The Drowning Pool

Ross MacDonald's novels generally translate well to movie. This one certainly does, although I've never seen a Ross MacDonald movie that successfully captures the atmosphere that MacDonald creates in his novels. Paul Newman is the detective Lew Archer (I seem to remember that his name was changed to Harper for the movie to keep a string of "H" movies going: Hud, Hombre, and Harper). The movie moves along with a complex plot that is not difficult to track and understand. Melanie Griffith is perfection in the role of the 14-year old seductress. >

Where Harper was jazzy, amped up for its day and often dark humored in its intrigue and violence, this sequel has more of a laid-back and ultimately melancholy tone. The humor is still there, but the dysfunctional family theme that produced edgy laughs in the earlier film cuts deeper here.

Newman looks great and is as effortlessly effective as ever as he prowls Cajun Country, at the behest of onetime flame Joanne Woodward, in search of a blackmail source that quickly turns into much more. Filmed all over South Louisiana, including a mansion shot here in Baton Rouge, it gets the local flavor down pretty well.

Dismissed as draggy even in its day, and certainly so in the age raised on the newspaper ad quote "A Thrill Ride!!!", it's a thoughtful, well acted addition to the private eye genre, with Melanie Griffith coming out the gate full force as a troublesome nymphet (an interesting predatory flip-side to the victimized variation seen later the same year in the superb Night Moves.)

Hopefully a widescreen DVD will one day soon afford its excellent Panavision photography to be seen for the first time in 25 years.

A mature, intelligent thriller, in which Newman recreates Lew Harper. It takes place around New Orleans and involves public corruption and an intricate web of deceit.

The style is fairly laid-back, though it doesn't actually lag - even though it sometimes seems it's about to. The characters are all sharply delineated and complex, and there is a lot of very good acting going on.

Thoroughly watchable, with some tension and suspense, but only sporadic action.

A California PI is called to New Orleans and the locals start turning up dead. This is a relaxed thriller full of Southern kooks and cranks. Great cast, well-known director, and of course the worldly Ross MacDonald (aka Ken Millar), the master of the why-dunit. The plot unzips pretty quickly with Paul Newman the detective running into several women and the men they have to put up with. It's all about how many of these women he'll be able to protect. It's fun to watch Newman keep his cool in one crazy fix after another. The film holds up pretty well because the story is character-driven and every other scene is shot in a colorful location. Good alternative to watching a re-run of your favorite crime drama.

This is follow up to "Harper" and Paul Newman reprises his role as a private detective loosely based on Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer. The plot is based around Harper being a few years older but basically the same style PI you came to like in Harper. He is smart and has a drive to finish a case; even if he ends up in trouble. You get a mix of Joanne Woodward, Melanie Griffith (as a teen), Tony Franciosa (doing a very good job acting) and a stellar supporting cast. There are a lot of twists and turns, a lot of dialog, one shootout - it's Newman as Harper! Set in pre-Katrina New Orleans, "The Drowning Pool" is a rich stew of intrigue, great cast performances and classic MacDonald twists and turns within a dangerously dysfunctional family. Paul Newman completely inhabits Lew Harper's character, the settings are alternately grand and deliciously seedy, and the cinematography is excellent. A very young Melany Griffith place the infant terrible' in this film, not bad for a kid breaking into the movie game. But the chief action focuses on Newman and he does not disappoint. There's also some interesting plot points involving oil off the coast, and the resulting corruption of the police as money was shovelled around to secure drilling rights.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.