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Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, Frank Whaley, Barbara Hershey, Kenneth Branagh ... see more see more... , Tushka Bergen , David Tom , Julia Stemberger , Jayce Bartok , Noah Wyle , Karel Belohradsky , Jeremy Bulloch , Martin Clunes , Mary Fogarty , Richard Hanson , Petr Jakl , Petr Lepsa , Johan Leysen , Ciaran Madden , Sean Pertwee , David Robb , Douglas Roberts , Jochen Horst , Kate Buffery , Nada Konvalinková , Deborah Aquila , Eliza Clark , Jiri Malek , Joseph Bennett , Arthur White

In 1939 Hamburg, Germany, a group of teenagers express their rebellion against Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime through their affection for American swing music, British fashion, and Harlem slang. American... read more read more... and British big-band jazz records are among those banned by the Fuhrer, but the young men secretly get together with their friends to listen and dance to the music. As their escapades become increasingly bold, they each get into trouble with the authorities. Robert Sean Leonard stars as Peter, who ends up being forced -- by a prank -- into having to join the Hitler Youth with his friend Thomas (Christian Bale). They are both engineering students at the university, where Thomas' father was taken away for defending his Jewish colleagues. With Arvid (Frank Whaley), they pretend to be Nazi supporters by day while rebelling with the swing music by night. Kenneth Branagh, in an uncredited appearance, is a glib Nazi Gestapo chief who makes matters more difficult. Each of the boys must choose among family, safety, friendship, and freedom as politics impinges on their youthful exuberance, and the Nazis set them against one another. The movie was shot in Prague, directed by Thomas Carter from a script by Jonathan Marc Feldman, and released by Disney. Barbara Hershey appears as Peter's mother. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

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78% liked it

27,165 ratings

Critics

38% liked it

13 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 54 min.

Directed by: Thomas Carter, Thomas Carter (II)

Release Date: March 5, 1993

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DVD Release Date: September 3, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (1,309)

  • FrizzDrop
    October 14, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    Just listen to the premise and you can clearly deduce your enjoyment of this film: teenagers in Nazi occupied Germany rebel through their obsession with swing music. On the one hand, it does have historical implications , uses accurate information to draw a clear picture of how f... read moreearful the populace was of their government, and the assimilation of the peoples into a regime. On the other hand, most of the film strays from swing music altogether and instead delves into the role the Nazis took in indoctrinating their youth to believe in the Reich over decency. We're presented with three main characters: Peter, Thomas, and Arvid. All enjoy swing music, though Arvid is a cripple who plays the guitar with the band, and the others dance with gusto in a local club. None of them feel direct sympathy for the Jews, but do feel hatred for the Hitler Youth, who constantly beat up swing kids and hold raids on clubs. Peter, our main character, is pushed into joining the Youth through coercion, and Thomas does also for solidarity. The film veers into the true nature of the party, brining Peter's inner struggle to the service. This section of the film drags quite a bit, focusing more on fear and strong persuasion to discount freedom. The performances by Leonard, Bale, and Whaley were each singularly unique, and complimented each other. Still, their characters were too casually perfect for the formula needed: one is deadset against, one is conflicted, and one readily follows. It's too neat for me. Besides all that, the characters speak in Harlem slang, use the phrase "Swing Heil", and speak of swing music as an obsession, nothing else surely making any of them happy like it. This wouldn't have been so strange if all the characters weren't speaking English, when it's set in Germany, and the main evil doer played by Kenneth Branaugh didn't have a British accent. It was too much fluff in a film that should have been more about teenage rebellion, and less about taking society down with dancing, because that's all the movie is: dancing. Too strange for my blood.
  • ebs90
    June 7, 2009
    ebs90
    Typical film you catch on a Thursday morning on Hallmark or something. Troublemaking kids love jazz and swing in Nazi Germany... then they're forced to become Nazi Youth Militants or something and tragedy ensues. Christian Bale is definitely a promising actor here -OK I am biased... read more since he's one of my favorite actors, but his performance is one of the truly entertaining things about the film. Robert Sean Leonard does a decent job, if only it did not resemble his character in Dead Poet's Society. A different, less typecast of a lead would've done the film some good.

