Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin

Michael chases after the gangster boss (Shing Fui-on) in a car. The first road we see them driving along is Tai Chung Kiu Road in Shatin. In the background is the City One development, and on the right hand side is Ravana Garden under construction, or so it looks. If so, this pushes the filming time back to 1988.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Yucca de Lac, Shatin

Michael goes to kill the rival gang boss (played by Shing Fui-on) at a formerly famous local alfresco restaurant. This was the "Yucca de Lac" located off Tai Po Road next to the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin District. It was still operating when I first came to Hong Kong but sadly I never made it there to eat. The place has reopened a venue up in the Peak Galleria but I feel that the main appeal of the place was its large terrace with nice views overlooking Tide Cove and Tolo Harbour. It was a popular filming location for local movies in the 1960s but I've only featured it once on the blog previously. The place was closed circa 2005 and the land was sold off and redeveloped into an expensive gated community - called "De Yucca" - with luxury townhouses.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Queen's Pier, Central

Queen's Pier is the location where Michael is sent to kill Moon as she stands looking across the harbour at the signboards on Ocean Terminal.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Sun Hung Kai Centre, Wanchai

There are a couple of scenes shot outside the Sun Hung Kai Centre in Wanchai, such as the one in the top image as Michael, waiting for Moon, is being spied on by the boss's daughter. The lower image shows Mr Oto (Mark Houghton) leaving the same building.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Mount Davis Battery

Moon is lured to a secluded location where she is ambushed by the gang's boss and her henchmen - only to be saved by Michael. This whole sequence was filmed at the old Mount Davis battery at the west end of Hong Kong Island. The battery structures are still preserved, and these microwave station facilities are still there.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Soares Avenue, Ho Man Tin

We stay in Ho Man Tin, and on Soares Avenue, as one of the club girls, coerced into being an escort, has made a plan to escape with the help of one of her friends. However, they are caught by Michael just as they are about to drive off. This sequence was filmed on Soares Avenue. This is the street we see in the first image as the girl crosses the road to her waiting friend. The car is parked on Emma Avenue.

Soares Avenue, looking south east. Pentecostal Tabernacle just behind her.

The junction with Emma Avenue

Looking east along Emma Avenue as the car drives off

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - San Francisco Path, Ho Man Tin

The gang finally catch up with her in San Francisco Path, just off Soares Avenue, and a fight ensues. I've tried to pin the path for the location at the bottom of the post, but in case it snaps to nearby buildings, the path is easily viewed on Streetview because someone went down there with a camera. 

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Julia Avenue, Ho Man Tin

Despite the club front being located in Wanchai on Tonnochy Road, the rear of the club appears to be located in Ho Man Tin. Quite impressive. The newest member of the Blue Angels, passing herself off as a man, is caught snooping in the manager's office and is chased away, first down Julia Avenue, and then along Soares Avenue. That 7-11 was still there until around 2009.

Looking at Julia Avenue from Soares Avenue

Soares Avenue

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Garden Hill, Shek Kip Mei

We were at this location not so long ago for Bullet in the Head. This is the levelled off top of Garden Hill that now serves as a "sitting out area", but back then it served the purpose of holding one of the warning lights for the Kai Tak approach. That's the brick pyramid structure you can see. I went here a few years ago and it was a mixture of feral dogs and old people doing exercise. The view from here has change immensely and the pyramid and light are long gone. Remember from my linked post that there used to be vehicular access via Chak On Road South but this was blocked off when they constructed the adjacent reservoir. These days the only way up here is via a few sets of quite steep steps. This is the favoured meeting place of the various factions of the gang.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Wanchai Bus Terminus

Michael (Gordon Liu) has some sort of attachment to Yau Li (Moon) that makes him protective of her despite his ruthless reputation and his growing awareness that she might be more than just a nightclub singer. He gives her a lift home one night but has to stop part way at the old Wanchai Bus Terminus when he is called back to the club by the daughter of his gangster boss (Leung Kar-yan). 

This place stayed reasonably unchanged until recently despite the redevelopment of the shorefront. However, these pedestrian bridges have now been removed. We go back to the same location later in the film when the boss's daughter tries to kill Yau Li, so the following images are a mixture of both sequences.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - New Tonnochy Nightclub, Wanchai

The gang's night club is located in Wanchai - the film uses the real location of the New Tonnochy Nightclub. I believe this was located on the west side of the road where it meets with Jaffe Road. This is simply because the current road sign, lamp post and taxi stand match the screencap below. The older Streetview images show that there was a "Club Tonnochy" here in 2009/2011. The building it was housed in though is the same one as 1989 - Block A of Tonnochy Tower.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - #4740 Tai Po Road, Tai Po Kau

This property has appeared before on the blog. Here is the reminder: Bruce Lee in G.O.D. In this film, it is the safe house where the informer is taken by the Blue Angels.

It's been a while since I was up this way (at least 10 years) and I notice from recent images that the whole area where the house was located has been razed. No doubt the various detached properties here were bought up by a single developer and we will see a small gated townhouse development appear sometime in the future. I'm not sure of the state of this particular property but the whole area has disappeared from local maps and in the most recent Streetview the main gate was already sealed with wire fencing. So I assume it has already been demolished.

This film shows a bit more of the property including the interior and adjacent pool area.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Fo Tan Road, Fo Tan

Following his arrival in Hong Kong, the triad defector is being looked after by the police when they are attacked by his former gang and he is kidnapped. This whole sequence appears to have been filmed in Fo Tan. The first image shows the far end of Fo Tan Road as the car turns into Kwei Tei Street. The latter is where the rest of the action takes place.

Fo Tan Road

Shan Mei Street seen from Kwei Tei Street

Kwei Tei STreet with the Yale Industrial Centre behind

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Kai Tak Airport

Next up is a 1989 Moon Lee film called Killer Angels. It centres around a squad of super-skilled female law enforcers called the "Blue Angels" who take on work mere mortal cops are unable to. They are tasked with protecting a triad informant who has arrived in Hong Kong to try and make a deal with his former gang buddies. Yau Li (Moon) goes undercover to the HK gang's nightclub operation to spy on some of the members. The gang's lethal enforcer, Michael (Gordon Liu), has some sort of (unexplained) attachment to her from sometime in the past.

According to IMDB, the Ultra Force 1 title seen below is from a German bootleg.

Anyway, first up is the airport as the informant arrives in Hong Kong and is taken into protective custody.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Garden Road, Central

I'll finish this film off with a nice, not often-seen view looking north down Garden Road, from a vantage point around where the road bends...most likely from the pavement on Robinson Road. The first image below is actually a stitch of a vertical panning shot. 

In the background you can see the upper floors of the Murray Building - former Govt offices recently turned into a hotel - "The Murray". In the foreground on the right hand side (with angular balconies) is the previous YWCA building. I'm not sure when it was redeveloped but the YWCA now has a much bigger property at this location. There's still a pedestrian bridge at the same location but I'm not sure if it's the same one. If it is (I think it is) then the footprint of the YWCA has changed slightly because in this image it looks as though the slope of the bridge finished flush with the side of the YWCA. These days the YWCA site is slightly to the right, freeing up some additional pavement.

The building in the right foreground is the old St John Ambulance building on the corner of Macdonnell Road. Again, this has since been redeveloped into a much larger HQ building called St John Tower.

This image below just shows the view past the bend in the road. The small hut is long gone and I think it was probably related to the St John Ambulance building. Feel free to comment if you know.