It's been 30+ years since I last saw Bullet in the Head so I thought now would be a great time for a rewatch given its imminent re release by Shout on August 19th 2025. Who knows, perhaps one of their researchers will stumble across this site and be able to use to the locations for some sort of documentary (although no one has ever asked me, hint hint)?
Directed by John Woo, the story follows three friends in 1960s Hong Kong as they try to break out of the poverty they have grown up in by engaging in some smuggling to Vietnam during the war. The "Vietnam" scenes were shot in Thailand but there are still afew Hong Kong locations to look at including the estate where the three grew up. These resettlement estate scenes were shot in and around the old Lei Cheng Uk Estate just prior to its final demolition. This place is famous in Hong Kong for a couple of reasons. The first is that it is the location of a Han Tomb discovered during excavation works for the estate in 1955. The tomb is still there and can be visited - for free. The following year, in the run up to the Double Tenth celebration (10 October), some housing officials decided it was a good idea to rip down some Nationalist flags on display and inadvertantly triggered the 1956 Nationalist riots.
Much like the neighbouring Shek Kip Mei estate, the resettlement blocks were all subsequently replaced by larger, more modern blocks and facilities, and the former "H-block" type blocks have now all gone. The only remaining example of this type of block in this area is Mei Ho House in Shek Kip Mei which now operates as a rather excellent youth hostel (yes, I have stayed there and can recommend wholeheartedly).
Much of the film was shot around Blocks 13/14/15 and 16 which were located where the Lei Cheng Uk Playground now sits, so this film does provide some historical insight into what the estate looked like. I believe these blocks were the last to be built and also the last to be demolished. The site was cleared by the end of 1991 and the new park was completed a couple of years later.
2 comments:
The Shout hype is real. I'm trying to stay calm about the whole thing. Not going to buy the shout releases from America. Hopefully Eureka or 88 Films will release them in the UK. That should save me a ton of money. Looking forward to seeing you featured in the extras.
I'm hearing that they might be repackaged releases from a previous company, so perhaps nothing new other than making them available again? We shall see. I'm not willing to work for anyone with low enough standards to hire me haha
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