The Big Switch

{{Short description|1968 British film by Pete Walker}} {{For|the novel|The Big Switch (novel)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = The Big Switch | image = The Big Switch.jpg | caption = | director =Pete Walker | producer = {{ubl|Charles J. Nicholl|Pete Walker}} | writer = Pete Walker | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Sebastian Breaks|Virginia Wetherell|Jack Allen}} | music = Harry South | cinematography = Brian Tufano | editing = Peter Austen-Hunt | studio = Peter Walker Film Productions | distributor = Miracle Films | released = {{Film date|1968|04}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Big Switch''''' (also known as '''''Strip Poker''''') is a 1968 British crime film directed, written and produced by Pete Walker and starring Sebastian Breaks, Virginia Wetherell and Jack Allen.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Strip Poker |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150288346 |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>

==Plot== Playboy John Carter is implicated in the murder of a woman from a discotheque and is forced by gangsters into posing for pornographic photographs.

==Cast== * Sebastian Breaks as John Carter * Virginia Wetherell as Karen * Jack Allen as Hornsby-Smith * Derek Aylward as Karl Mendez * Erika Raffael as Samantha * Douglas Blackwell as Bruno Miglio * Julie Shaw as Cathy * Jane Howard as Jane * Roy Sone as Al * Nicholas Hawtrey as Gerry * Brian Weske as Mike * Gilly Grant as Sally * Desmond Cullum-Jones as Chief Inspector * Tracey Yorke as 1st stripper * Lena Ellis as 2nd stripper

==Production== The film was shot on location in Brighton.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==Critical reception== ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "The emphasis in this irrelevantly titled farrago soon shifts from sex to violence, with the titillatory promise of the opening scenes unfulfilled by the conventional and unconvincing thriller that follows. Still, the deserted ghost train on Brighton Pier makes an effective background for the climactic chase in the snow, and the Soho sequences have a realistically seedy atmosphere."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1968 |title=Strip Poker |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305827375/39B11A4AA56F42DDPQ/1 |journal=Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=35 |issue=408 |pages=183 |id={{ProQuest|1305827375}}}}</ref>

David McGillivray wrote in ''Doing Rude Things'': "''Strip Poker'', written between 7pm one night and 2am the following morning, is a crude gangster melodrama with bursts of unappetising nudity. The strip poker of the title is only in the foreign version, ''The Big Switch''."<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGillivray |first=David |title=Doing Rude Things |publisher=Wolfbait |year=2017 |isbn=9781999744151 |edition=2nd |pages=137}}</ref>

==References== <references/>

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0065469}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Switch, The}} Category:1968 films Category:1968 black-and-white films Category:British crime films Category:British black-and-white films Category:1968 crime films Category:Films set in Brighton Category:Films directed by Pete Walker Category:1968 English-language films Category:1968 British films Category:English-language crime films Category:British sexploitation films