Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Olympic Bridge, Causeway Bay

Prompted by the recent news of Chuck Norris' passing, long time supporter of the blog, AP, asked me if I had ever managed to locate the place where the neon sign backlit fight scene took place during Forced Vengeance. The scene is played over the opening credits but is also part of the main story later in the film as Josh (Norris) and his two female companions are desperately trying to escape the bad guys.

I must admit I hadn't actually given it any thought at the time (back in 2014 when I first covered the film, I just assumed it was a studio set up), but a brief look at the scene has made it quite clear to me that it was filmed on what is known locally as "Olympic Bridge" in Causeway Bay. The footbridge spans Irving Street and Leighton Road and has, on the face of each step, a Summer Olympic games location followed by the year it was held. If you want to know why this was done you can read this Govt press release from 2002.

Anyway back in 1981, we see Norris and co running down Yee Wo Street towards the bridge, and then, as they walk up the bridge they are obstructed by one of the bad guys and the following fight scene is silhouetted by the bright neon Vitasoy advert on the building behind.

The neon sign was hanging on the building that used to stand right on the corner where the Causeway Bay Tram terminus loops around. It looks like the sign covered the front of #90 Yee Wo Street which has long since been replaced by the Regal Hong Kong Hotel. I haven't been able to find any 80s era images of the Vitasoy signage, but earlier versions appear to have existed since (at least) the 1960s. You can see an earlier version on this Gwulo image - it's behind the tram on the left.

Anyway, RIP to Chuck Norris.

The bridge seen from Yee Wo Street

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - No.8 Police Station, Sai Ying Pun

Continuing with Forced Vengeance, Josh is arrested by a corrupt cop (played by long time HK film stalwart, Jimmy Shaw) and taken to a police station. From here he is bailed out by a friend and as they leave the entrance a guy lines up a rifle to shoot. This was all filmed at what used to be a real police station on High Street in the Sheung Wan/Sai Ying Pun area. These days it is better known as the "David Trench Rehabilitation Centre". Sadly, some of the exterior features , including the bridge you can see below, has gone. Instead of the bridge there is now a large glass structure which serves as the new entrance/stairwell to the upper floor.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Braemar Hill Mansions, North Point

Some more revisitation of earlier films as I ponder which movie to cover next, and this time we go back to 1982 for Forced Vengeance.

One of the locations Josh (Chuck Norris) goes to to get some information about Ramandi is Braemar Hill Mansions. The place has two gated entrances, east and west. This is the east gate because the driveway goes uphill- the west entrance goes downhill. Just a few years before this was made this whole area (now Choi Sai WooPark) was part of Braemar Reservoir.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Tung Lo Wan Road, Causeway Bay

A latecomer from this film (this always seems to happen - a late identification) which involves part of the chase scene when Chuck and the gang get off the ferry and walk the streets. The problem is that despite the fact that they have boarded the ferry on HK-side and get off Kowloon Side, all of a sudden we are back HK-side looking at the corner of Tung Lo Wan Road where it intersects with Causeway Road/Leighton Road.

I've had to go back a couple of years inside GoogleMaps to find a decent picture because the current one shows the building in scaffolding with the neon signs removed. But go back a couple of years and we get the following view.

Look carefully and you can see that in 2011 (when this picture was taken) the neon sign that says PALWA in the film grab was still in evidence - albeit with a different business name inside the sign. But the outside shape is the same double parallelogram shape. The business with the pink neon signs is also still listed at the same address. The big characters actually say "通惠" (Tung Wai) and related to the lighting shop underneath who's full name was: 通惠電業公司 (you can just make out the name on the shop in the film). These days it seems to have adopted an English version.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Star Ferry, Central

Some Star Ferry nostalgia for those people who, like me, wish the service between Central and TST had never changed or moved. Such is life and the way local politicians show, time and again, how out of touch with most peoples' reality they really are.

Anyway, back in 1982, Chuck and the gang are on the run from the bad guys and hop on the ferry from Central over to Tsim Sha Tsui. Chuck even puts his neck on the line by performing his own stunt of jumping from the ferry pier onto the passing ferry.

