Los Angeles-based private investigator Lew Harper flies to Louisiana to do a job for his former lover, Iris Devereaux. She believes the family's ex-chauffeur is the person who is blackmailing her with the knowledge that she has cheated on her husband. The husband, who is a closeted homosexual, does not care, but his mother, Olivia Devereaux, is the family matriarch and runs the family estate with an unforgiving iron grip.
Even before his investigation begins, Harper is propositioned in his motel room by a teenaged girl. He sends her away, but later he discovers that the teenager is Iris Devereaux's daughter, Schuyler. Their meeting in the motel room brings Harper to the attention of police chief Broussard and the disagreeable Lieutenant Franks. Broussard accepts Harper's explanation, but tells him he will be following what Harper does, as he has a personal interest in the Devereaux family.
Harper is abducted by two hoods working for the oil magnate J.Hugh Kilbourne, who thinks Harper might be useful in his efforts to get ownership of some of Olivia Devereaux's oil-rich properties, which she is content to maintain as bird sanctuaries. Harper is noncommittal towards Kilbourne, and the hoods return him to his car. On Harper's return, he learns that the dead body of Olivia Devereaux has just been found and the police's prime suspect is the ex-chauffeur.
While searching for the chauffeur, Harper is abducted again, this time by hoods working for a mysterious woman. He does not have any useful information for her and is released; he later finds out she is Mavis Kilbourne, the wife of the oil magnate. She is working behind her husband's back trying to find an account book containing information of his illicit business dealings, which he is desperate to recover and would kill her over if he knew she had a hand in its disappearance.
Harper tracks down the chauffeur, Pat Reavis. He finds Reavis with $10,000 in his possession and believes that Reavis was paid to kill Olivia. He calls the police to say that he's bringing Reavis in and makes Reavis drive at gunpoint. En route, Reavis denies involvement in blackmailing Iris and murdering Olivia, claiming he was only at the scene of the murder because he had been having an affair with Schuyler. However, he admits to having information that he expects will yield a lot of money, and offers Harper a share of it if he will let him go. The car they are in is forced off the road by masked gunmen, who shoot Reavis dead but miss Harper, who wounds one of the gunmen. The next day he is informed by Broussard that, mysteriously, there was no report made to the police of any gunfight, but that Lt. Franks has been injured in a "hunting accident".
Despite Iris's pleading with him to give up on the case and go home, Harper continues investigating. He correctly deduces that Reavis came into possession of the missing account book and must have given it to a trusted girlfriend for safekeeping. Knowing that Franks was involved in the killing of Reavis, Harper ambushes Franks in his own home and forces him to admit that he does jobs for Kilbourne. When Harper later confronts Kilbourne with the information, the oil magnate admits to having hired Reavis, but insists it was only to spy on Olivia Devereaux, not to kill her. When Harper tells Kilbourne he knows about the missing account book, Kilbourne offers him a fortune for it, but Harper just walks away.
This leads to Kilbourne and his henchman kidnapping Harper and Mavis to find out where the notebook is, torturing them with a fire hose in an abandoned asylum. When Harper refuses to give up any information, Kilbourne leaves them overnight to suffer. During this time, Harper uses their clothes to plug the drain, and he and Mavis flood the room in an attempt to reach the skylight. When the water is finally high enough, they find that they can't break the window, and are near drowning when they are ironically saved by Kilbourne returning to torture them more. Harper gives Kilbourne's gun to Mavis, asking her to watch him while Harper finds a phone to call for help. As Kilbourne brags to Harper that he has too much influence and that he'll get away with it all, shots suddenly ring out. Harper returns to find Kilbourne dead, with Mavis admitting that "He's right, he would've gotten away with it".
Returning to the Devereaux estate, Harper finds that Iris has committed suicide in the night with a combination of sleeping pills and alcohol. Chief Broussard is also there, devastated. Broussard asks Harper, "Did she tell you about us?", to which Harper replies, "She didn't have to". Harper confronts Schuyler in the bird sanctuary, where she has released all of Olivia's birds into the wild. Harper lays out how Schuyler was behind the whole affair, and she insists that "they really did a job on" her father before admitting that she hated both her mother and her grandmother. Harper then reveals that Broussard has been listening the whole time. Broussard lets Schuyler go and lashes out at Harper, before breaking down in tears and confirming that he is Schuyler's real father. Harper tells Broussard, "That's YOUR kid out there. How are you gonna handle that?" before leaving.
Harper visits Reavis' girlfriend, Gretchen, giving her $9200 (the $10,000 he confiscated from Reavis, minus the $800 in expenses he racked up during the case). He asks Gretchen to send the account book to "the biggest newspaper in New Orleans". The film ends with Gretchen telling Harper, "you're not such a tough guy."
