Swing Shift

When America marched off to war the women marched into the factory. From then on...nothing was the same. During the Second World War, nearly 300,000 planes, 100,000 tanks, 20 million rifles and 41 billion bullets were produced and whilst it was the men who were using these weapons of destruction to annihilate each other, it was their women folk who 'manned' the production lines. Overnight dance-hall girls and ordinary housewives were transformed into spot-welders and riveters and despite initial mockery by the male co-workers, they soon gave way to the less cynical 'Soldiers Without Guns'. The inimitable Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell and Oscar winning director Jonathan Demme have combined to ensure that Swingshift, a bitter-sweet comedy of friendship, hardship and courage, retains a long-lost innocence only possible in a world at war in pre-nuclear age. © Warner Bros. Inc