cult film freak: SWING SHIFT

Written by James M. Tate / 8/01/2012 / No comments / christine lahti , ed harris , eighties , fred ward , goldie hawn , jonathan demme , kurt russell , roger corman , romantic comedy , war

SWING SHIFT

8/01/2012 | No comment

year: 1984 cast: Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward, Ed Harris rating: **1/2

Centers on a housewife whose husband goes to war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thus Goldie Hawn is called, along with many other women, to aid in the war effort by working in a bomber factory.

Christine Lahti steals scenes as her outgoing, lusty best friend. And Kurt Russell is a trumpet playing player named "Lucky," who doesn't have to fight the war because of a heart condition... which doesn't keep him from playing trumpet all night, drinking, chain smoking, and having an affair with the wife of a fighting soldier.

According to Jonathan Demme, the movie was ruined in the editing room, making it more of a standard romantic comedy than a character-study of women working in factories. And while SWING SHIFT is a somewhat entertaining time-waster, it could have been much better centering more on Hawn and Lahti than the uninteresting Hawn/Russell romance.

At the very end, when Hawn and Lahti look back upon their friendship... and when all the factory ladies reflect upon their first day on the job... the audience wishes there was more of that to experience.

Share This Post :

Tags : christine lahti , ed harris , eighties , fred ward , goldie hawn , jonathan demme , kurt russell , roger corman , romantic comedy , war

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER