USA, 2008, 81 Mins
Directed by
In the summer of 1977, New York entrepreneur Larry Levenson decided to take "the lifestyle" out of the shadows with the opening of Plato's Retreat: a swingers club that operated very publicly in the basement of a prestigious building on the conservative Upper West Side, a place where ordinary couples came to dance, to swim, and to swap. It was the start of a revolution. This highly entertaining and sexually frank time-capsule of a movie chronicles the rise and fall of the legendary club by combining interviews with former patrons, employees, and family members with some remarkable archival materials. New York personalities like Al Goldstein, Helen Gurley Brown, Prof. Irwin Corey, Buck Henry, Ed Koch, Melvin Van Peebles, and Annie Sprinkle add to the commentary, and a surprising amount of footage and photos from inside the club shed a bright light on this clothing-optional Disneyland. For Levenson and others, Plato's was a utopia; but jealousy, drugs, the specter of AIDS, greed, the mob, and marital revenge all took their toll. AMERICAN SWING'S compelling portrait of sex and excess recounts a long-gone era that is hard to imagine today.
Directed by
MATHEW KAUFMAN & JON HART
Southeast Premiere
** No one under 18 will be admitted to this film.
Southeast Premiere
** No one under 18 will be admitted to this film.
In the summer of 1977, New York entrepreneur Larry Levenson decided to take "the lifestyle" out of the shadows with the opening of Plato's Retreat: a swingers club that operated very publicly in the basement of a prestigious building on the conservative Upper West Side, a place where ordinary couples came to dance, to swim, and to swap. It was the start of a revolution. This highly entertaining and sexually frank time-capsule of a movie chronicles the rise and fall of the legendary club by combining interviews with former patrons, employees, and family members with some remarkable archival materials. New York personalities like Al Goldstein, Helen Gurley Brown, Prof. Irwin Corey, Buck Henry, Ed Koch, Melvin Van Peebles, and Annie Sprinkle add to the commentary, and a surprising amount of footage and photos from inside the club shed a bright light on this clothing-optional Disneyland. For Levenson and others, Plato's was a utopia; but jealousy, drugs, the specter of AIDS, greed, the mob, and marital revenge all took their toll. AMERICAN SWING'S compelling portrait of sex and excess recounts a long-gone era that is hard to imagine today. 
