Themes: Private Eyes, Cons and Scams, Criminal's Revenge
Main Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Paul Newman returns as private detective Lew Harper is this tale of blackmail and murder based on a novel by Ross MacDonald. Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward), the wife of a wealthy oilman from Louisiana, hires Harper after she receives a threatening letter. A blackmailer is threatening to tell Iris' husband James (Richard Derr) about a recent extramarital affair; she claims this indiscretion never happened, though she has been unfaithful in the past, and years ago had a brief fling with Harper. Matters become more complicated when Iris' mother-in-law Olivia (Coral Browne) is found murdered. Eventually, Harper traces the blackmail letter to Kilborne (Murray Hamilton), another bayou oil baron, and along the way encounters Schuyler (Melanie Griffith), Iris' young but ripe daughter; Pat Reavis (Andy Robinson), Olivia's former chauffeur and a key suspect in her murder; and Detective Broussard (Tony Franciosa), a police investigator who, like Harper, was once involved with Iris. This was Coral Browne's first film after her marriage to actor Vincent Price in 1974. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Almost a decade after originating the character in Jack Smight's slight but amusing Harper, Paul Newman once again assumes the persistent smirk of private eye Lew Harper. Here, screenwriter Walter Hill transplants the character from sunny L.A. to the overheated bayou for an altogether moodier case. The now-fiftyish Newman clearly relishes being reunited with Cool Hand Luke director Stuart Rosenberg and acting alongside wife Joanne Woodward. His character's charms are wearier and warier this time around, which fits The Drowning Pool's often uncomfortable subtext. Melanie Griffith, playing jailbait again the same year Night Moves was released, makes an appropriately trashy femme fatale. She's joined by a distinguished supporting cast that consistently enlivens backwoods cliches with smart character details. The film's most memorable scene - the extended set-piece that inspired its title - remains a marvel of humane action after decades of computer-generated trickery. Newman and Woodward embody everything vulnerable, sexy and thrilling in this well-executed noir. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Edwin O'Donovan - Art Director, Donald Brooks - Costume Designer, Howard W. Koch - First Assistant Director, Stuart Rosenberg - Director, John C. Howard - Editor, Andrew Horvitch - Editor, Charles Fox - Composer (Music Score), Michael Small - Composer (Music Score), Paul Sylbert - Production Designer, Gordon Willis - Cinematographer, Howard W. Koch - Producer, Lawrence Turman - Producer, David Foster - Producer, Phillip Abramson - Set Designer, Les Fresholtz - Sound/Sound Designer, Larry Jost - Sound/Sound Designer, Arthur Piantadosi - Sound/Sound Designer, Dick Tyler - Sound/Sound Designer, Walter Hill - Screenwriter, Lorenzo Semple, Jr. - Screenwriter, Tracy Keenan Wynn - Screenwriter, Ross MacDonald - Book Author
Private detectiveLew Harper (Paul Newman) investigates a blackmail plot in Louisianabayou country involving the nymphomaniac daughter (Melanie Griffith) of an old flame of his, Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward). He is caught up in a power struggle between Iris and oil tycoon Kilbourne (Murray Hamilton). At one point, the complicated plot has Harper and Kilbourne's wife Mavis (Gail Strickland) locked in a hydrotherapy room, with the water rising to the ceiling, hence the film's title.
