Swing Kids (1993)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Thomas Carter

Writer (WGA):

Jonathan Marc Feldman (written by)

Release Date:

5 March 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

In a world on the brink of war. You either march to one tune or dance to another.

Plot:

The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US...

Plot Keywords:

Swing | Nazi | Germany | Swing Dancing | Political

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Sean Leonard	...	Peter Müller
Christian Bale	...	Thomas Berger
Frank Whaley	...	Arvid
Barbara Hershey	...	Frau Müller
Tushka Bergen	...	Evey
David Tom	...	Willi Müller
Julia Stemberger	...	Frau Linge
Jayce Bartok	...	Otto
Noah Wyle	...	Emil Lutz
Johan Leysen	...	Herr Schumler
Douglas Roberts	...	Herr Hinz
Martin Clunes	...	Bannführer
Jessica Hynes	...	Helga (as Jessica Stevenson)
Carl Brincat	...	H.J. Thug
Mary Fogarty	...	Mama Klara Müller (as Mary Fogerty)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

On location in Prague in near freezing weather, Christian Bale was visited by 'Spielberg, Steven' (director of his feature film debut Empire of the Sun (1987)).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene in which Knopp is having dinner with Peter's family, Knopp lists Greek chocolate as a delicacy. When Peter is stating the Hitler Jugend code and is telling Knopp about foreign objects in the body, he mentions Swiss chocolate instead of Greek.

Quotes:

Thomas Berger: Look who we have here, Peter's priss. Have you talked to her yet?
Peter Müller: Who says I'm interested?
Thomas Berger: Your tongue was on the floor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Swing But Were Afraid to Ask (1999)

Soundtrack:

FLAT FOOT FLOOGEE

Good moments, could have been better

I really don't understand a lot of these reviewers. The movie far from trivializes anything about the Nazis, it simply tries to portray a moment before the bloodiest war in history on a smallish scale.

Would it be better to just have a movie that says "Nazis are bad and they killed six million Jews."? No, because that wouldn't be a movie.

It's like when people complained that a mini-series about Hitler's life that was supposed to be shown on TV would "humanize Hitler". Well, news flash, he WAS a human. That's the worst part, a human could do that sort of thing. What good is it to call evil-doers monsters and then leave it at that? When "Swing Kids" succeeds is when it's portraying the conflicts of youth as their country goes mad. Can anyone honestly say they feel NO sympathy for those who were forced to join the Hitler youth? It's easy to say you would have done different.

And the idea that the music being key somehow trivializes the events of WWII, um, it's based on an ACTUAL subculture, swing kids. There were lots of them and at first they were fairly lacking in politics, but later in the 40s when they were cracked down on more so by the Nazis some were more active.

It's not like the movie makers pulled the concept of kids, Nazis and swing out of their asses, which is what people seem to think.

And at least it was something, at least it wasn't giving in totally. Remember these were young kids, high-school age, nobody can expect them all to be Sophie Scholl.

Where "Swing Kids" lacks is its occasional excessive heavy-handedness. The ending is a bit excessive, something more subtle would have been better.

But as I say, the conflicts between the three main leads are fantastic and bring up questions of what you would do in such circumstances. I think the boys's indifference in respect to the Jew being beat up in the beginning of the movie is a good touch. This is NOT about the holocaust, because it was just starting and was largely unknown at the time. I hate when people can't lose what they know to watch a movie.

I recommend everyone to read some swing kids history, just look them up, it makes the movie much better and more interesting to know the facts.

This is a fairly good movie with very good acting, great great music and costumes, a great story that was influenced by deeply interesting history, and too much heavy handedness.

But seriously, who can resist a movie put out by Disney that includes the line of dialog "You're turning into a f*cking Nazi!"?