| Part of what can be perceived as a comedy stretch of films (among those Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Return To The 36th Chamber and My Young Auntie), Lau Kar Leung and Shaw Brother's probably unknowingly made sure that a lot of units were shipped overseas thanks to the English title Dirty Ho. However translating the Chinese title reveals the film as Rotten Head Ho, something that will makes much more sense as you follow Wong Yue and Gordon Lau's adventure together.
While I'm sure countless fans can name 3-4 other movies of Lau's that rank higher than Dirty Ho, it deserves praise and remains very enduring thanks to a sly sense of humour that also carries over to the highlight choreography of the film. Gordon Lau (in one of his coolest roles) takes on Johnny Wang and Wilson Tong in fights concerning civil manners on the top surface but deadly, sneaky confrontation underneath and there's as much meticulous detail in here as in any other great fight in Lau Kar Leung's career. Even the finale, not the most memorable one among Lau's films though, can't overpower these set pieces. Weaknesses exist, tracking back to Wong Yue who is on his own a grating comedy presence but thankfully comes off much better when bouncing off Gordon. Another concept that doesn't flourish is one concerning crippled fighters and a confrontation with a team of fighters either summed up as masochistic or cartoonish goes nowhere. Lo Lieh, Kara Hui, Hsiao Hou and Peter Chan also appear. |
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