Osprey - Project A (1983)

Not a location this time but rather a small snippet of (rather sad) history surrounding a ship that was used in Jackie Chan's Project A back in 1983. You will remember the scene when a Rear Admiral and his entourage are attacked and kidnapped from their ship by pirates. Anyway, it turns out that the ship used by JC for this scene was a familiar sight around HK in the 1970s and 80's. It was called the Osprey and was (according to various comments on FLICKR) was rebuilt in the mid-70's in Denmark (from an iron 'Baltic Trader') by a chap called Arthur Erickson. It was used for various sailings before eventually ending up in Hong Kong and was obviously of the right vintage for JC and co to use it for these sea-based scenes. Here are some more screen grabs.

A beautiful looking ship, I'm sure you will agree, and if anyone is in any doubt as to its identity, here is a sneaky grab that captures the vessel's name as it passes by the pirate junk.

Sadly, and it must have been fairly soon after it was featured in this film in 1983, the 56-metre ship sank with the loss of all but 1 crew member in the late summer of 1983. September of that year saw the arrival of Typhoon Ellen which blew the hell out of the territory. The Osprey had sailed about 12 miles south of HK in order to ride out the storm but was sunk with the loss of 8(?) crew members. The survivor, Hiraoki Ogura, was picked up later by the Wanshan Islands (about 20 miles SW of HK) after seemingly floating there from the sinking site. Very lucky considering how big the waves must have been and the fact that the waters around HK were notorious (at that time) for shark attacks.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Ping Kong Walled Village, Sheung Shui

Another one that has taken a while to find but still here we go, it's the Tin Hau Temple that JC stops in front of during the bike chase. I can't confirm whether or not this is the same village where some the other bike sequences takes place (would need to visit in person) but here is the temple from the film as a reminder.

There has been a recent renovation to the temple and the area next to the red door above has been knocked through but the temple is still fairly recognisable. Here is a modern view courtesy of Chong Fat's picture on the Tin Hau Temple wiki page.

Photo: Chong Fat on Wikipedia

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Kau Sai Chau, Sai Kung

Here is a location with a bit of a story behind it (which is why it has taken so long to find). The problem was this - a seaside location with calm water (so sheltered from the open sea), with a large kiln, concrete block and small abandoned hut. I looked everywhere for a long time and could not find anything that matched. I gave up - it could have been anywhere along HK's vast 800km coastline.

Anyway, it turns out (with help from some shots from another film from Daniel of Hong Kong on Film) that this location is the gap between Kau Sai Chau and Jin Islands in Port Shelter.

I've never been here myself but know that there is a small restaurant here that is popular with boaters (because there is no way else to get there) but the shots from Panoramio suggest that the large chimney/kiln has been demolished (I suspect this was an artifact related to the nearby Hung Shing temple) as has the large concrete blockhouse. But there does seem to still be a small abandoned hut there (which I am sure you will be able to see when Dan puts up his own post on this location). The whole shoreline has been concreted and smoothed out, but the background remains the same. If you are wondering about the exact location here is a Googlegrab.

Kau Sai Chau to the north (this island is popular because it contains HK's only public golf course - but you still need to catch a boat to get there) and this area is on its southernmost part. The small cluster of squares to the left of the gap is a fish culture farm - quite popular here in HK for raising fish for restaurants and at one time blamed for the shark attacks that occurred in the early 90's because the fish food was thought to attract the sharks!

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Muk Min Sea Cave, Sai Kung

There is a sequence in this film when JC disguised as a fellow criminal boards the pirates boat to be transported to their coastal hideaway. There is an area in Sai Kung where many (if not all) of these shots were filmed and it can be found right next to Pak Lap Wan. Here is a reminder:

There are several caves here, and the one at the bottom is actually known as Muk Min Cave. This shot was filmed looking through its south/western entrance with Pak Lap Tsai immediately behind it. The shot at the top was actually taken with the camera placed looking down from the bit of land above the various sea caves although actually it was the next cave over used for this purpose. Here is a google shot to give some context. The circle marks the spot where the camera was placed to look down as the boat passes underneath and the arrow shows where Muk Min Cave is located.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Sunny Bay, Lantau Island

These days it's the location of an MTR station which gets tourists to nearby Disneyland, but in 1983 it was the location used for a scene when Sammo Hung leads the gangsters to his cache of hidden guns only to find that JC has beaten him to it - leading to a bit of a set to with the odd evil henchman.

The landscape has changed significantly thanks to the MTR station and Lantau Link road which takes drivers to the airport (oh yes and the Airport express train that also thunders by) but the background ridge lines remain, as do the odd wooden poles sticking up out of the water.

Here are the grabs...

