Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - Lion Pavilion, The Peak

Benson and Kraus head up to the Peak to decide what to do about the now missing Governor. They are being followed by two shady characters who turn out to be some sort of fashion world security guards who are looking after the real taregt of the villains. They're quite happy about the kidnappings as they are a distraction and it means they can whisk their charge away without anyone knowing.

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

Elaine takes Ngok up to the Lion's Club Pavilion on the Peak to make him an offer for his cooperation.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

After getting to the Peak on the tram, Reiko and Wu go to the nearby Lion's Club Pavilion to talk about Musashi and the gang boss and Wu's need for revenge. It turns out the gang boss is responsible for the death of Wu's father.

Dallas - Victoria Principal (1985) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

One of the most popular filming locations on the Peak is the Lion's Club Pavilion. It's probably most famous to readers of this blog for the scene in Bloodsport, but it's been featured in a whole bunch of films and shows over the years. Anyway, in Dallas, this is where the women meet a mysterious man, Mr Wong, who says he can get Pam in to the clinic to find out if the patient, Mr Swanson, is indeed her boyfriend, Mark Graison.

Crime Lords - Wayne Crawford (1991) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

No scenes were shot here but there is a view from the Lion's Club Pavilion on the Peak thrown in as a bonus. If the general view wasn't recognisable enough to see where this was shot from, then the shot of the carved, stone lion of the balustrade is a strong clue.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Stephen Rea (1995) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

Unfortunately we don't get to see how they get up to the Peak, but at the top there is the Lion's Club  Pavilion andits very famous view.

Fearless Tiger - Jalal Merhi (1991) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

In one of the cringiest scenes I've ever had to watch, Lyle heads up the mysterious mountain (i.e. the Peak) to find the great "master" in the hope of learning from him. It turns out the master has a daughter who also hangs out there doing her dance stuff. Cue some weird scene of her twirling around as Lyle tries to out shape her with some kung fu moves that look like they were made up by a teenage fanboy. The dude was obviously aiming for ancient Chinese master/student mysticism but basically hit comedy gold, Monty Python style.

It's nice to see the old curvy Peak Viewing Tower in the back of the 5th image below. This had already been demolished by the time I made my first trip to Hong Kong in 1995.

The chubster busts out some shapes

Lyle returns later to receive more tuition in the art of "grabbing metal stress balls from another person's hand" - as we all know this is really useful stuff for when we get attacked by metal stress ball-wielding fiends. It may or may not have come into play later on the film but, truth be told, I was so busy forwarding through all the crap action that I might easily have missed it. Surely he wouldn't have been shown this skill unless he was able to use it later? Anyway, I think I've already spent far too long on this film.

 

Look, even Bolo thinks this guy is a douche

Bloodfight - Yasuaki Kurata (1989) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

Ryu and his girlfriend head up to the Peak to take in the view from the Lion's Club Pavilion - a regularly used spot for filming. Confession: despite living in Hong Kong, I haven't been here in nearly 10 years!

Blade in Hong Kong - Terry Lester (1985) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

Time for a new film and this series of posts has been several years in the making. It started with me learning about the title of this movie, Blade in Hong Kong, and then trying - for a long time and to no avail - to try and track down a digital copy. Finally, I was alerted to a copy on Ebay by my good friend, AP (he who has provided me with many of the films and shows I have covered on the blog). The only problem was is that it was a VHS tape. It appears this film, made as a TV movie in the mid-80s, has never had a digital release.

So anyway, I bought the VHS tape and then spent the next couple of years unable to do anything about it because of my to'ing and fro'ing between HK and the UK (and getting stuck in the UK, twice!). Only this year was I able to track down a person in Hong Kong who was able to digitise the film for me and I finally got the files back a couple of months ago. Only now have I been able to go through the film and identify a good number of locations. 

The film itself is actually quite good. It revolves around Blade (Terry Lester) who, despite being the adopted son of a rich Hong Kong business man (Keye Luke), runs his own private investigation company and gets involved in a case that targets his dad for assassination.The case coincides with another one regarding the kidnapping of a local businessman's daughter, who is being held ransom.

There are a whole bunch of locations to cover, although much of the opening montage sequence appears to be a collection of library footage, I'll include then anyway. First up is the opening shot of the harbour from the Lion's Club Pavilion on the Peak. The montage returns to the area, a little higher up, for a later part of the sequence (second image).

For some reason the location marker provided by Google keeps jumping to Epworth Lodge rather than the actual location of the pavilion.

Harry's Hong Kong - David Soul (1987) - The Peak, Hong Kong

Harry goes up to the peak to meet his journalist girlfriend, so we get some shots of the tram before the pair head over to the Lion's Club Pavilion.

Godzilla vs. Destroyah - Takuro Tatsumi (1995) - Lion Pavilion, The Peak

A quick brief shot from the Lion's Club Pavilion on the peak from this film. This is the calm before the storm because Godzilla doesn't rear his ugly head (literally) until the night time. 1995 looks about right for this view because you can just see some of the West Kowloon Reclamation behind the pavilion roof. Incidentally, this is the view that matches, more or less, my own pictures from this time (my first trip to Hong Kong was a month long sojourn in November of 1995).

Banzaï - Coluche (1983) - Former Peak Hotel Terrace, The Peak

We're staying at the Peak for this next shot because I find it quite intriguing The scene involves Michel's cousin (who always takes out insurance through his cousin's company and then always costs them money by getting into trouble and making a massive claim) who has been duped by the approach of an attractive girl. She leads him up to what looks like an old terrace on a bit of a promise and then proceeds to push him off the top.

The angle of the shot (you can see the Lion Pavilion in the background of the first image) suggests to me that this old terrace might have been the raised platform on which once stood the famous Peak Hotel. The hotel was demolished before the Second World War but it looks like the retaining walls of the podium/terrace it used to sit on stayed around for a lot longer - perhaps up until the Peak Galleria was constructed?

Note Findlay Path and Findlay Road in the lower part of the next two images. The Peak Galleria now stands where this part was filmed, so all traces of the old structure appear to have been removed - perhaps around 1989 when the site development started?

Banzaï - Coluche (1983) - Lion Pavilion, The Peak

On to the next film, this time 1983's Banzaï starring French comedian, Coluche. It centres around Coluche's character, Michel, who works for a travel insurance company and his usual desk based work life is thrown into chaos when he is given the responsibility of going to various countries to help out any of the company clients that have run into trouble. The film was shot in France, New York and Morocco with the final part of the film taking place in Hong Kong.

The opening shot of Hong Kong is from the Peak and the dialogue moves down to a couple of characters (one of them supposed to be Michel's layabout cousin) who have just met at the Lion's Club Pavilion.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - View from the Lion's Pavilion, The Peak

This is the view from the Lion's Pavilion on the Peak. The tiny stone lion is part of the pavilion balustrades. No, that's not an orange filter being used on the camera lens, it is a common light seen here in the evenings and is down to air pollution.