Deliciosa pecadora

Delightful romp whose sole purpose is to showcase the body and talents of Ann Margaret. Very stylish production clashes wittily with a very dated story line. Ann Margaret is a demure fantasy, the accessible all-American girl, pretending to be a wild swinger so she can get published in a Playboy-type men's skin rag. This is one of the last movies directed by George Sidney who directed early titillations such as "Showboat" and "Ziegfield Follies." His obsession with Miss Margaret is apparent and she responds by letting it all hang out. From the opening credits, where she jumps on a trampoline in a cat suit, to zipping around her hip pad in sheer black pantyhose, her performance is frenetically sexy and out of control. She gets used as a paintbrush in a silly orgy and even does a strip-tease. The centerpiece of the movie, however, is the long photo montage sequence that dresses up Ann Margaret in every conceivable look from freckled school-girl to exotic femme fatale. For fans of Ann-Margaret this movie is a indulgent feast!

Ann-Margret alternates between come-hither pussycat and uptight do-gooder playing a would-be writer who attempts to pass herself off as sexually depraved in order to get a deal with a sleazy men's magazine. The problem with this picture is the very same predicament Annie faces: it's a square piece of goods palming itself off as naughty. The opening montage of sex-clubs is amusing, and A-M is energetic bouncing around on a trampoline, but the movie is talky, draggy, and seemingly produced on the cheap. Tony Franciosa doesn't work very well with Ann-Margret (he squirms too much, which isn't good for the romantic sub-plot). A few clever gimmicks--like the teaser ending, which caught me off guard--and Ann-Margret's shapely figure compensate, but "The Swinger" just doesn't swing. Perhaps a director with a sharper flair for visual slapstick and satire (like Frank Tashlin) may have brought out a more cartoony sensibility to these proceedings. George Sidney certainly tries, but he's too literal for the flighty material; while staging a mock-orgy, he has Ann-Margret writhing around on the floor slathered in paint...wouldn't straight sex be cleaner? ** from ****

The Quick Pitch: In order to get her story published in a girly magazine, good girl Kelly Olsson (Ann-Margret) decides to turn herself into the swingingest swinger who ever swung.

As a movie, The Swinger disappoints at just about every turn. It's not funny, it's outdated (a term I usually hate to use but it's definitely appropriate here), it's horribly predictable, and there really isn't much of plot. So, if it's that bad, why haven't I rated it any lower than a 4/10? Well, because as a vehicle to watch Ann-Margret, The Swinger is a wild success. The scenes featuring Ann-Margaret dancing, rolling around in paint, or trying on a variety of revealing, kitchy outfits - those are the highlights. I think my favorite bit had to be where Ann is walking through the house she shares with a variety of other people. There's some sort of choreographed dance practice going on. Ann flawlessly moves into place and out-dances everyone else without ever once looking up from the book she's reading. Her dancing and outfit are just amazing. Unfortunately, however, it all ends quickly and we're back to the tired, unfunny old movie.

So, to sum it up, if you want to see a good movie, keep looking. But, if you want to see Ann-Margret in her prime, The Swinger just might be the thing for you.

4/10

Attention all bad movie lovers this one's for you! Part bad photo shoot-part wildly politically incorrect girlie show. The kind of lame brained junk the studios thought would connect with the youth of the sixties, the only people you can imagine this would speak to are lovers of camp. Be prepared to be practically blinded by the overload of color, some scenes have so much neon yellow and red you'll need sunglasses. That this horror show was directed by George Sidney who in better times was responsible for Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate and other classics boggles the mind. Leering and sexist as well as stupid and absurd this is an outlandish artifact of it's time. It is truly bad from beginning to the very end complete with Batman fight graphics such as POOWWW!!!!!! and ZAP!!

Dreadful sex farce that wishes it had the nerve to be soft-core.

Sixties starlet Ann-Margret plays an good-girl aspiring author who's determined to sell her stories to a girlie magazine, rather than one where people might read the text. It goes downhill from there, editor Tony Franciosa rejects her writing and asks her to pose semi-nude instead, and of course that makes her fall in love with him. And set out to convince him that she's enough of a slut to interest him, by doing things like letting some beefy guys dip her in paint and roll her around a canvas (an unforgettable scene), and pretend to be an alcoholic. So he kidnaps her and tries to rape her, and she runs home to mother (virtue intact) and they both die, and the film is reversed and they don't. I'm not making this up!

Amazingly bad in a very sixties way; if this was the sexual revolution give me the PC nineties.