The Swinger (1966)

Blistering performances.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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 ****

In this 1966 comedy about a 'good girl' trying to get published in a 'bad girl' magazine, Kelly Olsson (Ann Margret) plays a newbie writer with an obsession to get published. Figuring on the "sex sells" angle Kelly writes a sexually provocative story called 'The Swinger' for a popular girlie magazine. When she is turned down by the magazine's sexist editor because she is "too innocent to know about such things". Kelly sets out to prove him wrong by setting up an elaborate hoax to show him just how "debased" her life really is. Although before she even begins to try to pull the wool over the editors eyes, its hard to imagine she is so innocent. Dancing around in nothing more than a blouse and pantyhose for the first part of the movie tends to make her character harder to believe. None the less I loved the movie, although I love most campy 60's flicks! ...and Ann Marget is absolutely gorgeous! Viva Las Vegas is another favorite! I'm pretty sure she wears a lot of the same outfits in that one too!

The previous reviewer apparently thinks The Swinger is intended to be a social commentary on the 1960's. This is not that deep of a film. I would say that since the film was produced in 1966, it is reflective of the times. The fashion and music of the movie is indicative of what people were wearing and listening to in 1966. The Woodstock era and the follow on Easy Rider type films were several years away. In 1966, psychedelic was a term more associated with loud colored fashion, and also alluded to a promiscuous lifestyle, rather than LSD. This film is in touch with the lifestyle of the majority of young people in 1966.The Swinger was a daring film for 1966, as far as innuendo and scanty clothing are concerned. The nudity portrayed later in the decade and on into the 70's, was not present in American film yet. By today's standards for mainstream film, the clothing (or lack there of) of Ann-Margret is far more daring than what you would see a female star do today. This is a very sexy movie for the period, with Miss Margret performing two elongated song and dance numbers (one as a stripper) in which she gets down to bare essentials. This probably had a lot to do with the films box office, as it was probably a bit too risqué for middle America at the time.This film is shown often on AMC, but the version shown now is an edited one, in which a couple of the dance scenes have been cut short. I have not seen the unedited version for more than 30 years, and doubt that copies of it still exist.

"The Swinger" is quite a relic, the film that begs the question, "Is there any emulsified substance we haven't seen Ann-Margret slather her body with?" Dated, with lots of sexist humour and lots of egregiously tacky 60's fashions, it actually has the feel of a Rock Hudson/Doris Day comedy (but not as funny, at least not in the way the writers intended!) but with lots of leering double-entendres. The premise concerns writer A-M trying to sell her stories to a Playboy-type magazine, but editor Tony Franciosa believes her to be too sweet and innocent, so she goes out of her way to portray herself as a "swinger". Only in the sixties! What more can you say about a film that contains not one, but *two* photo montage sequences? The most memorable scene is of course the orgy, the wacky opening and closing credits are lots of silly fun as well.