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The Swimmer (1968)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
12/16, 3/19
12/16:
The Swimmer is a strange, disturbing movie, but Burt Lancaster is a dream.
I'm now getting to the point that it's hard to say, "Oh, Burt Lancaster was bad in this or that." He's always been good in
everything. His role in The Swimmer proves to be the most challenging of his career because he has nothing to work with.
It's just him and his bathing suit.
Not many actors can do what Burt Lancaster did while making the performance work without any hint of embarrassment. He,
at age 52, was in outstanding shape at the time. In fact, Burt Lancaster said it was the best work he had ever done
and thus called it Death of a Salesman in swimming trunks. It's not hard to see why.
Once again, it's a strange, disturbing movie because the story is frustrating; it's like I want more details about Neddy in
order to find out what happened to him in the past. The ending is haunting as well. There are many symbols that are hard to
make out. Even more difficult is how much time had passed. It's the middle of the summer at the beginning
before gradually transitioning to autumn at the end, all in one day.
Weird encounters happen between Neddy and his neighbors as he swims from one pool to another. Each time a revelation,
which turns out to be embarrassing, is made about Neddy, it's big blow to his character, and what's amazing is Neddy putting
up a straight face and going on with his merry self.
All in all, there's no doubt that The Swimmer is among Burt Lancaster's finest films.
3/19:
Ask me what's the weirdest movie I've seen, and I'm probably going to say The Swimmer.
Burt Lancaster is so good as Neddy who's absolutely in shape at age 52. It's among the best performances of his career. In fact,
he called the film Death of a Salesman in swimming trunks. Nobody could've done what he did. His character starts
out beamingly gay. As time progresses, the tone gets darker as disturbing revelations are made about him. The finale is the
nail in his coffin which has made me wonder what the heck happened.
All in all, Burt Lancaster is sublime in The Swimmer.