The Swimmer is an American drama film which was picturized in 1968, script and direction of the film by Academy Award-nominated couple who worked as a team and named it a team of Eleanor Perry and Frank Perry, who is a director and also produced this film along with Roger Lewis. The film cast Burt Lancaster, Janet landward, and Janice Rule. The story of this film was based on the 1964 short story “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, which was released on July 18, 1964. It’s almost a one-hour movie which adds up new characters, whereas the Same with those in the original short story.
The production company of the film is Horizon pictures, and it was distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was released on May 15, 1968, in New York City. The music of the film was composed by Marvin Hamlisch. The film was edited at its best level to make it a super hit blockbuster by Sidney Katz, Carl Lerner, Pat Somerset. So you can read the storyline and The Swimmer Ending Explained here.
The Swimmer Cast Members:
The cast of the film includes Burt Lancaster’s play the role of Ned Merrill, Janet Landgard’s play the role of Julie Ann Hooper, first feature cinematic role was in this film after being cast in various television series, Janice Rule was replaced by Barbara Lodan in the place of Shirley Abbott, Joan Rivers’s play the role of Joan, Tony Bickley’s play the role of Donald Westerhazy, Marge Champion’s play the role of Peggy Forsburgh, Kim Hunter’s play the role of Betty Graham, Bill Fiore’s play the role of Howie Hunsacker, Rose Gregorio’s play the role of Sylvia Finney, Charles Drake’s play the role of Howard Graham.
House Jameson play the role of Mr.Halloran, Nancy Cushman play the role of Mrs. Halloran, Bernie Hamilton play the role of Halloran’s chauffeur, Jimmy Joyce play the role of Jack Finney, Michael Kearney play the role of Kevin Gilmartin Junior, Richard McMurray’s play the role of Stu Forsburgh, Jan Miner’s play the role of Lillian Hunsacker, Diana Muldaur’s play the role of Cynthia Keri. Olesonas Vernon Hooper, Mrs. Hammar is played by Cornelia Otis Skinner, Henry Biswanger is played by Dolph Sweet, Grace Biswanger is played by Louise Troy, and Helen Westerhazy is played by Diana Van der Vlis.
Plot Explained:
As the story begins on a hot sunny day, a healthy, fit, middle-aged man tanned at skin tone appears in a bathing suit named Ned Merrill, who joins a poolside party held by old friends. They gave him a cocktail while having hangovers from the night before. As they converse, Ned notices a succession of backyard swimming pools that may create a “river” leading back to his house, allowing him to “swim his way home.” Ned dives into the pool, going towards the other end, and begins his journey. Ned’s behind his friends, who know worrisome things about his recent past, which had happened and shattered him like anything, and he seems to have forgotten.
As Ned swims through the pool, he came across his neighbors. He meets Julie, who is 20 years old and used to babysit his daughters, whom he repeatedly refers them as “at home playing tennis” He reveals his plan, and she decided to join him. They crash another pool party and sip some champagne. While chatting in the arch of trees, Julie reveals that she had a crush on Ned in school days. After she tells him about two incidents of sexual harassment at her workplace, Ned starts saying how he will protect her, making plans for the two of them. While the discussion goes further, she discomforts intimate approaches, so she runs away. Ned meets a nudist; an older well-to-doo do a couple, who are least bothered about his eccentric behavior but also not so impressed by his posturing. He then encounters Kevin, a lonely young boy who tries to swim, and Ned helps him learn how to swim. They used an abandoned, empty pool for learning the art of swimming.
Ned asks the boy to imagine it as a small bathtub filled with water and try to swim. The boy loves this method and soon starts to swim all around the length of the empty pool. As Ned waves Goodbye and glances back and sees the boy bouncing on the diving board over the deep, down empty pool. He rushes back to get him off from the diving board, then departs. Ned fails to make more than a superficial connection with the people he meets, being obsessed with his journey and becoming more out of touch with reality. Ned is perplexed by clues that his life may not be as trouble-free as he thought since the area is full of judgmental, well-heeled individuals keen on one-upmanship. When Ned enters another party, the hostess refers to him as a “party crasher.”
The Swimmer Ending Explained:
He meets a lively girl named Joan, who is completely unfamiliar with him. Joan is interested when Ned invites her to join him until his speech becomes more outlandish. She is led away from him by a friend. Ned dives into the pool with a big splash, attracting the attention of the other guests. He discovers a hot dog cart that used to be his when he rises from the water. Ned gets into an argument with the homeowner, who claims to have purchased the house in a white elephant sale. Ned shows up at Shirley Abbott’s backyard pool, a stage actress with whom he had an affair a few years ago. Her own experience of being “the other lady” contrasts with his fond memories of their time together. Ned wades into the deep end of the pool, unable to reconcile his feelings with the grief he has caused. Ned walks barefoot alongside a busy freeway before arriving at a packed public pool.
At the end of the film, there is a scene in which he was picturized to be treated demandingly by the gatekeeper, he encounters a group of local shop owners “How do you like our water?” they cynically inquire. What happened after inquiry as cynically. They are taken aback by his appearance in such a modest position and wonder when he would be able to pay off his debts. When someone among them makes vicious comments about his wife’s snobbish tastes and his out-of-control daughters’ recent troubles with the law, Ned flees away far from them. The skies darken, and rain begins falling. Amid a downpour at sunset, shivering, limping, Ned staggers home; the tennis court where his daughters were supposedly playing is in disrepair, and his house is locked and deserted, with several windows broken. Ned, distraught, tries to open the door many times before collapsing in the doorway.
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