Godfrey Ho

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This image, sharing many similarities with the Columbia Pictures logo, is featured at the beginning of many of Godfrey Ho's movies.

Godfrey Ho (Chinese language: 何志强 or 何致强) (1948–), also sometimes known as God Ho, is a former Hong Kong-based film director.

Sometimes considered the Ed Wood of Hong Kong cinema, he is best known for his Ninja films, a series of 1980s martial arts films made with a cut-and-paste technique. Ho would film footage for one film, and then edit and splice the shots together in a different order, often adding in footage from other films, and then dubbing over the result to create an (almost) coherent finished product. This allowed him to create four or five films with the budget of one, though it is often difficult to discern how much of the finished product he actually filmed himself. Ho has directed over 90 films, of which approximately 40 contain the word "ninja" in the title.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

A screenshot from Godfrey Ho's Ninja Thunderbolt, showing roller-skating ninjas chasing a bubble car through Hong Kong.

Reliable biographical information on Ho is difficult to come by, due to his obscurity and his recent relative inactivity (he directed only one film between 1995 and 2005, compared with more than 60 from 1980 to 1990). The problem is further exacerbated by his frequent use of pseudonyms. He has been credited under more than 20 different names during the course of his career, although his motives for doing this are unclear. Even in Chinese, Ho is known by two names: 何志强[2] and the less common 何致强[3]. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gives his birth name as Chi Kueng Ho, or Ho Chi Kueng using Chinese name order; this may be an error for Ho Chi Keung, a Yale Romanization of 何志强/何致强.

Ho's pseudonyms include Godfrey Hall, He Zhi Jiang, Benny Ho, Ho Chi-Mou, Ho Chun-Sing, Charles Lee, Stanley Chan, George King, Ho Jeung Keung, Ho Fong, God-Ho Yeung, and others. It is a matter of debate whether or not Thomas Tang (reportedly killed in a fire in the late 1980s) is one of Ho's aliases or an actual different person.

[edit] Career

Despite his future career in independent cinema, Godfrey Ho's career started fairly high profile. Born in HK, Godfrey Ho was the assistant director for Chang Cheh at the Shaw Brothers studio for a few years and worked alongside John Woo. Ho's first film was a low budget production entitled Parix Killer, followed by the now cult classic The Dragon Hero. It was while working with Shaw Brothers did Godfrey Ho meet future partner Joseph Lai. Together, they started ASSO Asia Film (And its subsidiaries IFD Films & Arts and ADDA Audio Video).


A notable feature of many of Godfrey Ho's films was the presence of the B-actor Richard Harrison in a lead role. Harrison, a reasonably well-known American B-movie actor in the 1960s and 1970s, agreed to act in several of Ho's films in the early 1980s, although this footage was later spliced into many more of Ho's films without Harrison's knowledge. Harrison has stated that the damage done to his acting career by this association with Ho's films led him to retire in 1990.[4]

Many of Ho's movies are revered by aficionados of bad movies as being among some of the most unintentionally hilarious movies ever created, featuring, among other things, Benny Hill-esque car chases run on sped-up film, roller-skating ninjas, and superfluous rape scenes which often have little or no connection with the already disjointed plot. Ho is also noteworthy for his uncredited use of music from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Wars, Wendy Carlos, Miami Vice, Iczer One, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Steve Hillage among others, as background music in his films.

[edit] Latest information

Godfrey Ho now teaches digital movie-making in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Film Academy.[5]

[edit] Quotation

"I used to be a movie maker. Now I am teaching people to make movies. It really makes me glad when my students are happily showing me their works. Only if you've been through the whole process, can you understand how satisfactory and delightful it is."[1] (translated from Chinese)

[edit] Filmography

This is an incomplete list of movies commonly attributed to Godfrey Ho. It may be impossible to ever tell with certainty how many and which of these films are directed by Ho since even he is unsure on the subject and several films have been re-released under different names.[6]

As Director:

  • The Blazing Ninja (1973)
  • Dragon, The Young Master (1978)
  • Magnificent Wonderman (1979)
  • Golden Dragon Silver Snake (1979)
  • Fury In The Shaolin Temple (1979)
  • Shaolin Fist Fighter (1980)
  • Snake Strikes Back (1981)
  • Grand Master Of Shaolin Kung Fu (1981)
  • Raiders of Bhuddist Kung FU (1982)
  • Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple (1982)
  • Ninja The Violent Sorcerer (1982)
  • Leopard Fist Ninja (1982)
  • Ninja Champion (1985)
  • Ninja The Protector (1986)
  • Ninja Squad (1986)
  • Ninja Terminator (1986)
  • Golden Ninja Warrior (1986)
  • Ninja: American Warrior (1987)
  • Angel's Blood Mission (1987)
  • Devil Dynamite 1987
  • Zombie vs. Ninja (1987)
  • Scorpion Thunderbolt (1988)
  • Rage Of Ninja (1988)
  • Robo Vampire 1988
  • The Vampire Raiders (1988)
  • Full Metal Ninja (1988)
  • Ninja Force Of Assassins (1988)
  • Ninja Strike Force (1988)
  • Ninja Powerforce (1988)
  • Power Of Ninjitsu (1988)
  • Ninja Demon's Massacre (1988)
  • Angel Enforcers (1989)
  • Thunder Ninja Kids: Wonderful Mission (1990)
  • Ninja Empire (1990)
  • U.S. Catman In Lethal Track (1990)
  • Lethal Panther (1990)
  • Ninja: The Battalion (1990)
  • Power Force (1991)
  • Thunder Ninja Kids: Hunt For Devil Boxer (1991)
  • The Fighter The Winner (1991)
  • Kickboxer King (1991)
  • Kickboxer The Champion (1991)
  • Thunder Ninja Kids: Golden Adventure (1992)
  • Thunder Ninja Kids: Little Kickboxer (1992)
  • Robo Kickboxer - Power Of Justice (1992)
  • Kickboxer From Hell (1992)
  • Kickboxer Against The Odds (1992)
  • Honor And Glory (1992)
  • U.S. Catman In Boxer's Blow (1993)
  • Lethal Extortion (1993)
  • Undefeatable (1994)
  • The First Assignment (1995)
  • Manhattan Chase (2000)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Richard Harrison". Nanarland.com. http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=richardharrisonvo&vo=1&page=5. Retrieved 2009-09-24. 
  2. ^ "何志强 Godfrey Ho". IMDb.cn. http://www.imdb.cn/name/nm0387301. Retrieved 2009-11-07. 
  3. ^ "Hong Kong Film Archive". http://ipac.hkfa.lcsd.gov.hk/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=12S32O95312I5.8&profile=hkfa&uri=link=3100036@!8331@!3100024@!3100036&menu=search&submenu=basic_search&source=192.168.110.61@!horizon. Retrieved 2009-11-07. 
  4. ^ "Richard Harrison". Nanarland.com. http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=richardharrisonvo&vo=1&page=5. Retrieved 2009-09-24. 
  5. ^ "Hong Kong Film Academy @ since 1989". Filmacademy.com.hk. http://www.filmacademy.com.hk/structure_en.html. Retrieved 2009-09-24. 
  6. ^ "Godfrey Ho". Nanarland.com. http://www.nanarland.com/interview/interview.php?id_interview=godfreyhovo&vo=1. Retrieved 2009-09-24. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Ho"
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