If there were one hundred hours in a day, I would still not have enough time to write all the things I need to write.
So, since I don't have time to write my Obama post today (which I need to write and I will write) and since we could all use a break from politics and since I have been inspired by Mr. Rory Aronsky, I will instead post a terrific YouTube.
Who's seen The Swimmer? Who loves it? Thoughts? And how many who have never seen it can't wait to see it after viewing that trailer?
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14 comments:
*ROFLMAO* I die from the swim trunkiness of it all. (And was that Joan Rivers in the trailer?!?)
fackin' brilliant!!! i read the Cheever story in the New Yawkah many years ago, but never knew they made a film.
"You loved it."
I didn't.
"You loved it baby."
No, I didn't.
"Yoouuuuu loved it."
Guess that settled that.
Off topic,
So what.
Got your back on Obama, Erin.
Virginia, North Carolina, Florida about to go blue. " You can fool some of the people..."
BTW, I had my picture made with Al Gore once, I think I'm ready for a Nobel prize.
RJ
Great movie! Released 40 years ago, but still fresh. It's based on a great story by John Cheever, but the movie - being longer - is richer in details without betraying the them of the story it is based on.
It is one of the most intriguing treatments of a man in massive denial about the misfortunes of his recent past. We learn all this slowly as the story unfolds on a midsummer day when the hero tries to swim home using the swimming pools in the neighborhood he lives (or used to live?) in.
I think I have an old tape of it. Feel like watching it again.
Steven C. Scheer
New nickname for Sarah Palin: Caribou Barbie.
Just copy Obama's resume' and post it!
The space you save will save a lot of Internet bandwidth...
New nickname for Sarah Palin: Caribou Barbie.
That reminds me of this:
http://graphjam.com/2008/09/21/song-chart-memes-thread-topic-flowchart/
I think I have an old tape of it. Feel like watching it again.
I bought a DVD copy a few years ago and unfortunately, it appears that the selling of the DVD has gone by way of DVDs for "Barfly," that is, sellers offering copies on Amazon.com $55 and above, but for "Barfly," $100 and above.
SPOILER, SO AVERT YOUR EYES YOU WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET:
I saw "The Swimmer" a few weeks before I graduated high school in 2002 (perfect time to do so), on Turner Classic Movies, and was stunned by the ending. I could tell something was clearly wrong with this man once he got to the pool party, but that ending, when he realizes the truth that he has nothing, I was white-faced. Really makes us think about our own baggage in life and how we're doing so far in the world.
(Apologies for the triple-post)
By the way Helen, no offense intended regarding that link.
In fact, thinking about it now, I think Sarah Palin would be the perfect person to undergo their own "Swimmer" treatment. She'd have the swimsuit, to satisfy those men who apparently vote with their dicks, and then let her eventually approach those she wronged and is no longer able to lord over them.
(Apologies again. Thoughts just spurt out after the fact)
It is one of the most intriguing treatments of a man in massive denial about the misfortunes of his recent past.
I got to thinking about "Lakeview Terrace" just now and while I realize that and "The Swimmer" are entirely different films, I'm reminded of what they used to make their respective points.
"Lakeview Terrace" uses encroaching wildfires to highlight the racial tensions that inevitably explode. Not always subtle.
In "The Swimmer," Ned Merrill (Lancaster's role) shows up at the first pool in the neighborhood, strangely wearing only swimming trunks. He feels great, looks strong, and has what must be the biggest smile anyone can have in suburbia. Gradually, walking through dirt, feeling the chill from swimming a few pools even with a towel occasionally being offered, and walking straight across a highway, he becomes worn down, until the ultimate humiliation for him when he's at a community pool and is told he can't go in until he washes his feet in the showers nearby, and then is charged admission that he can't pay, and has to ask for it from someone who used to know him, but whose wife seems to know him better and doesn't want to get involved with him again, even in the simple matter of change. The husband gives it to him anyway, brushing off his wife.
It's more subtle than what "Lakeview Terrace" has (though it does have its potent moments of insight), because Ned's declining physical condition in that way adds to what others think about him and what we think as we try to figure out how big a figure he was in his neighborhood and just how badly he treated others, highlighted by Janice Rule, who plays a jilted lover.
It turns out that the scene with Rule was re-shot after the actress who played her was undeemed unfit in that performance, and wasn't even shot in Connecticut. It happened after Frank Perry, the director, and his wife, screenwriter Eleanor Perry, walked off the film after Columbia Pictures expressed dissatisfaction with their cut, and the late Sydney Pollack took over for the final weeks.
It's sad when a fellow loses his copy of collected Cheever stories. More sad than losing his teeth, but not as sad as misplacing his drink.
I haven't seen the movie in ages, but what Rory says about Lancaster's character is spot-on. The other thing that I loved about this film is the way it's dated like The Graduate is dated. The music, the booze, the clothes. It's part of what is going on. The very idea of swimming a river of suburban pools. Christ awmighty! Where's my hostess skirt and silver city pink lipstick?
We all need to see this movie.
Everyone here who cares, keep an eye out and if The Swimmer comes on TCM again--or anywhere else for that matter, give a good shout out.
And yeah, that is Joan Rivers.
She looks then (in '68) just as she looks now, in '08. Highlander?
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