Blackjack

Bette Midler's a lounge singer in Reno who plots to kill her abusive boyfriend with the help of a hunky card-dealer, leading to a wacky scavenger hunt for the man's hidden loot. Dark-hued comedy takes a long time to get cooking, but there are some big laughs in the second-half, mostly due to Midler's hamming and several of her wicked throwaway lines ("Talk to my a**, my head's had enough!"). Ken Wahl is a tepid stud, but Rip Torn is a hoot as Midler's scummy roommate. Frank D. Gilroy co-penned the screenplay with David Newman, utilizing the pseudonym Bert Blessing. Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography is gauzy and gauche (perhaps he should have adopted a pseudonym as well). Overall, not as atrocious as its bad reputation might leave one to believe. ** from ****

No one wears Levis better than Ken Wahl as Vinnie Terranova. Like most baseball players, I think Ken has / had great legs. Wiseguy provided us some hot above the towel views but in this utterly stupid movie, you will get a below the towel shot. Ken's calves do not disappoint. Add a comment if you might know where I might catch a glimpse of his thighs.

Rip Torn is a professional gambler who's made a decent living at it for years, but over the past year this man's income has skyrocketed because he's found a patsy. Seems like he's got the hoodoo sign on blackjack dealer Ken Wahl which causes him to clean up when he plays his table. The casino bosses notice it too as Wahl moves from job to job, but always Torn catches up to him.

Scouting the way is Bette Midler who is Torn's abused spouse, a lounge singer and somehow Wahl just never notices he happens to be working with her always. I guess the dealers and the entertainment really do move in different universes.

But when casino boss Val Avery says to do something underhanded to Torn, Wahl mounts a campaign to go after Bette. With his looks, Bette's needs and Torn's attitude, this one is an easy campaign. After that Midler gets Wahl involved in a plot to murder Torn and run away with Bette and the loot he's stashed. At this point the plot starts to resemble Billy Crystal's and Danny DeVito's efforts to Throw Momma From The Train.

It all works out, but just not quite the way they expected.

This film was the last one of director Don Siegel who started out back in the Hollywood Studio days. Not too many folks can claim to have directed Ronald Reagan and Bette Midler in their careers. This was Siegel's only venture into comedy albeit black comedy, he just didn't have the touch required for this film. His film with Ronald Reagan was not a high point of Siegel's career either.

Bette's best working alone which for about 20 minutes she does as Mr. Torn sends her on a treasure hunt. It'a almost a comic version of Clint Eastwood being sent all over San Francisco by Andy Robinson to deliver ransom in Dirty Harry. Which was also a Siegel film.

Fans of Bette Midler will like Jinxed however.

This film, had a very good feel to it, although it did seem to be taking the micky out of itself a little, but that didn't matter because, it was a story that delved into the ridiculous, the storyline was quirky enough to carry the film through.

Bette Midler was a slight more subdued than her usual roles, but then again, it was way before she was really known for for her more famous films, like BIG BUSINESS AND GYPSY but towards the end her character perked up a little.

But how 2 people can fall in love so quickly, and then to plan her husbands end was a bit ( right)ok

but you should really go rent it if you want laughs and enjoyable oneliners like saying to the stripper, HEY YOU KNOW HAROLD BENSON, stripper replys YEA I KNOW THE CREEP, WELL GUESS WHAT HE'S DEAD. and they both fall about laughing, great stuff.

Harold,(Rip Torn) a professional gambler, and his girlfriend Bonita,(Bette Midler) a lounge singer, follow Willie,(Ken Wahl)a young blackjack dealer, around the Reno Tahoe area. Harold has a jinx on Willie and can't lose with him. Bonita and Willie meet and fall for each other and plot to do away with Harold and collect on his life insurance. Thats when the movie gets really good, do not quite understand the negative comments of this movie. fun for all I moved to the Reno area a few months after its filming and finally watched the movie years later its one of my favorites

Harold leaves a scavenger hunt for Bonita to find so she would'not be left flat after he dies For years I have used the same scavenger hunt for my kids

loads of fun!