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| Special Features: |
Widescreen anamorphic format
Chapter selections
Trailer
Sneak peeks |
| Video Format: |
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
[SS-DL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
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| Subtitles: |
English, French, Korean, Japanese.
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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It isn't easy to admit that my wife is right about something. Teri can't stand Burt Lancaster. He happens to be one of my favorite actors. My wife's dislike of Mr. Lancaster came about after she watched "The Swimmer" on TV many years ago. I saw "The Swimmer" at the same time and liked it. You can imagine my sadistic glee when I told her I had a present for her and popped my screener copy of "The Swimmer" in front of her. My glee was short-lived. After watching "The Swimmer" for the first time in over 20 years I realized something painful to admit...my wife was right, "The Swimmer" is a terrible movie!
"The Swimmer" is based on a story by John Cheever. It tells the story of man in the middle of a crisis. As with most of Cheever's stories, "The Swimmer" is set in the world of the rich and comfortable. Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) is on a great adventure. The film opens with Ned walking out of the woods and jumping into a friend's swimming pool. His friends greet him. It is apparent that Ned has not been seen for quite some time. Ned decides that he is going to swim home. He plots out a map of his friend's swimming pools. Ned will spend this day swimming from pool to pool, friend to friend until he gets home to his wife and daughters. Along the way Ned's mental house of cards begins to crumble as his odd behavior is questioned by those he comes in contact with. By the time Ned reaches his house, only the most feeble-minded will be surprised by what happens.
Burt Lancaster delivers a powerful performance as the conflicted protagonist. The supporting cast is also quite good. Kim Hunter, Janice Rule, Dolph Smith, Joan Rivers and Bernie Hamilton all give good performances. Why is the movie so bad you ask? There were creative differences between the director Frank Perry and he left the production. Sidney Pollack finished the movie. The movie is very dated by flashy 1960s photography. There are endless montages, gauze veiled photography to the point you wonder if you have cataracts. The overblown score by Marvin Hamlisch is fatal to the film. If you can imagine the worst soap opera score you have ever heard, it wouldn't come close to Hamlisch's melodramatic cacophony. This is the music, which will play in elevators in Hell. The movie's final scene is downright laughable. The movie is also hurt immensely by an amateurish performance by Janet Landgard as the former baby-sitter Ned fixates on.
Bad movie, good picture and sound. No real extras.
Picture Quality: 8/10
Columbia remastered "The Swimmer" in high definition. The colors are vivid, and the transfer is solid. Well saturated colors. There is some softness around the edges, but to tell the truth I couldn't tell if it was the fault of the transfer or the soft-focus photography that permeates the movie.
Sound Quality: 8/10
The soundtrack is also quite good. Every unbearable note of Marvin Hamlisch's score is there in rich, full, well-balance tones. No distortion or loss of dialogue.
Menu: 6/10
Nothing special. It builds on the swimming pool motif. Easy to navigate. The "Beach Ball" cursor is annoying as hell, but so is the music and photography, so at least the menu is true to the movie!
Extra Features: 2/10
The best thing on the entire DVD is the preview for Richard Brook's wonderful Western "The Professionals" with Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin. The preview includes a nice topless shot of Claudia Cardinale!
The Final Word:
Don't bother. "The Swimmer" is all wet.
Rusty White
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