Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog! - Sammo Hung (1978) - nr Wong Chuk Yeung, Sai Kung

Here we are back again at another of the popular filming locations from 70s- and 80s-era kung fu movies. This is near the fire lookout at Wong Chuk Yeung. As explained recently, it's completely overgrown now and unrecognisable, but you can get reasonably close via a nearby trail. This is where the fight between Tiger, Frog and White Brow Monk (Lee Hoi-sang) takes place.

View to Three Fathoms Cove in the background

Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog! - Sammo Hung (1978) - Chong Ha Ching Sze, Fanling

Here's another location that I spent a significant amount of time tracking down for my Snake in the Eagle's Shadow posts. Since then it has popped up a couple of times (quite recently with this Dragon's Claws post). Once found these places are fairly easy to subsequently recognise. In this film, this old building is the brothel where Frog and Tiger go to lure the Coffin King's henchman into a trap.

Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog! - Sammo Hung (1978) - Yap Hiu Pavilion

Credit to Andi for identifying this location over in Tuen Mun, it's Yap Hiu Pavilion (邑曉亭 - Yap1 Hiu2 Ting4). This is the location where Mars goes to get a tea seller to serve Sammo and Lau Kar-wing some poison tea.

Anyone who has made the effort to go to Tsing Shan Monastery (and if you are a Bruce fan and haven't been, then it really is a must see for the "Lao's Time" and "Monk Talk" scenes) then you will pass this pavilion as you walk up Tsing Shan Monastery Path. I took this photo below back in 2007 when I first made the trip up there after moving to Hong Kong the previous year. It was probably recently repainted a the time because later images show the paint work is fading once again,

Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog! - Sammo Hung (1978) - Ho Sheung Heung

The area where Tiger and Frog are confronted by Panther (Dean Shek), the casino owner, is a familiar one to this site because I was the one who was able to identify for Enter the Dragon. Yes, we're back in Ho Sheung Heung and the "fung shui" hills behind the village. The key giveaway here is the presence of Tai Shek Mo in the background with its recognisable crooked peak (see image 2). Quite a few of the scenes in this movie show a lot of mist/fog/low cloud and this is very typical weather for Hong Kong around Feb/March time.

Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog! - Sammo Hung (1978) - Fanling Babies Home, Fanling

Next up is Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog!, one of those late 70s kung fu films that would feel a bit generic if it wasn't for the presence of Sammo in the role of Frog, a gold digging opportunist who married a wealthy old woman in order to get access to her family heirloom - a knitted metal pullover that makes its wearer impervious to blades.

He runs off with it but loses it to some con artists and teams up with the bounty hunter, Tiger (Lau Kar-wing), to get it back. It's directed by Karl Maka (who makes a brief appearance, with hair, as a local policeman) so expect that level of humour. One of the funniest bits for me is when Frog's old wife turns to weep at a portrait of her father and it's quite obviously a drawing of a snarling Richard Ng.

Anyway, the film kicks off with some local thugs attempting to best Tiger by sneaking up on him. This whole sequence was filmed at Lai Yue Hing Tong (賴餘馨堂) aka the Fanling Babies Home. This old mansion was a popular filming location until its demolition in the early 1990s. I think the most recent production to film there featured on the blog is probably Shadow of China (1989).

Shing Wong Street - Now and Then

There is a scene in Painted Faces where the boys are being led along a pathway and are called "Bald Headed Pigs" by the local children. This was filmed along Wing Lee Street and Shing Wong Street. I was here just the other day and tried to capture the same angles.

The first two images show the view looking along Wing Lee Street from where the boys are being led by Sammo.

