Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Arthur Street, Yau Ma Tei

In remembrance of Joe Don Baker who died just a week or so ago (7th May 2025) here is another one of those pandemic finds that I am gradually getting around to posting. 

The location of "Finzie's Bar" in the film was Arthur Street in Yau Ma Tei. Most of the buildings seen in the movie have since been replaced including the location of the bar entrance which was in one of the buildings directly opposite Hi Lung Lane. However, one recognisable building is still around and that is located at the north end of the street on the right hand side. It's #2 Man Ming Lane and you can see the side of the last image. It was built in 1952 which is very old for a Hong Kong residential building.

Hi Lung Lane looking towards Arthur Street

Both images above looking north towards Man Ming Lane

#2 Man Ming Lane, behind Si Ming's head, is still around

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - The Further Adventures of Chaplin Chang.

Chaplin, who many readers of this blog will already know was the Assistant Director on Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, went on to cameo in a whole bunch of films as well as working behind the scenes - often as an English-speaking liaison for foreign production crews - and here he is popping up at the end of Bob Clouse's second HK-based story, Golden Needles.

I've had the good fortune to meet with Chaplin quite a few times over the past year or so and have heard some great stories about his time in the film industry. He has some really great little anecdotes about some pretty famous people (and he has worked with many foreign and local actors), and as my blog here grows I keep spotting him more and more.  In Golden Needles he played the medical attendant who sees to Elizabeth Ashley's wounds at the film finale.

Golden Needles (1974) - Joe Don Baker - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Here is one from Golden Needles initially identified as Tsim Sha Tsui due to what I believed was the Golden Crown Court sign centre left (red words on light blue) that says: 金冠大酒樓

It appears that this has been a mis-identification though, and a friendly anonymous reader has commented (see below) that the restaurant sign was in fact for the Noble Crown Restaurant (華冠大酒樓) much further up the road in Yaumatei at the junction with Waterloo Road. Note the single different character at the beginning of the Chinese name (wah instead of gam). In hindsight I can just make out the top character is indeed 華.

So, anyway, we now know that this scene was filmed - looking north - near to the junction with Waterloo Road which means I think the small curve in the kerb in the lower right is the corner of the small nameless service road that leads to the back of Jade Mansion (on the right) and the Ambulance depot beyond. Here is the updated Streetview.

So a big thanks to the helpful anonymous poster for setting me right.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Thanks to Thomas' confirmation of the fact that we can see the Sun Ya Hotel in the following screen capture, it means that this was filmed where currently stands the "One Grand Tower" at 639 Nathan Road. Between Shantung Street and Argyle Street in Mongkok. The One Grand Tower that now sits here pretty much fills up the whole block, so I'm not so sure what number the Sun Ya Hotel was positioned at (probably easy to check but can't muster the energy right now...). What I can say is that the current building was opened in 1986, so I can imagine the hotel was around in one form or another until the mid-80s. Streetview comparison underneath.

Actually, it looks as though this location was used twice but from two different angles. If you look on the top right of the first picture you can see the bottom of a sign with pink neon writing. Well, looking at the picture below, it would seem that the sign was somewhere on the opposite side of Nathan Road near to the junction with Shantung Street - around where the current Good Hope Building stands. I think therefore that the "President Silk Company Ltd", seen in the shots below, would have been opposite the Sun Ya Hotel in what is now the King Wah Centre. The King Wah Centre was built in 2001, so I have no idea what was there before.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Aberdeen

Okay, I will go out on a limb here because I can't confirm 100%, however I am 95% sure that I have the correct location here at the Aberdeen Cemetery. It's the scene when Joe goes to meet the daughter of his former partner to try and dig into a bit more about the mystery behind the golden statuette.

The cemetery is one of those few locations where very large plots have been bought by the wealthy and there are several of these scattered around taking up quite a large space. If you look in the top two pictures you can see an ornate wall behind Joe Don Baker which marks the back end of one of those plots. Without physically going there I can't check my hunch, but I'm fairly confident (famous last words...).

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

Another one that has made it into just about every film I have featured here. In Golden Needles the scenes are an almost exact replica of Enter the Dragon. Again, no surprise given that they shared directors as well as many local crew (including our old friend, Chaplin Chang, assistant director on ETD who pops up at the end of this film as well as serving as HK location manger - more on that later...). Anyway, on with the caps.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Lower Lascar Row, Sheung Wan

Seeing as the identification of film locations doesn't really happen in a nice order, I put them up as and when I find something. So here we are leapfrogging to the end of the film which involves a chase for the golden statuette between Joe Don Baker and the evil villain portrayed by our old friend Roy Chiao.

To be honest, many of the small streets in this part of HK Island are an absolute nightmare to identify (especially if like me, you are not familiar with the area). Luckily we are assisted here by the quick glimpse of a street sign revealing where we are.

