The Swimmer (1968)

I have not seen it, but the short story is haunting, depressing, and incredibly surreal. I’m curious how the hell it got made into a Burt Lancaster film?

I just watched this last night and am OBSESSED! Felt like watching an extra-long Twilight Zone. I've been telling friends about all day today. Also, naked Burt Lancaster scene was an added bonus!

Actually, this whole scene was just bizarre-saying a lot as the entire film was bizarre!

John Cheever?

I remember watching this when I was a kid and it was just too weird.

It starts on a high note with him going on this swimming pool journey and by the end of the movie it was very dark and he had pretty much lost his mind.

I love this film, I love the ending, I love Joan Rivers in it. The director also made "Mommie Dearest" and he was Katy Perry's uncle.

I loved Falcon's pre-condom remake of it.

I saw it years ago and have absolutely no wish to see it again.

But Mr Lancaster was strange beast. Most of his stuff was bone-headed, brainless western but his production company Hecht-Hill-Lancaster did movies by foreign writers like George Bernard Shaw and Terence Rattigan and directed by English directors from the Ealing Studio.

He also starred under Luchino Visconti twice and played a pedophile for Bertolucci.

For those that don't know, it's based on a short story of the same name by John Cheever. It first appeared in The New Yorker in 1964, and was very popular.

R9 Here it is. 12 pages.

Powerful, surreal, unique film from an entirely different American era. I've watched it many times and it always impresses me. And that Joan Rivers cameo!

Thank r9.

The first time I saw this I rented it from a video store. I was in my 20's and I knew nothing about it except it was kind of famous. It held my attention the entire film, mostly because I was like, "Wha...?" I remember the end really upset me that first viewing.

And a strangely popular subject of songs by New Wave-era artists! The Passions ('I'm In Love With a German Film Star') wrote an ode to it on their popular debut album. Wire and XTC also each wrote songs about this film.

He was such a big, beautiful man.

Don't forget supporting role by Jan "Palmolive? You're soaking in it" Miner! She plays a neighbor at a public pool rudely hitting up Lancaster for an unpaid debt. She's really memorable!

R16 That's who that was! Was driving me crazy. Thank you.

One of my favs. And Joan Rivers in an interesting small role!

This movie is another which proves the axiom that something that works well on the page rarely works on the screen.

Wrong, R19. This unusual movie is one of the better adaptations--particularly of a short story.

I saw this on TCM a few week ago. I loved it! It's one of those movies that stays with you long after it's over. It's also a great time capsule of how life was back then.

Kim Hunter is so good in this. She was one of the ape ladies in Planet of the Apes.

Burt was in great shape at 51. And he loved showing it off.

By the time of ATLANTIC CITY his torso had gone to pot, but his arms and shoulders were still muscular.

Wikipedia:

According to Rivers, Lancaster and Frank Perry had several confrontations on the set. Perry was ultimately fired by Spiegel sometime after the first cut of the film was screened. The producers then brought in Lancaster's friend, the young director Sydney Pollack, to salvage the project. Pollack reportedly reshot several transitions and scenes, including redoing the Shirley Abbott scene, with Janice Rule now playing the part originally played by Barbara Loden. According to Lancaster, when the film still needed an additional day of shooting, he paid $10,000 for it out of his own pocket.

Director Frank Perry also made the wonderful films David and Lisa, Last Summer, Diary of a Mad Housewife, and Ladybug Ladybug.

Last Summer is so disturbing! As is Ladybug Ladybug but I love that one.

There is a good (mostly unedited) print of Diary of a Mad Housewife on YouTube. Watch it!

The thing that bugs me about the movie is the final scene, which was obviously shot on a soundstage. The viewer is treated to gorgeous natural scenery throughout the whole movie, and then for the big final scene, they put Burt on a cheesy soundstage set with fake ivy and garden statuary. It almost ruins the movie.

Anyone live near the film locations in Connecticut?

[quote]Director Frank Perry also made the wonderful films David and Lisa, Last Summer, Diary of a Mad Housewife, and Ladybug Ladybug.

And yet, Mr. Perry decided to forget his directing skills on the set of my movie, thus ruining my career.

R23 According to IMDB Burt Lancaster sacked the director of 'The Train' (1964) halfway through production (and cut Paul Scofield's script down to nothing).

And again there was a difference of opinion in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). Lancaster physically picked the director up and carried him across the room.

r21 Have you ever seen "A Streetcar Named Desire"? Kim Hunter won the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for her performance.

