The Swimmer-spinoff from Weird and Forgotten Thread

[topcat]

Oh yes.........The Swimmer.....................for those of you who have seen
it ,that haunting theme begins......................"Here's to Sugar on the Strawberries"........................"I'm Noble and Splendid"..........................
"Can I fix you a bull shot? asks Ned Merrill, naming a popular cocktail at the
time. Would have been more appropriate, for him to fix us with a bull sh*t....


Welcome to The Swimmer, starring Burt Lancaster.
Weird? That's putting it mildly.
Thank You Belly Tank Cab for taking up my offer to discuss this particular
rather unique film in cinematic history.


It isn't that there is any DEEPER meaning to the Swimmer beyond your first
impression, There isn't.IT IS about "falling from grace", so to speak.


What is a challenge in viewing it and makes for good discussion is - WHAT
THE HECK-OR WHO THE HECK'S POINT OF VIEW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO
BE VIEWING THIS FROM???????

Hence the challenge of The Swimmer. The lead character appearing out of
nowhere.....................What should be obvious right away and should not
even take a second viewing to conclude is that what you are seeing IS NOT
happening in real time.

Is it a dream sequence? Has Neddy died? Is he a ghost ? Is this his private
hell?

A little background knowledge of John Cheever, the author who wrote the Short Story ,The Swimmer, on which the movie is based helps somewhat.
The Short Story makes more reference to emphasize the role of alcohol
in Ned's decline than does the movie.

John Cheever himself was a depressed alcoholic who viewed the North East's
Upper Class suburban society as Phony through and through without an
OUNCE of substance, practically using Neddy Merrill as a collective noun
to represent the fate of ALL of those of the BackYard pool party culture at the time.


I contend that the "real" point of view of The Swimmer and an explanation
that brings any distortion into focus is the following.............

If they were to have started the film with Ned in a broken down apartment,
sitting against a table, head down on the table, nursing a bottle of whiskey,
heavy breathing, taking a swig from the bottle, despair, an emotional mess,
and THEN have the camera ZOOM IN ON his head to convey to us what
we are about to see from that point on is ALL going on in his head.

For that is what The Swimmer is truly about. You are witnessing the moment in Ned's life where he has hit rockbottom and is now reviewing the past mentally in his mind in a search for hope. His mind is "swimming" from
memory to memory to see if he forgot anything,seeing if some how some
thought will come to him if he keeps "swimming" enough. He is "swimming"
through the past in his mind , entertaining denial, in search of hope so as
to avoid having to make "peace" with...........irreversible ,never ending........
despair........................


The people he meets at first and avoids any serious in depth talk represent
people he dares not open up to, for should he get back on his feet,he wants them none the wiser,better to pick right back up with them when he's on top again. So he breifly remembers when he encountered them for real but it was just small talk and then , ON HIS WAY. Leaving them in a "good" state of mind
for his sake. This is played out in analogy, the brief swim he enjoys and the good rapor he has in the first pool and then, HE'S ON HIS WAY.
Just double checking in his mind ,he says to himself, haven't fallen low
enough yet to risk looking to them for help. They think too well of me.
One mistake there and then I'm truly finished.


He remembers the one lady who saw through his phoniness regarding his lack of staying in touch with her son especially when the son met a tragic end.
She knows the real Ned. Always that fear that even if he does find hope,
remember Ms Hammar is there ready to do him in.


In real life HE DID run into his old babysitter. Made an ass of himself,but review it anyway maybe he missed something that he could use even yet
in looking to Julie for some kind of.......hope.


Lying to himself with the stallion sequence,c'mon Ned pick yourself up-
YOU STILL GOT IT!.........................


Remembers when he lowered himself to ask even The Bizwangers for help,
but that fell apart completely when he saw his beloved hotdog wagon,
a truly sentimental object for him, in THEIR possession. Again
represented by the analogy of "swimming" in their pool.


The "swim" in the public pool repesent his now living among the common folk in a broken down apt. Good Luck finding hope there.


Right before that though he remembers making the most stupid search for hope of all, in trying to re-seduce his former mistress,Ms Shirley Abbot.
That was just about the last nail in the coffin.


People ask at the start of the film, where is Ned coming from???? An escaped
mental patient? No. He is coming from where you last see him at the end
of the picture.
Collapsed in the fetal posistion in front of his old house, now empty and
abandoned, in disrepair, perfectly analogous to his life now.

That collapse at the end of the film in front of old house repesents his mind collapsing in the 'ol broken down apt, with his head down on the table,as
he concludes yet another"swim" ,mental "swim" of reviewing the past,
once again finding ................no hope.......BUT with the next chug or
gulp of whiskey.....he begins yet another swim, HE HAS TO KEEP
SWIMMING TILL HE CAN SWIM HOME. By finding hope there HAS to have
been something he missed. He can never stop. Until with enough
alcohol consumption he finally does die .........for real,his swim has come
to an end.


So there you have it. By all means share your thoughts.

The following review was brought to you by Topcat who will be staying
complimentary of the Lounge at The Top Floor of The Waldorf Astoria
the weekend of MK'S trip May 12 & 13, again you are too kind and can't thank
you enough.

Ciao for now.

 

[The Wolf]

my guesses

USE OF HORSE AS ANALOGY
Near the beginning a close-up of the horse's eye fades into The Swimmer's eye. He races the horse and does pretty well. He is still young and vital.
When he is with the ex-babysitter he is literally in the compound where the horses jump. He doesn't have as much energy and twists his ankle. What happens to a show horse with a twisted ankle?
As we learn about The Swimmer's past we find he use to be quite the "stud" now he is older and inessence been put out to pasture.

Of course maybe I took too many critical English

The Wolf

 

[Senator Jack]

I just watched The Swimmer and I have to say that you've made a fair assessment, TC. But as it unfolds it's obvious he's coming to terms with his own life - from childhood ('we went to camp together,' he says of his friend), to first girl (notice he has a Cola with the 'kids') to becoming a dad (teaches the boy how to swim) through the required affair, his daughters' thinking him an old coot, and then the finality of death, or of being at death's door anyway - so I really didn't stop to think 'Who is this guy and where did he come from? Or, 'Are these people real or is it his imagination. It is what it is, an allegory.

We thought we missed something in the beginning because reading the notes on the dvd sleeve it says that 'Ned wakes up confused and in haze.' I played it back, thinking there was a scene such as you described - Ned in a broken down apartment. Is there an alternate cut for this film?

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[topcat]

Correct there Senator , it is what it is, an allegory. I stated the meaning is
obvious but the point of view is not.
Since you grasped right away it 's an allegory that seemed to be enough
to the point of not sparking your interest into how this is really happening.

Remember at one point the camera focuses in on his head, at the first pool
when he looks out over the trees , "getting" the idea for swimming home.
So there is the moment, one could say, where the film makers are trying to
indicate to you, it's all inside his head.

No, no alternate cut exists as far as I know.Have done a lot of internet research too.

I guess the line about him "waking up" is even more of a helpful hint in
understanding how this movie is occuring.

Yes, not only is he mentally reviewing his life since it took a turn for the
worse, but also his entire life since childhood.


Just remember Senator.................We are talking about.............................
The Swimmer......................and as the tagline says ,
"When You Talk About The Swimmer,Will You Talk About....................
YOURSELF?????????????

Dear God Senator................oh Dear God...................(tries the door
handle again) (it's just got to open) DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!


And Remember Senator......................YOU LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MudInYerEye]

One of my all-time favorites and I still can't put my finger on it tho some of the insights expressed here were plenty well-observed and certainly fun to read.