The Swinging Barmaids (1975)

The Swinging Barmaids - "When the bar closes, the action really begins!"  Sounds like a fun and sleazy seventies sexploitation flick... but the film is not what you'd expect - featuring brutal murders and a Ted Bundy type character.  Let's have a look at this drive-in classic which defies expectations.

 SLEAZY SPOTLIGHT #1 - Dyanne Thorne

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Boo-Boo (Dyanne Thorne) has the misfortune of serving a guy that will be a serial killer.

Tom follows Boo-Boo home and proceeds to assault the living shit out of her. This is one of the longest, most realistic and uncomfortable scenes I've seen in a while. It seems to go on for thirty minutes.

Tom throws her around the room, as Boo-Boo gradually loses her clothing.  It's filmed at angles that really accentuate the violence - a harrowing scene all the way around. Finally, he stabs her, killing poor Boo-Boo.

Tom is in the midst of taking a picture of his victim when Jenny, Marie and Susie enter the room.  The rest of the film is Tom's quest to eliminate the three witnesses.

SLEAZY SPOTLIGHT #2 - Renie Radich 

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1. Radich is the victim of a serial killer.  She's drowned in a pool - a violent scene, but Radich's boobs make an appearance.  Later, the cops arrive and find her body positioned on a lounge chair by the pool.

 Marie (Renie Radich) - on the right - is interviewed by the police after her colleague at the bar was murdered.

Marie works at a cocktail lounge where the serial killer frequents.

She talks with Tom (Bruce Watson) the killer after work.  She does some playful ribbing, which Tom misinterprets as insults.  He gets upset and plans to kill her.  Marie is oblivious that she's offended him.

After a long struggle, Marie is murdered.  Tom drowns her in the pool.  A truly disturbing and realistic scene.

Later, a detective shows up to talk to Marie.  He sees her laying on the lounge chair by the pool and doesn't realize she's dead. The detective is then attacked by Tom.

SLEAZY SPOTLIGHT #3 - Katie Saylor 

Saylor plays a cocktail waitress who becomes the victim of a serial killer.  The murder is disturbing, but Saylor's boobs do make an appearance.

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On stage doing double duty as waitress and a comedian's foil is Susie (Katie Saylor).

The detective on the case is Lt. Harry White (William Smith). Susie talks with him about the murder of her coworker.

Susie, acting as bait, mills around an empty warehouse, waiting for the killer to arrive. Not realizing Tom is the killer, she feels safe because he's there to "protect her" when the killer arrives.

Tom reveals that he's actually the killer and he strangles poor Susie to death.

After Tom has strangled Susie to death, the tense music stops - all is quiet and the camera pans out.

Lt. Harry White arrives at the crime scene and finds Susie strung upside down in macabre fashion.

SYNOPSIS

Let's meet the barmaids: Marie (Renie Radich) and Jenny (Laura Hippe).  They work in a sleazy bar - it's not a strip club, but the waitresses dress like Bunnies.

 On stage doing double duty as waitress and a comedian's foil is Susie (Katie Saylor).  If you want to see how much times have changed, just watch this scene.  The comedian hurls one sexist joke after another and the audience gobbles it up.

And finally, we meet Boo-Boo (Dyanne Thorne). She has the misfortune of serving a guy that will be a serial killer.

Tom (Bruce Watson) seems a little weird, but Boo-Boo doesn't suspect anything especially dangerous about him.

Boo-Boo walks home alone.  Take note of the scene.  For some reason the headline act this evening was a cross-dresser named Miss Bruce. 

Tom follows Boo-Boo home and proceeds to assault the living shit out of her.  This is one of the longest, most realistic and uncomfortable scenes I've seen in a while.  It seems to go on for thirty minutes.

Tom throws her around the room, as Boo-Boo gradually loses her clothing.  It's filmed at angles that really accentuate the violence - a harrowing scene all the way around.

 Finally, he stabs her, killing poor Boo-Boo.

Tom is in the midst of taking a picture of his victim when Jenny, Marie and Susie enter the room.  The rest of the film is Tom's quest to eliminate the three witnesses.

The detective on the case is Lt. Harry White (William Smith).  He speaks with the bar's manager, Zitto and Susie. I always enjoy William Smith, but he kinda phones this performance in.

Little does Marie realize, but the killer is right under their nose.  He's shaved his beard and dyed his hair.

Tom pays a visit to Zitto's house where Marie is swimming in the pool. 

Director Gus Trikonis is pretty adept at filming violence in creative and unflinching ways.  Here, the camera dips in and out of the pool, providing a shocking perspective of murder.


Marie is laid on the pool recliner; Zitto, returning home, doesn't realize she's dead.  It's an effective scene - where the audience knows she's been murdered, and we wait for her boyfriend to find out.

 Tom creeps from behind.

The two fight it out, in and out of the pool.  Tom finally wins, clobbering Zitto with a pipe.

Jenny is at her parent's cabin with her fiance Dave (Jim Travis), a medical student. It was supposed to be a delightful weekend in the woods, but they learn of Marie's death via the local news.  Her dad is upset that she never told anyone about Boo-Boo's murder - they would have pulled her out of the that seedy saloon!

At the hospital, Lt. White assures everyone he's got it under control.  But Zitto is killed that evening in his hospital bed when Tom sneaks into his room.

The gang comes up with a plan to use Susie as bait.  Little do they realize, the killer is among them.  Dave is the lone voice of reason, saying this is a terrible idea.

Susie, acting as bait, mills around an empty warehouse, waiting for the killer to arrive. At least she has Tom there to nab him when he appears.

The problem with this plan, of course, is that Tom is the killer.

 As with each murder, it's intense and drawn out - and involves boobs being exposed.

 After Tom has strangled Susie to death, the tense music stops - all is quiet and the camera pans out.

 Meanwhile, Dave and Lt. White put the pieces together at the hospital.

 Tom is once again a wolf in sheep's clothing, staying with Jenny at her parent's cabin.  Finally, he exposes himself as the psychopath he really is.

 Lt. White arrives in the nick of time, and a chase ensues down a dusty road.

 William Smith is such a badass.  He carries that shotgun with authority.

Lt. White blows Tom's ass away.  THE END


REVIEW

This was not the film I expected.  With a title like The Swinging Barmaids, I expected campy fun-filled sex, not rape-murders. But with seventies drive-in and grindhouse flicks, you never know what sort of mayhem you're in for.  It's best to come in with no preconceptions and get swept away by whatever sleazy adventure awaits.
The film's strong point is the hard-boiled, unflinching murder scenes.  They're lengthy, realistic and filmed with gusto - implementing creative camera perspectives to fully capture the gut-wrenching action.   A minor complaint: William Smith is way under-utilized, just showing up a few times and not having much to do until the bloody climax.  Otherwise, this is a damn fine example of seventies cinema.

★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10