Burt Lancaster also punched Margot Kidder in the face when they were making Little Treasure.

The director of 'Mommie Dearest' didn't know if it was a drama or a comedy.

It was a dramedy

[R21] Have you ever seen "A Matter of Life and Death"?

It's very good (apart from the effeminate David Niven)

How did Joan Rivers get cast in this? Her acting in the scene is laughable it's so bad.

A real film buff told me Joan Rivers is in this movie. Is that true? How could you have missed her?

Yes, Joan has one scene with Burt.

Supposedly one of the reasons why he went to the March on Washington was to troll for hot black men. Total bisexual.

The Swimmer - Joan Rivers scene

Was Burt gay? One of his bfs was supposedly Nick Cravat, who was in The Crimson Pirate with Burt.

Interesting movie, very "of its time" as someone described upthread -- but it all just still has a very canned, cheesy feel about it.

OP, you say it's bizarre and disturbing. It's not as bizarre and disturbing as "Seconds" which is similar in that it has an established old-time star trying DESPERATELY to be modern and hip.

Of all the Cheever, I wish Bullet Park would have gotten a shitty film adaptation. So much potential!

I’m not sure what’s least plausible in this film... Burt Lancaster using his neighbors’ backyard pools to swim home, or Burt Lancaster hitting on Joan Rivers.

The score by Marvin Hamlisch (his first for a film) is a real stand out to me in this film. The creepy ending is unforgettable.

I think the themes of the film speak to a lot of middle-aged gay men. The scenes with the younger girl are especially poignant and recognizable to many gay men.

I don't think Joan is that awful in her scene.

That looks like Janet Landgard. She played Paul Petersen's girlfriend on The Donna Reed Show.

Yes, it's Langard. And I also thought Joan Rivers was actually excellent in her scene. Not a hint of irony and very effective.

R44 Is Cheever worth reading?

I'm disinclined to read fiction so I tell myself that I should only pick up literature which is worthwhile and not ephemeral to its time.

R41 I thought Nick Cravat was a joke —like Cantinflas.

R51 I feel the same way, and was disappointed sampling Cheever's stories. But this story is worth reading (and it's only 8 or 9 pages).

It sounds like the film has greater scope than Cheever’s very short short story, which centers on alcoholism as the cause of the swimmer’s irrational behavior. There’s a lot of imagery representing his cognitive dissonance, drunken delusions of grandeur and lost years.

I watched this on Criterion and loved it.

Joan has a wonderful vulnerability in it that never appeared in her stand up act. Nice to see.

Exactly. It was like you could see the serious side of her on which she based her comedic persona and it was actually kind of moving. Plus her performance of that scene was very skilled and subtle.

Burt was also good in The Train (1965). Great film, now free for Amazon Prime members. With Jeanne Moreau and Paul Scofield!

I think it's a great film. Burt was gorgeous in this.

I always felt like the outdoor party scene with all the people under the giant pergola(?) must have been boiling hot.

When I watch this I want to take a time machine back to the era (and wander around a rich white neighborhood like this one).

Wonderful, haunting film. Well-acted by an interesting cast. Fine score by Hamlisch. Theories differ as to why Loden was replaced by Rule, there are stills online of Loden and Lancaster.

I finally saw this a few years ago. All I knew about it was, Cheever, traveling via swimming pools, Burt. I didn’t know what to expect. It was powerful and disturbing, like a pleasant dream turned nightmare. I don’t think I’ll watch it again but the story resonates today on a larger scale with middle-aged men feeling like they are losing their grip on power.

Cheever's a master of story-telling, as long as the story is about WASP male angst and family conflict.

Thus he is completely out of fashion now.

Cheever was gay, but he had relations with both genders.

R65 Do tell!

This film was the inspiration for this commercial:

R44, I think Cheever is worth reading. Bullet Park could be considered ephemeral, if you also consider stories like Rebel Without a Cause and Bigger Than Life dated. The American family in meltdown. Who could ask for anything more?

This is a haunting film that definitely stays with you. I recently re-watched it and couldn't remember what scenes were actually in the short story so then I had to re-read it. I was surprised that the scene with the ex-mistress is so brief in the short story and the former babysitter isn't even in the short story. I think the film is one of the better adaptations of a literary work because it really captures the mood, setting, characters, and meaning of the original work. And, of yeah, I think Burt Lancaster is excellent in portraying the protagonist.

