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Because of this thread, I rented The Swimmer last week. Loved the music and the movie.
I want to track down Cheever’s short story upon which this movie was based. What a
scathing, satirical indictment of suburbia.
I too would like to know more about the dual directors. Was the film finished by one
director and then had certain scenes reshot by Pollock? Or did the first one leave part way
through?
I kept thinking, “Wow, Burt baby still looks good in a bathing suit. Not much money
spent on his wardrobe.” I also wondered where this was filmed. I can’t imagine a REAL
suburb where there are such HUGE houses divided by several miles of bucolic pastures
and trees. Oh, well, had to provide a few miles between each house to enhance the
journey. (Those forested areas are probably malls by now.)
While the movie may be a bit dated in style and look, it still packs a punch at the suburbs,
Yuppydom, and the whole notion that materialism equals bliss. The last scene was just
heartbreaking, and Burt’s performance was great.
Although Mr. Preston can probably shed more light on the subject than myself (having BEEN THERE...I AM SO ENVIOUS!)I think I can tell you a little about the filming. Frank Perry directed, the film was photographed by David Quaid in Bridgeport Conneticut at real houses there along with their public swimming pool, the pasture riding ring etc.. Perry shot from a script by his wife at the time Eleanor and after having filmed the scene at the pool with Ned Merril's mistress (played by Barbara Loden...at the time director Elia Kazan's wife)was extremely happy with that scene and thought it was the best in the film. Lancaster didn't agree and wanted the scene re-shot with another actress. Sam (THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI)Spiegle head of Horizon Pictures allowed Burt to bring in Sidney Pollack (they worked together on SCALPHUNTERS)to re-shoot the scene with Janice Rule against Perry's objections. They filmed some additional scenes as well apparently in Los Angeles like the one with the late Kim Hunter... (this concerns one of several questions I have for Preston). Later Perry took out a full page ad in Variety practically disowning the film. (Preston: Please correct any of the above if I'm wrong!)
The short story by Cheever is really lovely but is less dramatic at the story's conclusion...(as his wife is at the first pool he visits).
Cheever himself is seen ever so briefly at one of the parties Merrill attends...Lancaster asked Cheever during the filming about his character and Cheever replied that "he's noble and splendid" a description repeated to the Joan Rivers "character" during a party scene.
And Joan,if you find yourself hungering for more of that lonely "lives in his own world" Lancaster role check out Sidney Pollack's CASTLE KEEP and John Frankenheimer's THE GYPSY MOTHS. For more John Cheever suburban angst read his novel BULLET PARK...very strange but totally mesmerizing.
For me personally the thing about this picture that haunts me to this day is it's subject: Ned Merrill. Seen from several points of view: his own, the people around him (which tells us a lot about them as well)and finally watching him react to his ever changing environment...i.e., his elation when he's "in his element", his neighbors support, contrasting with his sudden disappointment, rejection, lonliness when ugly reality comes crashing in: his "friends" confusion, fear, jealousy and betrayl...then always retreating to his dream world where everything is perfect again...(his "kids are home playing tennis" etc.)until he arrives home and can retreat no more. To put it mildly: I can relate to that. Apparently I have lots of company.
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Okay, gang, Vox Populi has spoken. Since Arthur is NOT alone and others are interested, I'll go public here instead of private at Arthur's e-mail box. I've shared a lot of my SWIMMER anecdotes on this board in other threads over the years, and I'd like to make this the definitive PNJ/SWIMMER reminiscence, so why doesn't everybody with questions log in with them over the next day or two and then I can sit down and try to answer everything that happens to fall within my memory. How's that sound? (I really won't have time to do this again, so let's shoot the works, shall we?)
BTW, "noble and splendid" is in the dialogue, and it represents Merrill's image of himself, not Cheever's objective assessment. Here's one more quick tidbit: Not only is Cheever in the film as one of the pool-party guests, he's one half of a couple; the other half, of course, is played by Eleanor Perry.
Okay, let 'er rip, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can after all questionsd are asked.
