The Swedish films of the 1970's often seemed to be heavily influenced by the French New Wave, especially by the late 60's work of Jean-Luc Godard, with their non-linear plots, pseudo-documentary style, and left-wing polemics--except that the Swedes, of course, also tended to add in a lot of their trademark "Swedish eroticism". This curious film for awhile seems to be in that vein, but without much eroticism (despite the presence of Swedish sex star Christina Lindberg). Whether anybody, then or now, would really be interested in seeing a Swedish knock-off of Godard WITHOUT the eroticism is questionable to say the least, but fortunately this eventually settles into a much more straightforward countercultural melodrama kind of along the lines of a Scandanavian "Billy Jack".
American singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood stars as the title character "Smoke", a working-class hero and would-be socialist revolutionary, who is the charismatic leader of his fellow workers in a Swedish airplane factory as well as the local hippie layabouts in his small Swedish town. He butts heads with the factory manager, especially after the manager's rebellious daughter falls in love with him and seeks to join the makeshift commune. He uses kick-back money from the manager to buy guns for his group, but when he loses control of some of the rogue elements of the group, tragedy ensues for all involved. (The movie ultimately ends up being much more cautionary and less revolutionary than "Billy Jack").
The film features a lot of Hazlewood's bluesy rock music, which kind of sounds like Procol Harem. Hazlewood was short, middle-aged, and not particularly good-looking, so it might beggar belief that all these young Swedish girls would be throwing themselves at him--but then that was the era. He does have kind of a Mansonesque quality to him, but he also comes across as a decent, and in a way, pretty conservative guy. Christine Lindberg plays a strange young drifter named "Orphan Annie" with a dog named "Fred". She's hilariously spaced out, telling everyone stories about a painter who quite literally painted her (red) and about how "Fred" was given to her by another dog (apparently "Fred's" mother) after it got pregnant despite her warnings to "be careful". Fans of Lindberg may appreciate that she probably deliver her best acting performance ever here outside of the notorious cult film "Thriller--a Cruel Picture", but her male fans, at least, may also be disappointed that she only has brief nude scenes.
This is an odd film and is definitely pretty dated, but it is an interesting artifact of a unique time and place.
