THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT DIE

US, 1976, 83 minutes, Colour.
Dorothy Malone, Keenan Wynn, Aldo Ray.
Directed by Robert Arkless.

The Man Who Would Not Die looks like an episode of any police thriller on television. It has Miami and Caribbean settings. it has action, police, glamour. It is an independent production - and has Dorothy Malone, Keenan Wynn and Aldo Ray having top billing whereas they are in support. (Dorothy Malone has only two scenes.)

The film keeps the attention with its complicated mystery - but is just one of many similar thrillers.

1. Entertaining pastime thriller? Exotic settings? Heroics? Violence and mystery?

2. Location photography, the sea? Special effects and stunt work?

3. The title and its focus on Hardy - and the irony of his cover-ups of his criminal activity? The irony of his dying of a heart attack and nobody believing it?

4. The focus on Mark Rogers as hero? His ship? The burial of the body at sea? Work with Keefer? Audience suspicions after seeing Hardy's fake death? The arrival in Miami? The reports? The ring from Paula Stafford? Keefer and the clashes, his death? Rogers and his being taken and bashed, questioned? The police interrogations? Under suspicion? His beginning his own investigations? The encounter with Paula and his not understanding? Her death? His examining Baxter's belongings? Photos? Contact with his media friend? Travelling to Baxter's home? The discovery of his daughter? His identity? The pursuit of the gangsters? The boat, Roger's getting the upper hand, overboard, being rescued? The resolution of the mystery? The romantic ending?

5. Hardy and his engineering his own death? His being Baxter? The flashbacks explaining his being on Roger's boat, his death? His relationship with Paula Stafford? His swindling the money, gambling in Las Vegas, the gangster group after him? His daughter? The revelation of the truth? The recovery of the money?

6. Keefer and his greed, taking the money, his being tricked by the prostitute, his murder?

7. The gangsters and their arrival at Hardy's house, the killing of the servant, the killing of Keefer, the pursuit of Rogers, torture, the killing of Paula, arrival on the island, the confrontation on the boat?

8. Pat and her work, attitude towards her father, the encounter with Rogers, the common danger, romance?

9. The gallery of characters ranging from the police, media people, Paula Stafford?

10. Popular ingredients of American thriller entertainment? The world of gangsters, crime, cover-ups, police investigations, gangsters, heroes?