Themes: Haunted By the Past, Suburban Dysfunction, Midlife Crises
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule, Diana Van Der Vlis, Tony Bickley, Kim Hunter
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
John Cheever's "misery in suburbia" short stories, brief and to the point, have always proven excellent TV fodder. Director Frank Perry's The Swimmer, adapted for the screen by Perry's wife Eleanor, is a rare, and for the most part successful, attempt at offering a Cheever story in feature-length form. Dressed only in swimming trunks throughout the film, Burt Lancaster plays a wealthy, middle-aged advertising man, embarked on a long and revelatory journey through suburban Connecticut. Lancaster slowly makes his way to his split-level home by travelling from house to house, and from swimming pool to swimming pool. At each stop, Lancaster comes face to face with an incident in his past. Informing Kim Hunter that he once harbored a secret love for her, Lancaster is mildly upset by Hunter's indifference. Elderly Cornelia Otis Skinner is incensed at Lancaster's intrusion in her backyard and orders him to leave. At the next home, Lancaster tries to seduce the nubile Janet Landgard, who'd once baby-sat for his daughters, but she runs away in horror. And so it goes: as each subsequent suburbanite peels off his self-protective veneer, Lancaster grows more and more disillusioned with what he thought was his ideal lifestyle. The more intensely painful episode is the confrontation between Lancaster and ex-mistress Janice Rule (this scene was directed, without credit, by Sydney Pollack). Thoroughly defeated, the all-but-naked Lancaster laboriously makes his way through the Connecticut woods in a blinding rainstorm, desperately seeking out his own home where he fully expects his "loving" wife and daughters to greet him. Not this time. Dismissed as too self-consciously "arty" at the time of its release, The Swimmer's reputation increased over the decades following its release thanks to constant late-night TV exposure. The film represents the first movie work of 22-year-old composer Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Burt Lancaster's imposing screen presence and lanky confidence were put to good use in this 1968 adaptation of John Cheever's allegorical short story. Lancaster plays Ned Merrill, a middle-aged man who decides one morning to swim every pool in his upper-class Connecticut neighborhood; with each new venue and its corresponding set of neighbors, Ned's personal history becomes clearer, and we begin to realize that he may not be as self-assuredly "okay" as he seems. Director Frank Perry retained Cheever's methodical structure and incisive wit, and Lancaster lent the role an eerie, somnambulant feel. An uncredited Sydney Pollack directed one of the most memorable sequences, in which Ned confronts his former mistress (Janice Rule). In an apparent attempt to appeal to audiences who had made Mike Nichols's The Graduate such a hit the previous year, Perry peppered the film with quick cuts, playful camera angles, and wry social satire; much of The Swimmer plays like an extended version of the opening party sequence in Nichols' film. Perry's efforts didn't resonate with audiences, however, as the film's box-office performance was lackluster. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Marge Champion - Forsburgh; Richard McMurray - Forsburgh; Nancy Cushman - Mrs. Halloran; House Jameson - Mr. Halloran; Charles Drake - Graham; Jimmy Joyce - Finney; Louise Troy - Grace Biswanger; Dolph Sweet - Henry Biswanger; David Garfield - Ticket Seller; Bernie Hamilton - Chauffeur; Michael Kearney - Gilmartin; Diana Muldaur - Cynthia; Keri Oleson - Vernon; Joan Rivers - Joan; Lisa Daniels - Matron at the Biswangers' Pool; Rose Gregorio - Sylvia Finney; Jan Miner - Lillian Hunsacker; Cornelia Otis Skinner - Mrs. Hammar; Bill Fiore - Howie Hunsacker; Ray Mason - Biswangers' Party Guest; John Gerstad - Guest at the Biswangers' Pool
Credit
Peter Dohanos - Art Director, Anna Hill Johnstone - Costume Designer, Elizabeth Stewart - Costume Designer, Michael Hertzberg - First Assistant Director, Frank Perry - Director, Carl Lerner - Editor, Sidney Katz - Editor, Pat Somerset - Editor, Marvin Hamlisch - Composer (Music Score), John Jiras - Makeup, John Kiras - Makeup, Michael Nebbia - Cinematographer, David Quaid - Cinematographer, Frank Perry - Producer, Roger Lewis - Producer, John Cheever - Screen Story, Eleanor Perry - Screenwriter
On a sunny late summer day in Connecticut, Ned Merrill (Lancaster), an apparently successful, appealing and popular middle-aged advertising executive, emerges from the woods and walks into the backyard of a local resident and friend. Wearing only a pair of swimming trunks Ned decides to "swim" home across the county, dropping in on friends' swimming pools.
At first Ned receives a warm welcome as he encounters old friends and acquaintances from the past. These are mostly upper middle-class, affluent people with homes in the outer, upstate suburbs. They are generally welcoming, but there are comments made that suggest Ned has been absent or away for some time. Ned brushes away these inquiries.
As the day wears on and Ned encounters those who have been closer to him more recently, the welcomes turn increasingly sour. Ned's proud boasts about his wife, daughters and home are met with strong mixed feelings, jeers, suspicion and anger, especially from women.
Ned connects with a young girl in one backyard who he knew as a child, and convinces her to join him on his quest. She finds the effort thrilling, but soon sours on the plan as Ned makes a pass at her (based on her earlier revelation that she once held a crush on him) and she abandons him.
As day turn later, Ned is shaken from his plan as he encounters bad weather and a fast-moving freeway. As evening approaches, a shivering Ned at last staggers up a rocky hill, forces open a rusted gate and walks through an overgrown garden. A thunderstorm begins as Ned knocks on the front door of a locked, dark and thoroughly empty house, whereupon he breaks down on the front stoop.
