The Drowning Pool (1975)

Paul Newman takes on the gumshoe role once more in this eminently watchable outing. True to style, the plot becomes increasingly convoluted, with the odd body turning-up here and there. Newman does that easy, laconic Newman thing and the director seems to almost pace the movie around his style. Lots of other fine actors give convincing turns, including not-so-often-seen Tony Franciosa (a frequent face in TV's 'The Name Of The Game'), who seems to be having a little trouble with his good-'ol-boy accent. Then there's a pert and very youthful Melanie Griffiths, playing the role of a spoilt but vixenish adolescent temptress. Everyone has their own agenda. Everybody is keeping secrets. Nobody is quite what they appear.There's a superficial plot about land title and oil exploitation. There's a little book full of very revealing details about civic and industrial corruption. And then there's some deep-seated unresolved family issues that could themselves bubble-up into murder. Everything just juggles along as the movie unfolds. There's a lot more psychological manipulation than on-screen cruelty and violence, which is how I like my movies.It's not exactly a classic, but highly recommended even so.

This film is finally decent and the suspense is quite OK, though with some little thinking we could think the end right from the very beginning. I can't tell you how otherwise you may yell SPOILER in about twenty-five languages including Arabic and Hebrew, both modern and old. Louisiana is there in front of you, New Orleans, a little bit though not the Mardi Gras festivities, too bad, but the bayous quite a lot, though they seem to look like the Everglades in Florida. Well I must be fantasizing or I must have watched too many Miami Vice-Squad series. One thing is sure down south they sure have an accent and they sure do not work the same way as in any other part of the world. But I guess they kill the same, they embezzle the same, they corrupt the same as anywhere else in the whole world. With money, for money, under the influence and the smell of money. What a universal devil those satanic green backs are and you can't escape them, no matter how much money you yourself have, no matter how many bodyguards you may have, no matter how many guns you may be able to brandish, no matter how many corrupted fiendish friends you must be able to have in the wings. A bullet or some pills will do the job quite well. That's the main interest of a private eye series: it can without any reserve reveal the depth of the guano we are living in all the time and every day, and in this case you can't imagine, and a "normal" cops series will not show you how decayed any police department must be. Well even Dexter is slightly short on that one. I liked the trickiness and intricacies of the plot, the unbearable arrogance of local cops, the thickness of the local accent, the superb local streetcars called Desire, but I didn't see one alligator, too bad. They must have been gone on vacation, or maybe they had been substituted with caimans or crocodiles, who knows, but I would have enjoyed a bowl of alligator soup in a Rue Royale restaurant. Run to that film, it is funny, more strange than ah ah. And girls are just what they are supposed to be, big traps with long teeth, but they bark more than they bite.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

I was hoping this sequel to Harper was going to be nearly as interesting to watch, it certainly had one engaging sequence, but only one, the rest isn't memorable enough for me, from director Stuart Rosenberg (The Amityville Horror). Basically private eye detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) is this time hired by an old flame of his, Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward, Newman's wife) to investigate a blackmail plot against her. I have to admit I lost track of what was going on, and I only caught on to the fact that J.J. Kilbourne (Murray Hamilton) is the oil tycoon villain who wants her property. I think I woke up to the plot again (sot of literally) when Harper and Iris are kidnapped and tied up in a "drowning room", aka a shower and bathing room. To escape this room when the bad guys are gone, after getting out a straight jacket and simple ropes, they decide to plug all the holes and turn all the water jets (showers, baths and fire hydrant) to fill the room and get to the window at the top, and when they can't breaks the window or turn the water off you wonder how they will get out alive, and they are only rescued when the door is opened. The last few minutes didn't have much interest to me. Also starring Anthony Franciosa as Chief Broussard, Gail Strickland as Mavis Kilbourne, Melanie Griffith as Schuyler Devereaux, Linda Haynes as Gretchen, Richard Jaeckel as Lt. Franks, Paul Koslo as Candy, Andrew Robinson as Pat Reavis and Coral Browne as Olivia Devereaux. Newman still makes a quite classy performance, Woodward has her moments, and even though I didn't understand everything going on, it did have its very moments, besides the title sequence. Okay!

Newman reprises his role as Lew Harper for the second and final time in the long-awaited sequel to 1966's HARPER, another twisting mystery; this time set in Louisiana. Unfortunately, THE DROWNING POOL was tepidly received by both critics and audiences, most of whom seemed to think the film paled in comparison to the original. I am one viewer who disagrees strongly with the general consensus in this case. Not only is THE DROWNING POOL a first-rate mystery thriller, but it is also one of the most sorely underrated films in Newman's filmography.The film has a completely different look and feel than the previous film, which may have been the reason that so many critics and audiences unfairly rejected it. Gone is the sixties-era go-go mania, which has been replaced with the moody elements of modern film noir which perfectly suits the intricate story of murder and blackmail. The film may not have the starpower of the previous film, but it nonetheless offers solid work from Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, and a particularly affecting turn from Linda Haynes. Best of all is the then-18 year old Melanie Griffith, who owns her role as the scheming bit of jail bait, unsubtly lusting after Newman's Harper.Yet nothing can even come close to upstaging Newman, who is as commanding here as anywhere else in his career. In many ways this is a transitional effort for Newman, paving the way from early brutish roles (1958's THE LONG HOT SUMMER, 1963's HUD) to his latter day, more cerebral heroes (1982's THE VERDICT, 1994' NOBODY'S FOOL). Also, even at age 50, the man has rarely been sexier. To top things off, we also have one of the greatest, most original escape scenes in movie history - although I'm not giving it away; you'll have to check out this underrated thriller and see for yourself.