PS: Aside to Jeff Bond -- My memory is fuzzy; were you the kind soul who reviwed the Library of Congress book in '97 which contained my article on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER? You can e-mail me if you'd like with your answer if it WAS you. Thanks!
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ok Preston and thanks:
Q # 1. Did you actually SEE the scene filmed with Barbara Loden or replayed after they shot it?
2. If so how does it compare with the Janice Rule scene?
3. Do you know and/or do you have an opinion as to why Burt Lancaster objected to the scene as shot by Perry with Loden.
4. Was there any objection by Lancaster at the time of the shooting or immediately thereafter or did he just insist on changing things after Perry was finished with the picture?
5. How many scenes total were changed or added by Pollack?
6. Did Pollack use Perry's DP?...
7. Did he change anything in Mrs. Perry's script?
8. How much of the filming was Mr. Cheever on hand for and did he seem to approve or like what he saw?
9. What do you think the chances are of the Loden scene surviving somewhere?
10. Rumor has it that Burt was intimidated by being around so many talented thespians...any truth to this that you witnessed?
11. You said the Kim Hunter scene was added in Los Angeles was it?... and was that also shot in Conneticut with another actress?...Anything you remember in particular about that scene and why IT was re-shot?
12. Any specific reminisces you care to tell us about?
13. Were you living there at the time?...(How did you land that gig)?
14. (and MY last)...What did you think of that gorgeous countryside?...and what do you think the area looks like today?
Hope I haven't single-handedly pissed you off entirely on the idea of answering questions on this...but inquiring minds want to know!...
Warmest Regards, Arthur
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Thank you, Arthur, for all of that information. Appreciate it. It makes it very special when we can carry our own personal connections to a movie or literature.
Interesting that Cheever
would describe him as “noble and splendid.” Yes, I saw that in Burt’s performance, and I
did pity him at the end. Anyone who loses contact with reality and in anguish has to
invent a past world in order to survive the present engenders sympathy. However, I felt
this man also carried some of the burden of personal responsibility for his tragedy. His ego
pushed and pushed the baby-sitter for details of her “once young” crush on him, and he
made a pass at her. He may not have lost his wife and the respect of his children (“they
laugh at you.”) just because of his unemployment. He had a mistress and showed no
remorse about her. He just seemed upset that she hadn’t “enjoyed” him as he insisted she
had. His moral compass seemed rather askance which may be another point Cheever was
making about suburbians.
IMHO, this makes him an ambiguous character, and I like ambiguity instead of perfectly
good or perfectly bad characters.
I agree Joan about his ambiguity and lack of moral center... futhermore I'd say he's downright self-centered. ....what we hear about him from Mrs. Hammer alone is chilling:...(the third pool he visits) never visiting her son. To me though, the "self centeredness" of his character allows him to be so special and giving at other times, no more so than with the little boy and the empty pool...and don't you just love the ambiguity in that scene's resolution?: "I thought you were going to dive!..."
I also wanted to clarify something about the "noble and splendid" remark. When I spoke with Lancaster at the Mahler concert he told me that he was thinking this guy (Ned Merrril) was ready for the men with the white coats to come and take him away so he asked Cheever "what kind of a character is this I'm playing?"....to which Cheever replied "he's noble and spledid". Now this is what Burt told me Cheever said...I tend to agree with Preston's statement above that this is more what the Merril character thinks of himself...on the other hand with Ned Merril that tends to be one and the same. Burt finished his reminiscences by saying: (looking off, and in a dreamy like way) "Ned Merril......what a guy."
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Dear Jeff:
Your review helped me find a publisher for my book version of HEAVEN AND HELL TO PLAY WITH: The Filming of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. My publisher sent a review copy to FSM -- why not ask Lukas if you can be the one to review it for the magazine?
Aside to everybody else:
I'll review your questions and do the best I can to answer 'em. Keep watching the skies!
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Jeff, we sent the copy months ago -- unless somebody screwed up at my publisher's -- and I specifically told them to mention your earlier critique when writing the cover letter. Call the Lukas office and see if it's gotten buried in the slush pile!
