A movie trailer from 1968 for a film called "The Swimmer" starring Burt Lancaster

Here we have Burt Lancaster looking like pretty good for a 55-year-old man.

From wikipedia: "...The story takes place in the affluent suburbs of Westchester County, New York, and focuses on Neddy Merrill, who despite being middle-aged, wants to retain his youth and believes that he is a vibrant individual. He marvels at his trail-blazing idea of "swimming the county". At the beginning of the story, Neddy is at a cocktail party at the Westerhazys' and realizes that by following an imaginary chain of private and public pools in his affluent community he can literally swim home. Next we have a succession of similar scenes, as Neddy enters the backyard of his neighbors, sometimes bursting into a party, sometimes engaging in conversation, and most of the time having a drink - but always swimming the length of their pool. Soon it becomes clear to the reader that something has gone awry. ..."

Go to wiki for the spoiler ending: [Link]

The film was directed by Frank Perry. However Perry left the production due to creative differences, leaving the scene where Neddy meets his former mistress Shirley Adams unfinished. This final scene was directed by Sydney Pollack. ..."

As a kid, I saw this film on late night TV one summer in between grades and it disturbed me greatly. When the third act begins, the movie gets quite dark and depressing. It has a creepy ending which really startled me. Rumors are that Alec Baldwin wants to do a remake. He will need to start swimming and lose some weight if he gets the green light. Personally I think Clay Evans would be a better casting choice. ;-D

What inspired this post was an About.com article regarding a swimmer, Dennis Sopczynski, who wants to swim from San Francisco to L.A. just like "Neddy Merrill above.": [Link]