but my understanding is that it had already seen better days by this time. I have no idea what the lower building was, perhaps just a small hut occupied by a caretaker or local villager. Phil
Post a Comment