To be honest, I didn't even know there was a Lower Lascar Row! I've been to Upper Lascar Row - also known as "Cat Street" - and it is a great place for picking up nick-nacks and also, surprisingly, old photos and Bruce Lee paraphernalia. However, I didn't realise the street carried on as far as it does. Anyway. When the next opportunity presents itself I shall wander over again and get some photos of the street as it is today to see how much it has changed.

Anyway, as an update I popped down there after posting this to see what was still around. The answer is not much but this building  (on the right in the screencaps) is still standing but you definitely couldn't fit a car on the raised terrace behind it anymore.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - The Peninsula Lobby, Tsim Sha Tsui

A great hotel (I did stay there once in 2005 and had a great time - particularly impressed with the pool and the heaps of complimentary fruit each day...) that has featured in many films and shows we've looked at on this blog, such is its iconic status.

In Golden Needles we get a nice view from inside the lobby for a change and a nice shot of those famous bellhop suits.

Enter the Dragon - Bruce Lee (1973) - View over Central, HK Island

In all honesty, it wasn't until I was looking at Golden Needle's sites that I realised I had never included this sequence from Enter the Dragon on my blog (or if I did it has gone mysteriously AWOL). Anyway, seeing as I just posted scenes from exactly the same location I figured now was the time.

So, yes, here it is the famous panning shot from the opening titles, and there is that same tree we just saw in Golden Needles. Of course in the ETD version we get to see a lot more.such as the newly completed Furama Hotel building at the right of the top picture (the official history says this place wasn't opened until 1977, but there it is in 1973/74, a fact confirmed by David over at Gwulo.com).

You can also see the former Royal Naval Dockyard and grab a quick glimpse of some of the now-demolished barrack buildings from Victoria Barracks (now Hong Kong Park and Pacific Place).

The bottom picture with the film title shows the big open area that was the 1970's reclamation in Wanchai. It's basically the project that extended the shoreline out from Gloucester Road a couple of hundred metres and the space is now largely filled by the Convention centre, some Govt offices, Central Plaza and of course the exit/entry for the original cross-harbour tunnel.

Now for a direct comparison and feel free to chip in as to whether or not Bob Clouse, the director of both Golden Needles and Enter the Dragon, and Warners, the company who made the films, used the same footage for both films. (Hint: Of course it's the same footage).

Golden Needles

Enter the Dragon

Just as an addendum, lots of people believe this shot was taken from "The Peak". It was but not the bit you're thinking of. This footage (as explained in the Golden Needles post) was taken from Peak Road just below what was Cameron Mansions (the development was demolished last year - 2024).

Unfortunately my Google location marker keeps snapping to either 28 or 30 Peak Road, but the specific location where this footage was shot was the layby on Peak Road as seen on this GoogleEarth link.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - View over Central, HK Island

Here is a familiar shot from the opening of the film that shows a view over Central from what I suspect is the Peak Road/Magazine Gap Road area. Take a good long look at this scene because my next post will show a very similar one (it could even be the same bit of film for reasons I will explain) from another film.

What can we see? Well, not much on this one because the camera pans only a small amount so most of our screen is taken up by the 1974 (or perhaps 1973, we shall see) version of the mid-levels.

You see the wire? Just below the wire is a building, or at least its roof, pointing away almost in a straight line away from the camera. This to me looks very much like the old British Military Hospital between Bowen and Borrett Roads. Though once a hospital it now houses the Carmel School (the local Jewish International school) and the Canadian International School. To its immediate left (on the other side of Borrett Road) is what looks to be the site of Island School. Island School moved there just around the time this scene was filmed, which may explain why the site looks to be newly built with the mountain side scraped away behind for part of the development.

There is actually a small lay-by on Peak Road where this shot could have been taken from but I would need to go there myself to be sure. I've pinned it as the location so if anyone is here and has a bit of time to head up there, feel free to let me know if I am right.

Other buildings that can still be seen now include the Mandarin Oriental (just to the right of the tree trunk) and below that is the former Law courts/LegoCo building soon to become the new home of the Court of Final Appeal.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Kowloon Wharf & Godown, Tsim Sha Tsui

To give a bit of a break to the I Spy locations, which seem to have been taking up the majority of my time over the past few months, here is a shot from another film directed by Enter the Dragon-helmer, Robert Clouse. It's called Golden Needles and stars Joe Don Baker as well as Burgess Meredith and was made in 1974. Probably not coincidentally, Jim Kelly was also in this one however all of his scenes look to have been filmed back in California and not HK. Anyway, in no particular order here is a great view of what the area around Harbour City used to look like.

The large empty space in the top photo is where the Ocean Centre currently sits and this is testified by the fact that if you look at the far right in that top picture, you can see some older buildings that line Canton Road. The smaller building to the left is #14 - 16 Canton Road and can still be found - although it was quite new when this film was made because it was only built in 1971.

Suffice to say everything else in these photos has gone. Replaced, by and large, by the Harbour City mall and office complex. The only buildings that were around along this strip that can still be found would be Star House and the Hongkong Hotel - however, they are both out of shot here.