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Released by: Ascot Elite
Released on: December, 2014.
Director: Erwin C. Dietrich
Cast: Brigitte Lahaie, Jane Baker, Nadine Pascal, France Lomay, Erik Falk
Year: 1980
Purchase From Diabolik DVD
The Movie:
The second in Erwin C. Dietrich's four Six Swedes films, released in 1980, has gone under a few different titles over the years - High Test Girls, Friendly Favors, Swedish Erotic Sexations and Swedish Gas Pump Girls but the most common English name for Six Schwedinnen von der Tankstelle is the fairly literal translation, Six Swedes At a Pump.
The 'story' (which his more of a series of sexual vignettes than a truly cohesive narrative) follows the same premise as the one that was so deftly exploited in the first film, Six Swedes On A Campus, but basically relocates the action to a gas station with some sort of abode attached to it. Six fine Swedish fillies - Greta (Brigitte Lahaie), Selma (Elsa Maroussia), Inga (Nadine Pascal), Kerstin (France Lomay), Lil (Flore Sollier) and Astrid (Elodie Delage) - and it is, of course, a full service gas station.
Dudes pull up for gas, get distracted by the ladies, and typically get it on with them. Meanwhile, the mayor has got some problems of his own, not the least of which is his wily wife (Jane Baker), who is having some fun with the various members of the city council behind his back. If that weren't enough to hold your attention, the TV set in the girls' living room seems to have a special connection to Kerstin as she's able to somehow coerce the man on the TV out of the set and into the warm, fuzzy spot between her legs. As word gets out about their unorthodox business model, they soon find themselves with plenty of customers. Around this time, the mayor starts getting upset about their promiscuity, and the girls build a dildo bike. From there, the girls do their trademark 'running around in the woods naked and slow motion' bit, which brings them to the attention of Erik Falk who is just sort of hanging out near a swamp and obviously, he gets to bone whoever he wants, so boning commences. When the mayor finds that the ceilings are cracking above him because of the marching band's practice sessions, he figures he can send them off to the gas station to practice there and kill two birds with one stone.
Breezy and wonderfully brainless, this free-spirited softcore romp is real kick. Like the film that came before it this is a movie that really celebrates the joy of sex, worrying not about morality or dubious decision making on the part of the participants but instead focusing on the fun everyone seems to be having. Of course, the fact that the cast is made up of the actresses featured front and center in the picture doesn't hurt, each one is a looker, but they perform with plenty of spirit in addition to just looking really, really good. This one stops just short of hardcore, leaving just enough to the imagination to keep out of XXX territory while still very definitely qualifying as adult entertainment.
The humor is completely nonsensical but it's so nonsensical that somehow it just seems right. There are, of course, plenty of goofy tuba jokes towards the end but the whole scene with the television is insane. Throw into the mix some goofy bits with the pudgy, clownish mayor, plenty of double-entendres with the whole gas pump motif and of course, the dildo bike sequence and this one goes for laughs more often than you might expect it to. Like a lot of Dietrich's sexploitation comedies, the film is very nicely shot and makes great use of some distinctly quaint European locations. There's great scenery here, female and otherwise, and a fun (if overly familiar) score to move it all along at a nice pace.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Six Swedes At A Pump arrives on Blu-ray from Ascot Elite in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. This is a decent upgrade compared to the DVD release that also came from Ascot Elite some years back. The elements used for the transfer were in very nice shape and there isn't much in the way of serious print damage to complain about at all. Grain is obvious but never distracting and there are no issues with noise reduction or edge enhancement at all. Detail is quite strong throughout the movie but sometimes the colors look just a little bit flat and a little bit faded. Black levels are closer to a really dark grey than a true black, but they're not bad. Skin tones are natural and warm looking and texture is pretty good too.
Audio options are provided German and English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks provided in German, Italian and French. While the 5.1 mix doesn't have the most directionality you're ever going to here, it does occasionally spread the score around a bit. Dialogue is well balanced and easy to understand and there are no issues with any hiss or distortion to note.
As far as extras go, the disc includes a lengthy twenty-five minute featurette entitled Peter Baumgartner, Filmkameramann (worth watching even with the language barrier for the plethora of behind the scenes photos) that also appeared on the Gefangene Frauen disc and the Die Nichten Der Frau Oberst release, this time with subtitles. This is a really interesting look back at Peter Baumgartner's career behind the camera working on plenty of different projects over the years. Here he talks about the influence of Italian art films, his first meeting with Erwin C. Dietrich, cutting his teeth on Sexy Baby (the first feature he worked on), how he occasionally directed some scenes on the movies he worked on as well as what it was like working with some of the cast members that appeared in the pictures he was involved with, Klaus Kinski being one of them. He also talks about acting alongside Lina Romay and making films for Dietrich with Karine Gambier and Brigitte Lahaie.
Exclusive to this Blu-ray release is something called Six Schwedinnen auf der Alm Softcore-Fassung In HD - in German with optional English subtitles. This runs 1:25:02 compared to the feature version at 1:29:33. Like it sounds, this is an alternate, softer cut of the movie with some slightly different edits here and there.
Aside from that, we get a trailer for the the feature, trailers for a few other Erwin C. Dietrich titles (Die Nichten der Frau Oberst, Julchen Und Jettchen, Voodoo Passion, The Women In Cell Block 9, Downtown, Die Sklavinnen, Ich - Ein Groupie and Die Stewardessen) available on Blu-ray from Ascot-Elite, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection.
Once again, for the BD-Rom equipped, if you pop the disc into your drive you'll have access the same thirty-six page text interview with Dietrich from an issue of a German fanzine called Splatting Image and the rare one hundred and ninety seven page book on Dietrich's films, Mädchen, Machos und Moneten: die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. It's all in German but these are nice additions to the release (and duplicated on all of the discs in the line so far). Additionally, the Blu-ray case fits inside a lenticular slipcover that basically features the same artwork.
The Final Word:
Six Swedes At A Pump isn't a particularly deep film but why would you want it to be? It delivers exactly what you'd want one of Erwin C. Dietrich's vintage sexploitation comedies to deliver - lots of goofy laughs and plenty of lovely naked ladies. The Blu-ray offers a nice upgrade over the previously released DVD in every way you'd want it to. A fine release!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
