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.

Harold Benson (Rip Torn) is a professional gambler, who always wins the bets against the blackjack dealer Willie Brodax (Ken Wahl). Harold has a jinx on Willie and ca not lose with him. The bad lucky of Willie is getting famous in Reno, and he is fired of all casinos after losing for Harold. The singer Bonita Friml (Bette Midler) is the abused girlfriend of Harold, who has an affair with Willie and plots to kill Harold simulating an accident with the trailer where they live, to get his life insurance. Ten years ago, I bought this VHS in a sale offer based on the name of Don Siegel, but I was not able to finish watching this movie, since I found it boring. Yesterday I decided to see it until the 'The End' and now I can say that it is really silly and boring. The story is an unsuccessful dark comedy, with very few funny parts. It is very hard to believe that a handsome man, like Ken Wahl, could fall in love for the character of Bette Midler. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): 'Jogando Com a Vida' ('Gambling With the Life')

It took four years for Bette Midler's return to film stardom and a better script that boosted her box office, and fortunately by that time, this messy black comedy was long forgotten. Pretty much every diva of the modern day film has had a disaster, and in this case "Jinxed" is Bette's. Combining incredibly unlikable tacky characters and a rip-off of the classic film noir classics, "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (just re-made the previous year),this is often painful, especially for Bette fans. Bette, unhappily involved with low-life gambler Rip Torn, has had an inclandestin affair with sexy Ken and Wahl, an equally down on his luck casino table operator whom she talks onto helping her off Torn. But a strange twist of fate puts a change in their plans, leading to further complications.

Sexy Wahl is easy on the eye, but Midler's poodle like wig is laughable. Midler does get to sing a bit, but the comedy is forced and obnoxious, not funny. I felt sorry for Bette when she was forced to dress a dead, naked Rip who literally does rip one while she's purposely dresses him up in clothes that he "wouldn't be caught dead in". A wild goose chase set up by Torn dominates the second half and gets the film even further off track.

The genuinely wretched script is made even worse by the fact that Bette and Ken have absolutely no chemistry and that she is a shell of what she did in "The Rose" and her live performances. As a huge Bette fan, I wouldn't watch this ever again, and that her charisma was done definitely waning here. Fortunately, she wouldn't be "Down and Out" for long, and other than a handful of real stinkers ("Drowning Mona", anyone?),she remains at the too of my list of musical divas who can do it all.