I love this movie so much

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Jonathan Demme directed this period piece set during World War II, where women were recruited to take over from men in airplane making factories, because the men had to serve(unless they were declared 4-F).Goldie Hawn, Christine Lahti, and Holly Hunter play the women, while Ed Harris, Fred Ward, and Kurt Russell play the men. The women must overcome the sexism and skepticism from management, and some of the men left behind. With their husbands gone, the women find that their increased responsibility makes them more involved with the world, but also gives way to some temptations as well...Surprisingly bland, even lifeless film feels longer than it is, though it does have a good cast, story doesn't hold viewer interest much, and it feels like a wasted opportunity to portray an important part of the home front aspect of the war.

Calling "Swing Shift" a Jonathan Demme film is like calling "Cape Fear" a Martin Scorsese picture. Sure, they directed these movies but were their hearts behind it? In the case of "Swing Shift", there's hardly any heart at all... at least not one that beats. The story centers on a housewife who's husband (played by Ed Harris) goes to war in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. As he's out fighting the Nazis (and/or Japanese), Goldie is called upon, along with many other women, to aid in the war effort by working in a war plane factory. Christine Lahti plays her outgoing and somewhat lusty best friend, a failed nightclub singer who's got the hots for Fred Ward, the nightclub's owner. And Kurt Russell plays one of the most despicable characters in film history... at least to me. A trumpet playing player named "Lucky" who doesn't have to fight the war because of a heart condition... which doesn't seem to exist as he can play trumpet all night, smoke, and have a great old time lusting after our married main character who's husband is risking his necks to literally save the world. A character who doesn't fight in Vietnam is one thing; but World War 2, a war in which "we knew who we were fighting", is something else altogether. According to Demme, the movie was chop suey in the editing room, making it more of a standard romantic comedy than a character-study of women working in factories. At the very end the women are at a party looking back on how hard it was, all the trouble they went through, and how they overcame and became good workers, but since the film centered more on the Hawn/Russell romance, the viewer feels as if they'd missed something... or, a lot of things. And the opening/closing credit song sung by Carly Simon is very out of place in a film set in the forties. It is a somewhat entertaining time-waster, I'll give it that. But it could have been much, much better, and the fact it does entertain at a certain level makes it more frustrating; adding insult to injury and leaving one limp by the closing credits.

i liked this romantic drama set during World War II.the gist of it is:the American men had to go and fight the war,and the women are needed to take their place working in the the factories,building equipment for the War Effort.for one woman,romance comes into her life as a result.one thing i found interesting(though not surprising)is how these woman were treated like second class citizens and how little respect they got for doing their hard work.it's indicative of the time,but it's also shameful,like many other things in history.Goldie Hawn heads the cast along with Kurt Russel.Ed Harris and Fred Ward also star.but i thought Christine Lahti put in a terrific performance and stole any scenes she was in.regardless,this is a great little drama.for me,Swing Shift is an 8/10

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".