This Swedish film was a commercial and critical failure at its release in Sweden in 1972. Perhaps the time was not mature for this type of strange crossover film. SMUTSIGA FINGRAR is a mix of police thriller-filmnoir-sleaze-(unintentional comedy). It is modeled after American thrillers of the time, yet the screenwriter seem slightly ignorant of the genre. The characters are very stereotyped to the point of being caricatures. Yet this doesn't matter as the film becomes an explosive mix of thriller and comedy.
To be best appreciated, one needs to know Swedish, as the hilariously funny lines said doesn't translate well into English, lines that were made to sound hip and tough at the time, but come out as awkward and cheesy: "Släck fanskapet" (in English it reads something like: 'Put the jerk out'). Someone wrote in an review that the lines sounded as if they were taken out of a 1940's film, which is not that far from the truth.
The film is crammed full of thriller clichés: The bad-guys are headed by an psychopathic,suave,elegant,almost aristocratic master criminal who uses quotes in French like "Il est mort" (he is dead). His henchmen are of very low intelligence,sadistically brutal,and psychotic. Their adversaries, the two good guys of the plot are girl-photographers that are both quite naive yet do their best to unravel the crime and its instigators.
The jazzy music score by Georg Riedel is very good, slightly reminiscent of the Seventies Blaxploitation flicks, with good use of brass. The cinematography is quite good and well-lit, and lovers of colorful Sixties/Seventies Pop Art Design get their share here.
SMUTSIGA FINGRAR may fail to be taken seriously as a drama/thriller, yet it is the most entertaining film of its kind I've seen. Suspense,drugs,murder,sex,abuse,nudity,torture,car chases and badly staged fist fights. Also see if you can spot sex starlet Marie Ekorre who appears briefly in a bordello scene.
If you're tired of boring Hollywood thriller, then this Scandinavian gem is for you. It is a genre rarity that is not to be missed!!
