The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kai Tak Airport

The inside man for the bank job tries to fly to Europe with his ill-gotten gains but he is snitched on by the robber and the police head to the airport to arrest him.

The Brain Stealers - Lily Ho Li-li (1968) - Kai Tak Airport

Whilst the family pretend to bury their deceased father, instead he is slipping away to Japan to hide via a plane from Kai Tak Airport.

The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy - Margaret Hsing Hui (1970) - Kai Tak Airport

 There are some really fun titles being put out on the Celestial/Shaw Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ShawBrosCinema). Even though there aren't many Hong Kong locations to be had in this next movie, The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy, it's worth watching for the twists and turns in the plot if you like that sort of thing. The film stars Margaret Hsing Hui as Peifang, one of three illegitimate daughters of a reclusive Hong Kong businessman who has a huge business empire in Tokyo.  He's writing up his will and has tracked down his only family, the three women, with a desire to let them share in his vast fortune.

The girls meet up for the first time on their way to Japan and once there find everything is not quite as it seems. Although most of the film appears to have been shot either in the studio or at a location in Japan, the opening scenes show the father's letters to his daughters as they travel from Japanese postbox to HK via the airport and then a local sorting office, were filmed in Hong Kong.

The film was directed by Japanese director, Inoue Umetsugu (he also directed a few other films on the blog e.g. Sunset, The Yellow Muffler and Operation Lipstick).

These first few images show the Royal Mail truck leaving Kai Tak after picking up the mail delivery.

The Lady Professional - Lily Ho Li-li (1971) - Kai Tak Airport

Tian-li finally catches up with the mastermind behind Shi's assassination and the subsequent attempts to kill her. She knows he is leaving Hong Kong for Europe and goes to the airport in disguise.

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Kai Tak Airport

Some more Shaw nostalgia for this next film, The Angel Strikes Again, released on 30th May 1968. I believe it's a sequel to Angel with the Iron Fists released the previous year and features Lily Ho Li-li returning as agent 009, an Interpol agent who has been tasked with tracking down a gang who specialise in extorting money from companies in return for not blowing up their stuff. The movie sets the scene with some of the gang members placing their miniature explosives on a plane so we see a very nice panning shot of the area around the airport as the scene is established.

A young Fan Mei-sheng smokin' a fag

Here's a stitched panorama of the opening panning shoot. Click to zoom.

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - Kai Tak Airport

The motley crew arrive at Kai Tak and are being spied on by some nefarious no goods who have been instructed by their boss, Ursula, to steal the fashion designs from the reclusive and elusive, famous fashion designer. They mistakenly believe Clayton is their man and follow the group to their hotel.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - More Kai Tak

I thought these images deserved a bit more attention because they show the view from the Kai Tak Airport carpark over to Sa Po Road in Kowloon City. In the far distance on the right hand side (bottom image) you can see the old (recently demolished) Block 22 of the Tung Tau Estate. The bamboo scaffolding structure in front of it was most likely a Cantonese Opera tent being erected for either Chinese New Year or perhaps a Da Jiu festival for the nearby village. This space was later occupied (and still is) by the former Regal Airport Hotel that was connected to the airport Terminal building by a footbridge.

None of these buildings along Sa Po Road exist anymore. A few of the buildings in the image had already been replaced by the 1970s and now even the rest of this whole block has just been demolished for a U.R.A rejuvenation project.

There is a similar era (but less oblique) view from the I Spy series here.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Kai Tak Airport

009 is sent to Hong Kong to start his investigation and arrives at Kai Tak. He has already been identified by the bad guys and is followed from the airport. The airport also pops up at the end of the film as he heads off to wherever he is supposedly based, so the lower images of the terminal interior are from that last scene.

My Three Sons - Fred MacMurray (1965) - Kai Tak Airport

The family arrives in Hong Kong via some stock footage of the Kai Tak runway and the airside of the terminal building showing the observation deck.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Kai Tak Airport

Next up is a 1989 Moon Lee film called Killer Angels. It centres around a squad of super-skilled female law enforcers called the "Blue Angels" who take on work mere mortal cops are unable to. They are tasked with protecting a triad informant who has arrived in Hong Kong to try and make a deal with his former gang buddies. Yau Li (Moon) goes undercover to the HK gang's nightclub operation to spy on some of the members. The gang's lethal enforcer, Michael (Gordon Liu), has some sort of (unexplained) attachment to her from sometime in the past.

According to IMDB, the Ultra Force 1 title seen below is from a German bootleg.

Anyway, first up is the airport as the informant arrives in Hong Kong and is taken into protective custody.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Kai Tak Airport

Zhenzhen takes a break one day after feeling a bit frustrated with the way the couple have to keep their relationship underwraps so she heads to a nearby road (I think it's probably Jat's Incline) underneath Kowloon Peak and watches a plane land at Kai Tak Airport. An impossible view today, I don't mean because of the removal of the airport, but because of the amount of highrises that have since sprung up to block the view.

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - Kai Tak Airport

As Dr Pruit arrives in Hong Kong to begin his investigation we get a nice view of a Singapore Airlines plane touching down at the old airport. Note the prominent checkerboard in the background. Not so long ago someone (I'm not sure if it was Govt sanctioned or not) went and touched up the red/white squares of the south facing checkboard so it is still very much plain to see above Kowloon Tsai Park. Well worth a visit still if you get the chance. The lower images below show the local Police Inspector waiting for Dr Pruit on the upper drop off/pick up level at the old terminal building.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Kai Tak Airport

This film is another of those pastiches consisting of episodes of a show edited together to try and make a movie length feature. In this case the show was called Fight! Dragon apparently shown in Japan despite it being (according to HKMDB credits) largely a HK production. It was also release under the title Challenge Me Dragon. The plot revolves around a kung fu student, Lung Yen-fei (Kurata), who arrrives in Hong Kong to investigate the murder of his master who was otherwise healthy. He soon finds out a bunch of gangsters are after him and gets help from an Interpol agent along the way in the guise of Bruce Leung Siu-lung.

The film kicks off (always literally with these types of movies) at Kai Tak airport as Lung arrives by plane and is immediately beset by people wanting to kill him. A woman surreptitiously leaves him a note asking for help and he later goes to prevent her from being kidnapped at the front entrance. Some mistaken identity ensues as he confuses the Interpol agent tasked with protecting her as one of the bad guys.

Yeung Sze (aka Bolo) walks around this first part of this film with an unlit cigarette perpetually hanging from his mouth. I'm not sure if he is just trying to give up smoking or has lost his lighter somewhere.

Does anyone remember Kai Tak's old clock?

Later in the film the action switches to Japan for a brief period (and then the Philippines, I think) so we also get a brief look at the airport then as well.