The novel was published in 1950. The New York Times called it one of the best mysteries of the year.[3]
In 1966, a film was made of a Lew Archer novel called Harper, starring Paul Newman. The character of Archer was renamed "Harper" for the movie. It was based on a script by William Goldman, who then wrote a follow-up Archer adaptation, based on The Chill, but that movie was never made.
In April 1973, producers David Foster and Lawrence Turman announced they had optioned the rights to the novel The Drowning Pool for director Robert Mulligan and had hired Walter Hill to adapt it.[4] Hill did a draft, saying he "tried to toughen up the material and put a little more muscle in Lew Archer's pants, which was probably a mistake. Certainly, the studio and the producers ended up feeling that way; their main criticism was MacDonald's fans don't respond to physical action. They may have been right, but I thought going in the direction they wanted with the script was a highway to dullsville."[5] Hill said this prompted him to "more or less jump ship" to go and make his directorial debut Hard Times.[5]
Hill says that when he became involved, Paul Newman was not attached to the film, and that when Hill left the project, so did Mulligan.[5]
Eventually, Paul Newman agreed to star. This meant the film was co-produced by First Artists at Warner Bros. By July 1974, Joanne Woodward had agreed to co-star and Lorenzo Semple had rewritten the script.[6] Producer Foster says it was Woodward's suggestion to relocate the story from California to Louisiana, as she felt it would offer a point of difference.[7]
By September 1974, Tracy Keenan Wynn, who had earned a strong reputation writing TV movies, was working on the screenplay.[8] Hill said that later Eric Roth did some writing on it.[5]
Jack Garfein said his agent pitched Garfein to direct the movie and Newman was agreeable, but then Stuart Rosenberg approached Newman asking for the job, saying he was going through personal problems and was "desperate" for the job, so Newman chose Rosenberg.[9]
Originally, the plan was to call the lead character "Dave Ryan" so the film would not be confused as a sequel to Harper. Then a few weeks before preproduction, it was decided that it was "foolish to make this change" (Foster) and the character ended up being called "Harper".[7]
Newman said, "a character like Harper is very easy. It's great fun to get up in the morning and play Harper."[10]
The film was shot in late 1974. Location filming occurred in Lake Charles, Lafayette and New Orleans.[11] The melody to the international hit song "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is heard playing in the background of several scenes in the film.
At the time the film was being made, Paramount was producing a TV series based on the Lew Archer novels starring Brian Keith.[12]
Before the movie came out, a film buyer said, "You're sure it's going to be a disaster because Stuart Rosenberg — ooh! What has Stuart Rosenberg got on Paul Newman? I mean, after WUSA, how could anyone...? This man has got to be the Otto Preminger of grade-B movies. He just hasn't made a commercial movie in years, and people still give him big properties."[13]
Hill later estimated that only two minor scenes in the film were true to his adaptation[14] and said he "wasn't too crazy about the movie."[5]
The voiceover for the trailer was done by Lynda Carter, a rarity for a female actress.
A.H. Weiler of The New York Times said in the review: "Under Stuart Rosenberg's muscular but pedestrian direction, the script, adapted from (Ross Macdonald's) 1950 novel, transports our hero from his native California to present-day New Orleans and its bayou environs. ... Of course, Mr. Newman's Harper survives beatings, traps, and a variety of enticing offers with quips, charm, and inherent decency projected in underplayed, workman-like style. If his performance is not outstanding, it is a shade more convincing than the characterizations of the other principals, who emerge as odd types and not as fully fleshed, persuasive individuals. ... Unfortunately, the performances and such authentic facets as Cajun talk, bayous, New Orleans and an imposing, white-pillared, antebellum mansion set amid wide lawns and ancient live oaks, serve only to make The Drowning Pool a mildly interesting diversion."[15]
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars. He wrote that the basic premise of The Drowning Pool was "straightforward thriller material, and could have made a decent B movie, but since "The Drowning Pool" is a Paul Newman vehicle, it goes first class, and that turns out to be fatal. So much attention is given to making the movie look good visually that the story gets mislaid."[16]
The film was a box-office disappointment in the United States and Canada, earning rentals of $2.6 million.[2] However, it performed better abroad — especially in Italy, France, Spain and South Africa — earning $8 million worldwide.[1]
Home media
The Drowning Pool was released on November 14, 2006, as part of the Paul Newman Collection DVD box set. The film made its Blu-ray debut in 2018.
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Rachel, Rachel is a 1968 American drama film produced and directed by Paul Newman and starring his wife, Joanne Woodward, in the title role and co-starring Estelle Parsons and James Olson. The screenplay, by Stewart Stern based on the 1966 novel A Jest of God by Canadian author Margaret Laurence, concerns a schoolteacher in small-town Connecticut and her sexual awakening and independence in her mid-30s. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two Golden Globes: Best Director and Best Actress (Drama).
