Living to Die

As a freshman director, and the picture's leading player, Wings Hauser requires more funding and experience than is available for this attempt at action noir, for he essays too many tangents and lacks that practical knowledge required to guide an uninspiring cast through its paces, although he must be admired for his ad libbing that rescues several scenes wherein a primary need is instead an increase of takes, reflected frequently by the star's parroting of questions put to him in his role as a private agent in Las Vegas. Even carefully planned editing and cutting would not give this work coherence, as there is little segueing between the many luxated scenes, and even though some of the dialogue is snappy, even witty, it is seldom so as written, due principally to Hauser's lack of directoral savvy, specially with Asher Brauner, who plays a dishonest city commissioner, and with the female lead, Darcy DeMoss, not a skilful actress in any event. As the film opens, Hauser's character, Nick Carpenter, is a Los Angeles Police Department detective, but following only one scene, he has suddenly become, sans transition or rationale, a private thug for Minton in Nevada, and subsequent activities of the cast often take place without discernible cause, other than to show a great deal of naked female flesh of indifferent quality, and a surfeit of subplots and secondary characters unfortunately escapes the cutting room floor; however, there is no question that the unexpected ending is most astonishing and raises an overall assessment of the production.

Wings Hauser – that name alone is dynamite – was a semi-popular lead actor in entertaining and unscrupulous B-movies of the eighties and early nineties. He appeared in two really great movies ("Vice Squad" and "The Siege of Firebase Gloria") but the vast majority of the titles on his repertoire are long-forgotten trash flicks of questionable quality. Still, he has a handful of dedicated fans (yours truly included) that attempt to track down and watch every movie he every starred in. For "Living to Die" he even worked himself up to be director! Good job, Wings! Well, almost a good job, actually, because there are quite a few shortcomings here. Like the title itself, the movie is pretty meaningless, cheap and campy. The plot turns and twists like a pretzel and contains all the typical ingredients of a raunchy B-movie of its era, like extortion, hookers, betrayal, gritty striptease clubs and giant Las Vegas neon lights. There's plenty of action, but not a trace of continuity or logic. During the intro sequences, Nick Carpenter is still an (honest?) cop in Los Angeles, but after the credits all the action takes place in Vegas and the events of the intro are never mentioned anymore. Suddenly Nick is an ex-cop who fills his days with gambling and drinking J&B Whiskey. He's called in by an acquaintance, the rich and incredibly arrogant Edward Minton, because some amateur blackmailer (Arnold Vosloo) wants a million dollar in exchange for keeping the bizarre death of a prostitute secretive. Nick is supposed to meet with the blackmailer, but everyone he meets gets killed before his eyes. He then discovers that the prostitute is still alive, but falls in love with her himself and comes up with a couple of really stupid plans. I honestly can't refer to "Living to Die" as a good film, but at least I was never bored! There are two things that make the film worthwhile and memorable, namely the impeccable breasts of Darcy DeMoss and the completely unconventional and seemingly random climax. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen such a bizarre, illogical and unexpectedly sudden ending in a film of this kind. It almost seems like they ran out of budget and/or inspiration and just abandoned the whole thing.

My review was written in December 1990 after watching the movie on PM video cassette.

"Living to Die" is a mishmash of an action film, notable mainly for its unusual ending. Currently in regional theatrical release it is due to hit video stores in February.

The second feature as director for thesp Wings Hauser (after the 1989 production "Coldfire"), pic plays like a debut in its incoherent mix of conflicting elements.

Slow start is an irrelevant pre-credits sequence of Hauser as a police detective showing rookie cop Wendy MacDonald the ropes. Without adequate explanation, he's no longer a cop but a private eye type in film proper.

Old pal Asher Brauner hires Hauser to clean up a sticky business for him: femme fatale hooker Darcy DeMoss dies of a drug overdose in Brauner's presence and her boyfriend Arnold Vosloo is blackmailing him.

Tortured plot twist has DeMoss turning up alive and soon taking up with Hauser who tries to play both ends against the middle. Romantic interludes and nightclub scenes fail to advance the plot.

Surprise ending turns the picture into film noir but is hard to swallow.

DeMoss, a familiar face from action and horror pics, is impressive here either in or out of costume, and Hauser remains comfortable with tough guy roles. Brauner is effective in a change-of-pace, purely villainous assignment. South African thesp Arnold Vosloo, his accent aside, is a good choice as the slimy blackmailer whose main job is taking dirty photographs.

Technical credits including on-location filming in Las Vegas mark a step up fo the PM Entertainment outfit.

"Living to Die" is not one of Wings Hauser's better efforts. It comes across as extremely disjointed. With "Wings" directing and starring, the film smacks of being more of a vanity project than anything else. Arnold Vosloo is really wasted in a supporting role, and Darcy DeMoss struts her "soft core" stuff, but her acting is less than mediocre. The noirish blackmail plot leads to a surprise ending that leaves lots of unanswered questions regarding believability. Watching "Wings" riding a motorcycle, riding go carts, and horseback riding fills in dead spaces, of which there are plenty. Not recommended, even for "Wings" enthusiasts. - MERK