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Grindhouse Releasing will bring to Blu-ray director Frank Perry's The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule, and Tony Bickley. The release will be available for purchase in the United States on March 11th.
This much admired cult classic stars Burt Lancaster as Ned Merrill, who decides to swim across the country, using a chain of swimming pools in his friends' gardens. Along the way he meets a host of women from his past, faces humiliation, embarrassment and steamy encounters, before arriving home with a startling revelation. Studio bosses felt that the movie was too confused, and brought in director Sydney Pollack to tighten the narrative.
Special Features:
•2 Disc Set - Deluxe dual layer Blu-ray Edition + DVD combo
•Spectacular new digital restoration created from 4K scans for optimal picture quality
•The Story of The Swimmer - brand new, five-part, 2-1/2 hour documentary by Oscar-winner Chris Innis featuring in-depth interviews with stars Janet Landgard, Joan Rivers and Marge Champion, composer Marvin Hamlisch, film editor Sidney Katz, assistant directors Michael Hertzberg and Ted Zachary, UCLA Olympic swim coach Bob Horn, and Joanna Lancaster
•The original New Yorker short story read by author John Cheever
•12 page booklet with liner notes by legendary director Stuart Gordon (Re-animator)
•Rare production stills from the lost alternate scenes
•Extensive still galleries, trailers and TV spots
•And More...
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=12956
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This is a definite buy for me. I originally saw THE SWIMMER when it was broadcast in the early 1970s on the CBS Late Night Movie, and I've owned it on every video format since.
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FYi
CINEMA RETRO did an extensive feature about the making of the film a few issues back.
Check it out!( Its the one with Hammer Films & DRACULA on the cover}
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Mr. Marshall's review of Grindhouse releasing THE SWIMMER:
The blu-ray release will thrill any fan of the film and is a great way for newcomers to discover this 'arthouse' classic.
The print used is flawless and the transfer is exxxxxxcccccellent!
The Marvin Hamlisch score, though in mono, sounds first rate. An isolated stereo music track,
synced up to the film, is one of many terrific extras.
There are several docs about the making of the film. These contain many nuggets of choice
behind-the scenes info - the best being that Burt Lancaster could not swim!
Unfortunately, the major creative forces that produced the film are no longer with us. Thus , the bulk of the interviews are a bit prosaic. The main interviewees are the first and second assistant directors who tell us , repeatedly, "Lancaster was a total professional". Not exactly earth shattering. A little trimming of these docs would have improved the overall viewing experience.
All in all a great package.
Check it out!
bruce
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Mr. Marshall's review of Grindhouse releasing THE SWIMMER:
The blu-ray release will thrill any fan of the film and is a great way for newcomers to discover this 'arthouse' classic.
The print used is flawless and the transfer is exxxxxxcccccellent!
The Marvin Hamlisch score, though in mono, sounds first rate. An isolated stereo music track,
synced up to the film, is one of many terrific extras.
There are several docs about the making of the film. These contain many nuggets of choice
behind-the scenes info - the best being that Burt Lancaster could not swim!
Unfortunately, the major creative forces that produced the film are no longer with us. Thus , the bulk of the interviews are a bit prosaic. The main interviewees are the first and second assistant directors who tell us , repeatedly, "Lancaster was a total professional". Not exactly earth shattering. A little trimming of these docs would have improved the overall viewing experience.
All in all a great package.
Check it out!
bruce
Thanks so much for sharing that. Great news about the transfer. I'm really looking forward to it.
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Hi, Arthur! As ever, I hope this finds you well and thriving.
I only noticed this item up for pre-sale a few weeks ago on Amazon, which recently notified me that I'd be receiving my copy earlier than expected due to a stepped-up release date, but so far I haven't seen it in my mailbox. I'm very much looking forward to it, bells and whistles included. But I'm also frankly disappointed that nobody connected with the project seems to have been aware of me and what I could have contributed to the proceedings.
(Ironically, just a very few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow who wants to interview me for a book he's planning on the life and films of Frank Perry.)
'
NON SEQUITOR: The other F.P. film on which I labored has finally been released this past year on DVD (with NO bells or whistles): MAN ON A SWING.
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... I'm also frankly disappointed that nobody connected with the project seems to have been aware of me and what I could have contributed to the proceedings.
(.
I know how you feel, Preston.
I...KNOW....HOW....YOU.....FEEL
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My review along with Andre "The Giant" Dursin are now posted at Amazon.
Vote for the one that was "most helpful"
brm
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Mr. Marshal, thanks for your consolation. Do you ever get down-state? We should get together at some imbibery and drown our sorrows together.
Arthur, I have an open mmd, thanks, to the notion you propose. Perhaps some day, weather permitting...
At postage stamp size here in the Board, that photo does not immediately identify itself to my memory bank with any certainty. If I could see it at actual size, and have reference to my copy of the script and the film itself, perhaps i could be more helpful in this regard. Very little that was written went un-filmed, and very little that was filmed wasn't used in the final cut. (This of course is aside from those scenes which were re-cast and completely re-shot.)
Perhaps this is a candid, showing ol' Splash cozying up to the infamous Mrs. Edelstein...
My hunch, though, is that it shows Burt playing the scene which was later re-shot with Kim Hunter.
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My review along with Andre "The Giant" Dursin are now posted at Amazon.
Vote for the one that was "most helpful"
brm
The current tally:
Dursin : 2 out of two "helpfuls"
Marshall : 1 out of one "helpfuls"
vote dammit!
ahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bruce
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Hello everyone
A huge fan of The Swimmer here, and the Blu-ray is awesome.
I still have Preston Neal Jones's memories of the production, very kindly posted on here(?) some years back, printed out and inserted in the 2003 DVD. Found them again the other evening.
They actually answered a query I had. There is a phenomenal PDF on the Blu-ray set, Eleanor Perry's account of the production, entitled "The Shallow End or: How 'The Swimmer' Drowned". I wondered where that had originated - Preston mentions it in his essay. It was for a magazine, but she was persuaded not to submit it for fear of damaging her career.
Anyway, just thought I'd point this out. It's an incredible addition. The 3rd draft screenplay is on there too.
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My review along with Andre "The Giant" Dursin are now posted at Amazon.
Vote for the one that was "most helpful"
brm
The current tally:
Dursin : 3 out of 3 "helpfuls"
Marshall : 2 out of 2 "helpfuls"
vote dammit!
ahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bruce
i cant believe i'm losin' to this guy!
BRM
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)