NOW THEN --
Let's see how much ground I can cover on THE SWIMMER in one lunch hour. I'm just going to start at the top of this thread and work down. I'm going to race through this in hopes of completing it in one sitting, so please forgive typos and any other sloppiness. The facts are all. Here goes!
(Some of these facts and/or memories appear in the unpublished introduction, "Or, Memoirs of a Retired Go-Fer," to my upcoming book, "The Other Side of the Camera: The Movie Crew.")
Time: Summer of '66. Place: Fairfield County, CT. Cheever country. I was on summer vacation between Freshman and Sophomore years of drama study at Carnegie Tech (soon to be rechristened Carnegie-Mellon University). Frank Perry had grown up in Westport. I lived in New Canaan. Headquarters for Horizon-Dover productions were located at the Norwalk Motor Inn. They'd already been shooting for a week when I walked in and said, "Ive Got a car -- can you use me?" so I figured they already had all the help they needed, but to my happy surprise they said, "Where have you been?" Production Manager (later a director) Joseph Manduke sat down with me and gave me what is still the best piece of advice I've ever received about the movie industry. "Preston," he said, "This is a serious business. If we send you out for a cup of coffee, don't come back with a trombone."
Remember, they'd already been shooting a week. Because Ned Merrill was the only character who repeated from one scene to another, the company -- and the actor -- had the great advantage of shooting more or less in sequence, obviously a great rarity in film-making. Nevertheless, the first day of my employment was the beginning of shooting the first sequence in the film. Indelible first impressions include my first sight of Lancaster standing around in his trunks looking absolutely terrific, and every inch the charismatic star he was. Wistful to realize that I'm now approximately the same age he was then, and in nowhere near as good shape. Dave Quaid's crew had rigged a cable high in the treetops for the opening overhead shot of Lancaster's emergence from the woods and running dive into the pool.
In the film, I think they combined two takes to get the single tracking shot. Greatly enhanced by the score, and I've long been on record with the hunch that Shuken and Hayes had a lot to do with the quality of the score by fresh-out-of-Queens-College Mr. Hamlisch. (In the script, the film was to begin tight on the back of Ned's head, a way of implying, I think, the fact that a lot of what was to follow would reflect what goes on inside Merrill's head more than objective reality. I don't think they shot this angle.)
I don't think any part of the film was shot on a soundstage. Everything that's on screen (in the original cut) was on-location footage in the homes of Fairfield County. Including the home of playwright Reginald (TWELVE ANGRY MEN) Rose. John Garfield, Jr. played the kid at the entrance to the municipal pool locker room. Jumping ahead, for the moment, to post-production: Originally the complete film was shot by Frank Perry from Eleanor's script. After it was all assembled, it was apparently felt by producer Sam Spiegel that something crucial was lacking. We never saw Spiegel on location, mind you, but he was nevertheless the producer, lest it be forgotten. (I wonder what the new biography of Spiegel will have to say about THE SWIMMER.) One of the assistant directors subsequently explained it to me this way: The way the thing had been filmed was deemed too straightforward, too realistic. What was needed was something to cue the audience in to the fact that the movie was more about what was going on in Merrill's mind in relation to that outward reality. The decision was made to add a lot of nature footage at crucial junctures. For instance, in that first scene where Merrill gets his crazy idea to swim home. It's almost entirely the scene as shot in Westport, but added to it is that tight moving in on Lancaster's eyes, the visuals of the wispy clouds and sunlight, (and of course the music). Little things like that were shot and sprinkled all through the movie in post-production. The whole scene with the horse was added as an afterthought during this two-year (!) post-production period.
I had been befriended by the Perry's by this point. Naturally, they were unhappy that the film had been taken out of their hands. Eleanor told me she was writing a magazine article about the bitter experience, to be titled, "The Shallow End." Get it? The article may have been written -- I wonder? -- but I was later told that Lancaster had persuaded the Perry's that it wouldn't help their careers any to be bad-mouthing their colleagues or the movie which would have their names on it, so the article was never published.
