Lew Harper, a private eye, is hired by Iris Devereaux, the wife of an old-money Louisiana aristocrat, who has been receiving poison-pen letters accusing her of adultery. It soon becomes clear, however, that this is much more than a simple case of blackmail. The plot quickly becomes very complex, involving the Devereaux' former chauffeur, their nymphomaniac teenage daughter, a prostitute and a tycoon plotting to take over the Devereaux family land for the oil deposits beneath it.
Despite its very different visual style, "The Drowning Pool" has a lot in common with the films noirs of the forties and fifties. Unlike Polanski's "Chinatown", another film from the mid-seventies but one with a thirties setting, it is less a pastiche of or deliberate homage to film noir than an early example of neo-noir, an attempt to transfer the genre to a modern setting. The complex plot with its overtones of official and corporate corruption in high places could in some ways be the plot of a Humphrey Bogart film, albeit one set in the seventies rather than the forties and transferred to New Orleans from Bogart's normal stamping-ground of Los Angeles. The element of sexual blackmail and the involvement of a chauffeur are reminiscent of "The Big Sleep"; Iris's daughter, the oddly-named Schuyler, has some similarities to Carmen Sternwood, another rich-white-trash nymphomaniac, from that film.
Newman makes Harper a cool, laid-back seventies private eye, quite different to the more edgy, abrasive private eyes of the forties, but this is not really one of his best performances, lacking the style he brought to "Cool Hand Luke" or to earlier thrillers such as "The Prize". Few of the other characters really stand out, with the surprising exception of Melanie Griffith as Schuyler. I say "surprising" because she has never been my favourite actress, and I never thought I would ever find myself saying "the best performance in this movie came from Melanie Griffith". Her Schuyler, however, had just the right mixture of wilfulness and seductiveness; like Newman's character, most of the male members of the audience probably were unsure if they wanted to embrace her or slap her. Griffith was eighteen at the time the film was made, and her distinctive, breathy, little-girl voice suited her character well. (Unfortunately, she has gone on using a similar voice too often in more recent films, and what sounds just right in a teenager can sound irritating in an older woman).
Director Stuart Rosenberg and Paul Newman had previously worked together on that great film "Cool Hand Luke", one of Newman's best. Unfortunately, "The Drowning Pool" is not in the same class. It is a fairly typical example of seventies private-eye thrillers. (Michael Winner's remake of "The Big Sleep" is another example). Such films, although they might have tried to emulate the classic noirs, generally lacked their all-important atmosphere and style. 5/10
Despite its very different visual style, "The Drowning Pool" has a lot in common with the films noirs of the forties and fifties. Unlike Polanski's "Chinatown", another film from the mid-seventies but one with a thirties setting, it is less a pastiche of or deliberate homage to film noir than an early example of neo-noir, an attempt to transfer the genre to a modern setting. The complex plot with its overtones of official and corporate corruption in high places could in some ways be the plot of a Humphrey Bogart film, albeit one set in the seventies rather than the forties and transferred to New Orleans from Bogart's normal stamping-ground of Los Angeles. The element of sexual blackmail and the involvement of a chauffeur are reminiscent of "The Big Sleep"; Iris's daughter, the oddly-named Schuyler, has some similarities to Carmen Sternwood, another rich-white-trash nymphomaniac, from that film.
Newman makes Harper a cool, laid-back seventies private eye, quite different to the more edgy, abrasive private eyes of the forties, but this is not really one of his best performances, lacking the style he brought to "Cool Hand Luke" or to earlier thrillers such as "The Prize". Few of the other characters really stand out, with the surprising exception of Melanie Griffith as Schuyler. I say "surprising" because she has never been my favourite actress, and I never thought I would ever find myself saying "the best performance in this movie came from Melanie Griffith". Her Schuyler, however, had just the right mixture of wilfulness and seductiveness; like Newman's character, most of the male members of the audience probably were unsure if they wanted to embrace her or slap her. Griffith was eighteen at the time the film was made, and her distinctive, breathy, little-girl voice suited her character well. (Unfortunately, she has gone on using a similar voice too often in more recent films, and what sounds just right in a teenager can sound irritating in an older woman).
Director Stuart Rosenberg and Paul Newman had previously worked together on that great film "Cool Hand Luke", one of Newman's best. Unfortunately, "The Drowning Pool" is not in the same class. It is a fairly typical example of seventies private-eye thrillers. (Michael Winner's remake of "The Big Sleep" is another example). Such films, although they might have tried to emulate the classic noirs, generally lacked their all-important atmosphere and style. 5/10