Dirty Ho

Director: Lau Kar-leung

1979 / 103min / 35mm

Lau Kar-leung is widely credited as a pioneer in introducing a new conceptual wit to the kung-fu film, and his facility in that regard is amply attested to by this wackadoodle wuxia about the eponymous jewel thief (Wong Yu) who, nursing his wounds after being nicked by an envenomed blade, holes up with the mysterious Wang (Gordon Liu), a seemingly effete epicurean whom Ho first runs afoul of vying for the attentions of courtesans at a brothel—and in actual fact the prodigal eleventh prince of Manchuria, disguised in order to foil an assassination plot hatched by his elder brother. Much of the comedy here comes via set pieces in which Liu must defend himself while concealing his martial arts mastery, though the shoot-the-works climax dispenses with subterfuge for sheer showstopping grandeur.

Distributor: Celestial Pictures

A Celestial Pictures Limited title Print provided courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive.

Part of The Sifu: Lau Kar-leung