The Swimmer (1968) Grindhouse Releasing LE Blu-ray Review

[@DarkForcesStudio]

This movie will haunt you forever. Thanks for reviewing.

[@josephforest7605]

The hint regarding the ending is in the beginning , is when he was at the first pool and mentioned how he wanted to borrow their car and take his friends back to his home . The people at the first pool talked him out of it , they knew it was no longer his home and the home was empty.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

The screenwriter played fair with a good clue. Also loved the looks on the faces of his friends and how their manner was kind to the point of patronizing.

[@hhbased]

Im a 28 year old german guy and saw this film in france when i was a student in Lyon. I watched it in very old cinema there in english. This film resonates inside me to this day...

[@VFRZen]

This achingly beautiful film will crush your soul. And this release is solid.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

This is a favorite of mine and yet I have heard someone say that wished she never watched it. No kidding - you are right about crushing your soul if you take it too personally.

[@Imnottapinata]

Guess I won’t watch it then lol

[@dennisp.9085]

This film was a shocker to me, but not for the reason you might expect. In it was a beautiful young actress named Janet Landgard, who I recognized as a girl I went to school with in high school and junior high! I had no idea she had an acting career! The Swimmer was intriguing and well worth exploring.

[@ainslie187]

For anyone who likes this movie I have to recommend _The Arrangement (1969)_ by Elia Kazan. It deals with some of the same themes but more thoroughly, it’s stylistically a little different, perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing as _The Swimmer_ but it is absolutely incredible. I’ve been a big fan of _The Swimmer_ since I saw it a decade ago and only last year saw _The Arrangement_ . I wasn’t sure I’d ever see a movie like _The Swimmer_ again, but I finally found that movie- and was blown away.

[@electrofunk5442]

Holy shit...one of my favorite movies! I first saw it on cable in the 80s and I was hooked...I bought the VHS, then DVD then Bluray....

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

and I bought it on Amazon prime. (heh, heh) I love it too.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

So many themes in this movie - could go on and on. Great symbolism - my favorite one was the swimmer crossing the highway - from the wealthy, private pools to the overcrowded, working class pool. Once had a teacher who would sometime being class with a discussion question - one "did you ever feel like you just didn't belong?" is perfect for the swimmer. He is the only one in trunks at the huge party with incredible food, drinks and plenty of servers (where everyone is totally dressed) and at the packed, working class pool that he can barely move in.

[@zognoger7451]

This movie has hit home with so many people who have everything do too hard times.

[@randyguess3124]

Does the documentary mention any of the the filming locations in Westport CT, such as parks or neighborhoods?

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

usually you see thanks to different counties etc but I think is better and more relevant that this could be suburbia anywhere in the USA.

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

The Indicator edition is amazing

[@evhvariac2]

Ned should have accepted the job with the pay cut and tried again -in a real way- with Shirley Abbott

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

he was too out of touch with reality to accept that.

[@zacharyhobbs1065]

Sick picture. Thanks for the review.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

No High Tension is sick, Martyrs is sick, I am sorry I wasted time watching them. Green Inferno was the worse and glad to say I never finished it. The swimmer is sad,soul searching and disturbing and it can happen. It takes place in suburbia, USA. It shows a man who was never deeper than a Hallmark card. His vision of himself was no where near how others saw him. Some responders question the beginning how he just comes out of nowhere but that describes his mind - out of nowhere (you might say he wandered away from a hospital). Another great feature was the nuances - how people look askance, patronizing when he talks about 'home' and then by degrees gets outright hostility from others.

[@zacharyhobbs1065]

@@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls Just for the record, "Sick" means it's cool. That's what Sick means now. But go off queen!

[@MicahMicahel]

@@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls Yeah.. I'm glad torture porn died out. It was a lack of imagination that drove it.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

It is better to give it a second, even a third view due to the nuances - the askance looks, the patronizing tones before it get into later hostility.

