Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Ting Kok Road, Tai Po

For the remainder of the car chase, the film crew shifted to the northern side of Tai Po and Ting Kok Road. Specifically this is the section of the road near to Po Sam Pai village. It's here where the Yakuza finally get the upper hand and are able to kill the kidnappers and take the girls back to their families, only to find out the angry families were expecting the girls to be off to earn them money. The sandy area on the right of the frame in most of the images, was the formation works for what is now the Tung Tzs Nursery area - a small fish pond area between Po Sam Pai and Chim Uk.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tai Po Road, Tai Po

The Yakuza find out that Oriental Travel have convinced some of the local girls to go with them to the middle east where they have been told they can earn good money as domestic help, however, it's a trick and really they are going to end up as drug mules for the company. The Japanese gang take it upon themselves to try and save the girls. The initial shot of what turns into a heist and a car chase was filmed along the section of Tai Po Road as it crosses the railway tracks near Yuen Chau Tsai. The distant white building in the background should be the old Tai Ping Carpet factory on Ting Kok Road. The squatter area behind the bus was cleared in the late 70s/80s and the area reclaimed for the Kwong Fuk Estate. This was the same squatter village that was seen in The Last Grenade, shot/released the same year.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang

A perennial favourite in the foreign movie list of Hong Kong locations is the former Tiger Balm Gardens. In the film I believe that Haw Par Mansion is supposed to be the home of the big boss of Oriental Travel, but I may have misunderstood. Sadly, this film doesn't showcasee the place as it deserves, but luckily, we have a whole slew of films that have shot in and around here over the years.

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.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Fui Sha Wai, Tai Po

More than ten years ago I posted about some of the sites the first season of I Spy visited in Tai Po and one of them was a walled village, Fui Sha Wai, about a mile or so north of the main town. Well, just four short years after those scenes were shot, the crew of this film turned up and shot a huge sequence in and around the village. This is the location chosen by the triads to confront the Yakuza for stealing some of their 'flower boat' prostitution earnings via the Yakuza's brothel in town. What ensues is a sword fight, Japan v China, before the gang from Oriental Travel show up and start shooting at everyone. It's here where the two gangs decide to settle their difference and come together to get rid of their common enemy: foreigners!

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).

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - To Kwa Wan Road, Kowloon

The scene where one of Oriental Travel's drug mules is attacked by the triads, and has his drug stash stolen, was filmed at the very top end of To Kwa Wan Road where it reached the perimeter fence around the Kai Tak airfield site. This location is now the start point of the relatively new Shing Kai Road that now traverses the old runway and airport site.

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.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Queen's Road Central

You might recognise the next sequence as being filmed on the section of Queens Road Central just up from the junction of Wellington Street and continuing around to Hillier Street area. Look closely at image 2 and you can see at the top of the frame is one of the domes that belonged to the Central Theatre - located where Central Mansion now stands at 270-276 QRE. There was a big discussion on Gwulo many years ago about what this roof belonged to until it was solved by user 'Herostratus'. This sequence is also reminiscent of the opening ambulance scene in Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, which tracks the ambulance down the same stretch of road at one point, however, I neglected to post it back in the day, so perhaps will chuck it up in a couple of weeks.

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.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Sai Kung Waterfront

The old waterfront of Sai Kung village, where it faces Tui Min Hoi, pops up for some water-based scenes. This has been a popular location over the years and can be seen in such movies as China Rose, Le Monocle Rit Jaune and Weiße Fracht für Hongkong. I even did a now/then comparison a few years back.

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.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Reclamation Street, Yau Ma Tei

One of the first clear images we have (once the opening credits have finished) is of the trio as they walk north along the middle section of Reclamation Street. The rickety old building behind them with the curved corner once occupied the plot where the Kansu Street Jade Hawker Bazaar stood until a few years ago. People with good memories might recall that there was a better capture of this place in Asia-Pol Secret Service. People with even better memories may also recall that the block is also the same one featured in the opening scenes of Enter the Dragon, although by the time of that last shot, the curved end of the building had already been demolished. Incidentally, this location was also used in Narazumono, although in that film we are looking in the opposite direction. In hindsight, I should have named all those other posts as 'Reclamation Street', because it's as clear as daylight in the following screencaps. However, this section of Reclamation Street no longer exists, the area is now just a turning circle for the top end of Battery Street. I created an entry for it on Gwulo and some additional information was added by David Bellis.

This last image shows the HKJC Polyclinic in the background.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Victoria Harbour

The next film up is a 1969 crime drama/comedy (yeah, weird combo), Yakuza on Foot, starring Tomisaburô Wakayama, who fans of Asian cinema will know from his long stint as Ogami Itto, the 'Lone Wolf' of the awesome Lone Wolf and Cub film series of the early 70s.

The film follows him as Shimamura Seikichi, a low-level Yakuza boss who has stowed away on a ship to Hong Kong with two of his trusty lieutenants as they seek to make a name for themselves and link up with Seikichi's wife, who is already in Hong Kong running a brothel.

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).

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Yau Ma Tei Police Station

No longer a Police Station because it was decommissioned a couple of years ago. I did make a trip here last year with David Bellis from Gwulo and, after seeing a gathering in the rear carpark area, we popped in to have a look around only to be instantly told to get the hell away. Such is life in the new National Security-conscious Hong Kong.

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).