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The Swinging Barmaids (1975) - Blu-ray Review

Nasty girls in bunny suits!  Who needs ‘em?  Certainly not Tom (Bruce Watson).  Deciding early on that bosoms should always be well-covered, this strange dude goes on a one-man rampage in a seedy part of Los Angeles and delivers one savage attack after another to the cash-strapped cocktail waitresses of the Swing-A-Ling Club.

I’m not sure what exactly is swinging from these barmaids in this drive-in flick BUT it certainly isn’t their lifestyle.  It can be a god awful thing when exploitation flicks fail to deliver in thrills and kills and, as evident by my lead-in sentence, that’s exactly what happens in The Swinging Barmaids.  How could a movie about a serial killer who targets scantily clad cocktail waitresses, with well endowed gifts of buxom beauty, become so damn . . . flat? 

"I’m not sure what exactly is swinging from these barmaids in this drive-in flick BUT it certainly isn’t their lifestyle."


 

To understand that, well, you have to understand that the Swing-A- Ling Club is actually a poor man’s entertainment bar.  It is a place where disgruntled folks get their jollies by slinging beers at the comedy acts, not at watching the women remove their tops.  Strike one.  I, too, might become frustrated at this unexpected reversal. 

Because that’s what happens when one patron, forever disguising himself in ridiculous hair colors and clothes, strikes against all the immorality he sees when he frequents this non-stripping establishment.  The waitresses are definitely victims of sexual harassment but THEY DON’T TAKE THEIR TOPS OFF.  They are simply serving drinks. {googleads}

Tom, perhaps being sexually frustrated, goes after the women and his scenes of attack – often uncomfortably long – reveal his upbringing and his attitude toward the female body.  Outside of a dressing room opening and a dorky sex scene, the nudity in this flick is limited to some unsettling attacks.  Not so swinging after all. 

Starring Dyanne Thorne (She-Wolf of the SS), Laura Hippe, Katie Saylor, and Renie Radich as the girls at the center of the attacks, The Swinging Barmaids takes its cue from the MUCH better The Centerfold Killers.  Unfortunately, outside of a very strange performance from Watson and a hilariously “tough” performance from William Smith as Police Lieutenant Harry White, who – due to his seriousness – never takes his trench coat off, the film’s successes are limited to its funked-up score and its handheld kill scenes.

The Swinging Barmaids (1975) - Blu-ray Review

Written by Roger Corman scribe Charles B. Griffith and directed by Nashville Girl’s Gus Trikonis (The Evil, Moonshine County Express), The Swinging Barmaids has hilarious moments where the script just proves to be too ridiculous to believe.  The killer avoids the police by shaving?  He then gets a job as a bouncer at the Swing-A-Ling Club?  This scrawny dude?  Can no one smell the weirdness radiating from him?  Nope.  Guess not.

The film also features some interesting performances from Zitto Kazann, Ray Galvin, and Andre Tayir as Ms. Bruce, a transvestite entertainer in the club.  Maybe the film – being a much talked about and rarely seen drive-in flick – was simply too built up in my head.  Thankfully, Trikonis would get much better as a director of exploitation flicks because outside of the roughly shot and grizzly scenes where Tom attacks again and again and again, the film never really gets to swinging. . .

2 beers

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The Swinging Barmaids (1975) - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime:
88 mins
Director
: Gus Trikonis
Writer:
Charles B. Griffith
Cast:
Bruce Watson, Laura Hippe, Katie Saylor
Genre
: Crime | Drama
Tagline:
When the bar closes, the action really begins.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Here we go again. Another bump and grind."
Theatrical Distributor:
Premiere Releasing Org.
Official Site:
Release Date:
July, 1975
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
November 28, 2018
Synopsis: The Swinging Barmaids is a 1975 exploitation film about a serial killer who goes out to slaughter a string of cocktail waitresses. One hard bitten cop played by William Smith (Grave of the Vampire) attempts to stop the slaughter but it isn't easy.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

The Swinging Barmaids (1975) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Code Red DVD
Available on Blu-ray
- November 28, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles
: None
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

The Swinging Barmaids, with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, arrives on 1080p from Code Red thanks to a brand new HD master from the original negatives. The resulting transfer is a glorious spectacle of bright colors and solid black levels. Lines are good and the damage to the print is dialed back down to a negative number. I’ve seen many releases of this flick and this is easily the best it has ever (and probably will) look. The sound is presented in a Dolby Digital MA track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

  • Code Red Trailers

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The Swinging Barmaids (1975) - Blu-ray Review

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