MovieChat Forums > The Swimmer (1968) Discussion > Booze

Booze

posted 15 years ago by jescci
13 replies | jump to latest

There was an awful lot of booze in this movie. At pretty much every house he stopped. Don't recall any at the public pool, but that scene featured a character who owned a bar where Ned was frequent customer. Was that one of the secondary messages of the film? that the American Dream yields miserable, booze-swigging, borderline alcoholics?

There was also a horse theme going on. Ned pranced with a solitary stallion (stud?) and hurdled show-jumps with Julie ... before coming up lame.

[–] bhoover247 15 years ago

Good point. Julie seemed to start losing interest in her stud when he came up lame.

[–] JavierBoredom 15 years ago

>>"Was that one of the secondary messages of the film? that the American Dream yields miserable, booze-swigging, borderline alcoholics?"

That was the theme of just about everything John Cheever ever wrote.

[–] mercury4 15 years ago

He never came up lame. I don't know where you got that. But I agree, it seemed like she all of a sudden lost interest in her stud and ran off. She went around with him the whole day and she found a nice cozy spot with him and all of a sudden she had no interest? It made no sense. Not only that but look at Burt Lancaster in the movie. What girl is going to turn a guy like that down? As someone pointed out, maybe Julie wasn't really there.

[–] Eric-1226 14 years ago

What are you talking about? Julie started to catch on that Neddy was beginning to cross certain boundaries. Up until that point he'd been playfully romantic and poetic, and she was able to keep him at arms length, like it was all just a fantasy. But suddenly he was starting to sound way too serious and protective of her, wanting to meet her every day for lunch and basically smother her - she was probably starting to sense in him the kind of guy whom we nowadays refer to as a stalker. I think Julie's radar simply picked up on this at that point in the story. When she felt threatened, she split. She simply did what most young women would've done when some old guy started getting too serious. It all seemed pretty natural to me.

"I've always tried to teach you two things. First: Never let them see you bleed. Second: Always have an escape plan." - Q

[–] gnolti 14 years ago

Cheever's story begins with the line, "I DRANK too much last night."

Booze x existential angst / 1950s/60s America = Cheever

There, daddy, do I get a gold star?

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

It's pretty obvious to me that what Neddy was swimming in was at least 80 proof.

[–] Clemencedane 11 years ago

Yes, I think Mad Men borrowed a lot from movies like this.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Specifically, Matthew Weiner cited John Cheever's stories as one of the influences on Mad Men, and this is a John Cheever story.

[–] eeoulo 11 years ago

On the surface what you're saying fits, he was the creepy old guy. The thing is, this movie is about him coming to terms with who and what he is. I think the injured and losing appeal concept really fits. It's one way he has to come to terms with who he is, a breaking down aging man that no longer has the sex appeal he once had. 20 years prior he would have had a woman's swimsuit off and now it's just creepy.
Then again, like so many parts with this brilliantly executed movie, it's open to how you interpret it as it's wide open to speculation and interpretation and not just spoon fed.

[–] eelb 10 years ago

Julie's situation is easy to understand. Her perspective of Ned changed from adult mentor to a dirty old man. Lots of young girls enjoy the company of older men, until the man crosses the line and start talking about a romantic relationship.

[–] ThereWillBeBeer 11 years ago

It was the 60s. Some of the married couples in The Swimmer reminded me of East Coast versions of the Braddocks and the Robinsons in The Graduate. They had a drink in their hand practically every waking moment.

May I bone your kipper, mademoiselle?

[–] Adler-99 8 years ago

"It was the 60s. Some of the married couples in The Swimmer reminded me of East Coast versions of the Braddocks and the Robinsons in The Graduate. They had a drink in their hand practically every waking moment."

And a cigarette in the other. True in the 1960s, both in movies and real life.

[–] rship1 8 years ago

It was the 60s. Sam was greeting Darin with martinis at the door, or Darin would ask for martinis upon arriving home on prime time TV.

And Julie was telling Ned that when she'd babysat his offspring, she'd went into his wardrobe and wore his shirts just to feel closer to him. A young woman telling this to a well built man in a swimsuit seems like her motivations were clear, she still wants him. Right then and there poolside. When he wants to move on and not impale her is when she gets antsy about it and breaks away