I was told that this classic film was worth watching, it sounded like it has an odd plot to me, but it is well rated by critics as well, so I was up for chancing it, directed by Frank Perry (Mommie Dearest), and Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, Out of Africa) (uncredited). Basically, on a sunny day in an upper-class neighbourhood of suburban Connecticut, a fit and tanned middle-aged man in a bathing suit, Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster), drops in on his old friends, the Westerhazys. Ned jumps into their swimming pool with much energy and vitality, and he realises there is a series of backyard swimming pools forming a "river" back to his house, so he decides to "swim his way home". Ned dives into the pool, emerging at the other end and beginning his journey, his behaviour perplexes his friends, who know of bad things in his recent past that he seems to have forgotten. As Ned travels, he encounters other neighbours and friends. He meets twenty-year-old Julie Hooper (Janet Landgard), who used to babysit his daughters, whom he repeatedly refers to as "at home playing tennis". He reveals his plan to her; she joins him. They crash another pool party, drink champagne and swim another pool. While stopping to rest in the woods, Julie confesses to Ned that she had a schoolgirl crush on him, he says he will protect her and makes plans for the two of them. Julie is made to feel awkward with his intimate approaches, she runs away. Ned next visits the home of a wealthy eccentric couple who are bathing in the nude, he follows suit and strips to swim their pool. He then encounters lonely little boy Kevin Gilmartin (Michael Kearney), who he tries to teach how to swim. They find the next pool is abandoned, and empty, Ned initially thinks his journey is ruined, but then he urges them to use their imagination as he teaches him swimming strokes. Kevin warms his method, as Ned leaves the boy bounces on the diving board, Ned stops him before he hurts himself. Ned makes only superficial connections with people as he continues his journey, he has become obsessed and increasingly out of touch with reality. The neighbourhood is full of judgmental, well-heeled people, and Ned continues to be confused by hints that his life might not be as untroubled as he believes it to be. Ned carries on with his plan. He walks into another party, the hostess who recognises him playfully calls him a "party crasher". He has an encounter with a bubbly woman named Joan (Joan Rivers), he asks her to join him, she is intrigued until she's warned off by a friend. Ned jumps into the pool, making a big splash which grabs the attention of the guests. When he emerges from the water, he notices a cart that used to be his, being used to serve hot dogs. Ned gets into an argument with the homeowner, who says he bought it at a yard or garage sale. Ned is pushed to the ground, and he leaves the party with all the guests staring at him. Ned then shows up at the backyard pool of Shirley Abbott (Janice Rule), an actress he had an affair with several years earlier. He has warm memories of their time together, but she is angry with him being "the other woman". He tries to reconnect, reconcile, or perhaps seduce her, but Shirley demands him to leave. Unaware of the pain he has really caused, Ned wades into the deep end of the pool. Ned goes on, showing up at a crowded public swimming pool. With no money he begs the staff to let him swim one length of the pool, a friend helps pay for him to enter, but he is also stopped momentarily for the state of his feet, which are dirty and have developed bloody sores. There people who know him demand he pays his bills, and make vicious comments about his wife's snobbish tastes, it becomes too much for him and he flees. Ned trudges barefoot alongside a busy highway as the sky gets dark and it begins to rain. With the rain pouring, Ned limps and staggers home, walking through the tennis court he claimed his daughters were playing in. His home and the court are in fact derelict, and his house is locked and deserted, with several windows broken. Ned is a broken man and repeatedly bashes on the door before slumping to the ground is despair. Also starring Kim Hunter as Betty Graham, Charles Drake as Howard Graham, Tony Bickley as Donald Westerhazy, Marge Champion as Peggy Forsburgh, Bill Fiore as Howie Hunsacker, and Diana Van der Vlis as Helen Westerhazy. Lancaster gives a terrific performance, wearing only swimming shorts throughout, as washed-up suburban man on a journey, not only to swim all pools in the neighbourhood, but to find himself, this human study has slightly dark elements, which contrast with the lovely sunny locations, and it is full of clever metaphors about alienation and events of the time, the score by Marvin Hamlisch adds to it as well, an interesting drama. Very good!
Review of The Swimmer
