The Heroin Busters - Fabio Testi (1977) - Centre Street, Sai Ying Pun

More street wanderings as Testi is filmed walking down Centre Street when it still had a street market. These days the road has recently been upgraded by having an escalator constructed on one side. The market has gone, as have most of the old buildings.

The Heroin Busters - Fabio Testi (1977) - Jordan Road, Kowloon

We are also treated to some neon street signs as Testi wanders around. One of the signs is the Millie's Centre sign that used to be on the Everest Building on the corner of Jordan Road and Nathan Road.

The most recent Streetview shot shows that this place is now occupied by a (surprise surprise) jewellery shop. If anyone can remember what Millie's used to sell, please let me know in the comments.

There is also an earlier bit of the same scene that looks to have been filmed further along the road towards the junction with Temple Street because it looks as though the Liberty Theatre can be seen in the background (showing Rocky!) which puts the filming year of The Heroin Busters firmly in 1977 (Rocky was released in HK on May 19th, 1977).

The Heroin Busters - Fabio Testi (1977) - Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

As Testi wanders around collecting his bags of powder, another of is pick ups is inside the famous Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road.

I'm curious about the dome in the background of the first shot. Testi enters Hollywood Road from an alleyway which seems to correspond to where the western edge of today's park opposite the temple (directly south of Yu Hing Lane). I wonder if anyone can recall what the dome was part of. I did think it may have been the roof of the old Central Theatre but the timeline doesn't fit (this film was made after it was demolished) and besides, it's the wrong shape. 

The Heroin Busters - Fabio Testi (1977) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

The Heroin Busters (Italian name: La via della droga) is an Italian crime film starring Fabio Testi. Testi seems to be an appropriate name for this former stuntman because he really chucks himself around in this film, it's a solid action film. He plays an undercover cop infiltrating an international drug ring and so the film has various scenes shot at various locations around the world. Hong Kong plays a brief role at the beginning as Testi wanders around the streets picking up bags of heroin to smuggle back to Italy. One of the locations of his pickups is a boat in Aberdeen Harbour.

The first view is a nice panning shot that shows the old waterfront on the left and the Tai Pak on the right.

But we get a few of those boat level views that film makers used to love sticking into their films.