Rating:

7

Year of release: 1979

Genre: martial arts

Director: Lau Kar-Leung

Action director: Lau Kar-Leung

Producer: Mona Fong

Music: Eddie H. Wang

Cinematography: Arthur Wong, Peter Ngor

Editors: Geung Hing Lung, Lee Yim Hoi

Stars: Wong Yue, Gordon Liu, Lo Lieh, Hsiao Ho, Kara Hui, Peter Chan, Yau Chui Ling, Cheng Miu, Yeung Chi Hing, Jamie Luk, Johnny Wang, Wilson Tong

Not rated; contains IIA-level violence

VCD Information

Company: Celestial

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: Chinese/English (electronically printed on lower black bar)

Extras: trailers

Notes: Another solid effort from Celestial -- this is much better than the previous release put out by Ground Zero.

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Dirty Ho

Yes, you read that title right. And no, it's not some risque joke or badly re-titled entry in the "Wu-Tang Collection". Dirty Ho is actually a very solid old-school martial arts movie, though this reviewer won't go so far as some others, who consider this one of the best kung fu films ever made.

The "Ho" in the title refers to the main character, who is played by Wong Yue. He's a con artist and thief who gets bamboozled by Chin Chen (Gordon Liu), who is a wine-loving art collector and seems to have a few secrets. Seeking revenge, Ho seeks out Chin and is poisoned during the confrontation. Chin offers to cure Ho, on the condition that Ho becomes his student. Ho reluctantly agrees, since having a master is better than having a big puss-filled wound on your forehead in the scheme of things, and soon he uncovers Chin's true identity and a plot to capture the leadership of China.

What makes Dirty Ho stand out in the sea of Shaw Brothers kung fu movies are the fight sequences. Or rather, it's the lack of fighting in them. It's hard to describe in print, but most of the fights are treated like intricate dances, rather than brawls. Even though that sounds like it would be boring, it does work -- for the most part. The first couple of times the style is used, it's a neat gimmick, but it does start to wear thin after a while. Thankfully, the final battle between Ho, Chin and an evil general (Lo Lieh) turns to the hard-hitting style most fans expect from the best entries in the Shaw Brothers canon.

Even though the action is solid for the most part, I still felt a bit let down with Dirty Ho. The story and character development are fairly weak -- by the end of the movie, the audience doesn't really know anything more about the characters than when the first reel began. This is not helped by the typical Shaw Brothers "sudden ending"; the movie ends just as things are getting interesting story-wise. Still, even with these problems (which are relatively small compared to some of the bile-inducing junk from this era like Fist of Fear, Touch of Death) Dirty Ho is an entertaining kung fu flick that should satisfy fans of the old-school genre.