The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Hyatt Regency Hotel

To Fat's obnoxious foreign passenger is dropped off at the old Hyatt Regency (formerly The President) Hotel on the Lock Road side where the vehicular ramp was located. This has since been replaced by iSore...sorry, I mean iSquare - a vapid, glass mall whose only attraction to me at the moment (until it closes) is a branch of Marugame Seimen. I'll be back to update this post after its inevitable closure (because...Hong Kong) to say that there is no longer anything in the mall worth visiting.

Codename: Wildgeese - Lewis Collins (1984) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Peking Road is another one of those places that keeps cropping up - just follow this link to see it on several films including The Protector, Enter the Dragon, The Amsterdam Kill and many more.

It's been filmed from several angles, but the most recognisable is the one below looking west back towards Nathan Road with the Club Tasogare sign hanging over the middle. The club has long gone (replaced by Delaney's sole remaining pub) but the general feel of the road persists.

Those of you with keen eyes may also spot the half-hidden Regency Hotel (demolished and replaced by iSquare) as well as the sign for the famous Red Lips bar that was hidden up the alleyway between buildings on the left hand side.

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A quick post regarding the former Hyatt Regency Hotel (and The President Hotel before that) demolished in 2006 and replaced by the perennially ugly iSquare mall. It's a brief glance during the opening credits of the film - hence the obscured screen capture.

The hotel is the building on the left with the flag poles above the bus, so this view is looking north up Nathan Road.

Roaring Fire - Hiroyuki Sanada (1982) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

In possibly one of the greatest action scenes from the early 80's - and in what appears to be a scene later heavily borrowed from by Jackie Chan in Police Story 2 - Joji (Sanada) jumps on board a double-decker bus to escape his pursuers.

What follows is some pretty cool fighting and some impressive physical stunts being played out along the lower section of Nathan Road in TST. Yes, this IS the same chase scene that just a few seconds ago saw him jumping over the wall of Man Mo Temple over on HK Island - movie world geography once again taking liberties with physical geography.

So, first Sanada climbs out of the window of the upper level (he's already had a fight on the lower one) and onto the roof.

Notice the planetarium dome in the background and the corner of the Peninsula Hotel just visible on the right of the screen. In 1982 the rest of the Cultural Centre and Museum of Art had yet to be built. He's then followed up there by his numerous attackers and a big fight ensues with no one falling off.

On this second shot we can see the Peninsula at the end of the road and immediately behind it (the next building along towards the camera) was most likely the former Peninsula Court hotel in its very last year of operation before being demolished to make way for the Kowloon Hotel. Somewhere closer to us behind that would be Prestige Tower and the building with the extended part jutting over the pavement looks to be Alpha House. That would make the MTR exit at the bottom right exit E.

At last we make it up to where the old Hyatt Hotel stood (formerly The President Hotel) and the rather well-known Emperor Watch and Jewellery sign that used to hang outside. The flags on the left side mark the Nathan Road entrance to the hotel - nowadays the hotel site is occupied by the iSore...sorry, I mean iSquare Mall. Sanada grabs onto the bottom of it to escape.

He then hangs on twenty feet above the road and waits for another passing bus before dropping on to its roof.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The Emperor sign along the lower end of Nathan Road was a landmark for quite some time and we've seen it on a few occasions on this blog elsewhere such as in Bloodsport and Roaring Fire. I honestly can't remember if the sign is still there because I haven't been down here for some time, but according to the last Streetview (okay, I know it.s a bout 5 years out of date by now) it was still there until then at least.

If you look closely on the left hand side you may be able to make out a couple of flags - including a Union Jack - that once hung outside the Hyatt Regency before it moved and the building demolished to make way for the iSquare mall. Streetview below.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Peking Road, Kowloon

As promised, more TST, this time in the shape of Peking Road.There are a couple of shots of it in the opening sequence as well as later on when the fighters are walking to the location of the Kumite in Kowloon Walled City. People more familiar with the layout of HK streets will know that it is quite a hefty walk to make but this is movie land and the movie makers give the impression of them being just around the corner from each other.

Look closely and you'll see signs for the CTS (the China Travel Service) which still has an office there. Princeton Tailors is a well-established tailor shop that is still around even if the sign has been removed and back in 1987 the Nathan Ivory Factory company had a shop there (it's since moved down to Middle Road).

The lower shots show the guys crossing Peking Road and in the background we can see the shops that used to occupy the ground floor of the Hyatt Hotel, e.g Zurich Jewellers.

Here's a quick view of the area today. The hotel was demolished in 2006, the year I arrived permanently in Hong Kong, and replaced by iSquare.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Here we are at the southern end of Nathan Road and there are some small little clues as to the exact location including the Bus # 2, as well as some odd looking flagpoles sticking out of a building on the far left and look closely and you'll see one of the entrances to the MTR.

The flagpoles are the giveaway for me because they are the recognisable property of what was the Hyatt Regency Hotel until it was demolished in 2006 to make way for iSore (sorry, I mean iSquare). Pretty much all of the signboards have gone, as has the turn on the left hand side into Peking Road - it's now fenced off. I do vaguely remember the "Emperor Watch and Jewelry" sign on the left but pretty much everything else has been lost to time. Given the position of the camera the buildings on the right would include Mirador Mansions (see behind the signs on the right) and perhaps the Holiday Inn Golden Mile? I'm not sure but suspect that the red sign reading 中國官殿 (from top to bottom - it means "China Palace") may have been a restaurant in the hotel - however, I haven't checked my facts properly and can't find any mention of it online yet.

Anyway, for those interested, here's an approximation of the same view courtesy of Streetview - okay, maybe a teensy weensy bit further south, but not by much.

Here are some similar shots from later in the film, although I suspect they were all filmed at the same time.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - Hyatt Regency, Tsim Sha Tsui

With Nancy's demise and a little boy in their care, the guys head back to their hotel, which appears to be the old Hyatt Regency (formerly The President Hotel) on the block between Lock Road and Nathan Road. In the first image we are looking north up Lock Road with the hotel's car ramp on the right hand side. The hotel was demolished in 2006 and replaced by iSquare (a.k.a "Eye Sore").