The Swimmer
1968
Burt Lancaster stars in this adaptation of John Cheever's dreamlike short story about one man's highly unusual attempt to find meaning in his life. On the morning after a booze-filled night, Ned Merrill wakes up in a haze, confronted by the sterility of his isolated, wealthy suburban existence. So he decides to traverse this .. Read more
| Starring | Burt Lancaster, Janice Rule, Diana Muldaur, Kim Hunter |
|---|---|
| Director | Frank Perry |
| Genres | Drama |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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Remember the Levi jeans advertisement where a hunk took a dip in a dozen pools to the strains of Mad about the Boy? This is the film that inspired it. Based on a short story by cult writer John Cheever, it stars Burt Lancaster as a washed-up suburban man who decides to swim home, using all the pools in his neighbourhood en route. This is not only healthy — and Lancaster looks terrific in his trunks — it's a metaphor for alienation from affluence, sexual desire, Vietnam — you name it, it's all at the bottom of the deep end. Not to everyone's taste, this weird picture now seems an oddly powerful companion piece to The Graduate.
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A largely loony but oddly compulsive allegory, taken from a John Cheever story, in which Lancaster, clad only in... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
View all -
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Not Waving but Drowning ...
A middle aged man, bronzed and fit and clad only in swimming trunks appears at a poolside on a sunny summer afternoon. He is warmly greeted by the family sitting around it and states his intention to swim from pool to pool to his home across the valley.
The film follows him and takes us on an increasingly chilling psychological journey. This movie rated so-so notices from some reviewers, partly because Burt Lancaster, who plays the lead with immense control and skill, was better known for beefcake roles and was considered miscast.
Twenty years on this seems irrelevant and although there are some signs of its age, the film still packs a pretty strong punch. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
The wet way home
A great premise that has been spoofed and copied but this is the original and best.
To swim home using all the neighbourhood pools on route simple enough, but underling this it is a swim through his life and mistakes. A great snapshot of suburban
America?s middle class values. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Ahead of its time
A very un-American film, nicely paced and subtly acted, that avoids cliches and does not insult the viewers intelligence. Wobbly camerawork and cheesy orchestration let it down a little, but otherwise it's a thought-provoking critique/expose of American suburban, middle class values circa 1968.
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Most recent members' reviews (2)
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Powerful film, thought provoking
This film is worth a watch, a classic. It's quite a powerful movie. A perceptive film about middle class America. It might look a bit dated now - I would love to see a modern day version made. Oh how they liked their G & Ts back then. haha.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
great film
i saw this film without knowing what the story was all about. It made the experience even more powerful.
Strange, slightly surealist film, about social status, madness and fall. Amazing Burt Lancaster. A must
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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
Not Waving but Drowning ...
A middle aged man, bronzed and fit and clad only in swimming trunks appears at a poolside on a sunny summer afternoon. He is warmly greeted by the family sitting around it and states his intention to swim from pool to pool to his home across the valley.
The film follows him and takes us on an increasingly chilling psychological journey. This movie rated so-so notices from some reviewers, partly because Burt Lancaster, who plays the lead with immense control and skill, was better known for beefcake roles and was considered miscast.
Twenty years on this seems irrelevant and although there are some signs of its age, the film still packs a pretty strong punch. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
The wet way home
A great premise that has been spoofed and copied but this is the original and best.
To swim home using all the neighbourhood pools on route simple enough, but underling this it is a swim through his life and mistakes. A great snapshot of suburban
America?s middle class values. -
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Ahead of its time
A very un-American film, nicely paced and subtly acted, that avoids cliches and does not insult the viewers intelligence. Wobbly camerawork and cheesy orchestration let it down a little, but otherwise it's a thought-provoking critique/expose of American suburban, middle class values circa 1968.
-
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
great film
i saw this film without knowing what the story was all about. It made the experience even more powerful.
Strange, slightly surealist film, about social status, madness and fall. Amazing Burt Lancaster. A must -
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
deep end
seriously high-brow business class movie. magnificent performance from burt. spendid scenario..... dive in...
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
A True One-Off
It's better that you know as little as possible about The Swimmer before you see it. This story of a businessman who decides to swim home through miles of adjacent swimming pools begins as a lightly comic tale, before all kinds of darkness creeps in. Burt Lancaster is superb in the title role. The film's music is sometimes distractingly bad, but don't let that stand in the way of you renting this haunting film.
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Powerful film, thought provoking
This film is worth a watch, a classic. It's quite a powerful movie. A perceptive film about middle class America. It might look a bit dated now - I would love to see a modern day version made. Oh how they liked their G & Ts back then. haha.
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Here's to sugar on the strawberries!
Lancaster is sensational as Neddy Merrill, a physically perfect middle-aged man whose mental imperfections come to the fore as he attempts to ‘swim home’ along an imaginary network of swimming pools in his neighbourhood. He christens this path the Lucinda River, after his wife, though the people he bumps into along the way hint at marital problems, allowing his story to unfold in an endlessly intriguing fashion. It’s let down very slightly by some soft focus sixties visuals but the comedy and the tragedy are massive and great. A must for fans of alternative Hollywood films like the Graduate.
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Superb unravelliing of American Dream
The opening is wooden and stilted. Don't despair. It's a masterpiece. Reminds me a tiny bit of Great Expectations - minus all the narrative. He swims from swimming pool to suburban swimming pool - doing a sort of Little Prince summation of Western Civilisation - or what's left of it.
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The American dream turns sour
It’s very difficult to describe what actually happens in this film... so I won’t even bother to try. There’s no other film quite like it, in fact there’s no other film like it at all. All I suggest is that you watch it and make up your own mind. Remarkable.
Critics' reviews (2)
-
Remember the Levi jeans advertisement where a hunk took a dip in a dozen pools to the strains of Mad about the Boy? This is the film that inspired it. Based on a short story by cult writer John Cheever, it stars Burt Lancaster as a washed-up suburban man who decides to swim home, using all the pools in his neighbourhood en route. This is not only healthy — and Lancaster looks terrific in his trunks — it's a metaphor for alienation from affluence, sexual desire, Vietnam — you name it, it's all at the bottom of the deep end. Not to everyone's taste, this weird picture now seems an oddly powerful companion piece to The Graduate.
-
A largely loony but oddly compulsive allegory, taken from a John Cheever story, in which Lancaster, clad only in... read more on Time Out
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Burt Lancaster stars in this adaptation of John Cheever's dreamlike short story about one man's highly unusual attempt to find meaning in his life. On the morning after a booze-filled night, Ned ... -
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