A couple of entire scenes shot that first summer in Connecticut were re-shot, using basically the same script pages, by Pollack in Hollywood. One was the scene with Kim Hunter. The first version was shot before I joined the crew, but I got to see still photos of that sequence and the casting approach was very different. Originally, the lady playing the role was much less glamorous, much more matronly than Kim Hunter. I'm guessing that this was the main reason for the switch. The whole film is one long descent from the dream-like heights to the bitter depths. Kim Hunter as the lady charmed by Merrill is much more in keeping with the mature but lovely ladies at that opening scene played by Marge Champion and the late Diana van der Vlis.
The other major switch of course was with Barbara Loden. No, I didn't see the scene shot, because it was a closed location, due to semi-nudity. As originally shot by Perry, Merrill was to get rather brutal in trying to rekindle the passion with his old flame, a near-rape. I overheard Perry discussing his plan to intercut above-the-surface noisy violence with underwater-camera capturing silent violence.
Personally, I was looking forweard to going to the movie with friends and saying, "See that where he's ripping off her bathing suit? Right before that, I gave her a coke." The shoot of this important scene lasted longer than originally anticipated, presumably because so much care was being lavished on it. As a result, they had to pay through the nose to rent the pool for one extra day from the family that owned it. I did overhear Lancaster calling up the hill to the family, "Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Edelsteen, if Sam Spiegel wants us to come back and do a re-take because he didn't see enough of Barbara Loden's tuchas, will you let us come back?" "If that's the reason!" replied Mr. Edelsteen. Barbara Loden was very sweet, and an extraordinary talent. (She directed a film herself once.) Married to Elia Kazan, who discovered her in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS and cast her in the "Marilyn Monroe part" in the Lincoln Center premiere of Arthur Miller's AFTER THE FALL. Kazan and Spegel of course had worked together on ON THE WATERFRONT. The Perry's found absolutely no fault in Barbara's work on THE SWIMMER, but apparently, to their shock, it was Loden's own husband Kazan who convinced Spiegel that he should re-do the part with another actress. I've always wondered if there might not have been some hidden fear or jealousy behind Kazan's sabotaging of his wife's work and career. The Perry's were at a loss to understand it.
(Paul Newman dropped by the location, btw, during the Loden shoot, but I was away on an errand and never saw him. I did hear from the grips and gaffers how impressesd they were with Lancaster's performance and emotional nakedness, clutching his groin and shouting "You loved it!")
Time's up. Forgive me, I'll have to finish this next week when I'm back at the office. Hope this'll hold your interest until then.
Au revoir,
Preston (Neal Jones)
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Thanks for the encouragement and appreciation, folks. Moving right along:
(A moment ago, I happened to be e-mailing Jeff Bond, and I reminded myself of the curious similarity between THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and THE SWIMMER with all those animals of the woodland inserted in post-production. With HUNTER, the critters were always part of the script. With SWIMMER, they were part of the second-guessing and the attempt to establish that eerie life-of-the-mind mood.)
You've got me, too, wondering now if any of the original settings are still extant and intact. I'd almost be afraid to try to go back and see, for fear of the deterioration and "mallization." On the other hand, remember that for the most part these were the homes of very well-to-do people, and there's no reason why most of these places shouldn't still be prime real estate whether or not their ownership has changed hands or not. Incidentally, I was impressed by the professionalism of Mr. Lancaster -- or, "Splash," as we called him affectionately behind his back. During scenes where he's walking in the woods and the camera is shooting him from the shoulders up, and he could have chosen to put some sneakers on his feet, he still kept himself barefoot as he trudged the trail, the better to help himself stay in character.
You mention Joan Rivers. The Perry's had befriended her and decided to write that little part for her. (I think it's called "Joan" in the script.) Between takes she reverted to her stand-up persona, not surprisingly, and kept a lot of us laughing with her stream of consciousness. I remember one throawaway moment when she mentioned sitting next to Marlene Dietrich on an airplane. "I said hi to her, but she never cracked a smile. Probably afraid she'd break the stitches..." Ironic, considering Ms. Rivers' latter day incarnation as the Elsa Lanchester of E Channel...
