Disturbing yet enthralling

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The acting in this movie is really good.

In this WW2-era drama, Goldie Hawn is the main character, and she tries to keep pace with the changes in her life as she goes from demure housewife from Iowa to lead lineperson in an aircraft factory by day and some-time escort of a jazz trumpeter (with a motorcycle/sidecar, no-less) by night. An interesting unfolding of the individual takes place amongst the trials of war-time life. When she finally, after many months, succumbs to the jazzman's charms, I was sympathetic toward her loneliness and formerly-repressed need for expression. During her tryst, it was always evident that she still loved her husband, played by Ed Harris, who was away in the navy. The fine acting jobs by Hawn, Harris, Russel and Christine Lahti are not exactly wasted in Swing Shift, but I would have liked to have seen more of the inner persons exposed, especially in regards to their thoughts and questions about why the Japanese attacked. The movie is good, but the individuals portrayed in the movie accept the war and their roles in it somewhat robotically, in that there is very little dialogue regarding the U.S. military's presence in Hawaii and other foreign countries. I feel this kind of dialogue would have helped develop the characters more. A fine move, well-directed and well-produced. Some powerful acting by Hawn, who manages to seem scared, but dauntless at the same time. Not an easy thing to do.

An easy-to-watch look at the Rosie the Riveter culture during WWII, "Swing Shift" is nothing special but passes. Goldie Hawn is her usual self as housewife Kay Walsh, who goes to work in the factories after her husband Jack (Ed Harris) goes off to fight in the war. If anything weakens the movie, it's something that we only recognize in the 21st century: the fact that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell met on the set (Russell plays her new love interest). Since then, stories of movie stars meeting on movie sets - and possible breaking up marriages - have become so commonplace that it makes our eyes roll.But the movie itself is pretty interesting. Maybe it's not any kind of masterpiece, but it's fun to watch. Also starring Christine Lahti, Fred Ward and Holly Hunter. Jonathan Demme was certainly demonstrating the talent that he would later bring to "Silence of the Lambs", "Philadelphia" and "Beloved".

There is a goof that would only be noticed by someone about as old as I am . There is a scene where a car pulls up to a stop sign. In fact the camera puts a rather big part of the stop sign in a brief scene. Now, currently we all know that stop signs have a standard coloring of white lettering on a red background. But in the 1940s, during World War II and perhaps into the 1950s stop signs had black lettering on a yellow background. This is probably not realized by many people born in and after the 1950s because so much of the photography back in those days was in black and white. So, you don't often see a an old magazine photo of a street scene in color so even if a stop sign was in the hypothetical magazine photo it would have to be in color to be noticed. So, the movie showed the stop sign as white on red but to be accurate for the time period it should have been black on yellow. I remember being perhaps 8-10 years old (born in 1942) when the standard stop sign color scheme was changed to present white on red. This was reported to be easier to see by drivers so traffic safety was increased. So, I want to register this blooper by the makers of the film. Moe in Iowa

I said in my first review of this movie that it would never be on DVD. The reason is obvious. That infamous towel scene with Ed Harris. Well, I must admit that I was surprised when the DVD came out recently, but guess what? The scene was edited.That's right. With cinematograhpy by none other than Tak Fujimoto, whose work with Demme yielded Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, and who also shot masterpieces like Sixth Sense and Signs, the DVD was nevertheless cropped to take the bounce out of that scene. Now I'm not saying that's the only reason to watch the film, but I'll tell you this. If I had been Goldie Hawn, I would have made the play for Ed Harris instead of Kurt Russell, except that Ed was at the time and still is married to Amy Madigan.Don't buy the DVD.