Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Inter-Continental Plaza, East TST

The finale approaches as the three gangsters, armed with nothing but choppers, proceed to storm the rival gang's headquarters in Inter-Continental Plaza. This is one of the most brutal final battles I have ever seen with people just being chopped up left, right and centre. It's not for the faint-hearted. Suffice to say the outcome is pretty gruesome but absolutely is an understated classic and all props should be given to Wang Lung-wei for his direction. Let's hope this film gets a new release soon because it's a classic.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Trio Beach Fishing Ground, Sai Kung

Following the utter decimation of their ranks, the three remaining gangsters: Mad Wei (Leung Kar-yan), Playboy Lung (Norman Tsui) and Sergeant Lam (Cheung Kuen) retreat to a hideout located in a fish cultivation farm next to Hebe Haven. On Google Maps it's marked as the Trio Beach Fishing Ground. You can see Trio Beach in the background left of the top image. The current farm isn't quite as extensive as the one you see on film.

Shelter Island in the background

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Science Museum Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui

The attack moves to the far eastern end of Granville Road as Playboy's girlfriend sees him in trouble and joins the affray in her car. The Harbour Crystal Centre can be seen on the extreme right. On the left is a space for what is now Concordia Plaza, but at the time was still a bus terminus (remember this?). The building on the left with the large block jutting out above the ground floor is Woodcliffe Court (I believe this is accommodation for CLP workers but I could be wrong - the Tsim Sha Tsui Electrical Substation occupies the lower floors) and beyond that is the aforementioned (see here) "Pak Sui Yuen" belonging to the Polytechnic.

Speaking of the Polytechnic, I believe the low-rise, odd-shaped building in the bottom two images was a temporary buiilding for the HK Polytechnic Dental Technology department. That spot is now occupied by the north end of the history museum.

It's interesting to note that Science Museum Road was named long before the actual science museum was built there.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Granville Road, East TST

The attack on Playboy continues further along Granville Road. This section is at the end of the road next to the car park by Energy Plaza. In fact that's Energy Plaza in the background, although at the time (1985) I believe it was still going by its former name, "Great World Tower". The last image shows the view from the same place but looking towards the rear of Hilton Towers.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Cape Collinson Crematorium, Tai Tam Gap

Following the assassination of Han during the chaos of the previous attack, Boss Han is cremated at the Cape Collinson Crematorium. The area where the filming took place has since been redeveloped into a much bigger complex and nothing we see on screen remains.

Coincidentally (or not, seeing as there is only about 5 authorised crematoriums in HK) this is the location of Sir Run Run Shaw's cremation in 2014 (this is a Shaw film in case you weren't aware).

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei

The foot chase continues along Pitt Street as the badly injured Playboy Lung desperately tries to escape. He runs to the end of Pitt Street and jumps over the railings on Ferry Street onto a passing truck. Again, this area has changed a bit. The area around Ferry Street is now a large highway with a flyover sitting above it. The last image shows the truck driving off down Ferry Street with the Yaumatei Catholic Primary School in the background on the south side of the Fruit Market.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Wholesale Fruit Market, Waterloo Road

The planned attack on the rival gang goes awry when a pre-emptive attack by them takes place as Han's gang are getting ready. I haven't been able to work out where the main attack occurs - it's obviously a warehouse in the NT somewhere but has been edited to imply it is adjacent/nearby - but the subsequent aftermath of Playboy Lung being chased takes us to the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market as he struggles to escape multiple machete wielding attackers. The fight continues through the narrow lanes of the fruit stalls before spilling over onto Waterloo Road as he tries to escape. Believe it or not but this kind of stuff still goes on in Hong Kong today.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - site of Chinachem Golden Plaza, East TST

The intimidation and sabotage continues as Lan's men set fire to cars parked in a carpark owned and run by Han's gang.

