Dirty Ho (1981)

Gordon Liu, who bridged the gap between Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, once again takes top billing in a kung fu comedy that showcases some well-conceived martial arts routines. To hide the fact that he's a kung fu master (and a noble on the lam), he manipulates a young woman at one point (in a brothel, if I remember correctly), using her like a puppet to fend off a would-be assailant; during a wine-tasting, he uses teapots and cups to keep his attacker at bay- while still sampling the wine; when he visits an antique dealer, the antiques themselves become defensive weapons even as he assesses their value. He enlists the aid of Wong Yu (the "Dirty Ho" of the title), whose close encounter with a group of gay gung fu men is worth the price of admission (they're called "The Bitters," but "The BitterSweets" would've been more to the point): Wong is almost converted by the Bitters when he samples their wares (...). When Liu is injured and has to take to a wheelchair, Wong takes up the slack- and then we see Liu, the Stephen Hawking of gung fu, mow down a virtual army of assailants en route to a showdown with the dastardly Lo Lieh. An ingrate, Liu literally kicks his young sidekick to the curb when day is done. Some trademarked choreography and plenty of comedy make this one worth a look.

This is one of the films that sears itself into your mind forever unless kung fu films are a real turn off. Even when it was only watchable in poorly centered TV prints the brilliance of the action shined thru. Filmed towards the end of the golden age of the Shaw Brothers Studios, Dirty Ho rates as the top of the genre. The way the fights are choreographed is mesmerizing and I have spent hours rewinding the scenes to see exactly how the director orchestrated the camera and actors. It incredible how the movement progresses. I defy anyone to come up with something as subtle yet outrageous as the wine scene or the antique scene. The scenes in "House of Flying Daggers" are quite impressive but everything is computer assisted exaggeration. Here the only tricks are what could be done with editing and camera movement (O.K. maybe a few wires). You can see that most of the work is being done by the highly talented actors.When this is re-released, buy it!

If anyone thinks that martial arts films are unsubtle escapism, with violence and little else, then Dirty Ho is a shining example of what they can be. Even from the point of view of the fight sequences, the two 'disguised' fights whilst drinking wine and admiring antiques are as well choreographed as any fights before and since.However, the nature of the relationship between the Prince and Ho is very deliberate and complex. The Prince, a Manchu, and thus regarded with a great deal of suspicion (if not outright hostility) by southern Chinese, is throughout the film the model of a good Confucian, knowledgeable about all manner of fine art, wine and antiques. Ho is uncouth, rude and violent towards him, yet the superior (and distinctly Chinese) virtue of the Prince ultimately convinces him to serve him.This is not only a obvious difference from a majority of Hong Kong films, in which the Manchu dynasty tends to be portrayed in a very negative light, as foreign, barbaric invaders, Dirty Ho provides a balance, indeed in some ways in represents the way the Manchu (Qing) dynasty, initially a foreign and, to the Chinese, barbaric people, soon was assimilated to become more Chinese than the Chinese.And besides that, it is a fantasticly crafted martial arts film, with all the usual training sequences and an absolutely brilliant stylised fight sequence during the opening credits.

DIRTY HO (1979) is an unusual kung fu movie in that its main character has to hide his martial skills for much of the film in order not to give away his identity as the Eleventh Prince, who is set to be named heir to the throne of China. The title refers to a shady character, Ho Chi (played by Wong Yue, not to be confused with Jimmy Wang Yu), a petty thief who becomes sidekick to the Prince, who is operating undercover as a merchant named Wang while trying to determine which of his brothers is trying to have him killed.Wang is played by Gordon Liu, the colorful star of MASTER KILLER and many other kung fu classics of the 1970s. For many of his scenes here, he has to disguise his kung fu maneuvers while engaged in polite encounters with men who turn out to be his enemies. For instance, while engaging in a wine tasting session at the home of a wine connoisseur (played by Wang Lung Wei), he has to fight off stealthy assassination attempts by the connoisseur and his servant (Hsiao Hou), all while going through the motions of sitting and tasting different wines. Later, at the lavish home of an antiques dealer, Liu has to fight the dealer while ostensibly engaged in examining ancient treasures. Poor Ho has to watch helplessly from outside the house, eager to help his master, but unsure of what is actually going on. The party scene where Liu first meets-and fights-Ho is particularly ingenious, because he has to manipulate one of the party girls (Kara Hui Ying Hung) and use her arms, legs and the lute she's playing to fight off Ho, to make it look like she's defending him. Liu claims she's his bodyguard and continually praises her kung fu skills, while she's standing in the midst of the action totally bewildered. Eventually, Liu is forced to reveal himself and is seriously injured in a climactic battle. At that point, he is compelled to teach his skills to Ho whom he then works in tandem with for the knockdown, drag-out final battle with the corrupt General Liang (kung fu great Lo Lieh) and his henchmen, who are working for the 4th Prince, one of Liu's brothers. The staging is very clever and is clearly a noble effort to do something different within the kung fu genre. Director Liu Chia Liang (aka Lau Kar Leung) has mounted a good-looking historical production, with great sets and costumes, filled with encounters that are imaginative and fun to watch. The plot is not very complicated nor is there much of the excitement one normally associates with kung fu movies, but for fans of the genre looking for something distinctive and unpredictable, this is one to savor and enjoy.