Ho! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Ho! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2025

Robert Enrico's "Ho!" (1968) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson, as well as promotional trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Use my full name. Don't call me Ho.

By the time reformed gangster Jose Giovanni scripted Ho!, he was already a legitimate star in France, having seen his writings turned into such successful films as The Hole, The Big Risk, and The Second Wind. Giovanni had become a good friend of Lino Ventura, Charles Vanel, and Alain Delon, and even managed to direct a few surprisingly good crime films. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before his writings were used to produce another crime film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In Ho!, Belmondo plays Francois Holin a.k.a. Ho, a small-town race car driver who joins a gang of professional thieves and begins assisting them as they hit various big banks across Paris. However, despite being cautious, Ho is arrested and promptly sent to a state prison, where he quickly begins to reevaluate his life -- but not as anticipated by the authorities. Shortly after he is led to his cell, Ho befriends a dim-witted beggar locked up for a minor crime and, while allowing his appearance to deteriorate enough so that the two begin to look like twin brothers, carefully extracts from him valuable information to successfully impersonate him when the right opportunity arrives. Then, on the day the dim-witted beggar is scheduled to be released, Ho sedates him and, while impersonating him, casually walks out of the state prison.

Feeling emboldened by his success and the stupidity of the men representing the law, the reformed Ho chooses a new path in life. Sort of. Instead of reuniting with his former partners, Ho becomes his own boss, and to ensure that his legacy is preserved correctly, he tracks down and forces a veteran newspaper writer (Paul Crauchet) to use his pre-approved information when reporting on his work. Despite being a wanted man, Ho also resumes his romantic relationship with his naïve supermodel girlfriend (Joanna Shimkus). However, when his former partners and competitors reappear and attempt to claim some of his rapidly growing savings, Ho is forced to reevaluate his life again.

Robert Enrico’s film works with original material from Giovanni’s novel of the same name, published in 1964. However, by 1968, when Enrico’s film was released, France had already been flooded with numerous colorful stories about Jacques Mesrine, who had become an international sensation, and while Belmondo’s character was never meant to be a replica of Mesrine, his performance unquestionably seeks an association with the notorious gangster and his antics. For example, Ho’s transformation into a fearless gangster, his desire to have his legacy preserved correctly by the media, and his affection for luxury and beautiful women are all key elements of Mesrine’s story, and Belmondo’s performance links them with an undeniable flashiness that the notorious gangster is remembered for. Giovanni was unhappy with this development, and shortly after Enrico’s film was released, he publicly declared that it had not met his expectations.

As shot and edited, Enrico’s film is not a hugely disappointing misfire, but it is not amongst the better ones associated with Giovanni’s writings. However, it is difficult to tell whether a different, more conservative Belmondo performance would have been a significant improvement capable of transforming the entire film for the better. Many areas where the film visibly stutters are clogged up with material that simply isn’t exciting, and it is because of Belmondo that they do not become problematic.

Jean Boffety’s lensing is difficult to praise, too. The entire film has a casual appearance that neither supports nor interferes with a particular type of memorable atmosphere.

Ho! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ho! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release introduces a 4K restoration of the film, completed by the French lab Hiventy in 2024. The 4K restoration is, perhaps unsurprisingly, quite disappointing. While it is very easy to tell that the raw 4K files are outstanding -- all visuals have fantastic, very stable density levels, and their surface is immaculate -- there are numerous issues affecting color reproduction, gamma levels, and the dynamic range of the visuals. Many of these issues are quite similar to the ones observed on Hiventy's 4K restoration of La Piscine.

In the areas where the color anomalies, clearly introduced by incorrect set color values, are most prominent, you will see blanket tealing as demonstrated here and here. Elsewhere, it is just as easy to tell that the dynamic range of the visuals is off. See an example here. In select areas, during indoor footage, shadow nuances are comprised as well, so digital flatness becomes easy to see. Grain is not affected by digital corrections, but because of the anomalies highlighted above, in some areas its exposure is unconvincing. A less than optimal encoding exacerbates the issue as well. Ultimately, the film does not have the stable, convincing organic appearance a proper 4K restoration should easily ensure. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Ho! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is outstanding. There is quite a bit of material with good action, some featuring shootouts, some featuring car racing, and its clarity, sharpness, and dynamic intensity are quite impressive. The upper register, where older films reveal weaknesses, is solid too. The dialog is clear, always stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is very good, but I am not a fan of the small English subtitles. I would prefer proper bigger subtitles like the ones seen on the Blu-ray releases that 88 Films, Criterion, and Indicator/Powerhouse Films produce.

Ho! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson. The commentators share their thoughts on the stylistic identity of Ho!, Jean-Paul Belmondo's performance, the evolution of French crime films, etc.

• Trailer - presented here is a recent trailer cut to promote the 4K restoration of Ho!. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min).

Ho! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

All big post-war French actors made at least one film based on writings by reformed gangster Jose Giovanni, who also directed several very good crime films. Lino Ventura, Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel, Yves Montand, Jean Rocherfort, Alain Delon, and Jean-Paul Belmondo were also very close with Giovanni. In Ho!, Belmondo plays a small-town race car driver who becomes a wheelman for a gang of professional thieves and later starts working for himself. Belmondo's performance became somewhat controversial, or at least with Giovanni, because it emulated certain qualities that were associated with Jacques Mesrine, the flashiest and most scandalous of all post-war French gangsters. Giovanni had not intended for Belmondo's character to be even remotely similar to Mesrine. However, this unplanned association is not the main reason Ho! is impossible to place amongst the better films that Giovanni's writings inspired. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release introduces a new but unconvincing 4K restoration of Ho!, completed at French lab Hiventy.