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Best Movie Ever: Swingers

The low budget indie film that changed nightlife in the 1990s comes to Blu-ray.


If you were a young, single man in the mid-1990s and went out for a night on the town with your male friends, it was a guarantee that someone shouted "Vegas!"

You might have been going to a bowling alley in Edison, New Jersey, but no, in that context - out with your buddies, hoping to meet some "beautiful babies," telling one another you were "money" - you were indeed going to Vegas. We were all going to Vegas.

The independently produced film that gave us Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham, Ron Livingston and director Doug Liman tapped into a zeitgeist of careless youth when the world's biggest problem was a stain on a blue Gap dress. It was a curious time without war, an unstoppable economy and a blip in the pop culture that embraced a hepcat era of cigars and big band music (the vibe of Swingers paved the way for films like Ocean's Eleven, to be sure).

Now you can enjoy this 16mm classic as it makes its way to a high-res transfer on Blu-ray. Here's a guide to remind you why it is the best movie ever.

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Swingers
Credit: Miramax Films

NHLPA '93 on SNES

Before a night of cruising Los Angeles to trade notes on their stuck-in-neutral acting careers, the boys play a little NHLPA '93 on the SNES.

Swingers was one of the first motion pictures to show grown people playing video games in a socially acceptable context. They weren't about to get beamed off to become Starfighters, they were just kickin' back and doing what so many other people do - talking smack and having a good time. It seems like nothing now, but this was almost revelatory way back when. 

 

Swingers
Credit: Miramax Films

Dinner For Five Prequel

Also, still somewhat new was the slightly-inside baseball conversation about careers of film directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. Keep in mind that the mid-1990s was the Golden Age of American Independent Cinema, just before high-def video and YouTube blew the lid off of everything. Only freaks who knew how to use Usenet had an outlet to ramble about what is such commonplace conversation on film sites.

Today, a simple Google search will tell you everything you need to know about the Copacabana Long Take.

Swingers
Credit: Miramax Films

You Should Be An Actress!

When should you tear up a girl's phone number? When she compares herself favorably to Tina Yothers of Famiy Ties.

Swingers
Credit: Miramax Films

Fuelish Youth

A night out on the town in Los Angeles makes a conservationist cry.

Also: that funky 70s tune with no words that accompanies the "night out" montage that you've heard 450,000 times, but never knew the name?

It's called "Pick Up The Pieces" by the Average White Band.

You're welcome.

Swingers
Credit: Miramax Films

Six Days

Swingers came out at just around the time the nation was gripped by an asinine fever sparked by the dating tip book The Rules.

Proving that guys could play at this nonsense, too, the fellas break down what the right amount of days to wait after you get a phone number before you can then make contact is. Furthermore, it is revealed whether the first night of contact counts as "a day" or if the count should begin "after the day."

The advent of texting will change this up when the Swingers reboot is made.

See More: Best Movie Ever | Swingers | Doug Liman | Jon Favreau | Vince Vaughn