Chou tou xiao zi

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.