Completing director George Sidney’s “trilogy” of cinematic love-letters to Ann-Margret – the other two being Viva Las Vegas(1964) and Bye Bye Birdie(1963) – the storyline in The Swinger revolves around Kelly Olsson (Ann’s character, who shares the actress’ real surname), an aspiring short story author who poses as a bad girl to impress Tony Franciosa, the editor-in-chief of Girl-Lure magazine (a thinly-veiled clone of Playboy).
Girl-Lure turns down her work for being too innocent so – determined to prove them wrong – she steals sleazy material from lurid paperbacks and passes it off as semi-autobiographical material.
The story – designed to exploit the pneumatic charms of Swedish-American starlet Ann-Margret – takes a back seat to the eye candy of the lead actress and the set design, with the highlight being a scene in which she swirls around in coloured paints. The scene was also featured in an October 1966 Playboypictorial.
A musical highlight is I Wanna Be Loved, sung to a tuxedoed Franciosa, who looks either smitten or bemused because Ann’s hair is blowing mysteriously, without an open window in the bedroom!
Kelly Olsson
Ann-Margret Ric Colby
Anthony Franciosa Sir Hubert Charles
Robert Coote Karen Charles
Yvonne Romain Aunt Cora
Nydia Westman Sammy Jenkins
Craig Hill Mr Olsson
Milton Frome Mrs Olsson
Mary LaRoche
