Heroes Two - Alexander Fu Sheng (1974) - Pak Shek Au, Kwu Tung

The next up is another Shaw movie, Heroes Two, that I shall dub "Locations: Two" because that's the number of places I have been able to identify for this one. The reason being that, like many Shaw movies, much of it was shot on sound stages at Movietown.

The film stars Fu Sheng as the legendary Fong Sai Yuk, a mythical fighter from Ching Dynasty era. He gets duped by Ching officials into getting fellow rebel, Hung Hei-gun/Hung Hsi-kuan (Chen Kuan-tai), arrested and makes amends by freeing him from his subterranean dungeon prison. The film culminates in a big brawl between the rebels and the local Ching officials.

The film starts off with the burning of the Shaolin temple and the hunt for Hung. This whole sequence was shot in a place that should be very familiar to readers of the blog by now, it's the formerly-beautiful-rolling hills-but-now-a-building-site-for-the-Northern-Metropolis Pak Shek Au. So many films, particularly Shaw ones, were shot here over the years and the area is basically now ruined. Forever.
 

Sweet is Revenge - Yueh Hua (1967) - Pak Shek Au, Kwu Tung

Back to one of Shaw's favourite rural locations used for the final scenes of the film as Wang is led to a remote pavilion where David is waiting for her and they are reunited. If you've seen my other posts about this area you'll know a large section of it is now being turned into the "Northern Metropolis". Sadly, much of the area you see below had already been filled up over the years with small industrial plots and container storage, so it's been a while since it looked as empty as this.

You can compare these screen shots with others I have posted over the years.

Tai Shek Mo in the background

The Lady Hermit - Cheng Pei-pei (1971) - Pak Shek Au, North District

As Cui Ping runs after Miss Leng we are treated to some expansive views of one the the Shaw production's favourite exterior locations: Pak Shek Au in Kwu Tung. As mentioned in previous posts, this once large open area filled with rolling hills was often utilised courtesy of its large open spaces and ease to get to - it's located just north of the Castle Peak Road as it passes Sheung Shui on the way towards Yuen Long. Back then it was perfect due to its remoteness from modern Hong Kong but fell out of use during the 1980s when development in Hong Kong, and Shenzhen over the border, began to make period filming more difficult. Lots of modern infrastructure started popping into view. The area is currently undergoing huge change as the HK Govt forges ahead with its "Northern Metropolis" development - building large high rise residential blocks on part of the area that can be seen in the images below. I saw a news report on what they have planned for this place and I doubt there will be anything left in about 10 years time. It's quite sad that this area, despite a small bit of subsequent development, has retained a certain amount of beauty, and the HK Govt and its developer friends are determined to replace it all with modern construction.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Fanling Highway, Kwu Tung

The rather violent denouement to the film takes place on the side of a road embankment somewhere in the New Territories as Yung tries to finish off the newly married couple. This was filmed on a stretch of the New Territories Circular Road (Fanling Highway section) just outside of Fanling. In the film the embankment (thisis the one on the north side of the road) is just a grassy slope in the film, but these days it is covered with mature tree growth. The section we are on is right where the highway goes over the old Castle Peak Road at Kwu Tung. The view inthe background of the top images is looking east back towards Choi Po Court. The last image is looking west towards Ki Lun Shan.

Choi Po Court in Fanling can be seen in the background of the above images

Yung's car crashes under the flyover. Castle Peak Road at the lower level.

View looking west towards Ki Lun Shan in the distance

The Blood Brothers - David Chiang (1973) - Pak Shek Au, North District

Another popular outdoor location for Shaw productions was the large area around Pak Shek Au near Sheung Shui. The British Military referred to this place as the "North Downs" and used it for tank manouvers sometimes. The unspoilt rolling hills were a great remote location for these period films until modern development started to encroach. In The Blood Brothers, this area served as the main location where the brothers wait outside Ma's nearby fortress where he has established his army.