Now, for those JC fans who are heading into HK via the airport soon and head into the city either via the train, bus of taxi, keep looking on your left hand side and you will eventually see a small bay with some poles sticking up out of the water (no, I have no idea what they are for) - this is Sunny Bay (Yam O Wan). Here is a modern day snap courtesy of the ever-reliable Streetview.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Devils Peak Fort, Lei Yue Mun

On the hill in the far eastern part of Kowloon is Lei Yue Mun a small settlement that ,marks the last bastion of undeveloped coastline in urban Kowloon. Geographically it is the closest point between Kowloon and Hong Kong island and as such marks the easternmost entrance into the harbour. It's proximity to the Island is underlined by the fact that in 1941 during the Japanese Invasion, this part of Kowloon was the last to be abandoned by Indian troops as they fought a rearguard action against the oncoming Imperial Army.

Devil's Peak - the hill which sits above Lei Yue Mun - has always been militarily significant and as such has had some sort of outpost on it ever since people were living here. Even before the British came along and built a concrete fortress up there, it was used by pirates as a lookout post simply because it offered a great eastern view out to see and incoming ships could be seen many miles away.

This latter fact doesn't seem top have escaped Jackie Chan when he used it as the pirates lookout in Project A. Here is a grab of the pirates looking out of the windows of the old fort.

Anyone who has hiked up here should be able to recognise the slanted viewing ports that line the fort wall on the eastern side of Devil's Peak. Here is a shot I took a few years ago (now you know how long I have been putting this stuff off for) albeit taken from the other end looking back towards where the camera was positioned.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Former Victoria Barracks, Central

On the site where Hong Kong Park now sits there used to be a large British Army barracks called Victoria Barracks. Some of the old blocks still exist and are being used for other purposes, but blocks A to E that used to be on the hillside have since been demolished and have been used by JC a couple of times. The first time was in Project A,  one of the blocks - Block A to be precise - had a false front staircase fitted to it and stood in for the Marine Police HQ. Notice the pattern of the archways, from bottom to top we have a small arch and bigger arch and then a square opening to the upper floor verandah - this design was very specific to the barrack blocks at Victoria Barracks.

It's interesting to note that on both of JC's Project A films (part 1 and 2) neither time has he used the actual Former Marine Police HQ to represent the Marine Police HQ, because in part 2 he used the old barrack buildings over at the Lei Yue Mun holiday camp.

Anyway, in case you are wondering what the building used to look like without the decoration, here is a shot taken from the other end of the parade ground/car park courtesy of the HK Public Records Office.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Carmel Church, Taipa, Macau

Just after this scene, JC and girlfriend are still running from the guys on bikes, only in reality they have filmed this bit back up at the top of Monte Dos Amores in the courtyard of the Carmel Church - instantly recognisable by its large stone cross as seen below.

The cross is still there, and of course so is the church although along with the rest of Macau it's been given a nice fresh lick of paint. Here's a recent snap taken on my last trip at Lunar New Year looking towards the Biblioteca in the background.

 Of course, after JC has vaulted the wall he makes a tremendous effort to lead his GF - Isabella Wong - down and over the rest of the stairway only to look back and see she is still stuck at the top. The staircase is of course right next to the stone cross and it does lead down the hill - it's still there and it too has been given a bit of a facelift.

Yes, that is the bell tower of the Carmel Church behind Isabella Wong. Notice the curved bits of concrete at the bottom of the picture? Well, these are just a bit of decoration that cover the small slope leading up to the church - I believe the place is actually a small park but its name eludes me at the moment.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Lok Wo Sha, Ma On Shan

There is a segment in this film (one of my personal JC favourites and actually the first of the so-called new wave style of action) when, after the Marine Police have been seconded to the regular police, they are given training by Yuen Biao in the use of hand grenades. This whole sequence was filmed in a large flat area that now houses a rather large and ugly car park (at least ugly compared to how it looked back in 1983 when this film was made).

The site is called Lok Wo Sha and is right next to Wu Kai Sha in Ma On Shan. The spectacular lower slopes of Ma On Shan are quite obvious in the background.

Here is a recent shot I took after a walk along the waterfront to Wu Kai Sha (along the recently opened Ma On Shan seafront promenade).

As you can see the development here since 1983 (hard to believe this film is nearly 30 years old!) has largely been restricted to the area immediately in front of the mountains and Lo Wo Sha and Wu Kai Sha have largely escaped up to now. However - sure enough a new development is planned here very soon. Such is life in HK - the grand plan seems to be to completely block out the mountains so we can no longer revel in their impressive splendour (instead we can marvel at Lake Silver and Monte Vista).

Anyway, in case you needed anymore convincing here is Pat Sin Leng once again cropping up in the background looking the in the other direction (you can see it just above and left JC's pointy hat).

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Rua da Restauração, Taipa

First off the bat is a location I found a couple of years ago from one of my favourite all-time films: Project A (aka Pirate Patrol).

The scene is the chase scene when JC and girlfriend (played by Isabella Wong). The whole scene covers a multitude of locations but this particular scene was shot on Rua da Restauração in Taipa.

At the top of the road is the Carmel Church (in the far distance) and the building behind JC is the Biblioteca. Here is the same road as seen in 2011.

Actually, several more scenes were filmed around this area for Project A and his later film Miracles, so stay tuned. JC also inadvertently captured the date of the wall (1964 - at least I assume that's what it is) during this scene, as well as the vertical road sign which I've ringed below.