Dirty Ho

I love this one. There are so many highlights here: Gordon Liu's moustache, his shadow-martial arts/acrobatics, concentrated evilness from Lung Wei Wang and Lieh Lo. And how about that title? Dirty Ho indeed!

The buildup is a tad slow, some of the earlier fights are played for laughs and Liu is rather low-key in this, so I suppose I was initially bummed this wasn't a bit more 'regularly badass'. But it didn't take long for Dirty Ho to dismantle my objections and offer an enjoyable romp with wonderful choreography. The final fight where three enemies work as one against the two protagonists who work as one was just an absolute delight. This should've had a Dirty Hoes sequel.

This holds a special place in my heart for me. My dad took my brother & I to see it on the Deuce in 1981. I know The Master Killer has better films out there, but this takes me to a special place.

Dirty Ho stands out for its inventive choreography, with novel scenes of characters fighting under handicaps and unusual uses of props. Even by Shaw Bros. standards, the plot doesn't do the film any favors, though. Point of fact, this film features the singularly most abrupt ending I have ever seen.

Actually a really entertaining Kung Fu movie with a lot of story, sick fights and nice camerawork. Funny at times and almost thrilling towards the end in my opinion. I had no clue the movie would get a 3.5. However, even with its short runtime, it got boring in the middle, along with annoying repeated sound effects it gets a solid 3.5.

The choreography is interesting but I don't understand this movie at all. Essentially very little happens and it ends resolving nothing. Maybe a lot of it is lost in translation.

Viewed December 20, 2021. Movie 4200. This has some of the most inventive fight choreography I've ever seen, effortlessly blending gracefulness and musicality with cutthroat violence. What makes Lau Kar-leung a great filmmaker is that he assembles all of his scenes along those lines; utilizing subtle pans and zoom shots, every piece of exposition and comedy is part of the same sense of forward momentum as these brilliant action sequences.

Maybe the most expressive martial arts ever made. A low-profile prince contracts a jewelry and con artist to protect him from assassins, but what really matters here is how everything is staged. A pure action movie dedicated to power of gestures, like an antiques/paintings exchange and a wine tasting mediated through bodies in motion - a conversation through movement. Wang uses a girl's body to fight Ho. A dude from the Tigresses gang fight with his MOUTH. Final sequence is pure joy.

One of the best Shaw Brothers movies featuring some very impressive and at times amusing close-quarter kung-fu. Top tier film of the genre.

It isn't a genre I'm particularly predisposed to but I enjoyed it quite a bit. By the end I was starting to tire of it (I can only watch a certain amount of non-stop fighting before my brain starts to shut down), and the ending felt a bit sudden, but for the most part it was a good laugh and the choreography of it all is amazing to behold.

Even on top of some great kung fu, this is one of the most engaging, effectively humorous and beautifully designed Shaw Bros. productions I've seen and more specifically, a top-tier Kuang Ni script. Sure, Gordon Liu doesn't get into real rough and tumble until the end, but that's not to say we don't get to see his chops.

Not bad at all, but Gordon Liu spends most of his time concealing his martial arts mastery. He never really lets loose until the finale.