All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The street where Ah Long plays a trick on Porky and pulls his shorts down. The Tai Woo Restaurant was located on the ground floor of Wong Tat Wing Court at #14-16 Hillwood Road (Open Rice thankfully keeps a database of closed venues). In this image we are looking west back towards Nathan Road.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Lobster Bay Kite Flying Site, Clearwater Bay

The filming (for whatever Porky auditioned for) takes place on the open flat piece of land on top of the Lobster Bay promontory. It's been a few years since I ventured out this way, but the last time I was there it was completely deserted - certainly no one was flying kites. It's well worth a trip down here if you eventually make it out to HK because there were a tonne of overseas and local movies made in and around the area. There may or may not be lobsters in the bay, but all I can remember after diving there was an old car wreck.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Hong Garden, Ho Man Tin

Throughout several flashbacks, Sylvia and Ah Long recall the circumstances of their failed relationship from ten years before. In one scene, Sylvia is kicked from the family home by her mother and is picked up by Ah Long. The location of Sylvia's home is Hong Garden on Ho Man Tin Street. You can see the building name (康園) on a sign next to the main gate. It looks more or less the same today. The only thing that has changed is the metal gate.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Energy Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back in the 1980s Energy Plaza was quite famous in the action film world thanks to the top floor gym run by Eddie Maher (who recently passed away unfortunately) as well as Michael Wong being dangled from the top for Royal Warriors (although, when I saw it back in the 1980s it was called Police Assassins). Anyway, in All About Ah Long it's the office block where Sylvia's office is located and where Ah Long goes to sign the contract following Porky's successful audition, unaware that he is about to come face-to-face with his old girlfriend.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Yuen Long Industrial Estate, Yuen Long

At various points in the film we see an area where the motorbikes are practising. The first time is when Ah Long goes to see his friend, played by Ng Man Tat. In the initial scenes the area is a bit non-descript but it pops up again later in the film with a large clue to its location in the background. The first two images below are from the first time we see the area in the film but the bottom image is from later on in the movie (you can tell because Chow Yun Fat has had a hair cut). Note the building just behind Chow's head. It looks like an old house with a belvedere on the roof.

There are a few old buildings like this in Hong Kong (Jessville for example, but there used to be many more), but this one looks suspiciously like the Yu Yuen mansion in Yuen Long. Low-and-behold, in the background are some industrial buildings that (some) still stand along Wang Yip Street West in Yuen Long. This means it is Yu Yuen and the location where the bike track is located is the Yuen Long Industrial Estate - before it was constructed. It looks like the bikes were doing a circuit of Wang Lee and Wang Lok Streets because they did exist in 1989, even though the estate buildings had yet to be constructed.

Yu Yuen is still standing as far as I know, but how long it will be there is anyone's guess. Most of these old grand mansions in the New Territories have long since been redeveloped.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Anderson Road Quarry, Kowloon

Ah Long's day job is as a labourer at the local quarry, in this case at Anderson Road in the hills above Kwun Tong. Quarrying has not been carried out here for some time, I believe, and there are plans to construct a new housing estate inside, but it's been a while since I was up here and don't know if it's started/finished yet.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Yau Yat Chuen School, Yau Yat Chuen

Ah Long's son, Porky, is dropped off at school. The location used is the Yau Yat Chuen School in Yau Yat Chuen.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Water Street, Sai Ying Pun

Despite just heading east along Bonham Road, the next shot shows the pair turning down Water Street towards Queen's Road West.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Bonham Road, Sai Ying Pun

During the opening credits as Ah Long takes Porky to school there is a shot of the pair as they ride along Bonham Road. In the background you can see the main entrance of King's College at the top of Western Street.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Li Chit Street, Wanchai

Whilst I wait for a hard-to-get-hold-of movie to come back from the digital transfer guy, I thought it would be a good idea to repost my All About Ah Long locations. I had removed them (and many more) when I decided focus the blog on foreign movie productions, but now I have set up a different section for local movies I can reinstate some of the older ones that didn't fit at the time.

The movie is about a former criminal, Ah Long (Chow) and his ex-girlfriend Porpor (Sylvia Chang) and their son Porky. It was shot in both Hong Kong and Macau, and for some streange reason that I can't fathom out, also includes a very brief moment that was actually filmed in Singapore. I can only summise that perhaps there was some tax break afforded for the shoot there because the location is still supposed to be in Hong Kong. It's a weird one, but I will include it even though I generally tend to ignore anything outside of HK/Macau (there have been exceptions). Anyway, there's also some later scenes for bike fans shot at the Macau GP (I assume 1988?).

First up is Ah Long's apartment in Li Chit Street in Wanchai. The buildings along here were recognisable due to the curved shape of the balconies but they were all knocked down in the early 90s to make way for a new development (Li Chit Garden) that actually straddles where the road used to be located and essentially pedestrianised the old road space. In a sort of weird and poorly informed nod to these old Chinese tenements, the Govt constructed some weird fake building facades to remind everyone of what they just demolished.

