Swingers (1996 film)

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For the sexual lifestyle, see swinging.

Swingers
Swingers Widescreen DVD
Directed by	Doug Liman
Produced by	Victor Simpkins
Written by	Jon Favreau
Starring	Jon Favreau Vince Vaughn Ron Livingston Alex Désert Patrick Van Horn Heather Graham Deena Martin
Music by	Don George Johnny Hodges Harry James
Distributed by	Miramax
Release date(s)	October 18, 1996
Running time	94 min
Language	English
Budget	$250,000
IMDb profile

Swingers is a film released in 1996 about the lives of single, unemployed actors living in Los Angeles, California. Written by Jon Favreau and directed by Doug Liman, the movie starred Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, and Heather Graham.

The characters in the film clearly idolize the swinging lifestyle of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack; in fact the number and makeup of the group of friends are a homage to the original group.

This film was rated #57 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies."

1 Cast
2 Notes
3 Trivia
4 Soundtrack
5 External links

[edit] Cast

Jon Favreau .... Mike Peters
Vince Vaughn .... Trent Walker
Ron Livingston .... Rob
Patrick Van Horn .... Sue
Alex Désert .... Charles (as Alex Desert)
Heather Graham .... Lorraine
Deena Martin .... Christy
Katherine Kendall .... Lisa
Brooke Langton .... Nikki
Blake Lindsley .... Girl with Cigar
Kevin James Kelly .... Vegas Dealer
Stephanie Ittelson .... Vegas Waitress
Vernon Vaughn .... $100 Gambler
Joan Favreau .... $5 Winner
Rio Hackford .... Skully

[edit] Notes

In order to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.

A still from Swingers

Swingers was filmed on location at several Los Angeles nightclubs, particularly in the Los Feliz neighborhood, (including the Dresden Lounge and the Brown Derby). The film increased interest in 1960s culture, Hollywood nightlife, and swing music. The Vegas scenes were filmed primarily in two locations, with the exterior casino shots taking place at the Stardust Resort & Casino and all the subsequent interior shots being filmed at the Fremont Hotel and Casino, farther north in downtown Vegas.

At the end of the movie, Favreau and Graham swing dance to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at the Derby. In more than one shot of this scene, the band is not playing the same part of the song as the soundtrack (most noticeably a part where the bassist is playing on film but not in the soundtrack), which is clearly a result of a mix-n-match approach to filming and editing the dance scenes.

This film was a breakthrough for Vince Vaughn, who gained public exposure and critical acclaim for his portrayal of Trent in the film. His performance also caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who later offered him a role in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, when a copy of the film was sent to the director so they could clear the rights for the Jaws music during the party scene when Trent tears up Diedre's number.

Many of the words and phrases used in the movie became part of common vernacular, long after the swing revival subsided. Terms such as 'babies,' 'you're so money,' and others are still often heard between friends in casual conversation to refer to attractive women and having your act together, respectively.

Favreau and Vaughn would collaborate again in 2001 for the film Made and in 2006 for the film The Break-Up.

Swinger's prints and advertising budget: $700,000
Swinger's total U.S. Gross: $4,505,922
Worldwide Gross: $6,542,637

[edit] Trivia

Vince Vaughn's father, Vernon Vaughn, plays the lucky gambler at the $100 minimum blackjack table.

Jon Favreau's grandmother, Joan Favreau, is the lucky gambler at the $5 minimum blackjack table.

Trent's license plate reads "THX1138," a reference to George Lucas's THX 1138, but also a reference to a car in American Grafitti which has the same plate.

Swingers references (and emulates) a number of famous shots from popular movies, such as the slow-motion credit sequence and roundtable shot from Reservoir Dogs and the long continuous following shot of entering a club through a side entrance from Goodfellas, although the editor who assembled the Dogs homage shot had never seen the film.

According to the DVD commentary track with Favreau and Vaughn, the scene where Sue yells at Mike and then Trent gets extremely mad at Sue (telling him to "Shut the fuck up. I don't even wanna talk to you."), was written in specifically because Vaughn requested it. Vaughn wanted to be very clear that, deep down, despite Trent's swagger and attitude, he truly cared about Mike as a friend.

[edit] Soundtrack

Swingers Original Soundtrack

Swingers Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	October 15, 1996
Length	43:20
Label	Hollywood Records