The Head Hunter - Chow Yun Fat (1982) - French Mission Building, Central

Next up is The Head Hunter, a 1982 Seasonal production starring Chow Yun Fat as Yuen Lik, a Vietnamese refugee in Hong Kong who earns his keep by carrying out assassinations for a corrupt film producer (Tang Ching). He goes about doing his bosses bidding until he falls for a local TV journalist (Rosamund Kwan) who is investigating a string of mysterious deaths.

I first saw this film when it was included on the "Millcreek Entertainment 100 Greatest Martial Arts Classics" collection. The print was fairly poor so I never really watched it with much concentration and only recently, after realising one of the filming locations was of significant interest to me, gave it another go via a copy uploaded to the Internet Archive. The quality was just as poor, as you'll see by the screencaps, but the story is quite good and anything with Chow Yun Fat is always worth a watch.

The film starts with an assassination by one of Yuen's friends/compatriots, but the assassin is killed afterwards by the police and Yuen believes his friend let himself get caught deliberately to escape his similar predicament. This scene was shot in the area located between the old Govt Office Main Wing, St John's Cathedral and the French Missionary Building (formerly used as the  Court of Final Appeal). That's the French Missionary building on the right of the top image. I have no idea if the cannon is still at the top of the steps that leads up the the old Govt office building.

I believe the lower image was shot in front of the East Wing section of the building, but happy to be corrected. The buildings are now part of the Justice Department.

Die Sieben Masken des Judoka - Heinz Drache (1967) - Garden Road, Central

After the meeting at the US Consulate (which was actually the Hilton Hotel), the two cross Garden Road and pick up a cab. The consulate has had a complete external makeover since then including a large foreboding wall (it was also recently revealed that the land it is on has the longest lease in China - courtesy of the very awesome David Webb). Down the road the view was once very open. You can  see the old Govt HQ east wing on the left, but these days the whole road, and view, is crowded with skyscrapers.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Garden Road, Central

Some car action around Central takes in some of the sites along Garden Road including the US Consulate and the old Govt offices East Wing where the road joins with Lower Albert Road. The interesting thing about the Consulate is that in the 1977 it still had the external balconies - no doubt removed for security purposes and to give the place a rather more imposing appearance.

Looking up (south) Garden Road

 

The old front of the US Consulate

The view to Lower Albert Road and East Wing

Looking down (north).

You can just catch a glimpse of the Murray Building's columns in the lower picture. This former office block is currently being turned into a hotel.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - St John's Cathedral, Central

A brief wander through the grounds around St John's Cathedral and what was once the Central  Govt Offices.

I haven't been up here for a while so I am not sure what is happening the the old Govt offices now that everything has moved over to the new complex near Admiralty station. I'll try and grab some comparison snaps the next time I am in Central.