Dirty Ho
Dirty Ho is a 1979 film from Hong Kong, directed by Lau Kar-leung, running 103 minutes. reelscum files it under martial arts.

- Year
- 1979 · 1970s films
- Country
- Hong Kong
- Runtime
- 103 min
- Director
- Lau Kar-leung
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (51/100)
- Also known as
- Dirty Ho
Defined in the glossary: Martial arts
A prince and a thief, master and pupil in disguise. Lau Kar-leung's wittiest choreography.
One of Lau Kar-leung's most inventive and playful films, in which a disguised Manchu prince trains a young jewel thief while pretending not to, fighting off assassins in elaborate set pieces staged to look like accidents, wine tastings and antique appraisals. The choreography is as much comedy as combat.
Gordon Liu plays the prince with a light touch, and the fights, especially one conducted entirely through a woman being manipulated like a puppet, are among the cleverest ever staged. Underseen and delightful, it shows kung fu as wit rather than brutality.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 8 Nov 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Filed alongside
Executioners from Shaolin
Lau Kar-leung's revenge epic. A survivor spends years learning the one style that can beat the villain.
The Chinese Boxer
Jimmy Wang Yu invents the empty-hand kung fu film. No swords.
The Street Fighter
Sonny Chiba tearing people apart. First film rated X in America for violence alone.
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
Lau Kar-leung's brutal last great Shaw film. A massacred family, and pole fighting as grief.
Heroes of the East
Chinese kung fu versus Japanese martial arts, as a marriage. Lau Kar-leung's most good-natured film.
They Call Her... Cleopatra Wong
The girls-with-guns spy picture Tarantino keeps name-checking, and rightly.
Crippled Avengers
Four men maimed by a tyrant learn to fight through their disabilities. Chang Cheh at his most inventive.
Five Element Ninjas
Chang Cheh spills more guts here than in any Shaw film before it, and grins the whole way.
Five Deadly Venoms
Chang Cheh's oddest. Five styles, five masks, one whodunit.
Black Belt Jones
Jim Kelly karate-chops the mob to save a Watts dojo. Blaxploitation meets kung fu, joyfully.
The Man from Hong Kong
Jimmy Wang Yu wrecks Sydney, with hang-gliding and a man actually on fire. Peak crossover.
Five Fingers of Death
The one that broke kung fu in America, months before Bruce Lee did.