Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Six Nation Restaurant, Macau

Staying in Macau but moving on to the next film, Pedicab Driver. It tells the story of a group of pedicab drivers (pedicabs are the Macau equivalent of rikshaws but involve pedal power rather than straight up running/pulling ability). You can still spot them in Macau much like you used to be able to spot rikshaws in Hong Kong - relegated to photo opportunities at the main tourist haunts (recall this post from January) - but no one rides them in Macau anymore.

The opening scene of the film takes place as two different factions of workers - drivers and labourers - argue over who should get what kind of work and the tense situation is tipped over the edge by a gormless chef (Eric Tsang) as he runs into the room carrying a chopper whilst trying to chase away some vermin.

The location of this scene was areal life restaurant called the 六國飯店 (Luk Kwok Jau Dim - the best translation is "Six Nation Hotel") - not to be confused with the same-name establishment in Hong Kong on which The World of Suzie Wong was supposedly based.

The entrance we see at the beginning of the film was located on Rua de Cinco de Outubro, just off the western end of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and this is the same entrance that Eric Tsang's character falls down as he runs away from the brawlers at the end of the scene.

I'm not sure what happened to the old block, but I suspect it has been torn down. Thankfully GoogleEarth has an image from 2008 which can be seen here (Chrome needed). But it appears that the restaurant closed circa 1990 - this could explain why the film crew were able to use it for filming - perhaps it had already closed by then? The entrance on Rua de Cinco de Outubro was blocked up and the byuilding appears to have sat empty for a long time. It's just another to add to my to-do list for when Macau finally opens up to non-gambling tourists again (who knows when?).

Rua de Cinco de Outubro

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau

We get a couple of views of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro during this earlier part of the film. There is a nice high view from da Mata's hotel room at the Central and one taken more or less where the first image is looking down onto, with the art deco Teatro Apollo on right side of the frame and its large Coke advert.

The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Hotel Central, Macau

When da Mata arrives in Macau, his troubled friend, Cindy, has booked him a room at the Hotel Central next to Largo do Senado. If you are wondering how old the hotel is, you can see it in the back of this location footage, shot by Dick Davol for the Robert Mitchum Macao film in the early 50s. Actually, the hotel was originally built in the 1920s, but only had 6 floors at the time. An additional 5 floors were added in the 1940s Coincidentally (or not) there are a couple of references to that film (Macao) in this one.

Painted Faces - Sammo Hung (1988) - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau

The last post for Painted Faces (short but sweet) as the troupe head back to the school and blag their way onto a bus by pretending to be the (multiple) sons of one of the company's bus conductors. One of the roads featured on their trip home (before they are caught and make their escape) was filmed in Macau and was shot along the well-used Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. This is the go-to road in Macau for production companies wanting a more historical Hong Kong (or Shanghai) feel. I think the opening of the scene starts on the waterfront (due to the presence of some distinctive arched verandahs that were common there) however, I've left that location out because I couldn't confirm 100%.

The screen cap below is looking west along the road from the waterfront junction, but Andi has also included a screencap from a few seconds later as the bus passes the Lee Kum Kee building.

It wouldn't surprise me if the whole bus ride sequence was shot in Macau in its entirety because the logistics of ferrying a full size double-decker bus between HK and Macau might've proved difficult.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais, Macau

After Yan has dropped off Ma for his court date, the next shot shows him walking up the steps of the Edifício do Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (aka Leal Senado building) on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro. And with this post I think we can consider Isabella more or less done.

Vengeance - Johnny Hallyday (2009) - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau

The next scene shows Johnny crossing Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro - the main drag in Macau lined by columned shophouse buildings. Actually, it pops up a couple of times in the film both here and during the finale as he pursues his enemies during the final stages of the shootout. The first pictures are from earlier in the film and show us looking west down the road towards the inner harbour area.

The second visit to the road is at the end of the film and Johnny is hit by a car as he chases the bad guys. The spot s actually just a few metres behind the one above (so probably filmed at the same time). The patterned columns in the background belong to the old landmark, the Hotel Central.

Macao - Robert Mitchum (1952) - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau

A brief but almost recognisable glimpse along the far (western) end of  Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro aka San Ma Lo. This is one of my favourite roads in Macau because it is largely lined along both sides with columned shop houses, including a couple of interesting pawn shops. Probably the most well-known film featuring this road was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Anyway, the view we get in this film is of the end that used to open out onto the inner harbour area with the less-than-salubrious but long closed down (and now derelict) Hotel Grande at the end. Despite the poor film quality, you can still make out some distinguishing features that give away the location including some of the cornice of the near archway and the extra high columns that support the front facade of the Hotel Grande building.

There's an interesting history to the aforementioned hotel, but I'll cover that in the next post where we see a bit more of it. Until then, here is the rough approximation of the modern view courtesy of Streetview. Note that the open end of the road is now blocked by the Sofitel. 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Harrison Ford (1984) - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau

Okay, so here is one that I can take a bit more of the credit for finding and it's the location of the car chase that immediately follows Indiana Jones' escape from Club Obi Wan as his car is pursued by Lao Che and his gun-toting henchmen.

What follows are brief glimpses of one of my favourite roads in Macau - Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro - or known locally as San Ma Lo (lit: new road). It's my favourite road because its lined with those great looking shophouse buildings on either side of the road - that's probably why the film makers thought it would be a good double for Shanghai (although I'm not sure how prevalent they were there).

So in no particular order we can start with the following screen grab which shows the baddies car driving past our first location. It's where the cars first pull onto San Ma Lo at the junction with Travessa do Mastro. It looks slightly different these days (no thanks to the truck obscuring the view in Streetview) but there are still some clues in there to make the match including the shape of the building on the right.

The next one is quite easy to spot because the building behind the car hasn't changed much at all, although now it is home to a company (or person?) called "Kuong Weng Wong". Look at the Streetview grab below and you can see the same shop on the left, by the open space.

Next up is a building that I actually once wrote a post about on my old blog and will (at some point in the near future) post it up again. It's the Cheung Tai Dai On pawnshop (Casa De Penhores) with its very distinctive arched front facade. It's unique along this road and so made it very easy to spot. You can see the lower part of it in the screen grab below (to the left of the car) and I have tried to match the angle on Streetview without much success.

Never mind, here is a closeup of it from a stitched photo I did a few years back. Sorry for the bend but that's just the old camera lens distorting it.

Actually, it was this building that initially helped me to figure out which road this filming was done on. I did read somewhere (I think an old Rough Guide from 1996) that the car chase was filmed on Rua De Felicidades, however, once I saw this building on  screen I knew that it wasn't correct. Some filming may have been done on that smaller road but I have to be able to positively identify anywhere.

Moving on to the next bit and we see a shot of Indy's car going up the road with a nice long row of shophouses in view. Believe it or not, some of the decor on the front of these shops can still be seen. In the screengrab below, the shop that is directly next to the Indy's car has a (what looks like) diamond pattern above the columns, and the one next to it (further away) has a striped board that can still be see.

So, we can see the same striped pattern on the fourth shop down on the right and the diamond pattern one shop closer to us. The cow on the modern Streetview corresponds to the shop second up from the right on the screen grab. If you look close enough under the cow you can see the same vertical grooves that can be seen on the film.

Finally, our last shot was taken a bit further on but looking back up the other way down the road. Look closely and you can see the same shops I just described, but now behind the baddies car in the background (well, at least the stripey- and diamond-patterned ones).

So it isn't too great a leap to get an almost similar angle on Streetview below - although the picture below does include a bit more. The red lettered column in the film grab above is actually the first grey column on the left (under the yellow horizontal banner).