THE FILTHY GUY is an early vehicle for a pre-fame Sammo Hung, made years before he hit the big time by appearing in the likes of KNOCKABOUT and MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER, films which hold up to this day. Sadly, this film has more in common with the low rent nonsense that Jackie Chan churned out before he achieved fame with Lo Wei and then DRUNKEN MASTER; it's amateurish and largely unfunny.Time has not been kind to THE FILTHY GUY. The plot is one note and poor Sammo plays an extremely dumb character with a filthy head of hair. The only interesting thing is that he's involved in the kind of gruelling training sequences that Jackie would later utilise extensively in the likes of DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW; I never realised Sammo got there first. However, the fight scenes, which are few and far between, are largely lacklustre for those of us who know what the big guy is made of.The film boasts supporting parts for Carter Wong as the villain of the piece and Yueh Hua as his right-hand man. There's the usual dumb comedy involving cross-dressing and animals, but it all largely ambles past without engaging the viewer at all. THE FILTHY GUY also boasts a notably bad dubbing job with some of the most grating accents ever. I'd skip it.

This is the worst of the Sammo Hung films of the old-school chop-socky 'fu film era that I've yet seen. Hung is burdened with an ugly wig - a wig conventional to Cantonese comedy, it indicates that the character never washes his hair. This would be mere annoyance, except that the wig is actually the whole point of the movie! Hung is even made to use it as a weapon in hand-to-hand combat! Hung did not write, direct, or even choreograph this mess. The film is clear indication that the chop-socky film producers had not the slightest idea of what to do with the new generation of 'fu stars showing up in the period 1978-1980. Obviously, knowing Hung was beginning to earn a reputation for comedy, the producer decided to hire him for what the producer obviously thought was a funny script. The humor is so low, you can scrape it off your shoe. Hung mugs like the village idiot. This is a far cry from the sophisticated comedy Hung himself writes and directs. And the kung-fu? well, if the dirt on the top of a guy's head counts as a weapon, what sort of fighting can one expect from this? The surviving English-dub video of this film is the worst pan-and-scan job I've seen in a long time, and the dubbing ridiculous.Remember that Hung had already directed the far more polished Iron Fisted Monk by the time he made this film. Clearly he's just picking up a few bucks as quickly as possible. Wish I had known him back then, I'd have paid him not to make the movie! The two stars is for the performance of Carter Wong as the bad-guy of the pic.

I thought it was a good old-school kung fu movie, but I expected a little bit more from Sammo Hung. I agree with the other comment I read, that the part with the cows was the best and original. I've never seen anything like it. I also liked that Shih Tien watched everybody's head to find out if it was Dirty Su. I did not like a lot of jokes, I also think that Yueh Hua (I'm not sure) who played the right hand of Shih Tien is not funny at all. And also the way it was dubbed into English was terrible.

This is one of my personal favorite martial arts films starring Sammo. Aside from some stabbings, this is a very light-hearted movie. Sammo Hung portrays an orphan who helps rebels fight against an evil and incompetent emperor. As usual, Sammo doesn't act like a macho fighter, but rather a goofy character wearing a filthy wig while showing off his martial arts skills. The talented Shih Tien co-stars, but is reduced to a whipping boy for the other characters to mistreat. One of the best gags in the film is where an army of cows rescues Sammo and his friends when they're being attacked by imperial troops.A very entertaining martial arts-comedy. I highly recommend it.