Only the easily-pleased will enjoy this silly saga about a prisoner of love who rights a wrong and salvages a call girl's bed-hopping existence. Professionally scripted with some neat betrayals, BEYOND DESIRE suffers from a regrettable tendency to milk its story line for laughs.
Released from prison after being framed for his girlfriend's murder, ex-con and ex-Marine Elvis Ray (William Forsythe) wonders why prison groupie Rita (Kari Wuhrer) offers him a lift in her flashy car. Willing to bed Rita but not trust her, Elvis is plunged back into a Las Vegas homicide whirlpool
after Rita shoots two thugs sent by her boss--and Elvis's old nemesis--Frank Zulla (Leo Rossi). Elvis later learns that the two "hits" were faked to ensure his fearful silence. At an area whorehouse, inquisitive Elvis informs Madame Shirley (Sharon Farrell), the sister of his late girlfriend,
Linda, that he did not bayonet Linda 26 times or run off with the skimmed profits Linda stole from Zulla.
Elvis is sex-starved enough to fall for Rita. He also aggravates Lt. Davis (Dennis Hayden), whom Elvis suspects of pocketing Zulla's missing fortune, so Elvis reopens the murder investigation single-handedly. Although Rita tries to wheedle information about the cash out of Elvis, he doesn't dig up
buried treasure in the desert, but rather Marine artillery for his payback plan.
Setting his trap for Zulla, Elvis realizes that Rita truly loves him only after Zulla threatens to kill her for double-crossing him. With Shirley and his goons in tow, Zulla agrees to exchange Rita for money at Hoover Dam.
Incapacitating Zulla's gunsels and duping him into confessing to Linda's murder, Elvis waits for the police. Although Lt. Davis doesn't fork over his ill-gotten gain, he arrests Zulla for Linda's slaying and enables Elvis and Rita to start a new life.
Chugging along familiar Vegas back roads, this Forsythe vehicle represents a good case against the promotion of second bananas to starring roles. Aside from Forsythe's desire to showcase himself as a sexier Gary Busey, this flick is barely beyond mediocrity. Its prehistoric revenge motifs, crooked
copper cliches, and heart-of-gold hooker stereotypes torment the audience, which overdoses on formula.
It's a toss-up as to whether there are more bullets flying or more bedroom innuendoes sailing past viewers' ears in BEYOND DESIRE.
Rossi has worked hard to establish himself as a lead in the RELENTLESS movies, and this movie forces him to parody his former low-life specialty.
The film goes far afield with its insistence on Forsythe's hunky hero status. Like a bizarre vanity production, BEYOND DESIRE allows its star to sing, make love often and boisterously, and hog the proceedings so robustly that the viewer wants to run for cover. (Graphic violence, extreme profanity,
extensive nudity, sexual situations, substance abuse.) leave a comment
