The Playbirds

This is an absolutely terrible British stab at the giallo genre, crossed with more traditional "skin flick" elements. Pedestrian, nonsensical, endless, with lots of horseracing footage (if you're an enthusiast). (Barely) escapes a zero-star rating because of some nice stripping / posing scenes, as well as an all-too-brief lesbian interlude.

The cover girls of a famous sex magazine are murdered one-by-one and the easily baffled British police can only think of one solution: To send one of their own in undercover.

In the late-70's/early-80's there was a Betamax versus VHS battle which VHS won hands down. When the battle was nearing an end Betamax users threw in the towel and converted flooding the market with old cheap machines with all the tapes that came with it. Through this history I got to see Playbirds not once, but twice.

I hated the 70's - a horrible time for me and this country (the UK). The British film industry had died (to be reborn as a big budget television industry and US workshop) and the video revolution hadn't fully taken off. The only thing getting the punters interested was horror, sex and bawdy comedy -- preferably mixed so that you could justify seeing it more. UK sexual censorship was hard-line, so the films were soft -- as well as cheap and cheerful.

(Playbirds is - indeed - cheap, but they forgot about the cheerful part!)

I am glad that another reviewer pointed out that this is a remake/rip-off because I had thought that the producers had come up with an original idea! Indeed with a bit of rewrite and more talent (or even people that care) you could just about film this as a straight Hammer-style B picture.

There are two camps involved here - the eye-candy talent who know they are not going anywhere and the proper actors who are slumming it, probably as the films producer (David Sullivan) put it "so they didn't have to sign on the dole that week." Being an actor is a frustrating and humiliating business anyway, but this must be like being put on a medieval rack.

*THE BAD*

The film is low budget and clunks from scene to scene with a care usually reserved for television. The treatment of the girls is quite cruel in that while there is a murderer about no one seems to really care too much about it. Even the police can't quite get themselves to wide awake about the case. Suspects are lined up and listed (by an early computer) but the feel is more like a Hammer Horror where sudden death can be forgotten about quickly.

*THE SAD*

It was hard to see Alan Lake without thinking about the tragedy of his later life. Killing himself after losing his well known wife Diana Dorrs to cancer. Same with the nominal lead Mary Millington (the undercover cop) who killed herself rather than be squeezed in a vice created for her by the Inland Revenue (see didn't think she should pay any tax) and the police who were on her trail for a variety of crimes, including (according to Sullivan) drug trafficking. What a happy ship!

*THE MAD*

For unknown reasons the protagonists stop the film to watch horse racing - something that has nothing to do with the plot. To indicate that Millington is up for the undercover job she is required to take all her clothes of in the police station (Scotland Yard?) itself while the two detectives look on!

Yes Playbirds is pretty dreadful, and features pretty dreadful people both sides of the camera. The deaths of the cover girls are treated as a bit of a joke and the whole show ends with a sour and very cruel plot twist.

Producer David Sullivan was determined to make his then girlfriend Mary Millington into a star. The Playbirds goes for a giallo type crime thriller with some soft porn.

Centrefolds who have recently appeared in a sex magazine are being murdered by a serial killer. Suspects include the occult loving magazine publisher or the religious zealot who goes round Soho railing against sin.

The police are under pressure to catch the killer. So they get traffic cop Lucy (Mary Millington) to pose as a fledgling model. Lucy is keen to go undercover as she is bored slamming parking fines.

Millington's acting does not mount to much. She is there along with other young females in the movie to go nude. This includes a scene where female cops have to strip in front of their bosses to show they have the attributes to be a nude model.

There is at least a plot here, sort of borrowed from 1970s American grindhouse movies.

The movie is a touch misogynistic and surprisingly given that this was meant to be titillation. It opts for a bleak downbeat ending.

This is a strange one ...whoever was in charge of directorial reins did not know if they were making a carry on style comedy ..a hardcore porn movie...a cop thriller in the style of the sweeney ..or an outright Horror movie replete with Psychopath ...-the end result is a confuse mish mash , not without some appeal --but with a lot of 'Non-appeal' at the same time..adding to the Euston-films cop show feel is Glynn Murphy ( Dave from minder ) as a detective sergeant who actually has the funniest line in the whole movie ( when i say it is 'F off' you will know the overall standard of writing )--his associate is the bloke off 'Thats life' and there are cameos from famous British faces including Derren Nesbitt whose screentime amounts to 2 mins and he looks like a Treacle-sponge ...-Sad spectacle in a way yet remains watchable for its entire duration ..when the 'supposedly shocking ending' comes you think ...yeah , that about makes sense ..-overall worth a watch for the nudity and dodgy performances .

Playbirds Is an enjoyable mix of David Sullivan smut mixed with the elements of a police procedural thriller in the same vain as the 1970s police drama " The Sweeney"; In its look, I.e. Production design and it's attitudes towards political correctness.

It starts Gavin Campbell and Glynn Edwards who would later go on to achieve success alongside Dennis Waterman and George cole in the popular 1980s comedy drama ' Minder'.

A playbird Model Is found strangled to death in her home, Campbell and Edwards are assigned to solve the case finding out the girl in question works for a sleezy penthouse magazine company headed by a medallion wearing Harry Dougan played by the late Alan lake. An Investigation gets going with Mary millington as P.c. Lucy Sheridan going undercover to investigate the sinister and evil goings on under the surface.

The film attempts to be more than a standard Sullivan esque romp with the customary sex scenes, awkward and dopey dialogue, unbelievable situations.

It's well paced, filmed and acted with a great deal more craft than his usual awful dreck.

The actors play their roles with a alomp Glynn Edwards as the gruff veteran cop and Campbell as his slightly bemused sidekick work well as partners. Alan lake a mains tray on British TV is suitably sleazy and arrogant as the porno magazine head, Mary millington acts surprisingly well considering her sex actress status.

Overall: a surprisingly good sexploitation film mixing Sullivan esque smut and elements of a police procedural.