The Swimmer (1968)

Into the Deep End
The Swimmer, 1968

It is indeed a rare pleasure for me to watch a “Connecticut movie” that’s actually a good movie. Not just a good movie, but a thought-provoking, weird, well-acted movie. And not only that, but of all the movies shot in Connecticut or about Connecticut, The Swimmer is featured on the cover of the 2023 book, Connecticut in the Movies.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. As I said, it’s odd. And disturbing on multiple levels.

It stars a shirtless, aging (yet fit) Burt Lancaster as Ned Merrill. My man wears nothing but a swimsuit for the entire movie. I imagine filming this was a pain in the butt for him – and actually, it was a pain in the leg as he did get hurt during the filming and the resulting limp is seen onscreen.

The Swimmer is based on a short story by John Cheever, and is available here. It’s a typically excellent Cheever story. (If you read it, you’ll note that the story does not take place in Connecticut, as there’s a line in there saying “friends came up from Connecticut.”)

The movie opens on Ned running through a green forest and happening upon a shimmering pool in what appears to be a wealthy neighborhood – well, it is a wealthy neighborhood. It was filmed around Fairfield County, largely in Fairfield but also in Westport and nearby.

Ned is elated. Effusive. Over the moon. He’d like to go for a swim, so he does.

He’s friends with the owners who all appear genial and genuinely interested in Ned and his doings. It immediately struck me just how happy everyone was. Happy to see Ned. Happy that he was happy to go swimming. Overly happy.

It was then that I had an inkling that this happiness was concealing something dark.

Ned tries to convince others to join him in the pool, but they were all hungover and just not feeling it. As he gazes across the forested valley, Ned begins to piece together a string of pools all the way to his own house, several miles away.

Then the idea hits him: He’d “swim home.” Pool by pool, neighbor by neighbor. Just one lap here, one lap there. Social calls. A true midlife summer adventure across the Gold Coast of Connecticut. (No state or town is ever mentioned in the movie.) Ned (or, Neddy as the local women know him as) spells out his grand plan to his first hosts and they just kind of smile at him quizzically.

Of course it was crazy, but they seemed to entertain Ned and his halcyon memories of his youth full of swimming and after having a drink with them, he was off.

“Pool by pool they form a river, all the way to our house. I’ll call it the Lucinda River after my wife. This is the day Med Merrill swims across the county.”

Okay then. He scampers through the woods and across yards to the Grahams. He smacks a butt, is offered a martini, and gets to enjoy the pool. The Grahams are obsessed with possessions like thekr new riding mower and of course their pool. Pretty much every person he tells of his plans thinks he’s loony. He never really reacts to those accusations or cocked eyebrows, which was the first inclination that ol’ Neddy might not be all there.

The woman at the next pool hates him, but doesn’t find him trespassing until he’s already got his lap in. Turns out Ned ignored her son dying, another chink in his armor. Ah, he’s self-absorbed too, I thought. Off to the next poor where he runs into a young woman whom he’s hired as a babysitter in the past.

Ned explains to the teens what he’s doing and Julie, the babysitter, is into it. In fact, she thinks it’s a brilliant idea. She’s young – very young – and admits that she had a schoolgirl crush on him when she was just a kid. She was obsessed and would touch his suits, smell his shaving lotion, and she once stole one of his shirts and she’d wear it thinking of him. This is really creepy but he’s into it.

In fact, he’s totally falling for this girl. I think the idea here is that he’s lost the plot, not that he’s into young girls. He’s divorced from reality; she’s relating a “cute” story and he’s taking it as a proposal of sorts. They continue on to a party with a bunch of alcoholics at the pool. The ladies all seem to like Ned, but the tone is changing. Joan Rivers makes an appearance. Ned has another drink.

The two run through a horse farm and Ned makes a move on the poor young Julie. She runs away horrified and then Ned goes to a massive mansion and its nudist owners. Man, this movie is a little bonkers. It is here we learn Ned is a complete deadbeat and owes everyone money.

Ned goes to a bunch more houses with pools. With each one, we learn another negative thing about him. An adulterer, a bad businessman, a scofflaw, a derelict, and a deadbeat. We see a physical transformation during his journey as well. He’s cold and shivering and limping and no longer the robust stud he was at the outset. It’s all very well done on film.

At one point he’s bumbling down the highway looking to cross and a car full of people throws trash at him. How quickly Ned has fallen.

He gets to a community pool and everything comes crashing down. No one will lend him the fifty cents he needs to swim his lap here, he is filthy now, his daughters hate him, etc. My word. In the end, he reaches his house and its locked up, abandoned, and now it’s pouring a cold rain.

I don’t know why I wrote this movie up like a play by play. Sorry. I really enjoyed this movie and while it’s a bit artsy, and goes way beyond the original Cheever story, I still highly recommend it.

CTMQ Rating: 4 out of 5 thumbs up
Connecticutness: 128 out of 169 Nutmegs
Filmed in Connecticut? Yes
Wealthy Caucasian with a Big House? Yes, many

Connecticut Movies