The Drowning Pool (1975)

Director:

Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

Tracy Keenan Wynn (screenplay) &
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

July 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Mystery

Tagline:

Harper days are here again...

Plot:

A big-city private detective travels to the Deep South to help out an old girlfriend who is being blackmailed.

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Louisiana | Private Detective | Detective | Bird Sanctuary

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Harper
Joanne Woodward	...	Iris
Anthony Franciosa	...	Broussard (as Tony Franciosa)
Murray Hamilton	...	Kilbourne
Gail Strickland	...	Mavis
Melanie Griffith	...	Schuyler
Linda Haynes	...	Gretchen
Richard Jaeckel	...	Franks
Paul Koslo	...	Candy
Joe Canutt	...	Glo
Andrew Robinson	...	Pat Reavis (as Andy Robinson)
Coral Browne	...	Olivia
Richard Derr	...	James
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Elaine Reavis
Leigh French	...	Red Head
Peter Dassinger	...	Peter
James Fontenot	...	Bartender
Tommy McLain	...	Nightclub Band (as Tommy McLain and his Mule Train Band)
Martin Ahrens	...	Cajun Heavy #1
Philippe Blenet	...	Cajun Heavy #2
Jerome Greene	...	Butler
Cecil Elliott	...	Motel Switchboard Operator

Directed by
Stuart Rosenberg

Writing credits
Tracy Keenan Wynn		(screenplay) &
Lorenzo Semple Jr.		(screenplay) &
Walter Hill		(screenplay)
Ross Macdonald		(novel) (as Ross MacDonald)

Produced by
David Foster	....	producer
Hawk Koch	....	associate producer (as Howard W. Koch Jr.)
Lawrence Turman	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Small

Cinematography by
Gordon Willis		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
John C. Howard

Casting by
Alan Shayne

Production Design by
Paul Sylbert

Art Direction by
Edwin O'Donovan		(as Ed O'Donovan)

Makeup Department
Kaye Pownall	....	hair stylist
Monty Westmore	....	makeup artist
Carrie White	....	Miss Woodward's hair styles

Production Management
Arthur S. Newman Jr.	....	production manager (as Arthur Newman)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hawk Koch	....	assistant director (as Howard W. Koch Jr.)
Lee Rafner	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Phil Abramson	....	set director
Joe Acord	....	construction coordinator
Gregg H. Bilson	....	assistant props (as Gregg Bilson)
Pat O'Connor	....	property master
Bill Parks	....	construction coordinator
Eugene J. Reed	....	carpenter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Clint Althouse	....	boom man (as Clint Althaus)
Hal Barns	....	sound effects editor
Les Fresholtz	....	re-recording mixer
Larry Jost	....	sound mixer
Billie Owens	....	sound effects editor
Arthur Piantadosi	....	re-recording mixer
Arthur H. Pullen	....	sound effects editor
Richard Tyler	....	re-recording mixer (as Dick Tyler)

Special Effects by
Chuck Gaspar	....	special effects
Henry Millar	....	special effects (as Henry Millar Sr.)

Stunts
Stan Barrett	....	stunt coordinator
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Dean Smith	....	stunt double (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Arthur Brooker	....	key grip (as Art Booker)
Ralph Gerling	....	camera operator
George Holmes	....	gaffer
Mel Traxel	....	unit still photographer
Richard Yuricich	....	first camera assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Donald Brooks	....	wardrobe designer: Miss Woodward
Norma Brown	....	costumer: ladies
Richard Bruno	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Dick Bruno)
Jules Melillo	....	assistant men's costumer (as Jules M. Melillo)
Vicki Sánchez	....	costumer: ladies (as Vicki Sanchez)

Editorial Department
Carroll Timothy O'Meara	....	assistant editor (as Tim O'Meara)

Music Department
Donald Harris	....	music editor
Dan Wallin	....	scoring mixer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Paul Casella Jr.	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Rosalyn Catania	....	production secretary
Carl Combs	....	unit publicist
Betty Crosby	....	script supervisor
Ralph M. Leo	....	production auditor (as Ralph Leo)

Production Companies

• First Artists (presents)
• Coleytown (as A Coleytown/Turman-Foster Production)
• Turman-Foster Company (as A Coleytown/Turman-Foster Production)
• David Foster Productions (as A Coleytown/Turman-Foster Production)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1975) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros. Warner Communications Company) (as Warner Bros. Pictures An AOL Time Warner Company also)
• Warner Bros. (1975) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1975) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Films (1975) (Finland) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1979) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Burbank Studios, The  production services and equipment provided by (as The Burbank Studios Burbank, California)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (2006) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Canada:14A (video rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (1995) (2006) | UK:A (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

First Artists

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~7.2 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~7.3 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene when Mavis (Gail Strickland) and Harper (Paul Newman) are turning on the water to try to flood the hydrotherapy room, Mavis is first shown in close-up and there is no sign of the over-the-shoulder straps of her bra. But once the room is shown in a wide shot, and for the rest of the scenes in that room, she is wearing a bra with straps that should have been visible in the close-up.

Quotes:

Lew Harper:What's Pat Reavis really like?
Schuyler Devereaux:He was fun. Mild psychopaths often are if you don't cross them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Natural Born World-Shaker: Making 'Cool Hand Luke' (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Dreams

Intriguing, carefully paced mystery.

Ten years after Newman's success in "Harper" as the title private investigator, he reappeared in this follow-up. While the caliber of the cast can't hold a candle to the stellar first film, the acting and mystery elements are excellent. Woodward plays a wealthy Louisiana woman who once had a brief fling with Newman. She hires him to find out who's blackmailing her about her extramarital dalliances. Once he lands in the bayou, he is immersed in several confusing and complicated situations involving sex, real estate war and murder. Newman is utterly appealing as the hard knock investigator, Woodward is cool and refined, Franciosa puts his method acting to good use and Hamilton puts an enjoyably quirky spin on a villainous role. Griffith effectively plays Woodward's sexually ripe daughter and Browne adds great authority in her brief appearance as Woodward's domineering mother-in-law. The plot is extremely convoluted and risks losing all sense at times, but it all comes about in the end. The actors succeed in making the audience want to see more of what they are all about. The title refers to a climactic scene in which Newman and an exasperatingly upset cohort are trapped in an enclosed hydrotherapy room which is filled to the brim with water. This affords a rare opportunity to see the relatively modest Newman trotting around in damp boxer shorts. The film utilizes (perhaps overutilizes?) the song "Killing Me Softly" throughout. The film is like a reunion of sorts for Newman. Aside form his frequent collaborations with his wife Woodward, she and Franciosa had starred with him in "The Long Hot Summer", Hamilton had appeared in "The Hustler" and Jaeckel co-starred with him in "Sometimes a Great Notion". Director Rosenberg has also directed Newman in "WUSA", "Cool Hand Luke" and "Pocket Money". Years later, Griffith would appear with Newman in "Nobody's Fool".