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AMERICAN SWING

By Mathew KAUFMAN, Jon HART

MAGNIFY - as SALES

Documentary - Completed 2008

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat

- Year of production
- 2008
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 81 mn
- Director(s)
- Mathew KAUFMAN, Jon HART
- Cast
- Melvin VAN PEEBLES, Helen GURLEY BROWN, Buck HENRY
- ISAN
- 0000-0002-7348-0000-Y-0000-0000-9
- EIDR
- 10.5240/D68A-90A6-56CA-A90E-B909-C
- Producer(s)
- Mathew KAUFMAN, Jon HART, Jason KLIOT (HDNet Films), Joana VICENTE (HDNet Films)
- Synopsis
- The year was 1977 and New York City burned. As the metropolis hurtled into bankruptcy, the city's nightlife hit unprecedented heights. In midtown, the ultra-exclusive Studio 54 was a cocaine-fueled celebrity clubhouse. Downtown, at the spartan CBGB’s, punk rockers set out to destroy everything Pop. Meanwhile, in the basement of the prestigious Ansonia building on the conservative Upper West Side, Plato's Retreat opened its doors to ordinary couples who came to dance, to swim, and… to swing.
  It was the start of a revolution. The brainchild of former wholesale meat purveyor Larry Levenson, Plato’s Retreat quickly became the epicenter of public sex for the “me” generation. Previously, swinging was mostly an underground activity, indulged by the attractive and the well-to-do. But Plato's welcomed anyone and everyone. For a mere $35, couples checked their judgments and pedigrees at the door of this clothing-optional Disneyland. Debutantes got down with bus drivers, as movie stars gave secretaries the “starlet treatment.” For Levenson and others, Plato's was a utopia. For some, it is a time capsule that they are eager to forget.
  Utilizing exclusive interviews with former patrons, employees and family members, intercut with riveting, never-before-seen archival materials, “American Swing" brings this little-known epic of sex and excess to the big screen for the first time.
- Beginning of shooting
- Jan 01, 2006