stevearh 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!

eelb 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.

drmark7 THE SWINGER (1966) C-81m Paramount. Directed by George Sidney (MGM's Pete Smith Specialties, Our Gang shorts, BATHING BEAUTY, ANCHORS AWEIGH, THE HARVEY GIRLS, KISS ME KATE, BYE BY BIRDIE, VIVA LAS VEGAS.) Sidney was president of Hanna-Barbera Productions for several years in the 1960's. THE SWINGER stars Ann-Margret (THE FLINTSTONES, KITTEN WITH A WHIP, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, TOMMY, MAGIC) and Tony Franciosa (TV's Valentine's Day, THE NAME OF THE GAME, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, A MAN COULD GET KILLED, FATHOM). There is a pencil thin plot involving Ann not getting noticed as a women writer, so she pretends to be a `swinger' to draw attention to herself. Surely this was inspired by Russ Meyer's THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS (1962) and MONDO TOPLESS (1966), released the same year as THE SWINGER! THE SWINGER opens with a loud, boisterous narrator and scenes of traffic in the streets, storefronts, advertising signs, etc., just like TEAS and TOPLESS (Virtually all of Meyer's work.) Add a splash of TV's BATMAN (which premiered 01/66) with BATMAN-like camera angles throughout and even cartoon Pow! Zow! Zap!s at the end. There are still photos made into stop-motion montages and sped-up photography. It has wild, razor sharp color and is full of pop icons. It's very lurid for it's time with a pseudo-Playboy magazine setting and imagery, dirty old bosses chasing secretaries around desks, hot-rods, Ann on a motorcycle, Ann in really sheer tight-fitting pants. Ann-Margret's character uses her own real last name. (OLSSON). Don't look for many good cameos. There are some semi-familiar TV faces- but none are 1st string. With Robert Coote (GUNGA DIN, GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, THE COOL ONES, THEATRE OF BLOOD), Horace McMahon (THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, THE DETECTIVE), Nydia Westman (KING OF THE JUNGLE, THE INVISIBLE RAY, CAT AND THE CANARY), former stripper Barbara Nichols (SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, PAJAMA GAME, WHERE THE BOYS ARE, THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS, THE LOVED ONE) The musical theme song and opening number copy the opening of BYE BYE BIRDIE. The logo and poster were done by Al Hirschfield (who did the cover for Aerosmith's DRAW THE LINE LP.) TV Movies and even Psychotronic dismiss this with poor reviews. Not a great story, but a great piece of pop culture. I don't think anyone has actually seen this film since the advent of the Psychotronic Encyclopedia-era or they couldn't miss it as an early link between Mondo movies and Hollywood. *Before* BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. More important for it's visuals than plot. It's a big-budget, major studio Russ Meyer film- before he actually made one!. I can't believe this is not mentioned in reference books. Russ Meyer should be either furious or honored at the homage. It's too close for comfort. Don't miss it!(Don't look now- the Psychotronic Encyclopedia will be 20 years old in 2002!)

BrianG "The Swinger" was an attempt by old-line Hollywood to cash in on the "youth movement" by making a movie that was "hip" and "relevant" and that the "young people" could "dig." It fails miserably on all counts. This movie was dated five minutes after it was released, and is now nothing more than a laughable relic of what people who had absolutely no idea of what the '60s were about thought the '60s were about.Tony Franciosa plays a Hugh Hefner-type magazine publisher who rejects a story given to him by writer Ann-Margret about the "swinging" scene, because he doesn't think she knows enough about the subject to have written about it (while he, of course, knows EVERYTHING about it). So she sets out to become part of the swinging generation to show him up. The movie is nothing but leering, smarmy double-entendres, and the whole attitude is "ooh, aren't we being naughty?", which they aren't (as in the laughable "orgy" scene, where Ann-Margret gets her body painted).Ann-Margaret has always seemed to me to be the Pamela Anderson of the '60s--a totally manufactured personality trading on her looks and what passes for sex appeal. Her image was the good girl who would stop just this side of sluttiness, because she was, after all, a good girl--which made her, basically, a tease, and that was what her entire career was built on. This movie is a perfect example of that. She's basically nothing more than a somewhat animated Barbie doll, which is pretty much all that she's ever been required to be.If you want to get a feel for what the '60s was about, this movie isn't it, by any stretch of the imagination. It's fun in a goofball kind of way, but it's basically what a bunch of wealthy, middle-aged men (the people who made this movie) thought "the kids" would want to see. They didn't.