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Swing Shift (1984) from Tuna |
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Although Goldie Hawn has never been in a really top level movie, I would say that the scores reflect the material she had to work with, and not her ability or her performances. My favorite of her films is Swing Shift. It should be much higher rated, but was not what people expected. Hawn fans are looking for the Laugh-In Goldie (Butterflies are Free), and this is an historical drama concerning arguably the most significant single event in US history, in terms of its impact on our society. Goldie plays a "Rosie the Riveter." Her husband enlists the day after Pearl Harbor, leaving her alone and with nothing to do. |
| She takes a job in an aircraft plant, where she faces a major battle with the men who were rejected for military service, but excels, and becomes a foreman. Her loneliness gets the best of her, and she has an affair with a 4F trumpet player. Her husband's homecoming signals a crisis in their marriage, and also the end to her job, as returning veterans are hired to replace the women. |
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| Women didn't, however,
return to being stay-at-home housewives after a taste of a career, and
the American home model became one in which both partners work,
and the children are raised by child care. The economy adjusted to the
two paycheck norm, and prices went up accordingly. I won't say if this
is right or wrong as I see both good and bad in it. I can think of no
other event that so changed the American family and gender roles.
I thought Goldie was brilliant in the film, and that the film
portrayed the times with accuracy, sensitivity and insight. Were the
genre comedy, 6.0 is a decent score for the genre, but this is a
far better and more serious film. |
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Scoop's notes:
the film was directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) the movie is most famous for Ed Harris' wiener, which made an appearance when he sat down while wearing only a towel |
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