Stars: Burt Lancaster, Janice Rule, Diana Muldaur, Kim Hunter, Marge Champion

Director: Frank Perry

Summary: Set in an affluent Connecticut district, the story follows a bored suburbanite, Ned Merrill, who one summer morning decides to swim home via the pools of his wealthy friends. His journey is one of embarrassment, humiliation and passion.

Burt Lancaster stars in this adaptation of John Cheever's dreamlike short story about one man's highly unusual attempt to find meaning in his life. On the morning after a booze-filled night, Ned Merrill wakes up in a haze, confronted by the sterility of his isolated, wealthy suburban existence. So he decides to traverse this upper-class world swimming pool by swimming pool: he goes to each neighbor's house, swims through the chlorinated waters of the requisite backyard pool, and chats with the owner. Among the people he sees are his longtime mistress, a sexy babysitter and a couple of politically-liberal (or so they believe) nudists. This interesting, overlooked film, is a visually captivating look at the essential emptiness of the "American Dream."

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Burt Lancaster gives one of his most daringly complex performances in The Swimmer, a fascinating adaptation of John Cheever's celebrated short story. At first it seems that middle-aged businessman Ned Merrill (Lancaster) is merely enjoying a spontaneous adventure, swimming from pool to pool among the well-tended estates of his affluent Connecticut neighbourhood. But as Ned encounters a variety of neighbours, we see from their reactions that he's on an entirely different kind of journey, balanced on the edge of some mysterious psychosis that we can't fully understand until the film's final, devastating image.

A compelling portrait of loss, refracted memories, and deep-rooted emotional denial, The Swimmersprung from the same late-60s soil that yielded similarly ground-breaking literary films such as The Graduateand Goodbye, Columbus. It's an egotistical showcase for the physical prowess of its 55-year-old star, but Lancaster turns it into something deeper, more disturbing, and completely unforgettable. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1968
Release Date:	May 26, 2003
Runtime:	91 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 10837
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Swimmer, Drama
Genre:	Drama