This car park was located where Chinachem Golden Plaza now stands. What you are looking at is the carpark with Science Museum Road behind and beyond that a development that was called Pak Sui Yuen (百粹苑). This development was a residential tower for staff at the nearby Hong Kong Polytechnic (now PolyU). It was demolished circa 2007 to make way for the PolyU's teaching hotel, Hotel Icon.

Chinachem Golden Plaza was opened around 1988, so it probably started construction not long after this film was made.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Club Paris, Hilton Towers

Following the confrontation at the party, Lan decides to go all out and wreck Han's gang's businesses. One of his first acts is to release snakes into one of their night clubs. The club in question is "Club Paris" located in Hilton Towers in East TST. The establishing shot below shows us the view from the "Centenery Garden" circular fountain looking towards the corner of Hilton Towers where the club was located, with Autoplaza in the distance.

I believe this place closed down around the same time as Club BBoss, although in a strange twist of fate, that latter place has recently reopened under the new name of  Big Boss Generation.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The establishing shot for the restaurant/party scene where the two gang bosses meet up and argue was shot along Canton Road. Unfortunately it doesn't help me nartrow down the venue so that will remain a mystery for the time being (see my help page). Ocean Star restaurant is mentioned in the credits and so is a possibility but I'm not sure right now.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - 16 Watford Road, The Peak

The rival gang leader, Jiaxi Lan (Wong Chun), just arrived from the US to put his stamp on Hong Kong, lives in a large luxury house complete with garden pagoda, swimming pool and naked women splashing around in it. This property is located at #16 Watford Road on the south side of The Peak. It looks pretty much the same today, although the orange roof tiles have been removed and the current owner is happy with the white-washed concrete look.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Auto Plaza, East Tsim Sha Tsui

Following his altercation with the minibus driver and bumping into Mad Wei (Leung Kar-yan) who was a passenger on the bus, Playboy Lung drives them both to Auto Plaza where they meet up wth Sergeant Lam (Cheung Kuen) a fellow gang member who is also a policeman. This scene was filmed on the open, lower section of the carpark. I've since found out this building's original name was "Sino Square" and it was probably called this at the time of filming (the name change happened sometime after 1985).

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Science Museum Square, East Tsim Sha Tsui

This is where Playboy Lung (Norman Tsui) gets into a fight with a minibus driver.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - View over East Tsim Sha Tsui

The next film up is the absolutely batshit crazy Hong Kong Godfather, the 1985 one directed by none other than Johnny Wang Lung-wei. It's Chinese name is 尖東梟雄 (tsim1 dung1 hiu1 hung4) which helps to differentiate it from the 1991 Golden Princess film of the same name.

This film centres around an avuncular triad boss, Han (played by Shek Kin and perhaps riffing off his character name from Enter the Dragon), and his various enforcers, Playboy Lung (Norman Tsui), Sergeant Lam (Cheung Kuen), Rotten Chi (Shum Wai) and finally, the now retired-from-gang-life, Mad Wei (Leung Kar-yan). Rotten Chi basically lives up to his nickname and feels hard done by compared to the others and agrees to work for a rival gang to bring down Boss Han and help the new gang take over East Tsim Sha Tsui. The story follows Chi's inept attempts at taking down his rivals, and starting a gang war that ends with the three sworn brothers storming the HQ of the rival gang in one of the most intense and gory action sequences I have seen in a long time. John Woo has his "Bullet Ballet"and Johnny Wang Lung-wei establishes himself in this film as the king of "Machete Mayhem". The last 10 minutes or so of the film is just utterly relentless. Anyway, if you fancy a watch, someone uploaded it to the Internet Archive (i.e. it's downloadable).

The film opens (and ends) with a nice view across to East TST (where much of the action takes place). This is the view taken from the roof of Chevalier House on the west side of Chatham Road South. The long ornamental pool is part of the former Urban Council Centenary Garden that readers of my old, now defunct, history-based blog will know features columns from the old Kowloon train terminus. Auto-plaza is on the right and Inter-Continental Plaza is on the left. Both feature in the film.