Swing Shift (1984)

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writer:

Nancy Dowd (written by)

Release Date:

13 April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

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.

Plot Keywords:

Trumpeter | Home Front | Love | Friendship Between Women | 1940s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

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

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Norway:15 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

In an early scene, Ed Harris, clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist, plops down on a chair. For a split second his genitals are fully exposed. This scene somehow evaded the censors (and in a PG rated film) and in the first video release, the scene is intact. The scene has now disappeared from later releases.

Quotes:

[final lines]
Kay Walsh: Hazel... we showed 'um didn't we.
Hazel: Boy, did we ever.
[both hug and cry]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Jonathan Demme (#2.27)" (????)

Soundtrack:

Serenade in Blue

Swing Shift is a nice period piece.

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.