To Be Number One

Ho is a poor man who escapes from China to Hong Kong in the sixties. He has nothing and starts by fighting on the street. One of his legs is lame, which is why he is called Limpy Ho. Over the years he goes into the drug trade, builds his own network, and becomes one of the most feared names in the city. Corruption inside the police force turns out to be the greatest support for his rise. The character is based on a real person: one of Hong Kong's biggest drug bosses in the seventies, eventually caught. In the years the film came out there was a wave of such true-crime stories in Hong Kong. Poon Man-Kit directed and Ray Lui has the lead. The film was named best film at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year. Two hours and sixteen minutes. The story does not make a hero of the man but does show how the city produced him.