Easy to see how this would have worked as a one hander on TV. Easy to see how it flopped as a movie.
Many good things about it, don't get me wrong - excellent photography, Soho locations, glimpse of a world, a very strong cast.
If you like Anthony Newley you'll really get into this. There's a lot of him.
But it's repetitive. Newly (Sammy) tries to get money... almost gets some... loses it. It goes on a steady trail. He won't take money from the neighbour hot for him or the girl (Julia Foster) hot for him. He's in debt because he gambles. So it's hard to be too sympathetic.
He's also bad at his job - an MC at a strip club. When he has some bad luck he insults the customers. Lousy boyfriend. An idiot.
It's a frustrating movie to watch.
Warren Mitchell shines as his brother. Also good work from Robert Stephens and a lot of Aussies: Ken Wayne as a bartender, Kenneth Warren as a principled hired thug with a cocky younger partner (this subplot was for me the best thing about the movie). Roy Kinnear and Derek Nimmo pop up in the cast.
There's a lot of strippers, which is maybe why American company Seven Arts invested, but not a lot of sex. More would have helped.
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