Swing

Plot Summary

SWING is the dance and music-filled story of Anthony Verdi (Innis Casey), a young man caught between his dream of being a full-time musician and the conventional life of his security-minded father (Tom Skerritt) and long-time fiancé (Dahlia Waingort). But Anthony has the encouragement of several important people around him. There is Bill Verdi, his loving great uncle (Jonathan Winters), who is determined that Anthony will not meet with the same fate as his musician brother, Anthony’s grandfather, whom Anthony never knew. Anthony’s outrageous bass-playing roommate (Mindy Cohn) knows first-hand the joys and satisfactions of a musician’s life. The head of his uncle’s nursing home (Nell Carter, in her final performance) recognizes Anthony’s talent and leads him to an important break. First and foremost there is Christine, the beautiful older woman (Jacqueline Bisset) he meets in an out-of-this-world forties night club he chances upon, who teaches him to swing dance. From her he also comes to see how swing is a metaphor for life and that, only if he follows his heart and starts being who he truly is, can real happiness be his. Along this journey of self-discovery, Anthony confronts his father’s expectations and come to the realization that he and his fiancé no longer share a common future. Meanwhile, a young woman named Tina (introducing Constance Brenneman) keeps showing up in Anthony’s life both on and off the dance floor, a sure sign that Anthony is heading in the right direction.