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The Swimmer [1968]
starring: Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule, Tony Bickley, Marge Champion
directed by: Sydney Pollack, Frank Perry

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days Audience Rating: Parental Guidance
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5050582107432
Format: PAL
Label: Uca Catalogue
Manufacturer: Uca Catalogue
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Uca Catalogue
Release Date: October 06, 2003
Running Time: 91 minutes
Studio: Uca Catalogue
Theatrical Release Date: May 15, 1968
Sales Rank: 15837

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Burt Lancaster gives one of his most daringly complex performances in The Swimmer, a fascinating adaptation of John Cheever's celebrated short story. At first it seems that middle-aged businessman Ned Merrill (Lancaster) is merely enjoying a spontaneous adventure, swimming from pool to pool among the well-tended estates of his affluent Connecticut neighbourhood. But as Ned encounters a variety of neighbours, we see from their reactions that he's on an entirely different kind of journey, balanced on the edge of some mysterious psychosis that we can't fully understand until the film's final, devastating image.

A compelling portrait of loss, refracted memories, and deep-rooted emotional denial, The Swimmer sprung from the same late-60s soil that yielded similarly ground-breaking literary films such as The Graduate and Goodbye, Columbus. It's an egotistical showcase for the physical prowess of its 55-year-old star, but Lancaster turns it into something deeper, more disturbing, and completely unforgettable. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Only Lancaster could be the swimmer
Almost any film Burt Lancaster is in usually gets my attention & The Swimmer is no exception, in fact I think it was one of his more complicated roles, one which was tailor made for Burt. Hard to believe Burt was 55, My God he had the body of an athletic 33 old, great shape almost as good as his acting ability. From what I read he actually could not swim prior to doing this film & never liked getting into the water!
I have watched tis film many times now & each time I see another glimpse of the brilliance that was & is Burt Lancaster. A tormented & lost soul is seen in this most unique of films , where Ned Merrill suffers the illusion of "normality & a secure Family Life" only those around him know better, what ... Read More:

Rating:

- Beautiful and profoundly moving
This is a journey (via the swimming pools of an affluent New England suburb) to the heart of the darkness of the American Dream. Ned Merrill is a "very special human being - noble and splendid." There is more than a touch of the Shakespearean tragedy about this wonderful film and Merrill, played brilliantly by Burt Lancaster is a flawed and tragic hero. I love Lancaster in everything anyway, but he is often overlooked as a great screen star, despite his sophisticated, more mature performances in this and The Leopard. It becomes clear shortly in to the film that Merrill is at a point of crisis in his life and probably teetering on the verge of suicide, though infused with a love of life and an eerie calmness, reminiscent of the protagonist in J ... Read More:

Rating:

- How anyone can lose the plot ...
This is a psychological 'day in the life' drama of a man not on the edge of a nervous breakdown - but, instead, in the denial stage after a nervous breakdown. You can't help but feel sorry for 'the swimmer' as deep down in all of us is a need to be socially accepted by our peer group despite the blows which life may inflict upon us.

I first saw this in my childhood and the closing scene stuck in my mind for a very long time.

Great perfomance by Burt Lancaster.

Rating:

- "If you make-believe hard enough that something is true, then it is true - for you"
This 1968 film directed by Frank Perry and starring Burt Lancaster (who was 55 when the film was released and was in astonishingly good shape for his age) is based on a brilliant short story by John Cheever, which first appeared in the New Yorker in July 1964.

'The Swimmer' brims with hidden depths. On the surface, it seems to be about Ned Merrill, a bronzed and athletic playboy who has set himself the goal of swimming home through a snake-like series of garden pools in rich suburban Connecticut. But as the film moves on, we get glimpses of a tragic undercurrent which culminates in the sad final scene. The nearer he gets to home, the colder he gets, the chillier his neighbours act towards him, the more he drinks (in the last house, ... Read More:

Rating:

- Superb and disturbing
Burt Lancaster gives one of his greatest ever performances in 'The Swimmer'. The plot is simple, Ned (Lancaster) decides to swim his way home via the swimming pools of his wealthy friends and neighbours. As his journey progresses it becomes apparent that all is not what it seems. Only at the very end of this film did I begin to understand the subtle hints that the other characters had been giving at all along. The ending is arguably one of the finest in film history. It was totally unexpected and unless you have read the book or a detailed film synopsis it will probably be so for you.

I would concede that this film will not be to everybodies taste. Some may consider it pretentious, and perhaps just plain dull, so if you can rent it ... Read More:

VHS : The Swimmer [1968]