Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
What Happened to Old Dirty Movies?
Cleveland Press November 25, 1966
There are parts of "The Swinger" that are so bad they are funny; other parts so bad they are awful.
Color is good though. Real good color. And the girls are pretty. Just lovely.
And there's Robert Coote. He's good. He is an aging lecher who publishes a Playboy-type magazine and who chases girls around his office. He's a harmless Coote though 'cause after all that chasing he's too winded for anything else.
So you see, everything isn't bad.
"The Swinger" is about a girl author (Ann - Margret) who tries to sell sirupy-sweet stories to Coote's magazine which she considers is a pretty depraved publication. Unsuccessful, she turns out a lurid story and to sell it pretends it's her own autobiography.
To convince doubting editor Tony Franciosa, nice girl has to act depraved and she does -- complete with a staged orgy. There is a good deal of misunderstanding back and forth until the movie makes its way to a predictable happy ending.
Franciosa seems stunned by it all. Ann-Margret's performance is like all the others she has turned out -- that of a femme fatale leaning heavily on obvious sex appeal, clenched teeth, languorous eyes and skimpy costumes. It's more a science than an art by now.
As a honest to gosh swinger, she looks more like a well-endowed high school girl trying to pass a course in loose living.
