Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - The Peak, Hong Kong

A brief glimpse of a stone lion on the far left of the first picture tells us that this shot was filmed from the Lion Pavilion. The 1993 skyline looks, superficially, the same as it does today but those familiar with HK buildings will know there has been a whole bunch of skyscrapers added in the meantime, such as: the Cheung Kong Centre, the 2 IFC, the ICC, the K11 building over in TST and many more. Oh, the haze has got worse...

For those who prefer a more cohesive view, here is a merge courtesy of autostitch.

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan

Another quicky along the tram line, this time a little further up towards Western Market before the tram line veers sharply right onto Connaught Road. The giveaway here is the dead end in the background where the road terminates in front of Hongway Garden (the white building at the back) and turns into the much narrower New Market St. It looks as though the camera was probably positioned somewhere between the junctions with Hillier St and Cleverly St because the latter (and the Eton Building that sits on its west corner) can be seen on the left of the shot.

  

This is the best angle I can get from Streetview taken further forward next to the aforementioned junction with Cleverly Street.

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Des Voeux Road Central, Central

Although the tram is blocking the left hand side of our view in the following screencap, there is still enough information to locate this quick scene as the junction between Chater Road and Des Voeux Road in Central. Streetview reveals that the south side of the road (we're looking west here) seems to have remained unchanged in the last twenty or so years.

Oops! I just found a couple of extra grabs from the same place but looking south towards the Entertainment Building where the film's main company, Sherwood Industries, is based. Here they are...

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Chater Road, Central

Well, the view from Chater Road rather than Chater Road itself. We can see The HSBC HQ, one of the MTR exits, The Mandarin Hotel in the background before finally stopping right next to the entrance to the Hong Kong Club.

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - May Ming Building, Nathan Road

Here's a sad reminder of the recent past: a local electronics retail chain called Tai Lin (泰林) that went bust a few years ago. The outlet at 310 - 312 Nathan Road (in the May Ming Building) might not have been its flagship store (or perhaps it was, I don't know?) but it was perhaps the best known due to the huge neon sign stuck to the outside. Here it is in the film.

I haven't been past recently to notice whether or not the ground floor premises are still empty...they certainly were a year or two back when I last past the place. The 2010 Streetview shows pretty much how it looked the last time I was there (and was paying attention). The sign still on display.

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Queen's Road Central, Central

The company that employs Patrick for his special skills is called Sherwood Industries and it's conveniently located in the Entertainment Building that stands on the corner of Wyndham Street and Queen's Road Central. Actually, we've seen this building before on this blog when I was posting locations for the rather excellent Largo Winch. I say it's conveniently located because it appears that at the time of filming the building had only just been completed and was probably empty making it much easier for Mr Pyun to film his actors going in and out. That also accounts for the rather unfinished look the entrance seems to have in the top picture below.

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Jumbo Restaurants, Aberdeen

Hong Kong 97 is an Albert Pyun directed tale of events supposedly unfolding on the eve of Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997. Robert Patrick as a hit man trying to escape the colony after assassinating a high ranking Chinese PLA officer.

The opening credits have some street scenes which I am still trying to identify but later on as Patrick heads to the Jumbo Floating restaurant to carry out the hit we get to see how the place looked in 1994 (when it was filmed). Luckily for us we catch a glimpse of the Sea Palace in its later incarnation as Jumbo Palace - part of the Jumbo Kingdom.

The one thing I notice from this sequence though is that the Jumbo palace doesn't really bear much resemblance to the Sea Palace pictures I've seen before. I'm inclined to believe that when it was decommissioned in HK, the Jumbo Palace was towed to Manila Bay and operated there for a while (do a Google search and you'll see it is the same/similar structure) but I have my doubts that the Jumbo Palace was the same Sea Palace structure that used to operate independently of Jumbo. It doesn't even closely resemble the old version. Does anyone have any knowledge about this?

The Man with the Golden Gun - Roger Moore (1974) - Queen's Pier, Central

The Queen's Pier post from Bons Baisers de Hong Kong reminded me of another post I should have done several years ago but couldn't due to the poor quality of my screencaps (from an old VCD). In time I forgot about it so here it is now that I have some better quality screencaps. It's just the scene where Bond is taken onto the Police launch by Hip (Soon-Tek Oh) and their embarkation point is Queen's Pier along the Central harbour front.

Star Ferry Carpark in the background

These top two pictures show the car driving along Edinburgh Place in front of City Hall (you can see the ramp of the car park at the background of Pic 1) before turning into the pier area. The following pictures show the boat tied up at the dockside with the pier's recognisable cylindrical columns to one side.

Roaring Fire - Hiroyuki Sanada (1982) - Liberty Theatre, Jordan Road

As you can probably tell, I am playing a bit of catch up here as I go over some older stuff I had forgotten about. This one should've been put up a year ago but slipped my forever ageing memory.

It's a brief glimpse of a since demolished cinema called the Liberty Theatre that used to sit on Jordan Road between Temple Street and Woosung Street. As you can see, at the time of filming it was showing some classics...

It seems that Zombi Holocaust is indeed the 1980 Italian film Zombie Holocaust (the Chinese name - 鬼食鬼 - means 'ghost eats ghost'). According to the Cinema Treasures (link above on the theatre name) this cinema showed first run foreign films and Zombie Holocaust this film according to IMDB was released in May 1981. It gives you a rough ballpark of when filming for Roaring Fire actually took place. Patricia was also released the same year (1981) but I can't seem to find a specific release date for HK.

Anyway, the cinema closed in 1997 and has since been replaced by a residential block by the name of Liberty Mansion, so its name lives on even if the building itself has gone. Here's the current Streetview. The building on the left still survives but has been covered up by the bank's banners.

The Last Grenade - Stanley Baker (1969) - Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun

Here is one of the urban spots that was proving difficult for me to locate, that is until Thomas came along with a suggestion that was right on the nail. It was part of the scene when Baker and his motley crew are being taken from the airport after their arrival to their tumbledown base in the New Territories. I'm not sure quite how they made it onto HK Island from Kai Tak on the way to the NT but it's nice to see some real local colour from the late 60's.

I'm not sure where Sheung Wan ends and Sai Ying Pun starts but the recent opening of the western extension of the MTR's Island Line means that Sai Ying Pun station has opened pretty much underneath this area and exit A1 is further back east along Queen's Road West, just beyond the curve we can see in the upper picture. Anyway, here's the reminder.

Queen's Road West turning right into...

...Centre Street

Here are the comments and links that led to the confirmation that this was the intersection between Queen's Road West and Centre Street in Sai Ying Pun.

This might be where Queen's Road West meets Centre Street. The very curve at the back seems fit, but I am unable to match the shop fronts. Need some other old photos of the area of the time for reference...

The shape of the column of the shophouse on the left hand side seem to match this one -https://goo.gl/maps/5LLRZsSf2sp (the one with red writing above the yellow bin)

This might be a match of the blueish restaurant building -http://www.weshare.hk/uploads/12155/X_USzntYq3kmAX_K2LI6Bw.jpg

and...from the opposite point of view -http://www.weshare.hk/uploads/12155/AigUFa3WnSOi9JjlcuaQ5Q.jpg

If you click through on Thomas's first link you can see the shophouse with its specific column design. It's not the only old building in the area but it's certainly nice to see it still around whereas the opposite side of the road has been completely replaced and redeveloped over the years. Anyway, a great find by Thomas - one of many he has done for me on this blog - so a big thanks to him.