[@cliftonwebb3295]

It’s addictively rewatchable

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

@@cliftonwebb3295 each time you notice more - expressions on his 'friends' faces. If I taught a film course I would partner this with "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" The setting Ned lives in is gorgeous suburbia, then see the grimy. ugly industrial place Eddie lives in. The similarity is that both men have lost it and don't realize it. Hope you might see The Friends... Robert Mitchum is the lead. Would like your thoughts on it. BTW there is an excellent review of the Friends of Eddie Coyle on youtube and the reviewer dissects/discusses the film brilliantly.

[@simonsimon8572]

The Swimming what happens when you spend more than you Make.

[@Jay-vr9ir]

The question for me and others , in the beginning of the movie where did he come from?

[@plasticweapon]

nowhere.

[@Jay-vr9ir]

@@plasticweapon He arrived from somewhere . He was looking clean and fresh .

[@colderbeer]

You are taking the film too literal......this film is real and surreal all at the same time.....

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

That is the very good surreal part - out of nowhere. You could wonder that he wandered away from a hospital, etc. But the point I got is that is mind is loose - no planning, no presence in the here and now and forget about the future. He is a lost, wandering soul.

[@bruce1947]

I had a dream about a strange 70s art movie about some gangster killing masturbating homeless people and then throwing them in his pool, looked it up and found roger Ebert's review of this movie instead. Halfway through the review i decided to watch it and instantly fell in love with it. Up there with my favorite movies. Hauntingly beautiful in more ways than one.

[@bruce1947]

@@plasticweapon i cannot, unfortunately it was merely a dream. there's a small chance it exists and i saw it somewhere, but more than likely it's just something my brain made up. sorry to disappoint.

[@serenhafwilliams-davies5915]

Michael Keene, where do you come from, please?

[@paulquinnvoiceover8354]

One of my favorite movies and love your channel! Btw, if you'd like a professional voiceover to introduce your reviews, let me know. I specialize in vintage trailer and promo style voices and I'd be happy to provide for your channel at no charge :)

[@evhvariac2]

Excellent review btw

[@NYKensington]

I stumbled on this film on TV late one Sunday night in the late 70's or early 80's. The ending really upset me.

[@TheManateeParty]

“Hey, ya ever think about mortality and our inescapable downfall no matter how much power we horde in our lives?” - Eleanor Perry, probably.

[@JessicaMcGowan-bu4ls]

Did the ending surprise you? It was headed that way.

[@matts7726]

When you talk about the swimmer... Will you be talking about yourself?

[@plasticweapon]

love that tagline!

[@connorstephens7467]

YESSSSSS ❤️❤️

[@waynemcauliffe2362]

Fucking great movie thanks mate

[@samuelglass6805]