Kimberley Road Steps - Now and Then

It's been a few weeks since I finished covering Asia-Pol Secret Service but I did remember the brief scene at the top of the steps on Kimberley Road when I was walking around the area recently. Unfortunately, I couldn't recreate the same angle (the 1966 shot looks to have been filmed from a building on the opposite side of the road) but I did take a picture roughly from the position of where the pedestrian is on the right hand side in the film capture below. Even though there are many 50s-era buildings still around, the area around the steps (and the steps themselves) has completely changed.

Signal Hill/Blackhead Point - Now and Then

I took a side trip up to Signal Hill in Tsim Sha Tsui the other day because I remembered that Ryan O'Neal shot a brief scene here for Oliver's Story back in 1978. I was able to capture some reasonable comparisons on my phone and you can see them below compared to the film captures.

As you can see below, the pavilion is still there but the red tiles have been removed from the columns (I think that's a recent thing because I'm sure they were still there when I was last here a few years ago) and the balustrade finials have also been removed and just replaced with a pyramid style point.

Looking east from the battery. In the distance you can see Yau Tong/Lei Yue Mun area. The block behind Ryan O'Neal's feet is actually a granite boundary stone that has the letters W.D.L 54 etched into it. I think W.D.L should stand for War Department Lot. I think the railings are still the same ones.

This is looking towards the east side of the battery. I actually had to climb on a wall/fence for this shot because as you can see in the modern images, the battery is now fenced off for being "dangerous". I have no idea what danger it poses other than someone could potentially slip and sprain an ankle (hey, that's why the Govt have concreted miles of hiking trails in the hills).

The next angle shows the west side of the gun battery. Not much of a view today though, is there?

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim de Lou Lim Ioc, Macau

The gangster's house is where the finale of the film takes place as Sammo and the remaining drivers head there to kill him and take revenge. The establishing shot for the house is the oft-used main house in Jardim de Lou Lim Ioc. We've seen it afew times on the blog before and it was a popular location for other local movies as well.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Largo Eduardo Marques, Coloane

Staying on Coloane, the next scene shows the drivers stopping in front of St Xavier's church on Largo Eduardo Marques before they head back to Lilau Square for their evening meal where everything kicks off.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Concrete Pier, Coloane

After their brush with the gangster boss and subsequent arrival at the gambling hall (via the window) and Sammo's - now classic - fight with Lau Kar-leung, the couple are next seen fishing at the concrete pier in Coloane village.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim de Luís de Camões, Macau

The next location we arrive at is Jardim de Luís de Camões. I know for sure most people reading this will know that this is the location for the famous "No Dogs or Chinese" scene from Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. The difference here is that in Pedicab Driver we are seeing those famous park gates from the inside rather than the outside. 

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua do Guimarães, Macau

After a record- and physics-breaking jump back to Taipa, the next scene sees us back again on peninsula Macau as the pedicab drives past the Hotel Cantao on Rua do Guimarães. Keen followers of these locations posts will know this place also made an appearance on Shanghai Surprise back in the day. You can read all about its Vietnamese communist history on that link.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim do Carmo, Taipa

Sammo's amazing leap from the church terrace lands him right back in Taipa. It must be a world record jump because the pedicab touches down on the pathway next to the Jardim do Carmo with Rua do Supico right in front. Actually, one of the things that makes some of the more difficult to find locations in this chase scene is that Sammo appears to have filmed everywhere - so I haven't been able to narrow down some of the more obscure places.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

Mysteriously, just after being rammed into a wall in Taipa, the pedicab suddenly appears several miles away right next to the ruins of the old church. This isn't where the weirdness ends though because you should see where the pedicab ends up after Sammo does the famous jump off the church terrace wall.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua do Supico, Taipa

Here's a spot people might remember from Project A a while back. It's Rua do Supico with its retaining wall and strange plaque that says "Monte Dos Amores". Actually, in that Project A link the road is the previously mentioned Rua da Restauração, but the sloped section closer to the Carmel Church.

The section of the wall we can see here is actually on Rua do Supico which intersects with Rua da Restauração at the bottom of the slope.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua da Restauração, Taipa

Not to be confused with Rua da Restauração on peninsula Macau, another part of the chase scene sees Sammo & co back to Taipa as he turns uphill from Avenida da Praia onto a unnamed road that connects to Rua da Restauração. This short, steep road still looks very much the same today as it did back in 1989 and can be found at the far eastern end of the Praia near to the footbridge that connects the Taipa viewing platform to the old waterfront.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Estrada de Dom João Paulino, Macau

The mid-film set piece is a vehicle chase between Sammo's pedicab and a car containing the gangsters as the later chase down Sammo for daring to stand up to the gang boss (John Shum). The chase starts on some rather small raods that I haven't been able to identify (yet) but soon moves to more familiar ground as the vehicles race down Estrada de Dom João Paulino.