The Drowning Pool (1975)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

Ross Macdonald (novel)
Tracy Keenan Wynn (writer) ...

Release Date:

July 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Mystery

Tagline:

Harper days are here again...

Plot:

A big-city private detective travels to the Deep South to help out an old girlfriend who is being blackmailed.

Plot Keywords:

Louisiana | Detective | Blackmail | Private Detective | Underwater

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Lew Harper
Joanne Woodward	...	Iris Devereaux
Anthony Franciosa	...	Chief Broussard (as Tony Franciosa)
Murray Hamilton	...	Kilbourne
Gail Strickland	...	Mavis Kilbourne
Melanie Griffith	...	Schuyler Devereaux
Linda Haynes	...	Gretchen
Richard Jaeckel	...	Lt. Franks
Paul Koslo	...	Candy
Joe Canutt	...	Glo
Andrew Robinson	...	Pat Reavis (as Andy Robinson)
Coral Browne	...	Olivia Devereaux
Richard Derr	...	James Devereaux
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Elaine Reavis
Leigh French	...	Red Head

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (2006) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Coleytown

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~7.2 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~7.3 seconds.

Quotes:

J.H. Kilbourne: You wanna live, don't you? To a ripe old age?
Lew Harper: I'd hate to think that I was making those Social Security payments for nothing.

Movie Connections:

Edited into La classe américaine (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Killing Me Softly With His Song

Intriguing, carefully paced mystery.

Ten years after Newman's success in "Harper" as the title private investigator, he reappeared in this follow-up. While the caliber of the cast can't hold a candle to the stellar first film, the acting and mystery elements are excellent. Woodward plays a wealthy Louisiana woman who once had a brief fling with Newman. She hires him to find out who's blackmailing her about her extramarital dalliances. Once he lands in the bayou, he is immersed in several confusing and complicated situations involving sex, real estate war and murder. Newman is utterly appealing as the hard knock investigator, Woodward is cool and refined, Franciosa puts his method acting to good use and Hamilton puts an enjoyably quirky spin on a villainous role. Griffith effectively plays Woodward's sexually ripe daughter and Browne adds great authority in her brief appearance as Woodward's domineering mother-in-law. The plot is extremely convoluted and risks losing all sense at times, but it all comes about in the end. The actors succeed in making the audience want to see more of what they are all about. The title refers to a climactic scene in which Newman and an exasperatingly upset cohort are trapped in an enclosed hydrotherapy room which is filled to the brim with water. This affords a rare opportunity to see the relatively modest Newman trotting around in damp boxer shorts. The film utilizes (perhaps overutilizes?) the song "Killing Me Softly" throughout. The film is like a reunion of sorts for Newman. Aside form his frequent collaborations with his wife Woodward, she and Franciosa had starred with him in "The Long Hot Summer", Hamilton had appeared in "The Hustler" and Jaeckel co-starred with him in "Sometimes a Great Notion". Director Rosenberg has also directed Newman in "WUSA", "Cool Hand Luke" and "Pocket Money". Years later, Griffith would appear with Newman in "Nobody's Fool".