You can see other examples of use of this area in The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires,  The Water Margin, The Fate of Lee Khan, and there are many other films that I have yet to cover.

Anyway, I may have mentioned on an old post that this area is scheduled for redevelopment into the so-called "Northern Metropolis". The specific are seen below, near Hang Tsai Shan (aka Mt Kirkpatrick), is already being developed - as I speak - into two large Govt housing estates. Such is life in Hong Kong.

Left background is Ki Lun Shan

The ridge behind Ching Li is Tai Shek Mo/Crest Hill

Police Story 2 - Jackie Chan (1988) - Fanling Highway, Kwu Tung

Having decided to examine Police Story 2 as my first film for 2023 I can get quickly started with the opening scene as newly demoted cop, Ka Kui (Jackie Chan), is now on traffic duty thanks to the wanton damage he caused at the end of the first film, Police Story. He's spotted some speeding trucks and manages to pull them all over and issue them with tickets.

The trucks are speeding west along the Fanling Highway at Kwu Tung. In the top image you can see the pedestrian bridge next to the small Kam Tsin Village Ho Tung School. Both the bridge and school are still around.

There was obviously lots of to'ing and fro'ing whilst shooting this scene because when we first spot Jackie on his motorbike he is due west of the trucks, observing all the shenanigans from the nearby intersection at Pak Shek Au. But when the trucks pass they are heading east- the opposite direction to where they were going in the first place. I've set the place marker for this post on the pedestrian bridge location.

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires - Peter Cushing (1974) - Pak Shek Au, North District

I must admit to being stumped by this location for quite some time (years probably) and in my talks with various other people, such as Andi (who is much better at this than me), we came to the conclusion that the following area - one used by Shaw Bros on multiple occasions I hasten to add - must be somewhere up in the hills around Sai Kung and Movietown.

However, search as much as I could, I could just never find anything to match the ridge lines in the background.

It wasn't until just the other day that a particular ridge line struck a deeply buried memory in my brain and I eventually managed to finally place the filming location in Pak Shek Au - a small hilly area located between the Lok Ma Chau border area and Castle Peak Road, just down the road from Ho Sheung Heung.

Ho Sheung Heung and its neighbouring hill, Tai Shek Mo, you may remember as being the location of the filming of the fight scene between Sammo Hung and Bruce Lee at the beginning of Enter the Dragon, and it turns out that Tai Shek Mo was also instrumental in me being able to identify this location to. That's it at the back right, seen from the west, in the first picture below.

Now, these days this whole area has greened a lot but has also suffered from the sort of unchecked illegal development that blights much of the New Territories - basically a mish-mash of concreted parking areas, container storage, light industrial workshops, plant hire and other various blots on the landscape. This is a big shame when you see how empty and open it was back in the 1970's.

Now, we already know from some of the great spotting Andi has done that nearby Ho Sheung Heung has been featured in multiple films, including many Shaws productions, and seeing that this place is very close then it's easy to imagine it being a popular spot for filming here. I need to check but I believe there are many Shaws films that feature these same hills and dirt tracks (I'm pretty sure Come Drink With Me is one of these considering the last but one picture Andi has put in this post that shows Tai Shek Mo and its military insignia).

Anyway, mystery solved. Here are some more grabs. The first one shows a hill in the background that I've actually been to the top of without realising it's the same place, it's Ki Lun Shan. Somewhere hidden between there and the actors is the 1970's version of the Castle Peak Road (a much smaller version of the current one, but still a main thoroughfare at the time).

Ki Lun Shan in the background

Finally to finish, a shot taken as the actors walk closer along a dirt road towards Tai Shek Mo. The are you see is now filled with the aforementioned ad hoc industrial workshops previously mentioned. Incidentally, the HK Govt currently has plans to turn this whole area - or at least the nearby part called Kwu Tung - into a New Town. There's lots of opposition but it could be the industrial blight will be replaced by something even worse...