The Drowning Pool
original movie poster
Directed by	Stuart Rosenberg
Written by	Tracy Keenan Wynn Lorenzo Semple Jr. Walter Hill
Produced by	David Foster Lawrence Turman
Starring	Paul Newman Joanne Woodward Anthony Franciosa Murray Hamilton Gail Strickland Melanie Griffith
Cinematography	John C. Howard
Music by	Michael Small
Production company	First Artists
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	1975
Running time	109 min.
Country	United States
Languages	English, French

The Drowning Pool is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and based upon Ross Macdonald's novel The Drowning Pool. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Franciosa, and is a sequel to Harper. The setting is shifted from California to Louisiana.

Synopsis

Private detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) investigates a blackmail plot in Louisiana bayou country involving the nymphomaniac daughter (Melanie Griffith) of an old flame of his, Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward).

Harper is caught up in a power struggle between Iris and oil tycoon Kilbourne (Murray Hamilton), while local police authority Broussard (Anthony Franciosa) has a personal interest in the family and wants the private eye gone.

At one point, the complicated plot has Harper and Kilbourne's wife Mavis (Gail Strickland) locked in a hydrotherapy room, with the water rising to the ceiling, hence the film's title.

Cast

• Paul Newman as Lew Harper
• Joanne Woodward as Iris Devereaux
• Anthony Franciosa (credited as Tony Franciosa) as Chief Broussard
• Murray Hamilton as Kilbourne
• Gail Strickland as Mavis Kilbourne
• Melanie Griffith as Schuyler Devereaux
• Linda Haynes as Gretchen
• Andre Trottier as Hydrotherapist
• Richard Jaeckel as Lieutenant Franks
• Paul Koslo as Candy
• Joe Canutt as Glo
• Andrew Robinson (credited as Andy Robinson) as Pat Reavis
• Coral Browne as Olivia Devereaux

Production

Producers David Foster and Lawrence Turman optioned the rights to MacDonald's 1950 novel "The Drowning Pool" for director Robert Mulligan. Hill was hired to adapt it.^[1]

Reception

The movie was nominated as best picture of the year by the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

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, workmanlike 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." ^[2]

DVD

The Drowning Pool was released on November 14, 2006, as part of the Paul Newman Collection DVD box set.