Hong Kong and Macau Film & TV Locations: Police Story - Jackie Chan (1985)

Even after nearly 40 years (yes, that long!), Police Story remains one of my favourite HK movies. So now that I have started doing more local movies it's time to look at the old classic and dig up the locations. Luckily for me, Hong Kong Movie Tours and Hong Kong on Film have covered many of the locations previously, but I have a couple of my own to add as well so figured it was worthwhile.

The film was supposedly a by-product of Chan's disappointment with his experience with The Protector, and the things he changed for the HK release of that movie are well documented elsewhere. So, Chan started work on Police Story to expel some of his "The Protector" demons and created what many regard as one of the finest pieces of HK action cinema. Even at 36 years old (and the fact that ol' JC is one of the most hated figures in HK these days), the film holds up exceptionally well, as do many of his pre-Handover films.

Anyway, the story starts off with an undercover police operation in a hillside shanty town as the cops try to capture a notorious drug lord, played by Chor Yuen. I remember the deliberations at the time between myself and Daniel Thomas (the man behind "Hong Kong on Film" blog) as we tried to figure out where it was. The only clue was the obvious presence of Anderson Quarry in the background. Luckily, a Japanese locations fan gave Dan the heads up and the location was pinned down to a slope above Po Lam Road.

The location has been completely eradicated now, with the construction of a reservoir, the On Sau Road and the nearby On Tat Estate, but some of the main roads where the cops set up the road block, can still be seen. Bill Tung, playing Chan's superior, watches on from the top of a block in the old Sau Mau Ping Estate. The estate was demolished in the early 2000's and replaced by a newer, taller, more modern version.

Coincidentally, Brigitte Lin, who played Salina in the film, now lives at the other end of the quarry in a newly built house, Leighton Pavilion, (though fortress is probably a better description) which she shares with her husband, Michael Ying (a former garment manufacturer who went on to head up "Esprit").

The catchwater in the second image now holds a pipe, and there is a pedestrian bridge across the road here which connects the Po Tat Estate with the On Tat Estate, but much of the roads you see on film (i.e. the Po Lam Road) is still quite recognisable. Here is the same location on Hong Kong on Film.