For the final post from this film, I've left the best until last. Possibly one of the best-remembered scenes from The Killer is when Ah Jong and Danny Lee's policeman end up sprawled on the floor with their guns pointing at each others faces. This takes place in the home of Ah Jong's double-crossing agent, Sidney, where Ah Jong and Jennie have gone into hiding. Yet another example of John Woo's favourite pastime: finding a building about to be demolished and then blowing the sh*t out of it.
Yes, as you may have guessed the house is no longer around. It was located in Tai Po Kau, just off Lookout Link. It and its neighbour were both demolished not long after this film was made and the whole site was replaced into a townhouse development called Villa Costa at #18 Lookout Link. The part of this development that corresponds where the old house and its garden were located, coincides with today's house numbers 10, 11, 12 and 15 (there's no #13 or #14 because...superstitious claptrap). I have no idea if this house had a name, nor who the owners were (although I am sure someone can pay for the land deeds if they are really interested) but given that a variety of Colonial Administration employees used to live around this area, it wouldn't surprise me if this was also given over to a senior officer in the then Govt.
I did notice that whoever wrote the wikipage for the film has stated this property was located in Stanley, but that's patently wrong. So, another falsehood busted.
Please feel free to comment if you have any information you can share about the place. I already posted an image on Gwulo and so far the only comment was to tell me it was the house from The Killer (yes, this despite me already mentioning it in my post there). On an aside, the house next door (whose garden/front hedgerow can be seen in image 1) which also succumbed under the same development project, was called "Hei Yuen" on the 1970 Govt maps. Villa Costa was completed and occupied in 1994, so I imagine the house was demolished within a couple of years of the film being made there.
Looking out across Tolo Harbour
Back garden and terrace
They'll never get the stains off the rug, but I guess they didn't have to
5 comments:
A bunch of questions on this one, but let me just preface by saying this is not my favourite John Woo film and I haven't seen it from start to finish in many years. I really did not like Sally's performance in it.
The footnote on the Wikipedia page stating Stanley as the location for the house cites a DVD. That same source also mentions Paul Chu Kong as having come out of retirement as a favour. In actuality, Chu had not yet retired in 1989 and was acting in both TV and films around that time. He retired after the TVB series Instinct in 1994, moved to Vancouver and has not returned to the industry. Chu Kong and Chow Yun Fat played brothers TVB's Giants in 1978 and I reckon Chu might have been the bigger star then. By the 1980s, he was a supporting player and on some movies did not receive any billing on the posters.
Now onto a few questions, comments about the house(s).
1) Did Sino Land get a mention in the credits?
Villa Costa was developed by Sino. I am wondering if they owned both houses by then or needed time to assemble the "Hei Yuen" plot.
2) I don't mean to be pedantic, but is Image 1 the earliest shot you can find of the Citroen CX passing the Hei Yuen? Is there another shot that shows the tree-lined island at the very front of that property? From the maps, it looks like the car has passed the second opening of the circular driveway. By the way, I think that's the same CX as City on Fire.
3) The earliest map that shows Hei Yuen and Sidney's house is dated 1960. A 1970 maps shows stairs from Hei Yuen's garden, just above the "239". The stairs are gone in the 1975 map.
I remember visiting a house in the New Territories that had similar stairs, well, more like tall stone steps, that led down a back hill.
What is the structure behind the section of hedgerow that was next to the path up to Sidney's house? Was Hei Yuen elevated and built on a podium?
The first time I saw the movie, I first thing I noticed was Sidney's great taste in cars. He had both a Citroen CX and Peugeot 604, the two top-end French executive cars of that era I've always fancied.
Hey Rodney. Apologies for not replying directly to your comment (used to be able to thread replies) but Blogger appears tohave completely removed the ability.
Anyway, to answer your queries: 1. No mention that I can see. 2. I don't usually post all the images I have, I tend to pick a small selection that show several angles. Unfortunately, that is the only and best image I have of that section of road. However, I can't claim that the version of the DVD I have is the longest version. So perhaps there is a longer version with additional scenes? I think you're correct about the location given the hedgerow up the slope. 3. The steps look like they lead down to a small pool. Didn't The Lookout have a similar set up? i.e. a swimming pool on a lower terrace. I don't know if Hei Yuen was on a podium,I think you can see a bit of grass behind the hedge and then perhaps a small section of driveway. Phil
the lot number is DD34 TPTL 122 in case anyone feels an urge to pay for the lot deeds.
I would doubt there is another longer DVD version that would show more of the drive up to Sid's place. The version I saw on cable TV a couple years ago is probably the same as your first image.
Yes, The Lookout has a swimming pool that is much, much further away from the main house. It looks like Hei Yuen's old pool is on the same terrace as the house and just a stone's throw away that would not require navigating any stairs. There is an area left of the pool that looked to be a steeper drop down.
Thanks for finding these two very interesting properties. There were lots of houses like these in the New Territories back in the day. The one I remember going to for some sort of party was owned by a friend of a friend of my then-uncle.
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