This title is available to USA & Canada only. Purchases from overseas will be refunded.
The award-winning Grindhouse Releasing deluxe edition of THE SWIMMER is back, with a newly remastered CD of the original soundtrack album, and a beautiful embossed slipcover!
Grindhouse Releasing is proud to present the ultimate late-’60s studio-produced cult film, THE SWIMMER. In his finest performance, Burt Lancaster stars as Ned Merrill, a man who confronts his destiny by swimming home, pool by pool, through the suburban nightmare of upper-class East Coast society. Based on the acclaimed short story by John Cheever, and directed by Frank Perry (DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE, MOMMIE DEAREST), THE SWIMMER is a film like no other, a feature-length TWILIGHT ZONE episode by way of THE NEW YORKER.
Synopsis: Well-off ad man Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) is visiting a friend when he notices the abundance of backyard pools that populate their upscale suburb. Ned suddenly decides that he’d like to travel the eight miles back to his own home by simply swimming across every pool in town. Soon, Ned’s journey becomes harrowing; at each house, he is somehow confronted with a reminder of his romantic, domestic and economic failures, until a final visit with an old flame (Janice Rule) leaves him devastated.
SPECIAL FEATURES
– Spectacular digital restoration created from 4K scans for optimal picture quality
– “The Story of THE SWIMMER” – the acclaimed 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
– Beautiful embossed slip cover
– BONUS CD – original soundtrack album by Marvin Hamlisch- newly remastered in stunning 24 bit/192khz sound from the original master tapes
– AND OTHER SURPRISES!
“A strange, stylized work, a brilliant and disturbing one. Burt Lancaster is superb in his finest performance. Four stars.”
– Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Totally engrossing, thanks to its very strangeness, and to the superb performances and vivid location photography. Five stars.”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out New York
“Grim, disturbing and sometimes funny… the film has the shape of an open-ended hallucination.”
– Vincent Canby, The New York Times