All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Avenida da Amizade, Macau

Another shot from the race finale as Ah Long races his bike around the R-Bend of the Guia Circuit. It's the home straight of the circuit but in usual times is the Avenida da Amizade. These days the view to the peninsula in the background (that's the still-standing Grand Lapa on the left hand side of the top image) is blocked by the current ferry terminal and it's associated road infrastructure.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Estrada de San Francisco, Macau

For those who haven't already seen it, the denouement of this film takes place on the street-based racing circuit that runs around peninsula Macau. The Macau Grand Prix is a long-standing and very popular event and once every year the streets are closed off as the various races get underway.

From a practical point of view the film had to be filmed during one of the real Grand Prix (not sure the Macau Govt would have allowed these major roads to be closed for anything other than that event) along the proper, so-called, Guia Circuit. It's an autumn-based event so I expect this part of the film was filmed in the autumn of 1988.

Anyway, in the first of a few street scenes as the bikers race around the course, we get a few glimpses of Macau, starting with the Military Club building along Estrada de San Francisco.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Lung Kwu Tan, Tuen Mun

The beach where Ah Long, Porky and Sylvia go to prior to the race is located at the westernmost part of Hong Kong's New Territories at a place called Lung Kwu Tan.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Tai O Mun Road, Sai Kung

A day out with mum and dad and we see everyone in Sylvia's car going for a ride along Tai O Mun Road in Clearwater Bay. It's a fairly deserted road at most times because its destination is the rather exclusive Clearwater Bay club. Look carefully and you will see Steep Island in the background as well as the part of the Clearwater Bay headland that houses the club's golf course.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Ocean Park, Hong Kong

Sylvia takes her new-found son there for a day out and then proceeds to puke after her ride on the rollercoaster. I haven't been here for nearly ten years and lots has changed and my understanding is that both of these rides have since closed down.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

Porky goes to spend the weekend with his mum at a local hotel. Except that for some reason the director, Johnnie To, has pulled the wool over our eyes and gone all the way to Singapore (a 3.5 hour flight from Hong Kong) to capture these scenes at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Raffles Avenue.

Why was this done? The only explanation I have is that To wanted a hotel with a vast interior that he just couldn't find in Hong Kong. I'm sure a HK film aficionado may be able to provide the real reason. But anyway, the exterior scenes as Ah Long drives Porky to the hotel front, as well as the lobby scenes when Porky goes to meet Sylvia, were all filmed in Singapore. I've included them here just for completeness.

There is also a later scene where another switch is done as Sylvia looks out over Happy Valley and then the next scenes shows a view from the roof of this hotel (bottom image). I'll include that again when I cover the Happy Valley location.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Shatin Inn, Tai Wai

Sylvia and Ah Long head off to the Shatin Inn for a drink and a chat and it's here where Sylvia finds out the truth about Porky. The Shatin Inn is a real place and was quite famous for its satay sticks. I haven't been out this way for a couple of years so I have no idea whether or not it has survived the pandemic measure. At the time the film was made the place was on the main Tai Po Road between Kowloon and Shatin, but the whole road system here has since been remodelled and that old part of Tai Po Road now forms the dead end route up to Shatin Heights i.e. it no longer benefits from through traffic coming down Tai Po Road.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - New Clear Water Bay Road, Kowloon

Sylvia is beginning to suspect who Porky really is and so goes to see Ah Long at his workplace at the quarry. He agrees to go for a talk and the pair ride off on Ah Long's scooter. A quick view of them riding along a main road was taken along New Clear Water Bay Road at the bottom of Kowloon Peak area.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The street where Ah Long plays a trick on Porky and pulls his shorts down. The Tai Woo Restaurant was located on the ground floor of Wong Tat Wing Court at #14-16 Hillwood Road (Open Rice thankfully keeps a database of closed venues). In this image we are looking west back towards Nathan Road.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Lobster Bay Kite Flying Site, Clearwater Bay

The filming (for whatever Porky auditioned for) takes place on the open flat piece of land on top of the Lobster Bay promontory. It's been a few years since I ventured out this way, but the last time I was there it was completely deserted - certainly no one was flying kites. It's well worth a trip down here if you eventually make it out to HK because there were a tonne of overseas and local movies made in and around the area. There may or may not be lobsters in the bay, but all I can remember after diving there was an old car wreck.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Hong Garden, Ho Man Tin

