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Swing Kids (1993)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
5 March 1993 (USA) moreTagline:
In a world on the brink of war. You either march to one tune or dance to another. morePlot:
The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US... more | add synopsisAwards:
1 win & 1 nomination moreUser Comments:
Strangulation Of Culture more (95 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Robert Sean Leonard | ... | Peter Müller | |
| Christian Bale | ... | Thomas Berger | |
| Frank Whaley | ... | Arvid | |
| Barbara Hershey | ... | Frau Müller | |
| Tushka Bergen | ... | Evey | |
| David Tom | ... | Willi Müller | |
| Julia Stemberger | ... | Frau Linge | |
| Jayce Bartok | ... | Otto | |
| Noah Wyle | ... | Emil Lutz | |
| Johan Leysen | ... | Herr Schumler | |
| Douglas Roberts | ... | Herr Hinz | |
| Martin Clunes | ... | Bannführer | |
| Jessica Hynes | ... | Helga (as Jessica Stevenson) | |
| Carl Brincat | ... | H.J. Thug | |
| Mary Fogarty | ... | Mama Klara Müller (as Mary Fogerty) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
112 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
DolbyCertification:
Australia:M | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13Filming Locations:
Prague, Czech RepublicFun Stuff
Trivia:
On location in Prague in near freezing weather, Christian Bale was visited by 'Spielberg, Steven' (director of his feature film debut Empire of the Sun (1987)). moreGoofs:
Anachronisms: In an establishing shot just after the Nazis steal the radio, the rear half of a Vauxhall Wyvern can be seen parked on the street; this car was not introduced until 1948. moreQuotes:
Arvid: You think that just because you're not doing it yourself, you're not a part of it? Well, I'm sick and tired of doing my part. moreSoundtrack:
DAPHNE (MANOIR DE MES REVES) moreFAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (95 total)
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I do love swing music and love the music and artists from the era. So did my parents who were contemporary with it. But they had the good fortune to love it in the USA. It was a dangerous thing to like Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and most of all Arthur Shawronsky who the authorities did know was Artie Shaw. But these squares were the Gestapo and Swing Kids is about the youth who loved American swing music at considerable cost.
Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley are three friends who are into American swing at a time in their country when such "jungle" music was Verboten. Swing Kids is the story about how all three were dealing with the growing strangulation of culture. One of the opening scenes takes place at a forbidden swing club where the kids are cutting a rug to Benny Goodman when word comes the authorities are near. Without a beat the band turns into a typical German Oompah band, the kind of music Herr Schicklgruber deemed acceptable to German youth.
Which was being swallowed up by the Hitler Youth and the social pressures to join are enormous. Something that we in this country cannot fathom. I'm not a big fan of the current Pope, but about the only thing I'll give Benedict XVI a pass on was joining the Hitler Youth. At a certain point the wiggle room got less and less.
Barbara Hershey as Leonard's mother gives a good performance as a woman keeping company with a Gestapo official for a little more comfort. Her husband and Leonard and David Tom's father had been arrested by the Gestapo a few years back and died as a result of their custody. The Gestapo official is played by an unbilled Kenneth Branagh who took no billing for his part deliberately.
Swing Kids has a timely lesson for today if some in federal authority will care to learn it. The fundamentalist Moslems just as the Nazis hate our decadent culture. The answer is keep importing it into places like Iran by the cargo ship load. Don't bomb them to death, just send them our music and films.
By the way our own fundamentalist Christians hated that music as they hate the music of today. Something about authoritarianism of whatever stripe just hates contemporary culture, whatever it is at the time.
Swing Kids is a valuable lesson about freedom of expression wrapped up in a good entertaining package.