Police Story - Jackie Chan (1985) - Anderson Road Quarry, Sau Mau Ping

Even after nearly 40 years (yes, that long!), Police Story remains one of my favourite HK movies. So now that I have started doing more local movies it's time to look at the old classic and dig up the locations. Luckily for me, Hong Kong Movie Tours and Hong Kong on Film have covered many of the locations previously, but I have a couple of my own to add as well so figured it was worthwhile. 

The film was supposedly a by-product of Chan's disappointment with his experience with The Protector, and the things he changed for the HK release of that movie are well documented elsewhere. So, Chan started work on Police Story to expel some of his "The Protector" demons and created what many regard as one of the finest pieces of HK action cinema. Even at 36 years old (and the fact that ol' JC is one of the most hated figures in HK these days), the film holds up exceptionally well, as do many of his pre-Handover films.

Anyway, the story starts off with an undercover police operation in a hillside shanty town as the cops try to capture a notorious drug lord, played by Chor Yuen. I remember the deliberations at the time between myself and Daniel Thomas (the man behind "Hong Kong on Film" blog) as we tried to figure out where it was. The only clue was the obvious presence of Anderson Quarry in the background. Luckily, a Japanese locations fan gave Dan the heads up and the location was pinned down to a slope above Po Lam Road.

The location has been completely eradicated now, with the construction of a reservoir, the On Sau Road and the nearby On Tat Estate, but some of the main roads where the cops set up the road block, can still be seen. Bill Tung, playing Chan's superior, watches on from the top of a block in the old Sau Mau Ping Estate. The estate was demolished in the early 2000's and replaced by a newer, taller, more modern version. 

Coincidentally, Brigitte Lin, who played Salina in the film, now lives at the other end of the quarry in a newly built house, Leighton Pavilion, (though fortress is probably a better description) which she shares with her husband, Michael Ying (a former garment manufacturer who went on to head up "Esprit").

The catchwater in the second image now holds a pipe, and there is a pedestrian bridge across the road here which connects the Po Tat Estate with the On Tat Estate, but much of the roads you see on film (i.e. the Po Lam Road) is still quite recognisable. Here is the same location on Hong Kong on Film.

old (now demolished) block of the Sau Mau Ping Estate

Looking up Po Lam Road

Looking down Po Lam Road

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Sau Mau Ping, Kowloon

The opening scene to episode 3, Key Witness, takes place on top of a hill in Sau Mau Ping. There are a few clues to the location including the presence of the old Sau Mau Ping estate in the background of the scenes with Bruce Payne, the view of the Anderson Road Quarry behind Robert Taylor and finally a quick glimpse of a car escaping down what is now On Sau Road just below the service reservoir.

In the top picture below we can see the slightly taller Sau Ming House on the Sau Mau Ping Estate. The estate was largely demolished in phases throughout the 90's but Sau Ming House remains at the moment. It's handy because it gives us an approximate position of where Payne must have been for this scene and it lines up quite nicely with the hill that now supports the recently constructed On Tat Estate.

Anderson Road quarry at the back

In the lower picture you an see what was once the service road for the reservoir (Sau Mau Ping High Level Salt Water Service Reservoir - located up the slope on the left) but since the construction of the On Tat Estate has become a proper road connecting the estate with Po Lam Road.