The Schwimmer

Talk about misconceptions. I was flicking through late night tv on the few channels we have and came across Burt Lancaster looking buff in swimming trunks and an obvious toupe frolicking with his ex- babysitter around a pool and onward to some snobby party before ending up in a horse corral pretending he was a horse??? I was rolling my eyes the entire time and since there was nothing else on, I stuck with it.

Well after the girls reaction to him and some of the other people he encounters shortly after I clued in that this wasn't beach blanket bingo. Having no way to find out the title of the movie until the end I waited, was intrigued by the ending and went in search of what I could find out about this movie. Oh and just for fun a 'young' Joan Rivers has a bit part in this movie. As a natural looking woman she is quite lovely - what she has done to herself in self mutilation and loathing over the years to appear youthful is very sad.

The Swimmer is a short story by John Cheever who was published in The New Yorker. The movie followed in 1968. A delusional Narcissistic man spends the day swimming across his valley and as the day progresses the illusion falters. A bit cheesy but actually a compelling story. I actually think this movie/story is worth a remake with a modern take. I don't want to give too much away but this is worth a second glance.

My first thought with Burt 'Neddy' frolicking in the meadow with his ex baby sitter was pathetic dirty old man - he doesn't see it that way. He see's himself as a god. I turned to my husband who was half asleep beside me and said that is exactly why we didn't have sitters when the kids were younger - I was joking of course... well kinda.

If you think about it though. Burt Lancaster was fantastically in his prime. The man was born in 1919 and was lean and buff and tanned in 1968 - for an old dude he was hot.