Burt Lancaster is a suburban dreamer who follows a series of pools to a rude awakening in THE SWIMMER.
market a few years later, it is nearly bloodless, relying instead on atmosphere and chilling visu- als to get the job done. Though the description of SHOCK WAVES as an “underwater Nazi zombie movie” always elicits a chuckle, its various sequences of the crea- tures emerging from the waves, trudging implacably under the wa- ter, or simply staring silently from the middle distance are undeniably effective.
Blue Underground’s clean Blu- ray transfer brings out every speckle of grain from the original 16mm source material, but at least you know you’re getting everything the film has to offer visually. The DTS-HD 1.0 soundtrack serves just fine, allowing the ’70s synth score by Richard Einhorn to spread out to its fullest. The disc provides all the special features from the previous DVD release [re- viewed VW 93:61]. A jocular com- mentary track with Wiederhorn (who all but disowns the picture), Ormsby and set photographer Fred Olen Ray provides a full ac- counting of the production. More information can be found in
12
interview featurettes with Adams, Halpin, Einhorn, and producer/cin- ematographer Reuben Trane. A trailer, radio and TV spots and an image gallery round out the extras.
THE SWIMMER
1968, Grindhouse Releasing, 95m 9s, $29.95, BD/DVD-0 By Tim Lucas
An early American stab at
Magic Realism (Robert Rossen’s LILITH, 1964, would be another), this adaptation of John Cheever’s 1964 short story stars Burt Lancaster (remarkably fit, but still limping from the tumbles he took
in John Frankenheimer’s THE TRAIN) as Ned Merrill, a subur- banite who steps out of the Con- necticut woods one summer afternoon—clad only in swimming trunks—to reconnect with old friends. Conceiving the idea of swimming home to his wife Lucinda, a chain of neighbors’ pools forming “the Lucinda River,” he commits not only to an heroic feat but to reopening a series of old wounds leading him to a bit- ter, blocked disappointment.
Along the way, he is fortified by encounters with young people who respond to his athletic air of en- chantment, one of them (teenage Janet Landgard) joining him until a larger truth begins to emerge, each pool becoming a filled-in puzzle piece of destructive self-ab- sorption. Written and directed by husband-and-wife team Frank and Eleanor Perry, this is a case where everything seems to go right except the film’s direction, which is stylis- tically not far removed from a TV- movie of the period and misjudges several scenes that become either too pretty or too shrill. Even so, Lancaster is majestic in a tragic role, one of his best, and he is well- matched in many of his encounters, particularly with old flame Janice Rule (who replaced Barbara Loden in a sequence later reshot by Sydney
Pollack, Lancaster’s director on CASTLE KEEP).
Grindhouse (an unlikely host for this title) has pulled out all the stops with a magnificent 1080p transfer that imbues the film with a nearly palpable air of magic than was evident in any previous release. This exhaustive three-disc set offers
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