Saturday, August 31, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Ting Kok Road, Tai Po
Friday, August 30, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tai Po Road, Tai Po
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Sai Kung Tin Hau Temple
Immediately after stealing the drugs from the Sikh dude near the airport, the Chinese gang are next seen being chased along the front of the Tin Hau temple in Sai Kung village. They then run to the waterfront to the concrete pier and help distribute small amounts of the stash to the addicts in the hope of them reducing their intake will help ween them off the drug.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Fui Sha Wai, Tai Po
As I mentioned in the old I Spy post, the main gate of the village has been remodelled since the 1960s, but other than that the area looks more or less the same (albeit with rather more houses in the vicinity).
Monday, August 26, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - To Kwa Wan Road, Kowloon
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - William Holden (1955) - Queen's Road Central
I know I said I would post it later, but I thought I should do it while it was still fresh in my mind. During the pandemic I went through a bunch of my older movies and found a whole swathe of locations perviously missed the first time around. I already posted a couple of these bonus locations a while back (Pok Fu Lam Road and Po Shan Road) but neglected to post this brief scene from the opening ambulance sequence of Love is a Many-Splendored Thing. It's part of the opening sequence that takes in several areas including Barker Road, and Queen's Road Central by Central Market. Anyway, following on from my last post for Yakuza on Foot my memory was jogged, so here we are.
These three images show the same stretch of Queen's Road Central, on the bend just before Hillier Street. The first image shows the reverse view of the Yakuza on Foot post, looking back down Queen's Road Central, towards the general direction of Wellington Street, from the bend under what is now Hollywood Terrace. In the lower images, the ambulance is tracked as it passes the camera. The opening of Hillier Street is on the right and the location of Central Theatre can just be seen on the extreme left of the frame - just a few pixels worth above the man carrying a rolled up rug. Unfortunately, it's difficult to include more images from this sequence because the camera tracking means much of the background is blurry.
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Queen's Road Central
Friday, August 23, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tung Kun Street, Yau Ma Tei
Whilst walking around, the trio stumble across a women they first met on the boat, and she says she knows where Shimamura's wife is and offers them a lift. The initial shot shows the men walking north along Ching Ping Street with the Ferry Point Estate in the background. As the camera changes angle though, we can see the car has just pulled out of Tung Kun Street. In the background is the Kei To Primary School building which is still around.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Sai Kung Waterfront
Anyway, this is the location where the three Japanese are persuaded to patronise some of the local 'flower boats' and first discover the addiction to drugs the girls (and their families) have.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Reclamation Street, Yau Ma Tei
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Victoria Harbour
Fortune has it that the boat they are on is carrying a shipload of drug ingredients owned by a powerful foreign company called 'Oriental Travel'. Not only are they making and selling drugs but also kidnapping Japanese women to act as drug mules. The Japanese gangsters become involved with a Chinese gang and join forces to rid Hong Kong of the drug scourge instigated by these ruthless foreigners.
You can also watch this one because I uploaded it here.
The first shots of Hong Kong show a boat on the harbour with the western part of Central (around the area of the former Central Fire Station (lower left of frame) - now the location of the Hang Seng HQ).
Monday, August 19, 2024
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Yau Ma Tei Police Station
In the movie this is the exterior used for the Police station in the film where one of the gangsters is set free after he refuses to talk. So Mr. Hyde follows him back to his opium den (yes, quite a few of these Hong Kong cliches pop up) to extract the information he needs.
One of the things I can gather from this sequence is that this was before the local police stations were all given a new grey/dark blue coat of paint. Back in 2000 it was still the white/light blue colour scheme (seeing little things like this please my nerdy brain).