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American Swing A shrewdly made documentary about the rise and fall of Plato's Retreat, the infamous Manhattan sex club of the '70s and '80s. A lot of… Unrated PT80M Documentary Magnolia Pictures
Movie Review

American Swing

MPAA Rating: Unrated
Reviewed by | Mar 25, 2009

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American Swing | SWING Town: Things get cheeky at Plato's Retreat
SWING Town: Things get cheeky at Plato's Retreat
EW's GRADE
A-

Details Rated: Unrated; Length: 80 Minutes; Genre: Documentary; Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

A shrewdly made documentary about the rise and fall of Plato's Retreat, the infamous Manhattan sex club of the '70s and '80s. 
 A lot of the patrons were suburban schlubs, and the movie does justice to their odd... normality. The least classy person there 
was owner Larry Levenson, a nudnick who 
made the nightly bacchanals feel as friendly — 
and about as sexy — as a bar mitzvah. American Swing drolly evokes this Romper Room of middle-class exhibitionism, with its petri dish of a swimming pool and its icky lasagna-
and-chicken buffet. Plato's Retreat was a buffet of bodies, and the film catches the moment America could think that was tasty. A–

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Originally posted Mar 25, 2009 Published in issue #1041 Apr 03, 2009 Order article reprints