Watch The Swinging Barmaids For Free

Lack of good storyline.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Four young women by the names of "Boo Boo" (Dyanne Thorne), "Marie" (Renie Radich), "Jenny" (Laura Hippe) and "Susie" (Katie Saylor) all work as waitresses at a club in downtown Los Angeles. One night a man named "Tom" (Bruce Watson) comes in and has a small argument with Boo Boo. Later that night he follows Boo Boo home and kills her. Afterward he takes pictures of his handiwork. When the police arrive "Lt. Harry White" (William Smith) is informed that similar murders have occurred in both Miami and Chicago and that it's probable that the killer isn't quite finished in Los Angeles either. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly typical movie produced during the 70's. Although I liked the casting of William Smith as the detective in charge and the presence of the aforementioned ladies, I must admit that the characters themselves lacked sufficient development and seemed rather shallow. In any case, I thought the movie was certainly adequate and I have rated it accordingly.

"The Swinging Barmaids" by Gus Trikonis is about a serial killer who stalks and kills cocktail waitresses.Three murders are pretty harrowing and misogynistic and there is plenty of soft-core nudity.The first victim of drooling psychopath is played by voluptuous Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne and let me tell you one thing:she is the blast and her fight scene with the killer is gloriously hysterical."The Swinging Barmaids" also contains oodles of bare breasts with so many of the film's featured actresses seen in various states of undress and it's this kind of welcomed gratuity that further enhances its raunchy cult status.If you liked "The Centerfold Girls" you can't go wrong with this sleazy spectacle.8 out of 10.An essential and unfortunately forgotten exploitation classic.

Geeky and misogynistic mama's boy psycho Tom (an enjoyably loopy portrayal by Bruce Watson) preys on the lovely ladies who work at a seedy Los Angeles bar. It's up to tough, no-nonsense detective Harry (a superbly rugged performance by legendary B-movie hard man William Smith) to nab the sicko. Longtime favorite unsung exploitation flick director Gus Trikonis (who also blessed us with the first-rate hicksploitation gem "Nashville Girl" and the spooky haunted house item "The Evil"), working from a racy and twisted script by frequent Roger Corman scribe Charles B. Griffith, relates the nasty plot at a nonstop zippy pace, maintains an appropriately harsh and hard-edged tone throughout, delivers a pleasing amount of tasty female nudity, and really pulls out all the stirring stops for the incredibly energetic and exciting climax that's loaded with bloody shootings and a rousing chase between a car and a motorcycle. Moreover, the scenes with the titular gals getting killed by the wacko are extremely brutal and harrowing, with the nut tearing off their tops and taking photos of their corpses after he's murdered them. The female cast is quite sexy and attractive: Laura Hippe as the cheery Jenny, Katie Saylor as the sweet Susie, Renie Radish as the sassy Marie, and Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne as the bitter, snippy Boo-Boo. Contributing nifty supporting turns are Zitto Kazann as smarmy bar owner Zitto, Jim Travis as Jenny's nice physician fiancé Dave, Ray Galvin as crusty bartender Jack, and Andre Tayir as brash transvestite entertainer Ms. Bruce. Irv Goodnoff's rough, but effective cinematography makes inspired frequent use of a hand-held camera for the murder set pieces and rough'n'tumble fight scenes. Don Bagley's groovy-jammin' score likewise hits the get-down funky spot. Highly recommended to 70's drive-in cinema fans.

A psycho killer is stalking the waitresses of the "Swing-a-Ling Club". While his identity is no mystery to the viewers, the dense characters and the police are a different story. So will the killer run out of the stuck-up and nasty waitresses to murder and move on to the nice girl (Laura Hippe) about to marry her doctor boyfriend, or will the police catch him in time? (To tell you the truth, I've already forgotten). This movie is HIGHLY implausible. The deranged, moralistic killer starts out as a customer before following his first victim (Dyanne Thorne) home and killing her. He is caught in the act, however, by her three dimwitted co-worker/roommates (whose full names are subsequently reported on TV as witnesses to the crime!). So what does he do? Why, he shaves off his beard, dyes his hair black, and goes back to the SAME bar to work as a bartender/bounce, naturally--and NOBODY notices! Okay, believability isn't necessarily all that important in a movie like this, but even as sexploitation this falls down. Even though all these actresses are VERY impressively built for the pre-silicone era, they're not actually strippers, but only very scantily clad "waitresses". The actual entertainment at the club is provided by an unfunny male comedian and one transvestite dancer(!). No wonder the poor male clientèle of the club can't keep their hands off the girls' boobs and bums. Bully for them I guess, but the problem for the viewer is that (with the exception of one lovemaking scene between the heroine and her boyfriend) pretty much all the female nudity occurs WHILE the various girls are being (pretty realistically) murdered. Of course, fans of these kinds of movies like sex and violence, but not necessarily for the same reason, and not at the EXACT same time. This was the first movie of the director, Gus Trikonis, and he would get a lot better in the future, but he really fumbles the exploitation elements here.The murders are pretty harrowing at least. And the movie has a good 70's grindhouse feel to it (Quentin Tarantino is reportedly a fan). It would be a great companion piece to the similar "roughie" porno/proto-slasher film "The Centerfold Girls". The psychotic killer in this one isn't as good as Andrew Prine who starred in that flick (but then few 70's "psycho" actors were). You do get an early appearance from Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne (who I can take or leave personally), and the leading cop is played by perennial 70's tough guy William Smith (even if it's far from his best role). This is a pretty flawed movie, but I still might recommend it to die-hard 70's trash aficionados.