The Big Switch (1968) User Reviews

Uneventful

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 6 April 2022]

A rather uneventful early picture from Pete Walker, who has little of the money he had to play with later on in his career. This one's a very low-rent thriller about a rather uncharismatic two-bit photographer who gets involved in a preposterous plot involving smuggled immigrants, plastic surgery and various gangsters operating in London and Brighton. Lots of brief nudity from the assembled actresses, but the action is non-existent and the most fun comes from seeing the stars trying not to fall over on the icy ground.

A Sixties Curio

[neil-douglas2010 · 5/10 · 30 September 2022]

With a movie that's little over an hour long there's not really a lot to say. What I liked best about the film is the setting of a decadent London in the death throws of the swinging sixties, the ending at a fairground is well done, I love the scenes with the old machines you could play.

As for the story, John Carter( Sebastian Breaks) is implicated in a young girls murder, and along with Cathy (Virginia Wetherall) is forced by gangsters into posing for pornographic photos. The two leads are decent enough, especially Wetherall who would go not to appear in a few horror movies in the coming years.

Early Pete Walker

[gavcrimson · 9 April 2007]

Opening with a "bird" taking her clothes off then being gunned down for her troubles, Strip Poker (a.k.a. The Big Switch) concerns hard man playboy John Carter. Seemingly the most unluckiest chap in the West End, within the space of a few scenes Carter manages to lose his job, discovers his girlfriend dead and is beaten up by three thugs (one of whom is a very young Derek "Eastenders" Martin). Turns out its all an evil plan by gangster Mendez (super suave Derek Aylward) to blackmail Carter into journeying to Brighton, to do a job. What this job entails remains a mystery till the last reel, though a clue can be found in the a.k.a. title, in the meantime Carter and Virginia Wetherell are held hostage by Mendez's goons, and forced to participate in sadistic photo shoots supervised by a drooling pervert photographer and two "crazy acidhead" dolly birds. Made at a time when Walker was shooting basic sex and violence exploiters with scripts written in the space of one night (as was the case here), I suppose the polite thing to say is that Mr. Pete was still learning his craft here and doesn't appear to have been touched by greatness at this stage in his career. A good proportion of the film seems to consist of well-to-do actors awkwardly delivering dialogue that sounds like a parody of the Sweeney written a good few years before the fact "one of your stupid birds blew the gaff" etc, etc. Supposedly around 13 minutes of additional depravity were added for the 'overseas' version, and even in the standard British version, which clocks in at just over an hour, some amusement can be had over how Walker manages to crow bar titillation into the most mundane scenarios (such as when Carter goes to chat to Mendez only to find him in the middle of tutoring topless female wrestlers!). The climatic chase on a snowy Brighton Pier that includes a shootout in a penny arcade and a ride on a ghost train, is quite atmospheric, but looks to have been a nightmare for the actors who struggle to keep their balance on the icy pier. Leading to a memorable moment when an actor playing one of the gangsters slips and falls flat on his arse, and they left that shot in!!! Overall Strip Poker resembles one of those "Butchers films" that ITV used to show in the middle of the night, only a lot more amateur and with one eye towards the skin market. Nice as it is to see an early example of Mr. Pete's work, and boasting some choice views of Brighton at the fag end of the Sixties ("where the filthy rich go for dirty weekends") its probably best for Walker's reputation that his bone fide horror classics now have their own DVD box set while the really early stuff like this and School for Sex are now out of circulation (ditto Lady Hemp allegedly suppressing Tiffany Jones). Still there is something oh-so-British about a film that ends with a detective asking the leads to come down to the station and answer a few questions over a cup of tea.

"Take Two" never uttered

[th-56234 · 1/10 · 8 February 2023]

This film takes bad to a whole new level. It's very clear that second takes were never attempted throughout the filming. From actors flubbing their lines and the flubs remaining in the final to waiting for two vehicles to enter a roadway and having to LITERALLY wait as oncoming traffic from both sides delay the shot. We sit and wait for traffic to clear, one vehicle pulling into one lane (blocking one car that had the right of way) and then turning on to the roadway and the second following close behind, still blocking a car that had the right of way.

The acting is terrible, the plot is impossible to follow...as if they made it up according to whatever they were able to catch on a good exposure of film...and the sound track. Oy...the sound track. Trying to imply action where there is none.

If you enjoy schmalz, this might be for you. If you prefer viable films with something to say...avoid.

Big Swizz

[Chrid-909 · 1/10 · 19 May 2020]

This film is a low-budget "crime thriller" (absolutely NOT a spy story as one reviewer wrote) with a lead actor who is supposed to be a tough, charming, playboy but who unfortunately lacks looks or charm and who speaks his lines with toneless wooden phrasing.

Add to this a clunking plot, gratuitous female nakedness, a TV-series-style soundtrack and a showdown/shootout in an arcade on a Brighton pier (where the goodie guy fires off about 25 shots from a little automatic). The goodie with girl in tow runs into the inside of the ghost train to hide. The baddies actually get ONTO the train to try and find and kill them! Soon they have no blanks left, so they jerk with their pistols, like kids do when pretending to shoot, so that they could add shot-sounds to the soundtrack later! One of the poorest films ever. Lucky it was not longer!

Works only as self-parody or kitsch

[doug-pinkard92 · 2/10 · 18 April 2021]

This was like Ed Wood on a slightly higher budget set in London in the Swinging Sixties--the HEIGHT of that era, in fact. To that end, the ONE redeeming quality to this film is performance footage of a relatively obscure but FANTASTIC psychedelic rock band of the period, Timebox.

Otherwise, the acting is WELL below par, the direction entirely direction-less, and the incidental music used to give the illusion of excitement when nothing more is happening than that a car gets stuck waiting for an opening before merging onto a highway. The number of scenes that were clearly first takes in which the actor moves in some noticeably awkward way like they don't really know what to do with themselves is amazing, but they seem to let these stand probably for purposes of staying within or under budget or something.

But maybe the funniest thing is that British Film Institute chose this turkey to spend restoration money on. I'd have tossed all of it but Timebox's three minutes in the early nightclub scene.

Entertaining "B" Picture

[Michael_Elliott · 10 December 2017]

The Big Switch (1968)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

John Carter (Sebastian Breaks) is a playboy who meets up with a beautiful blonde lady. The two plan on meeting in her room but when John arrives he finds her dead and before long he is accused of the crime. It doesn't take long for him to realize that the mob was behind the murder and now he must go up against them.

THE BIG SWITCH is an early film from director Pete Walker who is best remembered for a number of horror films that he made in the 1970s. I guess the best way to describe this movie is that it's a low-budget, wannabe James Bond that runs just 68-minutes and features a bit more sleaze than you'd normally expect from a film from this era. Is it a masterpiece? Not at all but it's a mildly entertaining spy picture.

I think the best thing that the film has going for it is the fact that it's just 68-minutes and it goes by rather quickly. Breaks makes for an interesting lead and I thought he added some fun to the picture. The villains are pretty much your standard bad guys but they too are mildly entertaining. Where the film really stands out is with the female nudity, which there is quite a bit of including some full frontal scenes.

THE BIG SWITCH will mainly appeal to fans of the director who want to see what he was doing before the horror pictures. There's nothing overly great about the movie but it was entertaining for what it was.

Very very bad!

[RodrigAndrisan · 8 December 2019]

After about half an hour from the beginning, you realize that nothing has happened. After another half hour, you're still waiting for something to happen. And, nothing happens. Then you realize it's the kind of movie you want to finish faster. Probably the worst English movie ever made.