I never saw that Variety ad in which Perry disowned the film, but he could have run one. He may have disowned the film, but he did own a print of it, (and all his other pictures), later in his life.
The Cheever story is very mercurial and hard to dramatize. (Some would say it was folly to attempt it.) Are you sure Merrill's wife was at the first pool? I'd have to read it again. But seeing the film again a couple of summers ago on a big screen, I appreciated more than ever the imagination and skill of Eleanor Perry in extrapolating and dramatizing what few nuggets the Cheever story gave her to work with.
I'll try and wrap things up in Installment Three, gang. Thanks again for your interest and attention.
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Okay, where was I?
I think I've covered all the queries. (Please correct me if I missed something.) So I think I'll just offer here a grab-bag of (mostly pleasant) memories in random order.
Lancaster and Kirk Douglas were famous on-set battlers as well as on-screen buddies. You may have read of the testimonial dinner for Douglas where Burt began his speech by saying, "Kirk Douglas would be the first to tell you that he can be a difficult man. And I would be the second." I recall Lancaster delighting in the tale he shared one day about receiving a letter from some charitable organization asking him if they could build their annual fund-raising event, on such-and-such a date, around an award they would give him. "I had to write back and tell them that I would be overseas making a picture at that time." Here Burt got this sly glint in his eye: "Then I added a PS: 'However, I don't think Kirk Douglas is doing anything...' And you know, they gave it to him!"
Everybody was understandably exhausted by the end of the summer's shoot. I dropped by the production office at the motor inn one day and found that everybody was conducting business as usual, except that everybody was speaking like a Frank Gorshin impersonation of big Burt. Instead of just, say, "Have those cans of film gotten here yet?" it was, "Have those cans of film gotten here yet," with clipped diction, then the gesture of the open hand, and the display of the upper teeth.
The last scene to be shot was going to be the sequence where Ned crosses the highway while cars whiz past and passengers toss cans at him, etc. A lot of logistics needed to be worked out, including renting cars, hiring drivers, cordoning off a section of the Merritt Parkway, getting state police, etc., etc. The night before, I was a fly on the wall while the assistant directors laboriously sweated over these details into the wee hours. Ted Zachary -- later a big wheel at MGM -- broke everybody up when, seemingly in all seriousness, he spoke thusly: "Look, we don't have to be going to all this trouble. It's the last scene in the picture, right? Okay, so we set up a camera on one side of the highway and another camera on the other side, then we shove Burt across. If me makes it -- fine..." (Already the group was starting to laugh.) "If not -- let him accept his Oscar posthumously."
Lots of other memories could be shared, from Dave Quaid tutoring me on the innards of the movie camera -- did you know that that little loop of the film before it passes by the lens is named Latham's Loop after the guy who figured out that if you looped the film in this fashion it wouldn't keep breaking all the time? -- to the day I was sent by Frank Perry to a Manhattan pool to notate behavior he could give the extras to bombard Lancaster with in the municipal pool scene. (Perry loved my two pages of notes, but ultimately didn't really use much of them; still, it was a thrill for me to be given a task normally assigned to an assistant director.)
I'll always be too close to the film to know if it really works, in the overall. God knows everybody involved was striving mightily to do something genuinely unusual and truly worthwhile. But I can look at it now and be deeply moved, many times, by individual scenes, lines and performances. All the more poignantly now that I'm Ned Merrill's age and can understand and identify with so much that I couldn't as a college-age, "pink-lunged" youngster. Rather than nurse my regrets, however, in my own life I choose, wisely or not, still to pursue my dreams. As Eleanor Perry quoted her character when she signed a copy of the script for me:
"Why not -- when the world is so generously supplied with water?"
-- PNJ
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What -- no applause?
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(In my best Elvisese): Thnkyew, thnkyewvrrymuch!
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Thankyou, Preston, so much for those remeniscences. It's much more than I'd hoped for and I enjoyed them immensely.
Regards,
Arthur
(Just one last note... I took a look again at the Cheever short story and Mrs Merrill is definitely at that first pool.)
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Hmm. How strange. But then, the whole story is strange. Oh well, as I said, time to re-read it. Thanks.
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