Plot: What’s it about?
In Run Swinger Run, we meet a beautiful young woman named Laura, who seems to have terrible luck. She is harassed by a dirty old man and as soon as she escapes his clutches, she’s the target of a sniper. Her mother’s boarding house isn’t the safe haven she needs, so Laura heads to Los Angeles to move in with her aunt. But now she winds up involved in a drug dealing ring, so once again, she heads out. When she checks into a motel, she meets a man named Schneider and her luck seems to have gotten better, as he offers her a grand a week to be a call girl. But is this deal as sweet as it sounds? In Sex Club International, we watch as Carol Kane and her sex club franchises rake in money hand over breast. But her success has gotten the attention of the mob, who wish to blackmail the clubs’ wealthy clients. The plan seems to unfold as expected, but when secret agent Lucky Bang Bang arrives, will the tide of justice roll in?
This is a double dose of Barry Mahon cinema, which means low production values, hilariously bad moments, and plenty of naked women on showcase. This is schlock, but the good kind, of course. Run Swinger Run starts off hot, with a lot of sex and bad dialogue, but starts to taper off after the first half hour or so. In the sexploitation world, you need more scenes with breasts than talking, which isn’t the case here. But the first half hour is stacked in more ways than one, which helps balance out the other sparse second half of the duration. Sex Club International doesn’t even run for an hour, but is a real hoot. A lot of women get naked and often, while the cast acts as if cue cards are always present. In other words, the perfect combination of nude women and so bad, its good dialogue and performances. In addition to the two movies, Something Weird has slapped on some bonus short films, so all in all, this is quite a value packed release for schlock fans.
Video: How does it look?
Both movies are presented in full frame, as intended. You can’t really judge these kind of transfers by the standard scale, I doubt pristine prints exist and I am confident we won’t see intensive restorations undertaken. So for films of this kind and vintage, the transfers look good, though of course, with some concerns. Run Swinger Run looks the better of the two, with a very sharp image and mild print damage. I say mild by 60s sexploitation standards, so you will see some flaws, but the detail level is good and contrast performs quite well. Sex Club International also looks crisp in terms of detail, but the print has a lot of debris and some severe damages in places. I doubt we’ll see improved transfers however and since these look passable given the sources, I think don’t think fans will be let down.
Audio: How does it sound?
These wild nudie flicks don’t need much audio punch, so the included mono tracks prove to be more than adequate. Of course, these aren’t the cleanest or crispest tracks out there, but it all sounds good and I wasn’t let down much. You have to consider the age and nature of the materials here, which is why I am more lenient in my score in this section. The wacky music and hilarious dialogue all comes across is more than decent form, which is more than enough in this case. I doubt this stuff could be improved much without expensive restoration work, so I’ll take these tracks and be pleased they sound this decent.
Supplements: What are the extras?
In addition to theatrical trailers for both movies, we have three bonus nudie shorts (Bottoms Up, Nude in the Pool, The Swinging Nurse), plus the mini-movie The Adventures of Busty Brown. Not landmark stuff by any means, but welcome inclusions and add value to this release.
