Submitted By Samuel Phineas Upham
The 70s was like the golden age of Hong Kong cinema. Today, movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero and Transformers can all trace shots back to this Chinese city. The list of well known films doesn’t stop there. Hollywood and Hong Kong share a rich history of incredible films.
Dark Knight
The epic retelling of the Joker’s origin story features a shot in China when the titular hero raids a corporate office for evidence. The building in the scene is located in Hong Kong’s central financial district.
Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon was a return to roots for Lee. The famous scene where Lee discusses the importance of “emotional content” was shot in a monastery that has remained relatively unchanged since then.
The Killer
Directed by John Woo, before Woo’s films become clichéd, this ballet of bullets featured a scene that caused a ruckus in the dockside at Causeway Bay.
Police Story
One of Jackie Chan’s earliest films, and also one of his biggest hits, this film was shot all over Hong Kong. Nicknamed “the Glass Story” for all the fake panes of glass that were broken on set, Jackie Chan wanted the situations in the movie to relate to the locations they shot at. This is contrary to Hollywood style film making where the script writer typically designates locales during the writing of the script.
Kill Bill vol. 1
With a plethora of Japanese cinema references and some heavy handed symbolism, it might come as a shock to learn the “Asia” scenes in the movie were actually shot in Hong Kong instead of Japan. The film also draws from Hong Kong style martial arts films.