Tate's Cairn - Now and Then

I mentioned in an earlier post that I recently walked Stage 4 of the Wilson Trail in Hong Kong. Before you get to Temple Hill though you need to walk past Tate's Cairn and I remembered that The Generation Gap film up here back in 1973. Sadly I didn't have time to snap all the angles so I just grabbed this one because it was the easiest to replicate. I'm sure I'll be back there in the future and will endeavour to be a bit more diligent in future.

On the hilltop is the HK Govt Radio transmitter station. Not to be confused with the meteorological station which is to the left of the camera - out of shot.

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 Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kowloon Park

After being accused of being one of the bank robbers, Chen decides to go into hiding an waits for his friend at one of the old barrack buildings in Kowloon Park. This building is still around and now forms part of the Heritage Discovery Centre along with the other block. The area between the two blocks is now a landscaped garden and an additional building has been constructed that joins the two blocks at the other end. It's well worth a visit if you get the chance.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Oi Sen Path, Ho Man Tin

We also saw this same pathway recently in The Young Rebel as it's where Tino Wong Cheung runs after committing some robbery. Coincidentally, this is where our bad guys run after they manage to crawl out of the crashed taxi.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Ho Man Tin Estate, Fat Kwong Street

A couple of the in-car shots of Chen, as he is driving the robbers, were filmed on Fat Kwong Street (driving north) with the old Ho Man Tin Estate in the background. The old estate was demolished circa 2001 and replaced by a newer version on an adjacent site. The old site of the estate is now taken up by a variety of private residential developments such as "Mantin Heights" and "One Homantin". The blocks seen in the images below were on the site where "One Homantin" now stands.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Princess Margaret Road, Ho Man Tin

After the bank robbery, Chen leaps out of the taxi as it is driving along Princess Margaret Road in Ho Man Tin. This causes the car to crash into the central barriers. This was filmed at the same spot along Princess Margaret Road where The Young Rebel filmed the same year. The low building on the right (second image) is the HKSPCA building.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kent Road, Kowloon Tong

On the fateful day, Chen is targeted by the gang's girlfriend, and directed to a drop off point where they can hijack his car. On the way there we see him driving down Kent Road.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Tai Po Road, Kowloon

Chen and his girlfriend head out on a date in his taxi. They drive along Lung Cheung Road and join Tai Po Road before using the interchange between Ching Cheung Road/Tai Po Road to head into the New Territories. Unlike the old Tai Wo Ping Interchange (see here) this one is still around and one I used to use quite frequently when I had my motorbike to get into Shatin via Tai Po Road.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

To Fat picks up a dirty old fella and his young girlfriend on Peking Road. The HK Old Mary sign you can see in the first image related to a famous shop. You can read more about it here. The Mary Building, where it was located, is still around though (71-77 Peking Road). Look carefully and you can see an advert for "Club Tasogare" (the white signboard) located in the basement (today's Delaney's).

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kent Road Garden, Kowloon Tong

Chen goes for a picnic with his girlfriend. This was filmed at the Kent Road Garden in Kowloon Tong. The circular pavilion - a popular design in the 1960s and 70s in Hong Kong (they can be found in quite a few places) - is still there although the garden doesn't look quite as nice.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Observatory Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The bad guy's girlfriend (played by Terry Lau) lives in an apartment on Observatory Road. There are very few roads in Kowloon that are this steep so narrowing down the location was a bit more straightforward (I had no clue where this was 10+ years ago when I first covered the film).

The ornate looking building on the corner was the Luna Building. It has previously been featured, very briefly, in The Peking Medallion.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Shanghai Commercial Bank Building, Mongkok

The main plot of the film follows three rather unpleasant characters who share a room in the same place that Chen rents. They are plotting on robbing a local bank with the help of an insider. The target of their crime is the "Hang King Bank" but the newly built "Shacombank" building on the north east corner of Argyle Street and Nathan Road is the building used for establishing shots in the film. It's another of those not very long lasting buildings because despite being opened in the mid 70s, it had been demolished by 1997. The Shanghai Commercial Bank HQ is still here but in a newer more modern building.

Following the robbery we get a decent glimpse of the road junction with the HSBC building on the opposite corner.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Canton Road, Yau Ma Tei

In other events, Chen is eating noodles when he witnesses a robbery (Tino Wong doing his robber thing again). The building with the columns in the background is the Yaumatei Police Station, back then in its brown colour. The station has recently been decommissioned and I believe has recently held some sort of local film industry exhibition courtesy of the fact that it has been featured in so many movies over the years. To my shame I haven't been yet. The second image shows the view from Kansu Street.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road

Another victim of congestion is an old guy who is stuck in traffic on Waterloo Road as the meters keeps ticking up. This was filmed around the junction with Prince Edward Road West and you can see they have started construction of the north/south flyover that bypasses this junction and the neighbouring one with Boundary Street. The middle image is looking north and you can see the temporary east/west flyover that was put in place to facilitate the construction works at the junction, as well as the tower of St Teresa's.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Tung Kwong Road, San Po Kong

Chen picks up a female passenger who needs to get to hospital because her baby is about to be born, but they get stuck in traffic. Here are a couple of screencaps from that sequence that were filmed on Tung Kwong Road. The old Tung Tau Estate is on the left and the Kai Tak nullah is on the other side of the wall next to the driver. He has to stop his car and look for a doctor to help the woman have her baby. The second image shows the place where the car is stopped. This is where Tung Kwong Road turns west (we are looking south in that image) into the Tung Tau Estate. The shanty town in the background is the famous Nga Tsin Wai Village. We then get a view of Block 13 of the Tung Tau Estate which has ringside seats for the whole spectacle. This is now occupied by the newer Yiu Tung House since the estate was redeveloped and upgraded.

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.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong

To Fat is supposed to be parked at the junction with Waterloo Road and Cornwall Street but as you can see, this stationary shot was filmed after they had already turned onto Cornwall Street because that's Hillsea Court at #10 in the background.

This isn't the only time we see Cornwall Street though as there are shots later in the film that were also filmed there. This one below was also shot whilst driving past Hillsea Court. The place stills looks the same, even down to the red trim.

These next few shots were filmed riving back the other direction and show a building on the south side of Cornwall Street. It's #22 Kent Road and at one point in its like was the location for the famous "Take One" nightclub where Anita Mui was slapped by a gangster for not singing. He was then attacked and killed in his hospital bed. It was a very famous story in Hong Kong at the time. It was a private temple for a while but has stood empty for most of the time I have been in Hong Kong, but has recently been sold and is undergoing some renovation right now.