The Hung Hom sign at the top is to remind everyone that from Central you had a choice of two destinations: Tsim Sha Tsui or Hung Hom. So I guess Chuck and the gang wanted to get the Hung Hom one but ended up at TST instead. They must have done some sneaky maneuvering to escape their pursuers. Anyway, here is where they ended up. I'm pretty sure it is TST-side but am willing to change my mind if someone knows better.

In case you are reading this and hadn't visited HK prior to 2006, you can click on the location link at the bottom of this post and see where the previous Star Ferry piers used to be sited. Of course it is now all under reclamation and the newly created Lung Wo Road.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

In one of the scenes when the guys are trying to find a hiding place, we get a few shots of various places around Hong Kong - as seems to be the norm with these chase sequences. Unfortunately, I can't identify some of the more obscure places but this following one should be fairly familiar with anyone who has visited.

It's Des Voeux Road Central at the junction with Ice House Street and hasn't changed much to this day. The bridge in the background is still around (though perhaps slightly remodeled), New Henry House on the left is pretty much as it is today as is the square windowed building behind the walkway (Gloucester Tower). But the facade immediately behind the tram is the Bank of East Asia, and it looks like the film crew caught it just as that particular frontage was just completed (the concrete looks a bit fresh).

Anyway, you can judge for yourself by looking at the following Streetview capture. What is nice to see in the above pictures though is that the single deck tram carriages were still in use at the time.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui

I've not seen too many films made up here, at least not on the car park (with the exception of this one), so it's nice that the film makers came here and shot on what I regard as one of the best vantage points to see the harbour (despite the lack of glamour associated with a car park).

Surprisingly, the rooftop up here has changed very little over the years - unlike the view it faces across the harbour which has probably doubled in height since Chuck was last here.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Shau Kei Wan Main Street, Hong Kong

Chuck's earlier trip to Shau Kei Wan wasn't completely frivolous because the film crew managed to squeeze off a couple of extra shots of his car as it passes the Tin Hau Temple along Shau Kei Wan Main Street East.

Here is the modern Streetview. At least the temple is still around as is, it seems, the buildings on the right hand side of the road.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

Blink and you'll miss it but when Chuck goes to visit his Vietnam war buddy, Leroy (played by Bob Minor), you are given the impression that we are in Aberdeen still, however, the background tells us we are actually in Aldrich Bay aka Shau Kei Wan.

Leroy lives in the white building above, right in front of the water. But when we look back we can see the distinctive shapes of Kowloon Peak on the left and the Anderson Road quarry at the right. Now if you look carefully at the area directly behind Chuck's head you will see some more excavation. This is actually Cha Kwo Ling and is where the entrance (Kowloon-side) of the Eastern Harbour Tunnel is. The tunnel didn't open until 1989, but the area looks bare because it was quarried and mined for many years (producing feldspar and quartz aggregate). If you pass this place today you won't see any of that type of activity, but you may recognise some of it from the opening of Double Impact.

Now, as can be expected, this part of HK has also seen lots of change and the waterfront has been beautified significantly, and so the closest I can get to a similar angle is the part of the waterfront directly in front of the Tam Kung Temple - on Tam Kung Temple Road.

Now, I'm not saying this was the exact position, but this is about as close I can get without physically going there. I haven't been there for a while, but if you do go to Shau Kei Wan you can a lot worse than visit the Museum of Coastal Defence. Great place and not far from here.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

A foreign produced movie in HK wouldn't be the same without some scenes from Aberdeen, right? And so it is with Chuck, whose girlfriend lives on a nice wooden junk moored in the harbour somewhere. Except, in Forced Vengeance we also get to see some land-side angles as well including a brief glimpse of the old HK Electric power station that used to sit where South Horizons is now (the power station was moved over the Lamma Island).

The high rises at the back were, and still are, the harbour facing blocks of the Ap Lei Chau Govt Housing Estate which was first occupied a couple of years prior to filming in 1980. Lei Chak House on the left and Lei Ning House on the right. We also get a view facing back towards Hong Kong side.

