#Swing shift 1984 movie#

The girls become seasoned workers through more montages, and the whole thing is smothered in period swing music.Ī lot happens that doesn't really gel. Instead we have broad strokes, the continuous intrusions of narrated montages telling us the progress of the war.

There are almost noĭetails, really, and no subtleties in the atmosphere. It's the only prerequisite, but it's a tiny detail that might slip by. A black job applicant cleverly presents her high school diploma after being told There's an attempt to be realistic - the sweet midget lady is a desirable employee because she can work in Boorish male workers discriminate against them, as personified by Demme regular Charles Napier. The finished film jams this all together with a tiresome connect-the-dots feel. Is nicely charted, as is Christine's frustration at having her own dream of becoming a band singer denied. Goldie's slow surrender to a new romance with Kurt Russell The war, the temporary changes will abruptly stop. Operate under the old rules - the men are in charge and when the husbands and boyfriends come back from They are in some ways 'liberated' by their work but still must Goldie and a wonderful Christine Lahti keep the tale afloat with a pair of

#Swing shift 1984 movie#

The movie dramatizes the plight of America's female war workers who took the factory jobs and filled inįor the boys fighting overseas. A few rewrites and reshoots later, the movie is what we have now, a flat drama punctuated with lively characters forced into stock situations and predictable events. The media wrote it up as a troubled production in which director Jonathan Demme lost control to his star. In the case of Swing Shift something didn't work. She's the definition of a movie star - she lights up the screen just by being there. For instance, she's the one bright element in Woody Allen's leaden Everyone Says I Love You, singlehandedly giving the movie an uplift. Goldie is almost always far better than the films she winds up in, and her lovable personality usually wins us over immediately. Movie stars are great, especially when they're as enchanting as Goldie Hawn. This wins her newįriends like neighbor Hazel (Christine Lahti) and an unwanted romance with factory lead man Lucky 'Rosie the Riveters' enjoys the pride and rewards of meaningful employment. She becomes an aircraft worker and with other Navy, leaving his wife Kay (Goldie Hawn) behind. When Pearl Harbor hits, factory worker Jack Walsh (Ed Harris) ships out with the Alas, it's an enjoyable but underachieving piece of fluff with a Swing Shift is a Goldie Hawn vehicle with an exceptional cast that should have transcended Some movies you want to like so badly, they're entertaining even when they don't work too well. Produced by Jerry Bick, Arlene Sellers, Alex Winitsky Written by Rob Morton (Nancy Dowd) and Bo Goldman Production Designer Peter Jamison, Bo Welch

Starring Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward,Įd Harris, Sudie Bond, Holly Hunter, Patty Maloney, Lisa Pelikan