Swing Shift

Swing Shift (1984)

When America marched off to war the women marched into the factory. From then on...nothing was the same.

In 1941 America, Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, she takes a job at the local aircraft plant where she meets Hazel, the singer from across the way. The two soon become firm friends and with the other girls become increasingly expert workers. As the war drags on, Kay finally dates her trumpet-playing foreman and life gets more complicated.

Date of release
1984-04-13
TMDB
5.6 / 10 (89)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Drama, Romance, War
Director
Jonathan Demme

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $15M
  • Filmed in: California
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 2

Swing Shift is a 1984 American romantic drama directed by Jonathan Demme, and produced by and starring Goldie Hawn, with Kurt Russell. It also features Christine Lahti, Fred Ward, Ed Harris and Holly Hunter, in one of her earlier movie roles. The film was a box office bomb, grossing just $6.6 million against its $15 million budget. Lahti earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Production

The original screenplay for the film was written by Nancy Dowd. Dowd's script was subsequently rewritten by Bo Goldman, and then by Ron Nyswaner, whose work was used for the final shooting script. Principal photography began in March 1983 after several delays. Initial production completed by June 1983, with Demme's cut focused on the friendship between Kay and Hazel.

According to Hawn, Warner Bros. Pictures did not like Demme's original cut of the film. Hawn felt that the motivation for her character was unclear, stating: "She was the one who was why you wanted to watch this movie, in that you wanted to see the arc of her character. . .So if you don't follow the line of this lady, then you don't quite know what anybody has achieved here.

In December 1983, Warner Bros ordered reshoots. 30 minutes of additional scenes were shot to make Hazel "more sympathetic" and to emphasize her love triangle, which pushed the film's release date from February 1984 to April 1984, and increased its budget from $14 million to $15–17 million.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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