The white building centre right is actually part of the Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery, it's one of the Columbariums (that's an ashes storage building to you and me), and the high rises at the back mark the are where Aberdeen town is (there are plenty more high rises these days). The next two shots show the Ap Lei Chau road bridge, which wasn't actually opened properly until a year after this was filmed - so perhaps it was still under construction at this stage? The lower picture just gives us a more generous view of the aforementioned Pa Lei Chau Estate with the two closest blocks being Lei Moon House (upper and lower blocks) which also look to still be under construction at this stage.

This last shot shows Chuck working the small rib from his girlfriend's boat back to the harbour in the distance.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Po Tung Road, Sai Kung

Another quickie here, and back to Sai Kung for a brief shot of the car driving home. It's a night shot but there are some landmarks that made this identification a little easier. On the right is the block of apartments that face the road. I don't know if this block has a name or whether it just goes by its street numbers (which would be 50 -76 Po Tung Road). Anyway, the block (and its unseen neighbour behind it to the right) were built in 1975 - almost old-aged in HK terms!

Another clue is the 3-storey house on the left hand side of the road with the 1st and 2nd floor lights on. This building is also still around - although being a private village house there are no records of when it was built, but seems to have the address of #10 Po Tung Road.

The major difference you can see compared with the modern Streetview capture below is the absence of the apartment blocks in the distance. This is the twin towers of Sai Kung Garden which was built circa 1991 - hence why it was still an open space in 1982.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

I'll forgo the usual, cliched view of the plane coming in to land at Kai Tak for a different angle on the airport building that hasn't been seen so much on the pages of this blog. My own memories of the place are rather vague because I was only there under two circumstances - either arriving, in which case I was too excited to pay any attention, or leaving in which case I was too upset and depressed to be bothered with anything else.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - TyTam Villa, Tai Tam

Bruce Lee fans will recognise some of the scenes of the coastline where Chuck makes his final ascent to battle because this is the same area used in Enter the Dragon when the fighters leave their boat and disembark onto Han's Island.

Well, roughly the same area at least because you can see the stone jetty and pillbox that are seen in that film in the shot below (the ramp and pillbox are centre left). I'm sure Chuck probably knew that was where his former buddy, Lee, had filmed 10 or so years earlier.

Next up we see a small hut on the hillside with some guards at the entrance to an uphill path that leads to the boss's estate.

It's a bit over grown these days, so without physically going there it is hard to see if the hut is still around, but I suspect it is. The way it works in HK is that unless you will make a pile of money by knocking it down and redeveloping it, it stays intact - so my betting is that the hut is still standing along with that concreted ledge in the lower picture.

As if we needed anymore confirmation of the location, here is a shot of the area I have shown before in various places. It shows the three former mansions that occupied the top of the cliff before the American Club came along and knocked them all down to build their country club. The buildings are, in left to right order, Stanley Lodge, Tytam Villa and Palm Villa (the latter with the terraced tennis courts used in Enter the Dragon). The picture was taken circa 1982 - so about the same time as this filming - and I have circled the area we see on Forced Vengeance. Can you see the little hut? If you zoom in you can also make out the steps that lead up through the trees.

Anyway, the path leads up to...well, in the film it leads up to Tytam Villa, which serves as the big boss's lair. In reality I have no idea, it could have led to anyone of these three former great houses.

When I originally viewed this film I thought that Chuck may have been filming at Palm Villa, but on closer inspection (largely by looking at the window pattern and the existence of annexes either side) it seems that this garden and house were Tytam Villa.

It still looks in okay condition in the film, at least the grounds do, but it wouldn't be long before it was removed and the same spot now seems to house the main clubhouse of the American Club.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Tai Tam Tuk Pumping Station, Hong Kong

The first of a couple of posts from this area which sees the finale of the film as Chuck takes on the bad guys. The initial stage takes place on the baddies boat which is moored at the jetty right in front of the old pumping station, and we get to see the building itself as Chuck stages his one man ninja-like attack against multiple gun-toting foes. There is a little bit of history on the station here, and here are the screen captures.

And here are some other shots of the harbour (in the background) from the same fight scene.