Friday, December 12, 2003
TODAYS FILM:
THE SWIMMER with Burt Lancaster (1968); based on a short story by John Cheever. This was a vanity project for Burt. He loved the story (me too) and wanted to do a movie of it and he got to do the whole thing in nothing but his swim trunks. It has a guy swimming through all the pools of Westchester County to get 'back to himself'. The swim(s) reveal who he is and what he has become; not good news, as it turns out. There are some holes in the story; but it is beautifully photographed and Burt is great.
More about THE SWIMMER at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/
I gave it a three on the Netflix scale. Definitely not one of the NYT 1000 Best 20th Century Films; but it would make a list of the 'good enough'.
The film is by Frank Perry who, often with his wife Eleanor, produced a limited set of successes including MOMMY DEAREST. They liked to work with themes about neurotic people (WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and DAVID AND LISA).
I remember that critics always agonized over the Perrys' 'flawed masterpiece' syndrome. It often appeared as though they got about 90% of it; then, decided to wrap the package and ship it out before the final, crucial, finishing touches. To wit: Sydney Pollack was brought in to add a scene when Perry left this project over creative differences; but Perry kept the credits.
Despite all of this, I looked forward to Perry's films with excitement because they always had an edge and took a lot of risks. They were never run of the mill or predictable films.
More about Frank Perry at http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0675068/
THE SWIMMER with Burt Lancaster (1968); based on a short story by John Cheever. This was a vanity project for Burt. He loved the story (me too) and wanted to do a movie of it and he got to do the whole thing in nothing but his swim trunks. It has a guy swimming through all the pools of Westchester County to get 'back to himself'. The swim(s) reveal who he is and what he has become; not good news, as it turns out. There are some holes in the story; but it is beautifully photographed and Burt is great.
More about THE SWIMMER at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/
I gave it a three on the Netflix scale. Definitely not one of the NYT 1000 Best 20th Century Films; but it would make a list of the 'good enough'.
The film is by Frank Perry who, often with his wife Eleanor, produced a limited set of successes including MOMMY DEAREST. They liked to work with themes about neurotic people (WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and DAVID AND LISA).
I remember that critics always agonized over the Perrys' 'flawed masterpiece' syndrome. It often appeared as though they got about 90% of it; then, decided to wrap the package and ship it out before the final, crucial, finishing touches. To wit: Sydney Pollack was brought in to add a scene when Perry left this project over creative differences; but Perry kept the credits.
Despite all of this, I looked forward to Perry's films with excitement because they always had an edge and took a lot of risks. They were never run of the mill or predictable films.
More about Frank Perry at http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0675068/
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