frankwiener The problem is that the river, dubbed "The Lucinda" after his wife by the central character, Neddy Merrill (Burt Lancaster), is a seriously broken and disrupted waterway that becomes increasingly unnavigable and more treacherous as the story proceeds. At first, Neddy 's relationship with his affluent Fairfield County neighborhood seems cordial enough but then it gradually deteriorates as the viewer observes that Neddy's standing in his community is not at all as it first appears. Even at the film's tragic end, we still aren't quite sure what it was that brought Neddy to financial, emotional, and spiritual ruin. The one positive aspect is that he is still physically as fit as a fiddle, having appeared for ninety minutes in nothing other than a skimpy, speedo-like swimsuit and, at one point, emerging in nothing at all when he visits a couple of nudist friends. If he wasn't going to reveal it all, why bother removing his suit in the first place? I know. It was too much for 1968, but Lancaster probably would have done it if he had the opportunity. Why the heck not at that point in his stunningly successful career? He was already on the top of the Hollywood world and deservedly so.With this viewing, I began thinking, as other reviewers suggest, that Neddy's unique adventure was nothing more than a horrible nightmare about failure itself. The only problem is that he didn't awaken at the end as Amy Irving gratefully did in the horror classic "Carrie". In this case, I am regrettably convinced that Neddy's adventure through the suburban swimming pools of Fairfield County was real and that his increasingly hostile encounters with his neighbors were not only in his imagination. That is what makes the film even more tragic--that Neddy is never freed from the humiliation and horror of his ordeal, as I so much want him to be. Unfortunately, it isn't until the end of the journey when he discovers the unbearable truth at long last."If you make believe hard enough that something is true, it's true for you," he advises the young boy with the empty swimming pool. These words reveal more than any others the disastrous state of denial and the state of mental breakdown that Neddy has reached. The complex and troubling predicament of the central character was very effectively augmented by the musical score of Marvin Hamlisch, his very first film composition. Burt Lancaster was so dedicated to this production that he paid $10,000 out of his own pocket, a sizeable sum in 1966, to finish the film. He considered this to be among the best films of his long, diverse career, and I think that I agree with him.No matter what the causes of Neddy Merrill's downfall actually might have been, he is only a human being, regardless of how flawed, as we all are, and we have nothing but compassion for him.

jazerbini The Swimmer is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The story is simple but unusual. A successful executive - Ned Merrill - (in the end we realize that this is not quite so), in a psychological trance, imagine being in a time before the real and decides to "go home", the metaphor that supports the film. His return happens in a planned way, passing by the pools of his friends and acquaintances, forming what he calls "The River Lucinda", in fact his dream of returning to the woman he lost in his uncontrolled life. In this dream he thinks of his two daughters who would be expecting him too. And by the way he traces he finds people who still consider him and people who despise him, the fruit of what he did of his life until then. It is a very strong metaphor and produces a gigantic film. Burt Lancaster, I think, made the best part of his career here. I think this film could only have been performed with him in the lead role. Each one of us is incorporated into the story, living with Ned all his dramas, every moment of his "return home." The sequence in which he fights a race with a horse is the most perfect that is known, is exquisite. And he finds women who were part of his past not well understood, but that gives us the dimension of a superficial life and frivolities. Actress Janice Rule has here, too, one of her biggest moments in the movies. It's beautiful. The unexpected and perfect ending of the film completes this vigorous story of a man who has lost his way in life and can not find himself again. I watched The Swimmer in 1968 when it was released and I've been watching it regularly over the last 50 years. Each time I discover a detail, a situation that I did not perceive well, it is an incredible experience. Great, great, great movie!

violetta1485 This captures the nasty underbelly of the American Dream, and the cheesy music and 60s fashions (which some have criticized) actually underscore that. Where it falters is in being not quite as surreal as the story: in the movie, the neighbors' mentioning Neddy's mysterious absence implies that all his misfortunes, deserved or otherwise, may have already happened, and that he is out of touch with reality, convincing himself he is still happily married and rich. Some comments speculate that he had a psychotic break after losing his job and being divorced by his wife for his infidelities, one thought the red stain on his hands when he shook the gate was blood, and perhaps he had murdered his family. However one explains it, the movie makes it seem as if somehow these events could have happened already, Neddy gradually learning the truth in that one day.The original story was creepy in that at the start, Neddy really is rich and apparently happy: his odyssey through the water turns into a shortcut through his whole life. As he grows older, colder, and frailer, the weather changes from midsummer to late summer and finally to autumn. The social status that protected him at the start has diminished along with his money. The friends he once counted on abandoned him just as he had abandoned others as he moved up socially. The marriage and affairs he was apparently able to balance at the beginning blow up in his face: the mistress turns on him, and the wife has left him. I think the stain on his hands when he clutches the gate is meant to be rust; the house has been shut for some time. His shock is that of someone who arrives at later life wondering how he got there, how he drifted so far from where he thought he was going to go or the kind of person he thought he was. I'm not sure if the little boy afraid of water or the babysitter are bad additions. They do slow things down, but they also make him more human. He really isn't any worse or more shallow and materialistic than his neighbors; in a way, he suffers because he is LESS shallow, and begins to see the hollowness of his existence long before they ever will (if they ever do). I believe he's meant to be an Everyman--for everyone who ever arrived at later life wondering how he got there, how he drifted so far from where he thought he was going to go or the kind of person he thought he was.

mmallon4 It takes a lot for a movie to make feel legitimately depressed and to the point that I would have difficulty bringing myself to watch it again. I can say The Swimmer is one of two movies I've to date which have managed to have this impact with me, the other being Watership Down.The Swimmer is what I like to call a jigsaw puzzle movie. It leaves the viewer confused at various characters' actions and the unexpected dramatic shifts in emotion but at the very end Lancaster's swimming pool equivalent of a pub crawl starts to make sense. This gives The Swimmer much re-watch value as it is such a deep film, both as a character study and a commentary on the falseness of the American Dream, coming at the end of a decade which saw such values become disenfranchised. However, I would have difficulty bringing myself to watch again because it's just so tragic beyond words. I've seen few other movies with an ending as pessimistic, unforgiving and unbearable as that of The Swimmer. No character redemption, just bang in your face, life sucks, deal with it. View before your eyes in horror at a human being who degrades to such a pathetic level and his lame attempts to defend himself against the scourge of others. When the movie however is not a tragic punch to the face, the characters act in such a bizarrely cheery manner and I found myself enjoying the essence of just being there among them in their idyllic yet somewhat unsettling surroundings.I've yet to see Burt Lancaster deliver a performance that hasn't impressed me and The Swimmer is no exception. One scene for example involves him becoming emotional over a hot dog wagon (yes, a hot dog wagon). With an actor of lesser talent, this scene would likely be laughable but Lancaster pulls it off effortlessly. Not to mention he remains shirtless throughout the entire movie, yet still retains his dignity as an actor. Lancaster's character of Ned Merrill is character filled with so much regret by past experiences that he blindly acts as if nothing has happened, the movie's portrayal of this is about as extreme and disturbing as it gets. The scene in which he gives a child a piece of bad life advice that "If you make believe hard enough that something is true, then it is true for you", is a perfect piece of foreshadowing the movie's conclusion. When you talk about The Swimmer, will you talk about yourself?