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Swing Shift (1984)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Release Date:
13 April 1984 (USA)
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Tagline:
When America marched off to war the women marched into the factory. From then on...nothing was the same.
Plot:
A woman finds romance when she takes a job at an airport plant to help make ends meet after her husband goes off to war. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 1 win
&
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke and Speed Racer’s Emile Hirsch Teaming Up For Modern Day American Hamlet
(From Slash Film. 3 June 2009, 9:24 AM, PDT)
Hawn: "I Will Never Marry Russell"
(From WENN. 16 May 2005)
(From Slash Film. 3 June 2009, 9:24 AM, PDT)
Hawn: "I Will Never Marry Russell"
(From WENN. 16 May 2005)
User Comments:
Swing Shift is a nice period piece.
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Goldie Hawn | ... | Kay Walsh |
 | Kurt Russell | ... | Mike 'Lucky' Lockhart |
 | Christine Lahti | ... | Hazel |
 | Fred Ward | ... | Archibald 'Biscuits' Touie |
 | Ed Harris | ... | Jack Walsh |
 | Sudie Bond | ... | Annie |
 | Holly Hunter | ... | Jeannie |
| Patty Maloney | ... | Laverne |
 | Lisa Pelikan | ... | Violet |
| Susan Peretz | ... | Edith |
 | Joey Aresco | ... | Johnny Bonnaro |
| Morris 'Tex' Biggs | ... | Clarence |
| Reid Cruickshanks | ... | Spike |
| Danny Darst | ... | Deacon (as Daniel Dean Darst) |
| Dennis Fimple | ... | Rupert George |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
100 min
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Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The scene taking place on the pier, as Goldie Hawn's character meets her husband returning from the war, was filmed with real sailors as extras from the USS Lang and the USS Gray, both fast frigates and built during the Vietnam War.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Jonathan Demme (#2.27)" (????)
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Soundtrack:
Serenade in Blue
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (20 total)
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I really did like this movie. There's a lot to like. It's the beginning of World War II, and all the men are being called to the Army. Goldie Hawn and Ed Harris are a typical American couple thus pulled apart. Goldie gets a Rosie the Riveter job, where she meets Kurt Russel, a 4F plant foreman, and the rest is history.
Swing Shift was directed by Jonathan Demme, of Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia fame, and if this one is a little lighter, it was also a lot earlier in his career. Holly Hunter appears in a very small supporting role, but gives it her star-quality best. Christine Lahti is magnificent as the single neighbor who befriends Goldie at the factory even though she and her husband were cruel to her before the war changed everyone's lives. Fred Ward was already becoming old hat, but he, like the rest of the film, ends up being likeable and thoroughly enjoyable.
Hawn and Russell met on the set and have been together ever since. Maybe the excitement of their real-life romance drained the spark from their on-screen version. This could have been a really moving story of a woman who falls in love while her husband is off to war, but ends up showing us a couple of bump-buddies killing time till their real lives resume. Perhaps that was the point.
Ed Harris is perfectly cast as the common man trying to keep his marriage together in the face of all that life throws in its way. There is a famous scene, in which Ed, wearing nothing but a bath towel, plops into a floppy chair with a cold beer. The resulting bounce proves that Harris is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and explains why this charming little tale will never be on DVD.
Swing Shift is a nice period piece, and provides an amusing, if not entirely accurate, view of the tumultous years in the middle of the last century when the entire world went to war.