Swing Shift (1984)

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writer:

Nancy Dowd (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

13 April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | 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:

Work | Gender Roles | New Year's Eve | Aircraft Factory | Trumpeter

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 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
Chris Lemmon	...	Lt. O'Connor (as Christopher Lemmon)
Charles Napier	...	Moon Willis
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	French de Mille / Documentary Narrator
Laura Hawn	...	Ethel, Spike's Wife
Marvin Miller	...	Rollo
Susan Barnes	...	Skinny
Beth Henley	...	Bible Pusher
Gene Borkan	...	MP at embarcation
Alana Stewart	...	Frankie Parker
Phillip Christon	...	Recruit at Egyptian
Penny Johnson	...	Genevieve
Isabell O'Connor	...	Rita (as Isabell Monk)
Maggie Renzi	...	First Interviewer
Sandy McLeod	...	Second Interviewer (as Sandi McLeod)
George 'Red' Schwartz	...	Cribman (as George Schwartz)
Alan Toy	...	Assistant Cribman
Oceana Marr	...	Ladies' Room Inspector
Richard K. Way	...	Factory Soldier
Harold Jackson	...	Piano Player at Sorrentino's
Don Carrara	...	Drunk Soldier
Todd Allen	...	Col. Bobby Danzig
Gary Goetzman	...	Swing Shift bandleader
Belinda Carlisle	...	Jamboree Singer
Lissette LeCorn	...	Peggy age 3
Jessica Gaynes	...	Peggy age 7
Deena Marie	...	Piper Girl
Roger Rook	...	Bellhop
Joseph Hutton	...	Seaman Amtzie
Harry Northup	...	New Year's Eve Marine #1
David B. Carlton	...	New Year's Eve Marine #2
Lisa Chadwick	...	Vocalist at Kelly's
Eddie Smith	...	Waiter at Kelly's
Eugene Jackson	...	Bartender at Kelly's (as Eugene W. Jackson)
Chino 'Fats' Williams	...	Bouncer at Kelly's
Belita Moreno	...	Mabel Stoddard
Roger Corman	...	Mr. MacBride
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cynthia Lea Clark	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Patrice Cole	...	Soldier's Wife (uncredited)
Luci-Lynn Norris	...	Neighbor (uncredited)
Doug Savant	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Jonathan Demme

Writing credits
Nancy Dowd		(written by) (as Rob Morton)
Bo Goldman		uncredited
Ron Nyswaner		uncredited

Produced by
Jerry Bick	....	producer
Charles Mulvehill	....	associate producer
Arlene Sellers	....	executive producer
Alex Winitsky	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Patrick Williams

Cinematography by
Tak Fujimoto		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Gib Jaffe
Craig McKay

Production Design by
Peter Jamison

Art Direction by
Bo Welch

Set Decoration by
Jeff Haley
R. Chris Westlund

Costume Design by
Joe I. Tompkins

Makeup Department
Kathryn Blondell	....	hair stylist (as Kathryn L. Blondell)
E. Thomas Case	....	makeup artist (as Tom Case)
Jerry O'Dell	....	makeup artist (as Gerald O'Dell)
Kim Samson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Charles Mulvehill	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carla Brand Breitner	....	second second assistant director
Michael Looney	....	second assistant director
Sharon Mann	....	second second assistant director (as Sharon S. Mann)
Charles Myers	....	first assistant director (as C.A. Myers)
Evelyn Purcell	....	second unit director
Cynthia Riddle	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Dennis DeWaay	....	construction coordinator
Jack Johnson	....	illustrator
Scott W. Leslie	....	set dresser
Margie Stone McShirley	....	set designer
William Kemper Wright	....	leadman (as William Wright)

Sound Department
Gary Alexander	....	sound re-recording mixer
James Beshears	....	sound editor
Charles L. Campbell	....	supervising sound editor
Larry Carow	....	sound editor
Chris Jenkins	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dennis Jones	....	boom operator
Tom Overton	....	sound mixer (as Tommy Overton)
David Pettijohn	....	sound editor
Norman B. Schwartz	....	adr dialogue editor
Larry Stensvold	....	sound re-recording mixer
Roger Sword	....	sound editor
John Roesch	....	foley artist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Rodney M. Byrd	....	special effects
Richard Lea	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Jamie Anderson	....	camera operator
Edward Brown Jr.	....	assistant camera
Paul Caven	....	best boy electric
Adam Glick	....	set lighting technician
Melton Maxwell	....	gaffer
John T. Ramsey	....	key grip
Dwayne Redlin	....	best boy grip
Peter Santoro	....	assistant camera
John R. Shannon	....	still photographer (as John Shannon)
Stephen St. John	....	steadicam operator
Albert Hood	....	electrician (uncredited)
Paul Jacobsen	....	electrician: practical fixtures (uncredited)
Michael T. Travers	....	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department
Marion Dougherty	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Michele Dittrick	....	costumer
Silvio Scarano	....	costume supervisor: men
Pamela Wise	....	costume supervisor: women

Editorial Department
Gib Jaffe	....	additional film editor

Music Department
Beth Bergeron	....	music editor
George Doering	....	musician
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator: Patrick Williams
Billy May	....	orchestrator: Patrick Williams
Michael Moores	....	orchestrator: Patrick Williams
L. Loren Newkirk	....	musician
Morgan Cavett	....	music contractor (uncredited)

Other crew
Nancy E. Barr	....	production coordinator: re-takes
Pablo Ferro	....	title designer
Jim Gerwig	....	caterer
Marie Kenney	....	script supervisor
Sam Mercer	....	location manager
Eileen Omaye	....	assistant: Jerry Bick
June Petersen	....	assistant: Mr. Demme
W. Thomas Snyder	....	production assistant
Phillip Christon	....	intern (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. (presents) (as A Warner Communications Company)
• Lantana (as A Lantana Production)
• Hawn / Sylbert Movie Company (in association with) (as The Hawn/Sylbert Movie Company)
• Jerry Bick Productions (in association with)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1984) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1987) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• United States Air Force, The  special thanks
• United States Navy, The  special thanks (as U.S. Navy)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Norway:15 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | UK:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Warner Bros.

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.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Marine PFC is wearing a red "blood stripe" on his dress blue trousers. This stripe is designated for non-commissioned officers, of which a PFC is not. The Private First Class should be wearing plain blue trousers.

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:

Someone Waits For You

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.