Gordon Liu is the 11th Prince. The King is about to convene a meeting to select a successor and the 4th Prince wants to make sure Gordon doesn't make it to the meeting. Now Gordon is not really interested in politics, he just wants to enjoy good wine and beautiful antiques. But everywhere he goes to enjoy these things, people act friendly towards him, but are actually trying to kill him. Here we get the famous scenes of people fighting but trying not to look like they are fighting. Brilliant.

Given the situation, the only person Gordo can trust is someone he knows hates his guts! Enter Mr. Ho of the film's title. Ah, the irony rife in this film is part of what makes it so great! Mr. Ho is a thief and at the beginning of the film he is Gordon's rival for the attentions of the girls at the brothel.

I've heard that a more literal translation of the title is "Rotten Head Ho". Gordo manages to cut Ho's head with a poison blade and blackmails Ho into becoming his student and bodyguard by threatening to withhold the weekly administrations of the secret antidote. At first Mr. Ho is understandably pissed off, but he soon learns to respect the 11th Prince and learn his Kung Fu. Eventually Mr. Ho does his very best to get the 11th Prince to the King's meeting alive.

Gordon Lui is the Eleventh Prince and the next in line for the throne. Unlike most of the other princes, he enjoys traveling about, spending time and money on wine, women and antiques--not necessarily in that order. The movie begins with the prince and "Dirty Ho" (Wong Yu) in separate entertainment rooms (no, not that kind of entertainment--get your minds out of the gutter!) at a floating brothel. These are rooms for eating and drinking and charming the ladies with jewels and money. The Prince is using a room that usually is occupied by the thief, Ho. He is rude, crude and would have to pay to be with women. This song and dance crap goes on far longer than necessary, but the Prince helps out Ho because he thinks he is a good man. Ho ends up fighting the Prince with the assistance of one of the prostitutes and is injured by a weapon that was covered with poison. When the local medical people cannot help him, he is forced to return to the prince for an antidote to the poison. Ho agrees to be the Prince's servant in exchange for the antidote.

Even though Hsiao Ho ("Mad Monkey Kung Fu", "Legendary Weapons Of China") is listed fourth in the cast, he is on the screen for approximately four minutes; and if you are not watching carefully, you'll miss the scene, and he is killed after saying a few words. No doubt the idea was to pull in more people by having him do a cameo. It didn't help, rather it only makes you wish you were watching one of his other movies.

"Dirty Ho" is very disappointing on several levels. The characters are two dimensional with no real appeal or development. There is nothing to make you care about anyone. Most movies where someone is pushed into being a servant develop until the servant loves and respects his master. That never really happens. There are a couple of fights where he helps defend the Prince, one with a group of assassins led by a--transvestite???, but even then it's a lackluster effort. When the Prince suffers a serious injury to his leg, he decides he needs to train Ho. Hell, even the training was boring! The end fight scene was uninspired and at times downright silly. The Prince has to help Ho fight but can only use one leg. This only makes the fight more unwatchable.

Save your money on this one and get "Legendary Weapons of China" instead. I promise you won't regret it!