New York Filming Locations: Live And Let Die (1973)

Roger Moore’s first outing as 007 in 1973′s ‘Live And Let Die‘ sees him go to New York arriving 13 minutes in at JFK International Airport in Queens on his mission to investigate the mysterious deaths of several other British agents. Typically, of the three airports in and around New York this was the one I didn’t have to go to but no great loss as its appearance is inevitably very different these days.

The same thankfully can’t be said for the ‘Oh Cult Voodoo Shop’ on 33 East 65th Street at 5th Avenue which is first seen after 18 minutes. As I was saying it was pretty surprising to see this place looking so similar nearly 40 years later. A couple of minutes later Bond is

   

seen hailing a yellow cab outside the store and tails a lead in typical follow-that-car movie fashion to ‘Fillet of Soul’ and though the sign post on screen clearly shows Lenox Avenue, it is in fact 2nd Avenue at 94th Street. 117th and 118th Streets were used for the fight scenes which followed and that was the end of the New York scenes. A bit surprising perhaps that no other Bond films have been set in this major world city since.

See other James Bond filming locations by clicking on the places below:

Tokyo  London  Prague  Venice  Como  Istanbul  Las Vegas  Phuket  Vienna  Hong Kong

Hong Kong Filming Locations: James Bond

‘The Man With the Golden Gun‘ (1974) doesn’t follow the original novel too closely as that was set in Jamaica whereas the film is located in the Far East. It is a fairly entertaining story for a number of reasons; a great villain in the form of  Scaramanga; a classic henchman in the shape of psycho dwarf Nick Nack; a beautiful Bond girl and of course the exotic locations of Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong.

The Peninsula Hotel (below) on Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui is just a stones throw from the ferry terminal on Kowloon and it can be seen after 27 minutes.

     

I even went inside the hotel and took the elevator up to the top floor to see the very room which Roger Moore’s 007 entered with a bit of help from a staff member. In the film it is where Bond tracks down Scaramanga’s mistress Miss Andreas Anders’ who had been collecting gold bullets at a Macau casino room. It is room 602 (below) where he puts pressure on her to inform him of Scramanga’s appearance and plans.

 

Bottoms Up bar, which can be seen on 33 mins, is long gone from its location at 14 Hankow Road and whats in its place really wasn’t even worth a photo as the area is pretty much unrecognisable to that seen in the 1974 movie. Not surprising I guess as it has been nearly 40 years!

Another Hong Kong location from ‘The Man With The Golden Gun‘ is Dragon Garden on Castle Peak Road in the New Territories area. This played the part of Thai entrepreneur Hai Fat’s house where Bond pretends that he is Scaramanga. It is seen quite extensively from the 44 minute mark when Bonds plan backfires as Scramanga himself is already at the same house. Scarmanga’s lair on Ko Khao Phing Kan near Phuket can be seen here.

In ‘Die Another Day‘ (2002) Hong Kong island appears as Pierce Brosnan’s Bond escapes captivity, jumps into the Harbour and emerges at the Hong Kong Yacht Club (27 mins) which is located on the north side of the island. However, this was not all it seemed as it wasn’t Kowloon that could be seen in the background but Hong Kong island itself. Obviously this was all faked on a movie set and furthermore the shaggily unshaven 007 turns up at the Royal Rubyeon Hotel which doesn’t exist at all.

 

‘Tomorrow Never Dies‘ in 1997 brought about a different kind of Bond girl and I’m not talking about it being the first time the lady was Asian but that she was a girl with attitude and an ability to fight unlike the typical dolly-birds who had preceded Michelle Yeoh. There is a waxwork model of the Malaysian actress outside the entrance to Madame Tussauds Waxwork Museum at The Peak. Yeoh, who also starred in ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘ (2000) and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ (2005) among others, has a star with her name and handprint on the Avenue of Stars along Hong Kong’s famous harbour front.

 

See other James Bond filming locations by clicking on the cities below:

Tokyo  London  Prague  Venice  Como  Istanbul  Las Vegas  Phuket  Vienna

Phuket Filming Locations: James Bond

After three nights on the beautiful Phi Ph island it was time to return to Phuket but this time we went to Patong beach which is where all the action is in terms of beach activity and nightlife including the well-known sex industry which the country is famed for. Something both Ethan and I had been looking forward to was visiting Khao Ping Gan to view James Bond Island which was given its name after it was used as Scaramanga’s lair in the 1974 film ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. Once again the problem with tours is that you’re sometimes hurried a bit too much which certainly felt like the case on this island where we had to basically just snap away on our cameras without time to pause for breath to take it all in. We managed to recreate the pose of Bond and Scaramanga thankfully with a pleasing outcome. James Bond island is the main thing used in promoting the tour but the supporting itinerary was also quite interesting with a visit to the Muslim fishing village at Panyee Island and canoeing, bamboo rafting and walking through the caves at Tham Pung Chang.

      

You can see my Thailand photos here