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IMDbPro

American Swing

  • 20082008
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 21m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
707
YOUR RATING
American Swing (2008)
Documentary
Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
707
YOUR RATING
    • Jon Hart
    • Mathew Kaufman
    • Jon Hart(based on an article by)
  • Stars
    • Bryce Britton
    • Irwin Corey
    • William Davidson
    • Jon Hart
    • Mathew Kaufman
    • Jon Hart(based on an article by)
  • Stars
    • Bryce Britton
    • Irwin Corey
    • William Davidson
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 7User reviews
    • 27Critic reviews
    • 59Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    American Swing (2008)
    American Swing (2008)
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    Top cast

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    Bryce Britton
    • Self
    Irwin Corey
    Irwin Corey
    • Self
    • (as Professor Irwin Corey)
    William Davidson
    • Self
    Dan Dorfman
    • Self
    Donna Ferrato
    • Self
    Joe Franklin
    • Self
    Jamie Gillis
    Jamie Gillis
    • Self
    Al Goldstein
    Al Goldstein
    • Self
    Dian Hanson
    Dian Hanson
    • Self
    Buck Henry
    Buck Henry
    • Self
    Ron Jeremy
    Ron Jeremy
    • Self
    Ed Koch
    Ed Koch
    • Self
    Steve Kraus
    • Self
    Larry Levenson
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Fred J. Lincoln
    Fred J. Lincoln
    • Self
    • (as Fred Lincoln)
    Jersey Matuschka
    • Self
    Robert L. McGinley
    • Self
    • (as Dr. Robert McGinley)
    Howard Smith
    Howard Smith
    • Self
      • Jon Hart
      • Mathew Kaufman
      • Jon Hart(based on an article by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Crazy credits
      After the credits start rolling, there are a few more snippets of interviews.
    • Connections
      Features The David Susskind Show (1958)
    • Soundtracks
      You Make Me Feel (Mighty Reel)
      Performed by Sylvester

      Written by James Wirrick / Sylvester (as Sylvester James)

      Published by Kohaw Music (ASCAP) o/b/o Wirrick Music & Sequins at Noon Music

      Courtesy of Concord Music Group, Inc.

    User reviews7

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    raw but intriguing look at sexual liberation
    Anyone who ventures into "American Swing" expecting to see a documentary on Benny Goodman is in for one hell of a rude awakening - and that's putting it mildly. For the "swing," in this case, actually refers to the "wife-swapping" phenomenon that swept through middle-class suburbia in the 1970s. And no figure did more to popularize that trend than Larry Levenson - the "King of Swing" as he came to be called - whose "live sex club," Plato's Retreat, located in Manhattan's Upper West Side, served as the epicenter for so much of the action.

    Let it be stated right up front that this eye-opening documentary is not for the prudish or the easily offended, for its footage is graphic and its language raw, often akin in its look to crude 1970's porn. It takes us straight into the heart of a scene that became famous for its flagrant nudity, its unbridled group sex, and - if the eyewitness accounts are to be believed - its really bad food (apparently, the smorgasbord that kept bringing the people in was of quite a different kind!). Directed by Matthew Kaufman and Jon Hart, the film features interviews with many of the now-aging club regulars who happily regale us with tales of their personal escapades there. A number of celebrities who frequented the club, as well as certain reporters and broadcasters who covered the beat at the time are also interviewed.

    "American Swing" is most interesting as a social document, showing how the "free love" ethos espoused by the hippies in the 1960's expanded into the mainstream a decade later. Suddenly, ordinary businessmen and housewives, truck drivers and longshoremen could partake in the life of the sexually liberated. In his own mind, Levenson sincerely believed that he was serving a salutary purpose with his club, providing couples who didn't want to be stuck in a monogamous relationship with a more honest alternative to "cheating."

    It is not the intention of Kaufman and Hart to judge the people who took part in what Plato's Retreat had to offer, but neither is it their intention to shy away from some of the less savory consequences that eventually overtook many of them: principally, the diminution of romance, rampant drug abuse, and the spread of disease. In fact, it was the sudden appearance of AIDS in the early 1980s that brought the decade-long love-train to a screeching halt. That, along with Levenson's own troubles with the IRS (including time spent in prison for tax evasion) and possible dealings with the mob, is what eventually brought an end to the place - and to the era of licentiousness that helped to spawn it.

    So, was Levenson a trailblazing sexual revolutionary who made it possible for otherwise ordinary middle-class people to live out their wildest fantasies? Or was he an emotionally stunted individual who cast away the mores of society in a bid to fulfill his own kinky desires and make a kingdom and a name for himself in the process? To their credit, Kaufman and Hart provide no easy answer to those questions, neither for the prigs in the audience nor for the libertines.

    All same for the movie itself - for even though Levenson's life ends sadly, "American Swing" does not play out like the typical cautionary tale. For, in the end, we are left to reach our own conclusions as to whether Plato's Retreat was in reality a hedonistic paradise or merely a moral cesspool - or, indeed perhaps, a little of both.

    The only thing you can really do is check out "American Swing" and make that determination for yourself.
    helpful•32
    3
    • Buddy-51
    • May 24, 2009

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 17, 2009 (Japan)
      • United States
      • Official site (Japan)
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Plato's Retreat - 509 West 34th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • HDNet Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 21 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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