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DVD Swing Shift
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell got together on Swing Shift--and if that's the main reason people know about this movie, it only has itself to blame. The film has a marvelous subject (women's changing status on the home front during World War II), a hugely attractive cast, and a sympathetic director, Jonathan Demme, whose previous film, Melvin and Howard, had been a splendid piece of Americana. Yet despite this, it feels disjointed. Goldie goes to work at a factory when her husband (Ed Harris) goes off to war; Russell works there too, and they find each other, well, riveting. With the movie wavering between romance and feminist consciousness-raising, the field is open for Oscar®-nominated Christine Lahti, who sparkles as Goldie's lanky, wisecracking best friend. Demme's original version of the movie was obscured by reshoots, which might explain the missed opportunity; this could have been a classic. --Robert Horton
I love this movie it is fun loving and heart warming it is a great movie that brings back a time when every thing was simple even in war time. It makes you want to laugh and cry with the characters and it shows that women can take up the reins and be just as capable as men
The Unspoken Issue
"Swing Shift" has proven to be a marvelous nostalgia trip for those who remember the '40s, and for those self-proclaimed nostalgia buffs like myself who enjoy the music of the era.
Goldie Hawn has a childlike innocence as a housewife to Ed Harris in a working class neighborhood in 1941 California. Jack and Kay Walsh deal with Jack's having to work on Saturdays, a rather vampy neighbor at whom they make derogatory remarks when they see her going to work, and enjoy time at the roller rink.
While they are at the roller rink, the attack on Pearl Harbor is announced and their world changes. Jack enlists in the Navy and Kay decides to work as riveter, who helps to build airplanes at a local munitions plant.
She develops an antagonistic relationship with her neighbor, Hazel(Christine Lahti), the singer-turned riveter, whom she and her husband used to taunt, and an even closer relationship with a plant worker named Lucky (Kurt Russell)who repeatedly invites her out to hear him play his trumpet at club leading to gossip and speculation about their relationship among their co-workers.
During the course of the film, we see the reluctance of the women's male co-workers to accept them as equals in the workplace, and one of the male instructors gets a little too familiar with Hazel while instructing her on how to drill.
The unspoken problem in all this is the women's inability to defend themselves against sexual harrassment in the workplace at that time. In modern times, Lucky never would have been able to make the kind of advances that he made towards her in this film, at least not without Kay filing a complaint. This film suggests that such situations may have been common back then, largely because of this fact.It leads a viewer to wonder how many affairs between the female swingshifters and their male counterparts took place at that time, regardless of the marital status of either of them.
But we share the triumphs as well as the tragedies of the swing shifters; Holly Hunter, as Jeanne Sherman, receives her husband's death notice while at work, but later gives the audience a lesson in how life can go on afterwards.
Jack discovers his wife's affair when he comes home on furlough, and is heartbroken. As Kay tries to figure out how best to resolve the situation, Hazel and Lucky begin a dallience of their own after Hazel's relationship with her former boss appears to be over.
After the inevitable fight between the two women, they avoid each other at work. Lucky gets his big break as a musician, and leaves the plant, which makes it easier for Hazel and Kay to eventually make peace with each other.
I found this film--a counterpart to that other portrayal of life in World War II California, "Racing With the Moon", which was released the same year--to be a fine tribute the the women who helped win World War II--to their endurance of heartache and sacrifice, demeaning treatment, the realism of the marginalized treatment of the African American women at the plant, and the support that women in general can give each other in times of crisis. When Kay is promoted after saving a co-worker's life, we see how the men begin to respect their female co-workers for their intelligence. Interestingly, these themes were later echoed in the 1992 film, "A League of Their Own".
Sadly, these women had to give up their jobs once the men returned home from the war. But those who see this film should come to appreciate the way the women of this era paved the way for equality in the workplace.
