Nov 23 2009
“Get on the bus!” — A RAT drags Flick Chick to a movie bus tour.
Yo. TODAY’s Resident Art-Throb here, speaking on behalf of Flick Chick. She’ll be taking the backseat for this post.
Well, if you want to be literal about it, she actually took one of the front end seats of the bus last Friday, when we both went on a dry run of the Jack of Hearts Mystery Tour.
The tours (there are two, but the first one’s sold out apparently) are part of celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Saint Jack.
That infamous film that was, until quite recently, banned in Singapore is also screening at the National Museum on Thursday (7.30pm) and Friday (1pm).
Based on author Paul Theroux’s book, Saint Jack was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starred Ben Gazzara.
Unfortunately, neither Peter nor Ben will be flying down. (Check out Flick Chick’s alter ego Genevieve Loh’s exclusive interview with Peter Bogdanovich in the papers tomorrow, Tuesday, or here http://www.todayonline.com/Plus/Movies/EDC091124-0000031/Some-like-it-hot
But hey, we’ve still got another Ben.
That’s Ben Slater, who wrote Kinda Hot: The Making of Saint Jack in Singapore. Don’t be fooled. He may look ang moh, but deep down inside, he’s really Singaporean.
Anyway, he acted as bus tour guide (his partner-in-crime, Tony Yeow, who was the movie’s unit manager, wasn’t around but rest assured, he’ll be there – and possibly other cast and crew members too).
Here’s the map. And some notes. And some coffee. Or was it tea?
So anyway, the tour, which is named after the codename the crew used while filming Saint Jack, takes you to some of the places where the movie was shot. Yes, it’s not Hollywood but methinks we need alternative bus tours like this. Or this. (Shameless plugging rules!)
The two-hour tour goes to places familiar and otherwise. First up was Institution Hill at River Valley. One of the locations, which served as a brothel, was an abandoned colonial mansion. But it’s not there anymore. Instead you have a condominium – with a lot of Japanese expatriates.
Then we swoop down to Clarke Quay. Jack Flowers, the film’s lead character, loves to cross bridges.
Then it’s off to Chinatown, where scenes were shot at Smith Street, Amoy Street, Club Street, among others.
The interesting thing about the bus tour was that they played certain scenes from the movie that corresponded to the place.
At certain parts, the bus stops as a particular scene is played out. So you’re both seeing it onscreen and imagining it happen right in front of you. Cool right?
Hopefully for the actual bus tours, they’d put the scenes on loop, because some of them are too short it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair.
Anyway, I’ll leave it up to you to imagine the rest. Rest assured, there’s a lot of nice tidbits from Ben (Slater). Imagine when his kakis come on board. Nostalgia fest, man!
Quick one: you’ll also be passing by Bugis Village (aka Boogie Street), Botanic Gardens, and the Bukit Timah area (which veers from the movie and is more Paul Theroux territory – since he used to live in College Green).
And lots of hotels. Apparently the crew used six hotels. And stayed in some of them. So you’ll pass, among others, Raffles Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, and Goodwood Park Hotel.
The latter’s the last stop in the tour – and you’ll end up right here at the poolside, where the crew used to hang out when they weren’t filming.
Ben (Slater) says you can have drinks there. But they’re not paying.
***
More details for The Jack of Hearts Mystery Tour and Saint Jack screenings can be found here.
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