Sunday, March 30, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Park Management Site Office, Mount Austin Road

Despite just being by the Peak Cafe, the very next shot shows the pair running past what is currently the site office for the park management staff who look after the area around the former Mountain Lodge. I was up here a couple of weeks ago and can confirm that getting up here from the upper Peak Tram Terminus involves at least a 20 minute steep, uphill walk that absolutely tired me out (granted, I am getting a bit old, but apparently still fitter than my 16 year old son).

The building is located next to the car park by the podium terrace of what is all that remains of the former Mountain Lodge (a pre-war property used by HK's Colonial Governors). Apparently the building was originally constructed as an office for staff who were responsible for the maintenance and operation of the nearby transmitter stations, but I guess the use of cars makes their need to be there 24/7 no longer a necessity.

Saturday, March 29, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - The Peak

Lung manages to catch up with Red Scorpion next to the Peak Cafe and Peak Tower, before the latter scarpers and the foot chase begins again. The cafe still looks more or less the same, although I do believe you might need to remortgage your house to eat there now, however, the Peak Tower has been completely redeveloped from its former curved version to the so-called Terry Farrell designed "flying wok" that is currently there. 

Run away...

Friday, March 28, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - The Peak Tram

Following a fight in an unknown village (I haven't been able to identify it yet, some rural places are just impossible to find), Lung gives chase to "Red Scorpion" and follows him to the Peak Tram. We see a little bit of the inside of the lower terminus as well as some footage of the tram trundling uphill. Lung tries to follow but has to catch a cab to the top instead (and no doubt was forced to pay the illegal surcharge that lots of HK cabbies try to foist on unsuspecting tourists).

Thursday, March 27, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Lung Cheung Road Rest Garden

Lung and Interpol dude (Bruce Leung) are chased by the bad guys along Lung Cheung Road and pull over into an open space at the side of the road for a fight. Not to be confused with the nearby Lung Cheung Road Lookout, this large open space was the levelled-off part of a small hill that was later turned into Lung Cheung Road Rest Garden/sitting out area. The road has been widened a bit since then and the rest garden is small shadow of its former size and much of this former space is now taken up by the current outside lane of the westbound side.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Estrellita, Repulse Bay Road

The establishing shot for the house where Lung's friends live is the famed "Estrellita" on the higher levels of Repulse Bay Road. The building is quite old and was one of the first "hacienda" style private homes in Hong Kong according to the Gwulo page for it.

These days it's owned by Henry Cheng, the retired patriarch of the New World business empire that is currently undergoing some bad times so perhaps we will see it on sale again soon? It was in the news a few years ago because it was targeted by some obviously very unpatriotic burglars.

I don't think the closeups (not shown here) used the same property, so that's an ongoing search. Sadly, the picture quality doesn't provide me with quite enough information, but from what I can gather the interior and garden scenes were most likely shot elsewhere.


Tuesday, March 25, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

It wouldn't be a proper trip to Macau without the old church facade being featured in at least one scene. This is after the fight with Purple Snake and the nefarious blow piped villain had adulterated his spiked tonfa with some sort of poison that has begun to affect Lung. Lung stumbles down the steps in front of the church.

Monday, March 24, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Monte Fort, Macau

Purple Snake is back with his blowdart as he tries again to take out Lung. This leads to yet more karate around the fort's scenic grounds.

Sunday, March 23, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay

The film tries to trick us into believing that the Excelsior Hotel is in Macau, because this is Lung's next stop as he tracks down the man responsible for hiring the thugs to kidnap the woman at the airport. It looks like the interior scene may have also been shot in the hotel with the obvious view over to Kowloon and Beacon Hill in the distance. Then, the next scene we are back in Macau again.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Avenida da República, Macau

The pedicab takes Lung along the old coastal road of the Avenida da República where he is rammed by the baddies car after the pedicab driver deserts him. It looks as though some sections of this sequence were filmed on another road, possibly the (former) Avenida do Dr. Oliveira Salazar, but there's not enough background information to confirm so I will leave those screencaps out for the time being.

Friday, March 21, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Ponte-Cais do Porto Exterior, Macau

We move again to Macau for this film as well as Lung goes in search of his master's killers. I think this first shot must be the entrance to the old ferry pier, although I can't seem to track down an old photo for confirmation. So if anyone can confirm, please let me know. If it's where I think it is then you can read a bit more about it here and what is on the site now (hint: it's not the pier).

Thursday, March 20, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - White Jade, Midlevels

The establishing shot for where the head bad guy is holed up is a quick zoom across the harbour to focus on a mid-rise apartment block known as "White Jade" located at 51 Stubbs Road. As you can see from the image below it looked  quite new in 1975 and that's because it was completed the year before. Purple Snake heads there after failing to eliminate Lung.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Monday, March 17, 2025

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - King's Road, North Point

I thought I had finished with Karate from Shaolin Temple but I accidentally stumbled across a location that was previously unidentified. The scene follows this one, as Musashi is stopped by one of Wu's friends and is spotted by the gang boss's men. As Wu's man makes it back to their hideout, there are a couple of location shots of him making his way there. This is one of them and was filmed on King's Road at the curve of the road close to Oil Street. In fact you can see the entrance to Oil Street just to the right of the minibus. It's a bit blurry in the screencap but the building there was called the 宏興鷓鴣菜大廈 - that is the name written vertically down the side of the building in red characters. The building is still around but has been converted into some serviced apartments by "Shama".

Sunday, March 16, 2025

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Aberdeen Harbour

After meetimg up at the cemetery, the three head over to Aberdeen where Lung raises questions about the master's death. He's very suspicious of the circumstances and, lo-and-behold, they are suddenly attacked. The first shot shows the Sea Palace whilst the second one appears to show the lower railing of the Tai Pak. This was a year before the Jumbo (version 2) finally appeared on the scene in 1976.