These second images show the view up the steps of Shing Wong Street as they turn uphill and walk up the steps.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim de Lou Lim Ioc, Macau

The gangster's house is where the finale of the film takes place as Sammo and the remaining drivers head there to kill him and take revenge. The establishing shot for the house is the oft-used main house in Jardim de Lou Lim Ioc. We've seen it afew times on the blog before and it was a popular location for other local movies as well.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Largo Eduardo Marques, Coloane

Staying on Coloane, the next scene shows the drivers stopping in front of St Xavier's church on Largo Eduardo Marques before they head back to Lilau Square for their evening meal where everything kicks off.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Concrete Pier, Coloane

After their brush with the gangster boss and subsequent arrival at the gambling hall (via the window) and Sammo's - now classic - fight with Lau Kar-leung, the couple are next seen fishing at the concrete pier in Coloane village.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim de Luís de Camões, Macau

The next location we arrive at is Jardim de Luís de Camões. I know for sure most people reading this will know that this is the location for the famous "No Dogs or Chinese" scene from Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. The difference here is that in Pedicab Driver we are seeing those famous park gates from the inside rather than the outside. 

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua do Guimarães, Macau

After a record- and physics-breaking jump back to Taipa, the next scene sees us back again on peninsula Macau as the pedicab drives past the Hotel Cantao on Rua do Guimarães. Keen followers of these locations posts will know this place also made an appearance on Shanghai Surprise back in the day. You can read all about its Vietnamese communist history on that link.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Jardim do Carmo, Taipa

Sammo's amazing leap from the church terrace lands him right back in Taipa. It must be a world record jump because the pedicab touches down on the pathway next to the Jardim do Carmo with Rua do Supico right in front. Actually, one of the things that makes some of the more difficult to find locations in this chase scene is that Sammo appears to have filmed everywhere - so I haven't been able to narrow down some of the more obscure places.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

Mysteriously, just after being rammed into a wall in Taipa, the pedicab suddenly appears several miles away right next to the ruins of the old church. This isn't where the weirdness ends though because you should see where the pedicab ends up after Sammo does the famous jump off the church terrace wall.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua do Supico, Taipa

Here's a spot people might remember from Project A a while back. It's Rua do Supico with its retaining wall and strange plaque that says "Monte Dos Amores". Actually, in that Project A link the road is the previously mentioned Rua da Restauração, but the sloped section closer to the Carmel Church.

The section of the wall we can see here is actually on Rua do Supico which intersects with Rua da Restauração at the bottom of the slope.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua da Restauração, Taipa

Not to be confused with Rua da Restauração on peninsula Macau, another part of the chase scene sees Sammo & co back to Taipa as he turns uphill from Avenida da Praia onto a unnamed road that connects to Rua da Restauração. This short, steep road still looks very much the same today as it did back in 1989 and can be found at the far eastern end of the Praia near to the footbridge that connects the Taipa viewing platform to the old waterfront.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Estrada de Dom João Paulino, Macau

The mid-film set piece is a vehicle chase between Sammo's pedicab and a car containing the gangsters as the later chase down Sammo for daring to stand up to the gang boss (John Shum). The chase starts on some rather small raods that I haven't been able to identify (yet) but soon moves to more familiar ground as the vehicles race down Estrada de Dom João Paulino.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Avenida da Praia, Taipa

On the journey back from the temple, Malt Candy takes Siu Choi along Taipa's own Avenida da Praia - in front of the popular Taipa Houses Museum.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Tam Kung Temple, Coloane

Malt Candy takes Siu Chiu to the Tam Kung Temple in Coloane. He's so infatuated with her that he waits around for her to finish her praying so he can take her back.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua Direita Carlos Eugénio, Taipa

I know that Malt Candy starts his journey with a shot of Rua Fernão Mendes Pinto, but the editor sneaks in a quick glimpse of the same road further to the east where it goes by the name of Rua Direita Carlos Eugénio. Regular readers should be able to recognise the location because it's shot from the Calçada do Carmo.

Pedicab Driver - Sammo Hung (1989) - Rua Fernão Mendes Pinto, Taipa

After knocking Siu Chui off her feet, literally, Malt Candy is already smitten and offers to take her to her destination free of charge. The first road we see them travelling down is Rua Fernão Mendes Pinto on Taipa. On the right hand side of the frame is the outer wall of the Iec Long Firecracker compound.