    Amusing, good music and choreography, that's all!
  • puffchunk
    November 19, 2007
    puffchunk
    A guy cuts his wrists with a record. The best parts are christian bale turning oh so nazi, and the dancing and music is great. The acting needs some help, as does the dialog. In fact, we could do without robert sean leonard all together.
  • hypathio7
    September 30, 2008
    hypathio7
    A great movie! Excellent performances. Explores the question, Why do people become so filled with hate. A man like Hitler capitalized on the German people's need to feel superior, but he was supported and financed by the upper class who had reached such an excessive level of e... read morextravagance. Many people wanted to eliminate outside influence because they thought purely German culture was the only culture worth furthering. There was a dangerous nationalism that said everything had to be for the 'fatherland'. And this movement gained muscle from the youth. Young men who felt inadequate, who felt they were never good enough to earn the love of their fathers started finding purpose in the Nazi propaganda. Young men whose fathers had been snatched away for questionable ideas and acquaintances, who questioned if their fathers loved them less because they let themselves be taken away found a replacement father in the 'fatherland'. Young men who thought they were superior to cripples and Jews and people of other cultures who seemed strange to them discovered power in the praise and things they were given. Who knows what other reasons led to so many people being filled with hate or complacency at this moment in history. Robert Sean Leonard's inner turmoil is vividly portrayed as he comes to fully realize the extent of the Nazi's evil acts and discovers that his father loved him more rather than less by speaking out against the terrible things he saw developing years earlier. Frank Whaley as the consummate artist who is not fit for the Hitler Young and therefore doomed to become a target for their crushing force is touching as well. And Christian Bale as the spoiled rich kid who is always insulting and boisterous yet craving positive feedback is tragic as the one who too easily absorbs the hateful messages and can't see clearly until it is too late. The Swing Heil ending is a little corny, but the music and dancing throughout the movie is great to watch and listen to. Swing music takes on such a symbolic deeper meaning for appreciation of diversity and an outlet for a strong passion and love.
  • michaelcorleone
    August 19, 2006
    michaelcorleone
    Fascinating premise, but sloppy execution. The music and the dancing is great, but the cliche-swamped screenplay provides us with no character motivation or story structure. Disappointing.
  • HenrikSchunk
    August 24, 2009
    HenrikSchunk
    Pretty unsinpired movie portraying the fate of a bunch of "Swing Kids" in Nazi Germany. The movie feels as if the producers were intrigued by the idea of making a movie about the swing kids but refused to put any more effort into the creative development of the movie, blandly str... read moreetching its appeal out over the whole feature and thus making it feel shallow and unsatisfying in the end. The cast is somewhat likeable, Robert Sean Leonard deserved a better fate as actor instead of being stuck on House MD, people had high hopes for after he stole the show on Dead Poets society but nothing ever came of it. Christian Bale, what can I say, he shows one more why he is one of the greatest actors of our time and his talent is sparkling off the screen. The rest of the cast (including a subtle Kenneth Branagh) is average. I must say, I always get confused with movie set in non-American countries being so throughroughly American, some actors speak with German accent, others don't, some things are written in German, others aren't, a lacklustre production. As I said before, the story is build around the idea of the Swing Kids, but is nothing out of the ordinary, same old boring stuff you have seen in all the other movies. Bad guys, good guys, bla bla bla. The swing dancing is nice to look at but the swing segements, as well as the general portrayal of the swing scene lack focus and love for detail and you will usually find yourself switching off during the segemtns, all in all, the actor's passion for the swing is very unbelievable.

    I'd say good effort, but it wasn't. I'd say nice that someone looks at a rather undocumented phenomenon of German history, but that is both not the case and has not been the intention by the producers, who were simply looking to exploit it and turn it into some jazzy (literally) movie event, bah.

    Way below par, two stars for Christian Bale, set design and costumes but that - is - it.

    Stay away from it

    Henrik
  • ileo
    December 26, 2007
    ileo
    A favorite! Love the music featured in the film!
  • youngnastyman88
    November 14, 2011
    youngnastyman88
    It's funny how it was easily it was to picture a young Chirstan Bale and Noah Wyle as Nazi youths. What I really found interesting is how the film starts out and evolves. At first hand the main 4 lads secretly rebel by buying contraband music and going to underground clubs to dan... read morece. And to them that's what the big problem is during Nazi Germany. They aren't allowed to do what they enjoy. But the deeper the story gets the more the boys are opened up to the true struggles and their reasons to stand up change as their eyes grow beyond their own petty concerns. And it shows how easily the Nazi regime could grasp someone and instal their ideas into them. So here we have four chief characters that pretty much represent probably the most basic attitudes of German citizens during the war: Brainwashed, aware, torn in between, and indifferent. The characters are well acted, and the balance and chemisty between them work. Sadly, the film itself is uneven. Almost too much time is spent on the swing music itself. So much that it takes away and waters down the message of the film. The music should have only served as a background (as fun and great musical selections you get), and endless scenes of dancing almost threaten to take away from the impact of the theme. All in all. Worth you time to track it down.
  • placeinthesun455
    October 22, 2011
    placeinthesun455
    a lot of movies like this came out in the late 80s and early 90s, and unfortunately this one doesn't do much to distinguish itself. shift a few plot points and change a few lines of dialogue, this story could just as easily be taking place in New York or London. as it is, there ... read morejust happen to be Nazis around and they don't care much for swing music. I rather like the character study, I just wish the national and social environment was better incorporated into it. the dance scenes are excellent, and for the most part the acting is pretty good. otherwise it's a pretty predictable drama. certainly passable and enjoyable, but it's just ok.
  • allagu
    June 20, 2011
    allagu
    The music was great; several characters are interesting; however it is a very cliche movie. A somewhat predictable movie but I enjoyed it.

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Critic Reviews

Scott Weinberg
April 3, 2005
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Worth it for the musical sequences, but not much more than that.

Kevin A. Ranson
April 6, 2003
Kevin A. Ranson, MovieCrypt.com

Why, God?

Ken Hanke
August 7, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Largely overlooked, but very effective

Chris Hicks
January 1, 2000
Chris Hicks, Deseret News, Salt Lake City

A tepid, pretentious melodrama that happens to contain a few rousing dance-hall sequences. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
September 7, 2011
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

Leonard Klady
October 18, 2008
Leonard Klady, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Click to read the article Full Review

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Swing Kids Trivia

  • What 1993 movie stars Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, and Frank Whalley? The movie also features ER's Noah Wylie.  Answer »
  • in what movie did German kids swing the whole night through?   Answer »
  • Christian Bale, star of Newsies, Swing Kids and Batman is a trained ballet dancer?  Answer »
  • name the 1993 movie based on the audio clip  Answer »
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