The Playbirds

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 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 PLAYBIRDS is another late '70s sexploitation effort from Britain, but like most of the others it really isn't much cop. Mary Millington appears as a female police officer who agrees to help some detectives in their hunt for a serial killer, but there are so many characters here she just sort of gets lost in the masses. Familiar faces pop up the cast but don't get very much to do, although it's amusing to see TV presenter Gavin Campbell as the lead. The mystery aspects are very poorly handled and the closing reveal is as uninteresting as they come. Expect wall to wall nudity, as per usual by genre standards, and a particularly angry Alan Lake performance.

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.

I really think this film has really taken a bum rap. It's sad to think, two of the main actors actually committed suicide, one shortly after this. I loved the saucy and cheeky nudity, full frontage, in a film that barely ceased to exist as a Roadshow title. As a thriller it really works. Some nutter is murdering sexy bare bodied girls who feature in the nudie magazine, Playgirl, where each month brings a cover girl victim, so it's not long before authorities figure the pattern, only this psycho is really clever, his method of kill- inflicting strangulation, bringing among suspects, one, a young photographer, with a bit of a dirty S and M record who does nudie sessions with models, one involving a rocking horse, you will never forget. So they send in a undercover cop posing as a budding model, where now things get quite risky. There are some terrifying edge of seat moments, if watching on a first view. I really like how Londoners make these B grades, whether psychological and sexual thrillers, or just saucy sex films, and The Playgirl Murders is quite tightly plotted. How's this? The chief detective who him and his partner work the murders, loves to have a bit of a gamble, where too another suspect, likes betting the horses too. This chief detective who used to play Frank Spencer's warring neighbor in Some Mother's Do Ave Em' would rather do this, than work a murder scene. The undercover cop audition was funny and sexy, and TPM really has it's moments. I really like this film a lot. Pity no one really agrees with me on this one. Jazzy soundtrack.