Throughout several flashbacks, Sylvia and Ah Long recall the circumstances of their failed relationship from ten years before. In one scene, Sylvia is kicked from the family home by her mother and is picked up by Ah Long. The location of Sylvia's home is Hong Garden on Ho Man Tin Street. You can see the building name (康園) on a sign next to the main gate. It looks more or less the same today. The only thing that has changed is the metal gate.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Energy Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back in the 1980s Energy Plaza was quite famous in the action film world thanks to the top floor gym run by Eddie Maher (who recently passed away unfortunately) as well as Michael Wong being dangled from the top for Royal Warriors (although, when I saw it back in the 1980s it was called Police Assassins). Anyway, in All About Ah Long it's the office block where Sylvia's office is located and where Ah Long goes to sign the contract following Porky's successful audition, unaware that he is about to come face-to-face with his old girlfriend.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Yuen Long Industrial Estate, Yuen Long

At various points in the film we see an area where the motorbikes are practising. The first time is when Ah Long goes to see his friend, played by Ng Man Tat. In the initial scenes the area is a bit non-descript but it pops up again later in the film with a large clue to its location in the background. The first two images below are from the first time we see the area in the film but the bottom image is from later on in the movie (you can tell because Chow Yun Fat has had a hair cut). Note the building just behind Chow's head. It looks like an old house with a belvedere on the roof.

There are a few old buildings like this in Hong Kong (Jessville for example, but there used to be many more), but this one looks suspiciously like the Yu Yuen mansion in Yuen Long. Low-and-behold, in the background are some industrial buildings that (some) still stand along Wang Yip Street West in Yuen Long. This means it is Yu Yuen and the location where the bike track is located is the Yuen Long Industrial Estate - before it was constructed. It looks like the bikes were doing a circuit of Wang Lee and Wang Lok Streets because they did exist in 1989, even though the estate buildings had yet to be constructed.

Yu Yuen is still standing as far as I know, but how long it will be there is anyone's guess. Most of these old grand mansions in the New Territories have long since been redeveloped.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Lam Tei Quarry, Tuen Mun

Ah Long's day job is as a labourer at the local quarry, in this case at Lam Tei in the hills above Tuen Mun. When I first posted these screencaps many years ago, I hadmistakenly assumed it wasAnderson Road Quarry, but the peaked hill and mast in the background shows me it is Lam Tei. Correction made.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Yau Yat Chuen School, Yau Yat Chuen

Ah Long's son, Porky, is dropped off at school. The location used is the Yau Yat Chuen School in Yau Yat Chuen.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Water Street, Sai Ying Pun

Despite just heading east along Bonham Road, the next shot shows the pair turning down Water Street towards Queen's Road West.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Bonham Road, Sai Ying Pun

During the opening credits as Ah Long takes Porky to school there is a shot of the pair as they ride along Bonham Road. In the background you can see the main entrance of King's College at the top of Western Street.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Li Chit Street, Wanchai

Whilst I wait for a hard-to-get-hold-of movie to come back from the digital transfer guy, I thought it would be a good idea to repost my All About Ah Long locations. I had removed them (and many more) when I decided focus the blog on foreign movie productions, but now I have set up a different section for local movies I can reinstate some of the older ones that didn't fit at the time.

The movie is about a former criminal, Ah Long (Chow) and his ex-girlfriend Porpor (Sylvia Chang) and their son Porky. It was shot in both Hong Kong and Macau, and for some streange reason that I can't fathom out, also includes a very brief moment that was actually filmed in Singapore. I can only summise that perhaps there was some tax break afforded for the shoot there because the location is still supposed to be in Hong Kong. It's a weird one, but I will include it even though I generally tend to ignore anything outside of HK/Macau (there have been exceptions). Anyway, there's also some later scenes for bike fans shot at the Macau GP (I assume 1988?).

First up is Ah Long's apartment in Li Chit Street in Wanchai. The buildings along here were recognisable due to the curved shape of the balconies but they were all knocked down in the early 90s to make way for a new development (Li Chit Garden) that actually straddles where the road used to be located and essentially pedestrianised the old road space. In a sort of weird and poorly informed nod to these old Chinese tenements, the Govt constructed some weird fake building facades to remind everyone of what they just demolished.