This Time I'll Make You Rich - Brad Harris (1974) - North Point, Hong Kong

The opening and closing titles have a helicoptered shot of what looks to be a part of Hong Kong island's northern coastline panning from left to right (east to west). However, after reviewing it I was scratching my head trying to pace all the buildings. The only clue I had was the initial picture that featured what appeared to be the twin chimneys of the old North Point Power Station. Here is the sequence as it appears on film. You can see the smoking chimneys in the very top picture.

It wasn't until the last couple of frames though that the clue to the sequence pops up. The large block in the bottom of the last picture is one of the blocks in the now demolished North Point Estate. The estate was in fact to the east of the power station, so, what we have at the end of this film is a bit that has been spliced in back to front. The film negative has obviously been flipped when it was all edited together (we've seen the same phenomenon several times on the blog leading me to think it is ignorance of HK geography as the main cause). So, I flipped all the grabs and now if the film had been run properly, the sequence would pan from west to east (right to left).

So, now that balance has once again been restored to the universe, we can say goodbye to this film and move onto the next...

This Time I'll Make You Rich - Brad Harris (1974) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

The next location is Port Shelter in Sai Kung. The cash hungry duo agree to take a briefcase out on a boat without realising that inside is a bomb intended to blow them up. The first picture shows their boat heading out from Hebe Haven area into Port Shelter. The island on the left is Shelter Island with the Clearwater Bay peninsula in the far distance.

The reverse angle, over Harris' head, shows the familiar ridgeline above Sai Kung with Pyramid Hill forming the left most point. The pursuing police launch gives up the chase after the explosion and stops at what appears to be the southern end of Sharp island.

Buffalo Hill ridgeline at the back

This Time I'll Make You Rich - Brad Harris (1974) - Kellet Island, Causeway Bay

This was one of those films that was proving difficult to get hold of until I was pointed in the direction of Youtube. It's a Shaw's/Italian co-production (original title is: Questa volta ti faccio ricco!) and was made the same year as Shatter, so Shaws were fairly busy with international co-productions that year.  In fact, if you are a really keen Shaws fan, you may remember one of the scenes in the 1975 BBC Shaws documentary Fists of Fire. It captured some behind-the-scenes footage of a fight in a gymnasium shot for this film.

Brad Harris is one of the two main protagonists (the other being Antonio Sabato), although for some bizarre reason he is given the stage name "Robin McDavid". Regular readers may remember Harris' name from a  couple of German productions I looked at last year: Weiße Fracht für Hongkong and Heisser Hafen Hongkong.

Harris was one of the early 60's bodybuilding stars who made his name in toga films - similar to Steve Reeves - and went on to act (and stunt - he is a Stunt Hall of Fame inductee) for a plethora of films in various countries: German productions in the 60s, Italian productions in the 70s, and he was even in Challenge of the Tiger - a Bruce Le film released in 1980. Sadly, he just passed away in November 2017 at the sprightly age of 84. RIP Brad Harris.

Although pitched as made in Hong Kong, after watching the film it's quite apparent that the majority of exterior shots were actually filmed in Taipei in Taiwan. The HK-based locations, as we will see, were limited to just a couple of places, excluding the gym fight filmed at the Shaw studios.

The main location, seen throughout the film, is the beach area next to the Hong Kong Yacht Club on Kellet Island. Look at the right of the top picture and you can see a concrete structure that I believe is a vent for the Cross harbour tunnel. You also get a decent view of the typhoon shelter and the buildings of North Point at the back, as well as the concrete breakwater and yacht club clubhouse.

Look closely at the lower picture and you might just be able to make out the chimney of North Point power station. There is also the odd view south towards the Excelsior hotel. It's easily identifiable in these shots despite the slightly poor picture quality.