Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Salisbury Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui

The overseas policemen leave the meeting and are given a motorbike escort out of the East TST hotel area and onto Salisbury Road. Not much has changed here other than the hotel names. The Harbourview is now the Intercontinental Grand Stanford, and the Hotel Nikko is the previously mentioned New World Millennium.

Harbourview Hotel on the right (now IC Grand Stanford)

Hotel Nikko, now the NW Millennium

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel, East TST

Bullet for Hire, released in 1991, is a story about triad hitmen, Ngok (Lo Lieh), Han (Simon Yam) and Shan (Jacky Cheung), working for a ruthless and cunning boss (Dick Wei). The older of the hitmen, Ngok is feeling his age and so boss man brings in new guy, Shan, to assist Han. Their relationship starts off a bit rocky, but Han soon gets to like and trust Shan.

At the beginning of the film a delegation of overseas police (I think they are supposed to be Interpol) come to Hong Kong to meet with the local police brass concerning the increasingly international triad problem. The meeting takes place in East TST in what is now the New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel but at the time of filming was the "Hotel Nikko HongKong".

A big thanks to Matthew Essary (@wheelscritic.bsky.social) on Bluesky for providing me with a copy for review.

Chinchem Golden Plaza is opposite the hotel

She Shoots Straight - Joyce Godenzi (1990) - Club BBoss, East TST

The establishing shot for the night club raid used a shot of the entrance of what was to become Club BBoss. The venue has had an interesing history over the years. Originally called "Club Volvo" (it can be seen in this form in Blade in Hong Kong), however, Volvo (the car company) found out and proceeded to sue the owners. Volvo won and the club owners agreed to change the club name to "Club Borubo" (Borubo was the Japanese pronunciation of "Volvo"). This occurred sometime around 1990 - and it's possibly this form of the club that can be seen in the images below.

The neon lights on the exterior in the shots below are significantly more extravagant than when the club was "Volvo", and even when it was "BBoss". If you look carefully though you can see the original neon signage behind the front section. So, a question for TST experts - was this the signage for when it was Club Borubo, or is this a prop stuck on the front for the film?

Anyway, the club became Club BBoss in the 90s and stayed that way until it closed down around ten years ago (as I write in 2026). It was recently reinvented and reopened as "Club Big Boss Generation" at the same venue, but I believe this life was short-lived and it closed down again within 2 months due to investor in-fighting.

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) - 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) - Joy Coming Lounge, Granville Road

Following the funeral of Boss Han, Playboy goes to make peace with Rotten Chi at a bar he runs. The bar was a real place called "Joy Coming" and was located on the ground floor of the Harbour Crystal Centre on Granville Road. It's here where Rotten Chi's men attack him, despite him already being severely injured from the previous gang attack at the fruit market. The only mention I have found online about this club stems from a court case five years after this film was made, when a policeman confronted a knife wielding gangster who was chasing passersby - quite apt considering this scene in the film - and was apprehended after he went into the bar (read all about it here). There's a reason why many triad films in HK use East TST as a base location...it is full of triad run and protected businesses.

The English name of the bar is a play on the Cantonese pronunciation as the first two words of the Chinese name are 醉琴 (pronounced "joy kam") where "joy" (醉) is the word for being drunk. The Cantonese love their puns.

I have no idea when the place closed down but it was a long time ago. The current space is occupied by a vets/animal hospital.

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) - 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.

Aegan - Ajith Kumar (2008) - East Tsim Sha Tsui Podium Garden

In a first for the blog I have finally tracked down a copy of the Indian film, Aegan, which has been on my to do list for quite some time, and then subsequently forgotten about. Luckily someone has uploaded it to Youtube in HD and I can now look at the Hong Kong-shot scenes that occur at the beginning of the movie. Don't ask me to explain the plot, I'm not a big fan of Indian cinema - there's just too much singing and dancing for my liking - but in general it's about some sort of supercop called Shiva (Ajith Kumar) who is sent back to school to protect a VIP whilst also looking for a wanted criminal (I think). I have no idea what the Hong Kong scene has to do with the main plot other than to showcase Shiva's expert fighting skills as he takes out a HK-based Indian gangster called Iqbal.

Anyway, the sequence kicks off with the kidnapping of a Chinese businessman at the podium garden in East TST. This place was repurposed as the "Garden of Stars" whilst the "Avenue of Stars" was being refurbished, but has since returned to just a normal ornamental HK-style open space (garden is always a very generous term for these places in HK).

Just Heroes - David Chiang (1989) - Salisbury Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui

There's a quick in-car driving scene between Jacky (Stephen Chow) and Tai (Chen Kuen Tai) as they discuss the fact that Sou has been given the leadership of the organisation. The scene starts with an overhead view taken from a pedestrian bridge spanning Salisbury Road.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Mody Road, East TST

One of the aerial views as Kingkong zooms around on his flying machine is one of the East TST section of Mody Road. The pedestrian bridges are still there but the one further away (actually, the one in image 3) has had the slope removed and replaced by a lift instead. That's the same bridge that Jackie Chan watches Wing On Plaza from at the end of Police Story (see the top image in this post).

The same footbridge Jackie uses for surveilling at the end of Police Story

Royal Warriors - Michelle Yeoh (1986) - Energy Plaza, East Tsim Sha Tsui

So, the centrepiece stunt of this film involves Michael sacrificing himself to save Michelle from the remaining baddy, Bandana (played by Pai Ying - a regular actor in many of my favourite King Hu films). Suspended from the top of Energy Plaza by a rope, the baddy attempts to lure Michelle up with the dangling victim. What follows is a slo-mo wire fall by a very awesome stuntman, but I feel it could have been made more realistic if he flailed about more slowly because his moves make the fall seem slower than intended (i.e.makes the wire use more obvious). Anyway, this was all done at the top of Energy Plaza in East Tsim Sha Tsui. Props to Michael Wong for what looks like being actually dangled  upside down from the top of the building.

We get some good high views of the surrounding area, including the plot of empty land where the Science Museum would be built. The phone box that features in the scene was located along this east section of Granville Road.

Looking down onto Granville Road, East Ocean Centre on the right

Looking from Granville Road back to Energy Plaza

The most emotion Michael Wong has ever shown on film

Fun fact: Eddie Maher (who played an arms dealer in this movie) owned a gym at the top of Energy Plaza (Energy Gym? please feel free to correct). It seems it was a bit like the Hong Kong version of Golds Gym. Instead of famous bodybuilders though, all the 80s action stars went there to workout including the likes of Sammo, Yeoh and Donnie Yen etc. It was the place to be and be seen. Maher passed away in March 2019.

Legacy of Rage - Brandon Lee (1986) - Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui

Phew! Brandon finally catches up with the bus at the southern end of Chatham Road South. The giveaway is the New World Centre behind. All that has now been demolished and replaced by the godawful new K11 malls.