Jinxed! (1982)

A gambler (Rip Torn) follows a blackjack dealer (Ken Wahl) around because he has "jinxed" him, meaning he can't lose when the pigeon is his dealer. This means, of course, that the dealer is continually being fired. But soon a plan by the blackjack dealer and the gambler's abused mistress (Bette Midler) will change all that. Dreadful! A more appropriately titled film you couldn't find. Nothing goes right. The film isn't funny, there's no suspense, it's ugly looking (Reno has got to be high on a list of unphotogenic cities), the direction is sluggish and the actors are all at their worst. The screenwriter Frank D. Gilroy (THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES) had his name removed from the final cut. Sadly, it was director Don Siegel's swan song and in another career low point, Sam Peckinpah was reduced to working as the second unit director. This was the follow up to Midler's Oscar nominated break through performance in THE ROSE and she didn't make another movie for four years. It would have been nice to discover it wasn't so bad after all and didn't deserve its reputation but ... the film stinks! With Val Avery, Benson Fong, Jack Elam and Joan Freeman.