Anthony George Franciosa was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of the drug addict in the play A Hatful of Rain, which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in its subsequent film adaptation, for which he won the 1957 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American retired actress. She made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a characteristic nuance and depth of character. Her accolades include an Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is the oldest living winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress.
From the Terrace is a 1960 American DeLuxe Color romantic drama film in CinemaScope directed by Mark Robson from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by John O'Hara. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Myrna Loy, Ina Balin, George Grizzard, and Leon Ames, with a young Barbara Eden appearing in one scene. The plot tells the story of the estranged son of a Pennsylvania factory owner who marries into a prestigious family and moves to New York to seek his fortune.
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is a 1990 American drama film based on the novels Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell. It is directed by James Ivory, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and produced by Ismail Merchant.
Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar. He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featuring private detective Lew Archer. Since the 1970s, Macdonald's works have received attention in academic circles for their psychological depth, sense of place, use of language, sophisticated imagery and integration of philosophy into genre fiction. Brought up in the province of Ontario, Canada, Macdonald eventually settled in the state of California, where he died in 1983.
Lew Archer is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern California. Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of shorter works as well as several film and television adaptations. Macdonald's Archer novels have been praised for building on the foundations of hardboiled fiction by introducing more literary themes and psychological depth to the genre. Critic John Leonard declared that Macdonald had surpassed the limits of crime fiction to become "a major American novelist" while author Eudora Welty was a fan of the series and carried on a lengthy correspondence with Macdonald. The editors of Thrilling Detective wrote: "The greatest P.I. series ever written? Probably."
WUSA is a 1970 American drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins, and co-starring Laurence Harvey, Cloris Leachman and Wayne Rogers. It was written by Robert Stone, based on his 1967 novel A Hall of Mirrors. The story involves a radio station in New Orleans with the eponymous call sign that is apparently involved in a right-wing conspiracy. It culminates with a riot and stampede at a patriotic pep rally when an assassin on a catwalk opens fire.
The Moving Target is a detective novel by writer Ross Macdonald, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in April 1949.
The Drowning Pool is a 1950 mystery novel by American writer Ross Macdonald, then writing under the name John Ross Macdonald. It is his second book in the series revolving around the cases of private detective Lew Archer and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in the US and in 1952 by Cassell in the UK.
The Long, Hot Summer is a 1958 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa and Orson Welles. It was directed by Martin Ritt, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella "Spotted Horses", the 1939 short story "Barn Burning" and the 1940 novel The Hamlet. The title is taken from The Hamlet, as Book Three is called "The Long Summer". Some characters, as well as tone, were inspired by Tennessee Williams' 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a film adaptation of which – also starring Newman – was released 5 months later.
Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director whose motion pictures include Cool Hand Luke (1967), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). He was noted for his work with actor Paul Newman.
Harper is a 1966 American mystery thriller film directed by Jack Smight from a screenplay by William Goldman, based on the 1949 novel The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald. The film stars Paul Newman as Lew Harper, with a cast that includes Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner and Shelley Winters.
A Jest of God is a novel by Canadian author Margaret Laurence. It was first published in 1966. It won the 1966 Governor General's Award for English-language fiction, and was made into the 1968 Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward film Rachel, Rachel.
Melissa Stewart Newman, also known as Lissy Newman, is an American artist, singer and former actress who appeared in the 1990 film Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, and at the 30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds is a 1972 American drama film produced and directed by Paul Newman. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play of the same title by Paul Zindel. Newman cast his wife, Joanne Woodward, and one of their daughters, Nell Potts, in two of the lead roles. Roberta Wallach, daughter of Eli Wallach, played the third lead.
This article is the filmography of Paul Newman.
The Last Movie Stars is an American documentary television miniseries created by Emily Wachtel and directed by Ethan Hawke. All six episodes of the series were released on HBO Max on July 21, 2022. After discovering transcripts of interviews conducted at Paul Newman's request for an abandoned memoir project, a daughter of Newman and Joanne Woodward asked Hawke to tell their story, personally and as artists. Hawke assembled actors to read pieces of the interviews, conducted and edited by writer Stewart Stern, including interviews with Newman and Woodward. The marriage spanned 50 years and was often cited as one of the great Hollywood successful marriages and love stories.
References
1 2 "Foreign Fans Fancy 'Drowning Pool,' So $8,000,000 Foreseen". Variety. January 14, 1976. p.38.
1 2 FIRST ANNUAL 'GROSSES GLOSS' Byron, Stuart. Film Comment; New York Vol. 12, Iss. 2, (Mar/Apr 1976): 30-31.
↑ Best Mysteries of 1950 New York Times 3 Dec 1950: BR30.
↑ Barbra Nightingale: SELECTED SHORTS DETECTIVE WHO? TOUCHDOWN! Nurse Barbra By A. H. WEILER. New York Times 29 Apr 1973: 135.
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