Swing

I wanted to like this movie. Heck, many of my friends and I performed as background dancers for it. Some of the scenes were shot in our favorite club, Broadway Studios of San Francisco.

The cast was pretty good. Jonathan Winters was hilarious in his supporting role. Sadly, the script was pretty bad. It's basically an ABC After School Special retelling of the Saturday Night Fever story, which doesn't really work. Saturday Night Fever worked as a story because its conflicts felt authentic and had an edge. Swing's conflicts lack the urgency and edge to involve the viewer.

Another puzzling feature of the film is that the main character is entranced by swing dancing and music. However, his own band doesn't play swing and he exhibits no interest in playing any kind of jazz. They play a lot of folk rock.

The only people that have rendered good opinions on this film have a vested interest in it. All of my friends who attended the cast/crew screening were disappointed.

A fantasy film like 'Field of Dreams' with excellent acting from Jonathan Winters and Jacqueline Bisset and some reasonably good swing music and jitterbugging. The lead is handsome and appealing but the story is somewhat hackneyed. Definitely worth seeing because of the leads, though, and the music (aside from Innis' inept crooning) is worth hearing. Tom Skerritt is, as always, a very good supporting actor. The band doesn't really get enough time, and I wish there had been even more swing. The ending could use a bit of pruning, too. Coming out on DVD in the Fall. The last theatre engagement is going on now, in Larkspur, Cal.

The few pros? Tom Skerrit and Mindy Cohn do what they can with the meager crumbs of characterization that they are given. The settings, indoor and out are lovely and vibrant. Shots of San Francisco are beautiful, if over used. The indoor sets have good color and period dressing -- with the exception of the cookie cutter performance sets. I think that they were supposed to look like several different gigs, but ended up looking as though they were different POV of the same space.

The many, many cons: The leads lack the skills to carry the movie. The directing and editing are terrible. The scripting feels like it was made up on the spot by an eight year old. The cast mugs and hams and then does what it can to get from one line of the script to another.

Uniformly terrible.

Take 1 part real swing music [Dorsey, Miller], 1 part enthusiastic dance, 1 part veteran talent [Bisset, Bostwick, Winters], 1 part youthful charm [Casey], and mix with a sweet storyline and a lot of San Francisco talent. Season with the late-great Nell Carter and some chocolate chutney. The result is pure magic. This could be the next Indie surprise hit.

I saw this film last monday at a NY Film Festival.Its an infectious romantic comedy with two very appealing leads: Innis Casey and Constance Brenneman.

Its also the story of a generational conflict between a father who wants his son to find security in the family business and his son who wants to be a musician.The young man's grandfather was a great swing musician who gave it up for a boring conventional life but the young man has an unusual muse who inspires him to have the courage be true to himself and his dream. The music is hot, the dancing exciting, and the story lovely.