Yaaaaaaaah. I forget how, but I remember reading a little about THE SWIMMER first, then seeing a trailer for it. Burt Lancaster, older then but still fit AF, in swimming trunks for an entire movie. Young, dumbass horny me of course went "That's MY plans for tonight!", when it came on THE CBS LATE MOVIE eons ago. So I went in expecting hot Burt L., and I GOT hot Burt L., and a whole lot more than I bargained for. Not to say I went to bed that night expecting to have nightmares, but my pre-snooze mood was pretty fucking somber. And it carried over into the next morning, lemme tell ya. So I can imagine some LGBT and also some straight female film buffs who've never seen it, who take one look at the sexy cover art and getting blindsided the same way I did. And that's NOT to say that it isn't a worthwhile movie - it definitely is. But this isn't like seeing Jane Fonda on the BARBARELLA poster, and getting exactly what it was advertising. SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS - OY. I remember going to an acting conservatory in D.C., where one of our favorite instructors began each class by admonishing us to "find another gainful line of employment if you can", because acting was going to eventually tear us apart and break our hearts. What he should've told us instead was to go home and once a week, every week, watch SWEET SMELL, and if we STILL wanted to be in the business, then we were in the right place. This movie is to showbiz what A FACE IN THE CROWD is to politics...that's all I want to say. I remember there was an awful lot of buzz around Frank and Eleanor Perry, especially after their film DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE, which is still on my radar to tackle. Frank and Eleanor did have a VERY interesting if brief charmed run in Tinseltown. I had no idea about any backstage drama on THE SWIMMER, but with Sam Spiegel producing, I don't doubt it for a second. I have my own historical bone to pick with Mr. Perry, even if it wasn't completely his fault, and just indicative of the time in which he lived. Patricia Nell Warren's watershed novel of gay romance, THE FRONT RUNNER, had been bopping about Hollywood as a possible subject of adaptation for years, with such names as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Jan-Michael Vincent and Robby Benson all attached at one point or another. And all were vehemently discouraged by their "people" not to have anything to do with the project, because to play "gay" on-screen would mean the death knell of their careers. And so it was similar with directors who were attached, of which Frank Perry was one. The story - older college running coach falls deeply in love with his protege - once had Newman, Benson and Frank Perry all attached at once, IIRC, and it seemed destined to go into production. But then, Warners or Paramount - I don't remember which - put the movie into turnaround, and apparently Perry took the advice of his handlers and advisers, and decided not to do RUNNER, taking on another prestige project instead; one that might, in some folks' view, be a lot less injurious to his career. I guess you know where I'm going with this. Frank Perry dropped out of the "dangerous" FRONT RUNNER project to direct....MOMMIE DEAREST.

[@TheManateeParty]

Oh man, I totally forgot to mention Mommie Dearest! What an insane pivot for Frank. Well, at least he made a mark on pop culture?

[@samuelglass6805]

@@TheManateeParty To say the least! Now it stands as a camp rave-up for the ages, forever attached to Faye Dunaway and Perry as the last (and only IIRC) time they worked together.

[@jamesmonroe7751]

You have got to watch housewife one of my all time favorite movies. Carrie Snodgrass should've won over the overused Glenda Jackson. Richard Benjamin played a precursor to Stepford. He makes Cassavetes in rosemary seems like captain kangaroo! The ending is worth it. The psychological drama of the 70s. The Perrys did an impeccable job. Watch David and Lisa and the swimmer and this for completion. Too bad Frank had to slum through mommie dearest!

[@paul123456794]

What the heck is this movie about no plot no real ending. Just swim and your house is empty.

[@bluemouse5039]

I believe the main character Burt Lancaster lost everything he had at one time, a great job, wife, kids , family, wealth, social status lived in a upper society area which is that neighborhood and town, now he returns as a nobody with nothing but still believes his past life where he was happy years ago and a big man is still there , everyone else knows it is gone but they humor him by being polite and agreeing with him, but he still thinks its there and all he has to do is go home again, The movie is like a puzzle you have to put together listening to the dialog of all the characters that say small clues to Ned's situation in life and leave things not really clear Like the opening of the movie Burt Lancaster just appears at the neighbors in swim trunks sayin he was on his way home, the neighbors are surprised to see him and ask Where have you been for so long? You don't think too much of that conversation till later as the story unfolds like as it becomes apparent Ned lost his home, family, job, money, Where has he been for years? Maybe he had a nervous breakdown and was in a mental hospital for a few years, we really don't know for sure, later as he meets other neighbors some are less friendly than other ones and begin revealing harsh realities about him like he was a bad father, cheated on his wife, lied to his lover and so on , but early in the movie Ned makes you think he was a perfect father and a big man in town, but the more people he meets the more this facade begins to break down as they say he was a dead beat that didn't pay his bills and his children laughed at him and had no respect for him and his wife also thought that way, So the closer he gets to his home the more his fantasy world starts to unravel from hearing the truth about himself, till the end where he is greeted with the reality with just a deserted house and he is alone and a broken man.

[@auditor1271]

Good film

[@Thecatdrums3]

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