"The Drowning Pool" is an unusual film because it's a sequel to a film made nine years earlier. In 1966, Paul Newman starred in an excellent detective film, "Harper". Now here in 1975, Lew Harper is back and working for a family in Louisiana. Like Harper of old, this one is very bright but also far from perfect--and gets the crap kicked out of him periodically.

As far as the story goes, the plot is a bit complicated. It's also initially not super-interesting. Hold on...resist that urge to turn it off. This is because despite the many different directions the film goes, by the end of the film it all comes together and there are a lot of exciting moments. One of the best is the water scene-- a huge and impressive bit of camera-work that you just have to see to believe. Another is the ending and the many little surprises that occur.

The bottom line is that this is just a film you need to see to understand and appreciate. Well made and well worth seeing.

The Drowning Pool is Paul Newman's second and last time as private detective Lew Harper. The plot takes him to the Louisiana bayou country where an old flame Joanne Woodward has hired him to trace and find out who's been sending her nasty notes about her sex life.

The investigation quickly centers around recently fired chauffeur Andy Robinson, but before long Newman gets himself immersed in the local politics of the area with a slick oil millionaire (Murray Hamilton),Woodward's nymphomaniac daughter (Melanie Griffith),an obsessed police lieutenant (Anthony Franciosa) and various and sundry other bayou characters. Quite a few of the characters are killed off before the climax.

The Drowning Pool goes somewhat astray in its development, but the ends are nicely tied together at the climax.

The hit song made popular by Helen Reddy in the seventies, Killing Me Softly With His Song, comes from The Drowning Pool. It was a mega hit back in the day and to my amazement I discovered it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar.

Of course my favorite here is Anthony Franciosa. He had an incredible ear for dialect and he really got the Cajun speech patterns down to perfection.

But the real reason I love The Drowning Pool is the scene where Paul Newman and Gail Strickland are locked in a hydrotherapy room by Murray Hamilton. Strickland is Hamilton's wife. Why they are both there I won't say, but their escape from the room is one of the most spectacular ever put on film.

You should see The Drowning Pool for that alone.

I was hoping this sequel to Harper was going to be nearly as interesting to watch, it certainly had one engaging sequence, but only one, the rest isn't memorable enough for me, from director Stuart Rosenberg (The Amityville Horror). Basically private eye detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) is this time hired by an old flame of his, Iris Devereaux (Joanne Woodward, Newman's wife) to investigate a blackmail plot against her. I have to admit I lost track of what was going on, and I only caught on to the fact that J.J. Kilbourne (Murray Hamilton) is the oil tycoon villain who wants her property. I think I woke up to the plot again (sot of literally) when Harper and Iris are kidnapped and tied up in a "drowning room", aka a shower and bathing room. To escape this room when the bad guys are gone, after getting out a straight jacket and simple ropes, they decide to plug all the holes and turn all the water jets (showers, baths and fire hydrant) to fill the room and get to the window at the top, and when they can't breaks the window or turn the water off you wonder how they will get out alive, and they are only rescued when the door is opened. The last few minutes didn't have much interest to me. Also starring Anthony Franciosa as Chief Broussard, Gail Strickland as Mavis Kilbourne, Melanie Griffith as Schuyler Devereaux, Linda Haynes as Gretchen, Richard Jaeckel as Lt. Franks, Paul Koslo as Candy, Andrew Robinson as Pat Reavis and Coral Browne as Olivia Devereaux. Newman still makes a quite classy performance, Woodward has her moments, and even though I didn't understand everything going on, it did have its very moments, besides the title sequence. Okay!