THE DROWNING POOL

US, 1975, 108 minutes, Colour.
Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Tony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Koslo, Coral Browne.
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

The Drowning Pool is another private eye mystery with Paul Newman repeating his Moving Target role as Lew Harper. It's certainly very complicated with many loose ends to tie up: careful audience attention is needed. However, it is rather ordinary in its screenplay and style, lacking flair or "class". The location is Louisiana, the people those Deep South decaying families and half insane oil tycoons and their henchmen. Newman at 50 still retains his pleasant manner; his wife, Joanne Woodward, does not have much to do as an ageing, drinking matron, but does it well enough. In fact, the film is quite enjoyable in its way. It is done well enough, but merely that.

1. What would audiences expect from this title?

2. What are the conventions of the private eye thriller? How well were they used here? The quality of the mystery and the clues? The nature of loose ends and their being tied up? The focus of the detective himself? The unusual background of crime and wealth? Was this a good example of the genre?

3. How much did the film depend on Paul Newman as Harper and his style? What was the role and function of Harper in this film? As a hero, as a means to unravel mystery, as a victim for violence? was the character well drawn? Was he merely a cardboard character? The nature of the dialogue, the irony and humour?

4. The atmosphere of a private eye thriller? The Deveraux family, wealth in Louisiana? Decay in families, malice, perversions, alcoholism etc.? The world of Kilburn and his madness and wealth? The Louisiana joints? The atmosphere of murder? How necessary was this for this kind of film? How well was it presented? The colour, Panavision etc.? The use of music, Iris' theme?

5. The reality and impact of deaths, corruption, madness?

6. Audiences response to the Deveraux family? Olivia and her authoritative ways, Iris of good blood but poor, . marrying into the family, the failure of marriage, her relationship to Harper, to the police chief? Her relationship to her daughter? The lack of relationship to her husband? Schuyler - the product of this atmosphere, a normal girl? Corrupt and murdering? What kind of family was this? The nature of relationships, power, control, cruelty?

7. The importance of Schuyler being the murderess? The nature of her motives, her relationship to her true father and her need for him? Her relationship to her official father? Her hatred of her mother and grandmother? The consequences of guilt?

8. The importance of the Kilburn subplot? wealth, the dogs, his cronies, their violence and murder, his relationship with his wife? Kilburn as mad as and the drowning pool, the inevitability of his death?

9. The police chief and the irony of his relationship with the Deveraux family?

10. Characters like Kilburn's wife, Gretchen, and their help? The relationship to Harper?

11. Is this world of the private-eye thriller a real or a fantasy world? Why? Are these thrillers meant for anything more than for entertainment?