while for me 'the swimmer' is finer, both films deal with the souring of the american dream, both look visually stunning and have as their lead a true icon(i hate the overuse of that term but Lancaster and kirk Douglas certainly qualify).these two films serve as a fascinating and tantalizing zeitgeist of their time.
shareYes! They are also much better insights into how America changed in the '60s. it is one thing for teenagers or college students to "rebel"--but these films show middle-aged white guys rejecting "the establishment." The Arrangement is more literal about it then the Swimmer, but still Lancaster's performance shows you what happens when you veer off the track of "the system." What's more these were not indie films--they were studio products. They are great documents of the collapse of traditional American middle-class values.
shareWhat about "Save The Tiger" in 1973 with Jack Lemmon.
shareWhile "The Swimmer" and "The Arrangement" were considered critical failures, Jack Lemmon won an Oscar for his lead role in "Save The Tiger".
As with the other two films "Save The Tiger" is about a middle aged man who is rebelling against the system and in the midst of a personal emotional crisis. During a 24 hour period while his wife is out of town at a funeral, Lemmon's character comes to terms with the fact that his business is failing and spends the night with a twenty year old hippy girl.
Perhaps the critical difference is that "Save The Tiger" was made slightly later than the other two films. 1973 saw the end of the long post-war boom, rising unemployment and inflation, the US was clearly losing the war in Vietnam and Watergate was just around the corner.
Yes--by 1973 "hippies" were omnipresent in mainstream media--"Bewitched's" Serena went "hip"...
What makes Swimmer and Arrangement--and even Second--is that there is no sense that younger people have the answers. Or that they are preent
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