''The Swinger'' is a 1966 American

sex comedy Sexual comedy (also known as, sex comedy and erotic comedy) is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sexual comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary wor ...

film directed by

George Sidney George Sidney (October 4, 1916May 5, 2002) was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics '' Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963) and '' Viva Las Vegas'' (1964). With an extensive back ...

and starring

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

and

Anthony Franciosa Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...

Plot

Kelly Olsson is an aspiring writer, but ''Girl-Lure'' magazine keeps rejecting her racy submissions. Kelly decides to show the magazine boys what they are missing. She creates a fake identity for herself, pretending that a story about a young woman's wild ways is actually about herself. ''Girl-Lure''s lecherous editor, Sir Hubert, and his suave editor, Ric Colby, like the concept but aren't sure they trust the facts. Kelly tries to fool them by staging an orgy in her apartment building, asking friendly tenants to go along with her scheme. Sgt. Hooker of the vice squad does not feel she is fooling, however, and places Kelly under arrest. Ric comes to her rescue. But when her hoax is revealed, he decides to get revenge by insisting that Kelly pose for a provocative layout for the magazine to prove she is as wild as she claims. By the time his car and her motorcycle meet head-on in the end, they're in love.

Cast

Production

George Sidney had previously made ''Bye Bye Birdie'' and ''Viva Las Vegas'' with Ann Margret. Sidney says the script for ''Viva Las Vegas'' had been written in eleven days in order to meet a commitment and ''The Swinger'' was similar. "We did the script in ten days," he said. "The studio had a commitment and needed to fulfil it... We devised a script that would give Ann-Margret an opportunity to show her facets. And boom, boom - off we went." Filming started 13 December 1965 and finished by March 1966 after which Ann-Margret went to Vietnam to entertain the troops. Sidney called the film "a wild, outrageous 'in', what's-happening-in-the-world-today kind of picture."

Reception

''Filmink'' called it "s a hopelessly confused comedy" which "feels like it was written by someone while drunk and Tony Franciosa is yet another male lead not worthy of the star" arguing "this film, a vehicle geared entirely around Ann-Margret’s talents, came close to killing her Hollywood career more than any other by virtue of its sheer incompetence."

Soundtrack

The five songs performed by Ann-Margret in the film in addition to the instrumental "Swinger's Holiday" were all included in her 1966 album, ''Songs from The Swinger (And Other Swingin' Songs)'' released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

. Six additional were recorded for the release. The album also contains a re-recording of " I Wanna Be Loved" which had appeared on Ann-Margret's 1963 album, '' Bachelors' Paradise''. The title track was written by

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

and

Dory Previn Dorothy Veronica "Dory" Previn (née Langan; October 22, 1925 – February 14, 2012) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Previn was a lyricist on songs intended for motion pictures and, with h ...

and sung by Ann-Margret over the opening and closing credits of the film.

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

was also credited as an arranger on the album. In their review of the album, Cashbox noted that the singer "sings songs from the flick 'The Swinger' and other pop goodies...the artist creates a solid sound on this album which could very well be a noise maker." In 2023, Ann-Margret noted in an interview with

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

that the track "More" was one of her and her husband Roger Smith's favourites that she had ever recorded.

Track listing

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swinger 1966 films 1966 comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s sex comedy films 1960s American films American sex comedy films Films about writers Films directed by George Sidney Films scored by Marty Paich Films shot in Los Angeles Paramount Pictures films Ann-Margret albums English-language sex comedy films