R67 Wow! As a fan of the film, I've never seen or even heard about that. Thanks!

R43--I hated "Seconds", which I had to watch for a Film Noir class. The cinematography was cool, and a few other things, but the story was not good. However, Rock Hudson was so gorgeous, just peak Rock, for me. I like him a little dissipated, and preferred him with bags under his eyes in B&W, rather than looking hearthrobby in technicolor & cinemascope.

^^ I agree with what you say about Hudson, he's at his best. But Seconds is not film noir, and it's a good movie with an unusual story.

As mentioned already, it is a very disturbing film, especially the ending. After the final scenes, in retrospect, you realize all of the subtle and not so subtle scenes which indicted you were watching the protagonist's life falling apart, possibly due to a breakdown or immediately following one. And also as noted, Lancaster looked mighty fine in that swimsuit.

[quote]Cheever was gay, but he had relations with both genders.

I'm surprised that I was the only one who picked up immediately on the gay subtext in the film. Burt's unseen "wife" is clearly a stand-in for a rich, older sugar daddy who grew tired of his sleeping around and his aging ass. Burt's character is simply a delusional ex-pretty boy who has to come to terms with getting older and no longer be desirable the way he used to be.

^^^^Sure, Jan...

Stallion:

Stallion:

This discussion is one of the reasons that I was drawn to DL in the first place - being exposed to interesting cinema that might not be considered obscure to some, but is to many of us. I have never heard of this film and now can't wait to see it. Thanks again OP!

Why did I think this was an Alicia Silverstone and some very cute swimmer build toned guy movie?

R79, Swimfan?

I think Chloe Deschanel is redoing it with a woman as the swimmer.

R81 you mean Zooey Deschanel? Ewww, why would they do that ? I don't want to see an eccentric classic remade into some Manic Pixie dream girl film.

This little movie had to be a midlife-crisis vanity movie, surely.

Wiki tells me 'Burton Stephen Lancaster was born in 1913'.

What about Last Summer (1969), also directed by Frank Perry? That film is hard to find. With Richard Thomas (John-Boy Walton) and Bruce Davison (Longtime Companion) and filmed at Fire Island.

'Last Summer' was equally as pretentious, vague and full of longeurs. Audiences went because of the sex.

One of my High School teachers made us watch this movie in class. It was an odd choice at the time, but by the end, I could see why.

Rancho Deluxe is a fun movie! Perry had a strange career. Also did Hello Again.

The Schwimmer.

The Schwimmer.

The Schwimmer.

John Garfield's son David had a small role in this as the ticket seller at the public pool.

Look out, folks! R88 has a hat-trick! Three in a row! Get out the provolone and salami, mommy! We’re making sandwiches!!

Five-part documentary on YouTube

Thank you so much, R93 — have wanted to see that documentary!

A really interesting portion of the documentary focuses on Barbara Loden’s scene in the movie — since she and Lancaster are shown scuffling in the pool together, and Janice Rule was never in the pool in the reshot scene, I wonder if the scene was rewritten as well as reshot.

Also surprised to learn that an alternate happy ending was shot — thank goodness that idea was abandoned!

I stumbled upon it a few years ago. I remember Joan Rivers and something with a turtle, or maybe a frog.

Joan was dismissive of it all in one interview I remember. She said she had no idea what she was doing, and suspected the director and Lancaster didn't know either.

R97 Seems Joan was wrong. Should stick to her lane.

Thanks, r93. I watched all five parts of the documentary and learned so much. Now I want to watch the movie again just to catch the John Cheever cameo.

R99 it is a pretty brilliant cameo!

What was the happy ending about?

R101, his ex mistress was suppose to drive up to his house, pick him up, and then drive off. Yeah, it was a good thing they nixed that ending.

***SPOILER ALERT*****

One thing I wondered about was why was his property in a state of disrepair? It was a desirable property that should have sold or at least wouldn't the bank keep it up with the expectation of selling it? It detracted a little from the ending for me.

R103, Yeah, that part made no sense. The wife would have sold it when she kicked him out. And it had obviously been abandoned for many years to get to that state of disrepair. Had Burt's character been walking around the neighborhood for 10 years in his swimsuit?

I guess they explain it by calling the story an allegory, which means none of it is real.

Joan said she was given conflicting instructions, or played it conflicted to please everyone. Either way, it added subtlety to her scene.