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American Swing
Directed by
Jon Hart
and
Mathew Kaufman
2009
81m
Not Rated
Documentary
6.2
55%
48%
Watch
Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.
More
Cast of American Swing
Buck Henry
Self
Melvin Van Peebles
Self
Ed Koch
Self
Jamie Gillis
Self
Ron Jeremy
Self
Al Goldstein
Self
American Swing Reviews
New York Times
Stephen Holden
Although American Swing pointedly goes out of its way to include positive testimonials from several women who patronized the club, it leaves you feeling queasy.
Los Angeles Times
Robert Abele
The film treats Levenson's rapid descent as if someone had turned on the lights at a sex party: scurrying away with pity and irritation that the good times had to end.
AV Club
Scott Tobias
American Swing could use the flair of similar portraits of disco-era debauchery like Boogie Nights or Inside Deep Throat, but it's even-handed in capturing the operation's ambition and hubris. Just don't bring an appetite.
PopMatters
Cynthia Fuchs
Certainly, the sex was exciting, as well as controversial. But Plato's Retreat also represented an effort to think through the mores behind monogamy, to challenge assumptions and imagine an alternative.
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A shrewdly made documentary about the rise and fall of Plato's Retreat, the infamous Manhattan sex club of the '70s and '80s.
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Directors Jon Hart and Matthew Kaufman don't delve deeply enough into the psyche of club founder Larry Levenson or the culture he exploited. But they do present an entertaining snapshot of his brief reign as New York's self-appointed King of Swing.
From the Front Row
Mattie Lucas
There are lots of interesting tidbits here, but I can't help but feel that the real meat of the story has yet to be explored.
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
American Swing doesn't have a particularly well-defined point of view, but it is a succinct, entertaining and valuable record of a time that in some ways now seems as remote as the Roaring '20s.
Spirituality & Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
A poorly-done documentary that manages to make the phenomenon of swinging boring.
TheDivaReview.com
Diva Velez
American Swing is an entertaining, oddly affectionate portrait of Plato's Retreat's Larry Levenson, and a brash, grainy, warts%u2013and-all Polaroid of an era of sexual history.
NYC Movie Guru
Avi Offer
A lively and moderately engaging documentary, but its lack of thorough explorations leave you feeling slightly empty, underwhelmed and yearning for more insights.
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
An essential document to the rich history of New York, "American Swing" is too short sighted for the vision of its controversial subject.
Shared Darkness
Brent Simon
There's glossy surface engagement as an artifact snapshot of the sexual revolution, but everything about American Swing is only thumbnail-deep; it doesn't have, ahem, the rigorous thrust necessary to leave a lasting impression.
Slant Magazine
Eric Henderson
And what of New York's disco-era gays? They're written out of the story here just as decisively as they were written out of Levenson's version of utopia.
Village Voice
Melissa Anderson
Though sweetly reminding us that some outer-borough suburbanites did find liberation at Plato's, the film tries -- and fails -- to swing both ways, nostalgically glorifying its subject only to smugly revel in Levenson's ignominious demise.
Movie Dearest
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Interesting and concise documentary about the positive and destructive effects of casual sex.
Critic's Notebook
Robert Levin
The filmmakers never adequately confront the complex nature of the iconic locale.
Film Journal International
Frank Lovece
Repetitive, narratively fractured, and padded with more hardcore inserts than hardcore facts, this amateurish documentary about the disco-era Manhattan sex club Plato's Retreat skimps on context and basic information. It's a fan site on celluloid.
Boxoffice Magazine
Steve Ramos
The tantalizing combination of (TM)70s New York nostalgia and public orgies at the infamous sex club Plato's Retreat fails to meet its storytelling potential.
NewsBlaze
Kam Williams
A scary reminder of the potentially-disastrous physical and emotional consequences of indiscriminate mating.
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