Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Shek O Quarry

The scene where James Bond takes Baldy Jr captive at the end appears to have been filmed in (the now decommissioned) Shek O Quarry. I only know this because the Shek O Quarry Company is acknowledged in the end credits, but a quick scan of the 1982 aerial imagery shows that there was indeed some similar machinery in the area at that time. (Caveat: I've been wrong about quarries before, so I will keep an open mind about this one) 

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Lok On Pai Desalination Plant

Mad Mission 3 also seems to have been one of the first films to use the (then) recently decommissioned Desalination Plant at Lok On Pai. In 1984 the plant was supposedly still able to operate but had been put into "Standby"mode in 1982. That's why we can still see all the processing works in the images below as well as the inside of the main structure which still stands today. This is where Sam and the gang go to meet the Governor and CIA and are asked to help bring down the nefarious James Bond and his plot to sell the crown jewels.

For a bit of context, I've snipped an aerial view from 1982 which gives a god view of the site (credit to Tymon Mellor and his excellent https://www.hkmaps.hk/).

Lok On Pai circa 1982

Below is the entrance road and, as you can see, it ran along next to two large oil/gas storage silos. These can be seen in the top right of the b&w image.

The next images show the area where the filming takes place at the sw corner of the site. We know this because in the last image you can see the building furthest away (with all the windows) is the one that ran south from the middle of the main structure. Obviously the interior (with the Union Jack flag) is the main structure that still stands today and has a new life as a sort of freelance sound stage (Jet Lee's scenes from Expendables 2 was also shot in here, believe it or not).

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Hong Kong Satellite Earth Station, Stanley

The next shot shows us the satellite dishes located in the Hong Kong Satellite Earth Station at the very end of the Stanley peninsula. I'm not sure if this is part of Chek Chue Barracks aka Stanley Fort, but I suspect it is as you have to go through the army base to get there. Those same dishes are still there as far as I can tell.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Lok Fu MTR Station, Kowloon

I'm not sure about the initial scene of the MTR exit, but the subsequent sequence, where Kingkong flies through the subway system on his airborne contraption, appear to have been filmed at Lok Fu MTR Station. As far as I am aware this is the only MTR station that has a green colour scheme with red stripes. I could be wrong so please feel free to correct me if so. Anyway, some more poor quality green screen SFX as commuters run in panic and stare in awe as the thing flies by. This takes me back to my first trip to Hong Kong, before the launch of the now ubiquitous Octopus card, when you had to buy single journey tickets or could get a stored value card. They were these flimsy plastic things. Wish I had kept all that stuff as a keepsake.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Various Harbour Views

As Nancy (Sylvia Chang) pursues Kingkong's weird plane contraption, we get a few nice views of the harbour area. Although the first image looks like they shot it above Hung Hom with the old Whampoa dockyard buildings below. The building with the sawtooth rooftop was located where Cotton Treet Mansions now stands. There's lots to see in the mid-80s images (too many buildings to mention).

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Mody Road, East TST

One of the aerial views as Kingkong zooms around on his flying machine is one of the East TST section of Mody Road. The pedestrian bridges are still there but the one further away (actually, the one in image 3) has had the slope removed and replaced by a lift instead. That's the same bridge that Jackie Chan watches Wing On Plaza from at the end of Police Story (see the top image in this post).

The same footbridge Jackie uses for surveilling at the end of Police Story

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - New World Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui

Not the most aesthetically pleasing of buildings, but the New World Centre was demolished a few years back and replaced by something arguably much worse (in my opinion anyway). This is where the diamond exhibition is being held and where Kingkong and cohorts, dressed as Santas, perform their rather ambitious heist (despite getting the wrong gemstone). The interior was a studio set but there are a few shots on location of the area, including from the roof, that are worth including here.

Outside the main entrance with the (now) Regent Hotel behind

On the roof

Sheraton Hotel poking up into view on the right

Regent Hotel at the rear,New World Centre on the left

Although the NWC has gone,those steps are still there

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Mitsukoshi Department Store

Older Hong Kongers will remember when Causeway Bay contained several Japanese Department stores: Daimaru, Matsuzakaya, Sogo and Mitsukoshi. Only one of these remains,SOGO, and that's only because its Japanese owners sold the name to the Chinese businessmen who bought the company.

Mitsukoshi was located in what was 500 Hennessy Road, the Hennessy Centre. This is the department store where Albert/Kodojack (Karl Maka) goes with his wife Nancy (Sylvia Chang) and suddenly realises how he was tricked by Sam/Kingkong using a pair of fake arms.

The store closed in 2006 after it was announced that the Hennessy Centre was going to be knocked down and redevloped into the current Hysan Place.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Duddell Street, Central

After some bits I can't identify, we next see Kingkong as he skateboards over a bunch of cars parked along Duddell Street. At the end of the road, in the top image, you can just make out the words 置地廣場 which is the Chinese name for the Landmark Building. The last image shows Queen's Road Central with Ice House Street just at the back. I believe most of Duddell Street has been redeveloped since this time. Citibank Tower was a replacement to the original National City Bank of New York Building, a rather grand structure with large columns that fronted onto Queen's Road Central.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Glenealy, Central

Given the geographical liberties taken by the car chase in Royal Warriors, I think we can forgive Tsui Hark for transporting Sam Hui from Canton Road in Kowloon over to Glenealy on Hong Kong Island at the click of his fingers, because this is where we see Kingkong next as he heads downhill on his skateboard, with the diamond in his possession. The building on the left of frame is St Paul's Church. Actually, we saw a similar concept in Legacy of Rage just a couple of years later as the drug courier in that film went down the same street on a pair of roller skates.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Former Government Offices, Canton Road

Despite getting ready over on Hong Kong Island, the building used for the heist appears to be the Government Offices on Canton Road in Kwun Chung. These were demolished around 2010 and replaced by (as with everything old in Hong Kong) a residential development (Grand Austin). We get a few shots of the building as well as the related boat berths on the harbourfront. This dock was located just a little bit north of the Fire Brigade Dock seen in The Sand Pebbles.

It looks like pretty much all of the ground-level shots from this sequence were also filmed here. The final image shows the old entrance, located on the southern end of the main block.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Wanchai Ferry Pier

When Kingkong sploshes into the water during the heist, he does it from a crane next to the old Wanchai Ferry Pier. Of course this is the old pier that was decommissioned when the Central to Wanchai bypass was constructed. The water around the pier was reclaimed to create land for the underpass to go through so if Sam Hui were to repeat this move today he would break his legs.

Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Sun Hung Kai Centre, Wanchai

It looks as though quite a lot of the first heist sequence - as Kingkong leaves Kodojack in the restaurant with Agent 701 - was filmed on and around the Sun Hung Kai Centre in Wanchai. The first images show the scene when Kodojack is dropped off in front by a taxi. Then when Kingkong has given him the slip, we see him setting for his raid on the east side of the podium roof, and then moving around to the (north) harbourfront as he rigs his cables.