Review of Swing Shift (1984) by Ceph J — 22 Nov 2010

Finally, I got to watch "Swing Shift" which I initally avoided because the reviews weren't good. It's not that bad but takes a worthwhile subject and reduces it to melodrama. To be fair, it should be, similar to Jane Fonda's "Coming Home" about a lonely housewife whose husband is off to war so finds fulfillment in another man. In "Coming Home" the movie was interesting because the lover is a former veteran who is confined to a wheelchair. In this one, Goldie Hawn seems miscast and Kurt Russell is so nice that you root for him over the husband, played by a quiet but intense Ed Harris. There's little emotional sparks between the three of them.

The movie is really about the friendship between Christine Lahti, who's simply wonderful as Hazel, a neighbor of Hawn's. What's the message? That women were used during WWII to take care of their husbands, lovers, work a demanding swing shift from 4pm-midnight, help make aircraft, keep the troops in good spirits, and once the war is ended, return to dutiful housewives. It's this muddled message that keeps this film from being great to simply OK. Hawn is kept in check even as we wait for her to punch the misogynist Charles Napier at the plant, or to say to her husband/lover, "I'll go with the victor from a duel.".

Instead, she has a verbal catfight with Lahti (who steals the movie hands down) and the closing shot is of the two of them hugging and making up. One could snigger and smile that the women have finally found joy in the arms of each other.