Some minor flaws but a good story
I was riveted to this film the first time I saw it. I loved the period piece and the authenticity of the time they were capturing. My dad and mom both agreed it kept with the time. I especially loved the Rosie the Riveter aspect, as that character always intrigued me and Goldie does an excellent job in filling that role. This type of setting and story probably happened hundreds of times across the US during the Pearl Harbor days. Maybe others feel it wraps up too pat (like a typical Hollywood ending) but I felt it was true to what probably happened in those days. I love this film for all the marvelous acting and pairing Goldie with Kurt was great casting. They do it again in Overboard, another often overlooked Goldie film. I would recommend this film for anyone who likes historical fiction and who enjoys Goldie & Kurt.
Not short on murder, mayhem, or any other screwball '70s conventions, Foul Play is a wonderful vehicle for Goldie Hawn. She plays Gloria, a librarian "ready to take a chance again," who ends up the target of an assassination ring. Chevy Chase, fresh off of Saturday Night Live, does the closest thing to real acting he would ever achieve (okay, maybe Fletch) as Tony, the cop assigned to protect Gloria. Dudley Moore made an indelible impression on American audiences as Stanley Tibbets, a surprisingly kinky symphony conductor. But it's the quirky things that make this film: the grandmothers playing Scrabble with expletives, Burgess Meredith's snake Esme, the old Japanese couple in the back of the careening limo. From the opening credits with Barry Manilow crooning the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Goldie Hawn - Chevy Chase Director(s): Colin Higgins DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A pampered socialite (Goldie Hawn) is so distraught after the wedding-night death of her husband (Albert Brooks) that she up and joins the Army. She whines, she pouts, she brings the corps down, until, of course, she gets with it. Eileen Brennan received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role as the butch Captain Doreen Lewis, Benjamin's nemesis. Funny and winning, the film takes an odd turn when Benjamin is assigned to the international theater and gets involved with a dour Frenchman (Armand Assante). Of course, it's all part of Benjamin's growth as a person, and the part confirmed that Hawn had gone from a go-go girl to a "you go" girl. --Keith SimantonMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Goldie Hawn - Eileen Brennan Director(s): Howard Zieff DVD Release Date: Released the 01 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I saw this at Movie Trading Company for $3.99 and on sale for $1.99. So I went on a big limd and bought it. I wasn't that suprised about it, it wasn't that good. Goldie Hawn did a pretty good job. The actor for the husband was a little pradictable. The ending was a suprise, but all in all a pretty good movie. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Goldie Hawn - John Heard Director(s): Damian Harris DVD Release Date: Released the 30 September 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Goldie accidently saves a middle-eastern politician from a gunshot,and is suddenly thrusted into the media,becomes a media darling,and hired on by the U.S. Govt.,who try to "sell" her(without her knowledge) to the man she helped save,to become one of his MANY wives,in exchange for some Nuclear bombs. Not only does this film take shots at the stupidity of the media,and the shaddy dealings of our own Government, it is an abosolutly funny funny movie! Goldie is HILLARIOUS as Sunny Davis,cocktail waitress,turned media hero. One of my all-time fave Goldie Hawn movies,this one's a definate keeper! HIGHLY RECCOMeNDED More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Goldie Hawn - Chris Sarandon Director(s): Herbert Ross DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Art imitates life in this romantic comedy, which casts Reynolds and Hawn as a successful Hollywood screenwriting team. Their harmonious working and romantic relationship goes south when they decide to get married after years of living together. Written by and based on the lives of writers Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin, the film is a decidedly bittersweet affair: after all, Levinson and Curtin got married, then divorced, just like the characters in the movie. Consequently, there's less real humor than kidding as the relationship develops cracks, chinks, and leaks, before foundering altogether. Still, Reynolds and Hawn have a likable chemistry because neither is trying too hard. Watch for a particularly funny and crass cameo by Ron Silver, as a big-shot director they wind up working... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Burt Reynolds - Goldie Hawn Director(s): Norman Jewison DVD Release Date: Released the 20 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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