The Drowning Pool (1975)

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Even though I'm a big fan of Paul Newman, I have never managed to watch so many of his movies (only 15 so far)  so I was really eager to check this flick. This movie was in fact a sequel to his hit ‘Harper’ and it was pretty neat to see Newman playing this pretty cool character almost a decade later. Anyway, eventually, as usual, Paul Newman was pretty good but, unfortunately, the story was s... read more

Description: Paul Newman return as the gun-chewing Los Angeles detective Harper in another Ross MacDonald story. This time, he goes to New Orleans where he meets Iris (Joanne Woodward), an old flame who has become the wife of a rich Southern landowner. She wants him to find the blackmailer who has threatened to expose details of her extra-marital affairs. While working on her problem, Harper fleshes out a much bigger case involving multiple murders, police corruption, and fraudulent oil business wheeling and dealing. The burnt-out baby blue eyes of Harper make him an obvious target for the amorous intentions of Iris, her sensually incline Paul Newman return as the gun-chewing Los Angeles detective Harper in another Ross MacDonald story. This time, he goes to New Orleans where he meets Iris (Joanne Woodward), an old flame who has become the wife of a rich Southern landowner. She wants him to find the blackmailer who has threatened to expose details of her extra-marital affairs. While working on her problem, Harper fleshes out a much bigger case involving multiple murders, police corruption, and fraudulent oil business wheeling and dealing.

The burnt-out baby blue eyes of Harper make him an obvious target for the amorous intentions of Iris, her sensually inclined teen-age daughter Schuyler (Melanie Griffith); Mavis (Gail Strickland), the wife of an unscrupulous oilman; and Gretchen (Linda Haynes), a lonely gal who loses her boyfriend and longs for some companionship. But Harper—who can love 'em and leave 'em—operates on a business-only ethic and just leaves 'em. Wit sustains him; when asked, "How do you do?" he responds coyly, "Some days I do and some days I don't." Only Iris realizes that Harper has "no talent for surrender." Like Harry Moseby in Night Moves, he hasn't learned how to "give up gracefully." This cool gumshoe has a one-track mind—solving the case he's working on. At times, a more prudent detective might be tempted to leave well enough alone, but not Harper. He has to get to the bottom of it all.
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