"The Swimmer" is a film with a decent overall score and very positive reviews. Nonetheless, it's NOT a film for all tastes and it's certainly among the stranger films of 1968!
THe story is without context. It simply begins with Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) arriving unannounced at a friend's home across town. They haven't seen each other in some time and you have no idea where Ned's been nor what's occurred. All you know is that he has a weird obsession....to go from home to home in the rich suburbs swimming across their pools until he eventually reaches his home. Why? You have no idea. And, through the course of the story, you learn a bit more about Ned...and how he's fallen from grace. But what did he go through?! What about his life? Amazingly enough, the viewers seem to know as much as Ned, as Ned is living only in the now and seems to have little recollection of the last 1-2 years of his life.
Well, this certainly was a daring role for Lancaster. Not only does it have a plot that is far from a crowd pleaser, but he has to briefly disrobe. He also acts the entire film with nothing on other than a bathing suit.
So is it any good? Well, the idea is interesting and the ending is pretty good....but it really seems like it would have worked better as a short film, as 95 minutes of all this seemed drawn out and overdone. A genuinely odd film.
THe story is without context. It simply begins with Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) arriving unannounced at a friend's home across town. They haven't seen each other in some time and you have no idea where Ned's been nor what's occurred. All you know is that he has a weird obsession....to go from home to home in the rich suburbs swimming across their pools until he eventually reaches his home. Why? You have no idea. And, through the course of the story, you learn a bit more about Ned...and how he's fallen from grace. But what did he go through?! What about his life? Amazingly enough, the viewers seem to know as much as Ned, as Ned is living only in the now and seems to have little recollection of the last 1-2 years of his life.
Well, this certainly was a daring role for Lancaster. Not only does it have a plot that is far from a crowd pleaser, but he has to briefly disrobe. He also acts the entire film with nothing on other than a bathing suit.
So is it any good? Well, the idea is interesting and the ending is pretty good....but it really seems like it would have worked better as a short film, as 95 minutes of all this seemed drawn out and overdone. A genuinely odd film.