The Drowning Pool (film)
| The Drowning Pool | |
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original movie poster
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| Directed by | Stuart Rosenberg |
| Produced by |
David Foster Lawrence Turman |
| Written by |
Tracy Keenan Wynn Lorenzo Semple Jr. Walter Hill |
| Starring |
Paul Newman Joanne Woodward Anthony Franciosa Murray Hamilton Gail Strickland Melanie Griffith |
| Music by | Michael Small |
| Cinematography | Gordon Willis |
| Edited by | John C. Howard |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, French |
The Drowning Pool is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and based upon Ross Macdonald's novel of the same name. The film stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Franciosa, and is a sequel to Harper. The setting is shifted from California to Louisiana.
Private detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) of Los Angeles investigates a threat in Louisiana bayou country against an old flame of his, Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward). Iris is worried that her ex-chauffeur will tell her husband that she has been cheating on him. The story also involves Iris' daughter Schuyler (Melanie Griffith) and Iris' mother-in-law Olivia in several interesting sub-plots.
Harper is caught up in a power struggle between Olivia, the owner of the valuable, oil-rich Devereux estate, and oil tycoon Jay Hue 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.
One scene features a corrupt cop, Franks (Richard Jaeckel), who eventually meets his end when Jay Hue spurs two male attack dogs on to kill him; the dogs leap onto Franks, killing him offscreen.
Producers David Foster and Lawrence Turman optioned the rights to MacDonald's novel The Drowning Pool (1950) for director Robert Mulligan. Hill was hired to adapt it. Hill later estimated that only two minor scenes in the film were true to his adaptation.
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