The Drowning Pool

SYNOPSIS

Paul Newman made his second outing (after 1966's Harper) as novelist Ross MacDonald's private detective Lew Harper in this mystery thriller, plunging into a swamp of Deep South greed and murder when he's called to oil baroness Joanne Woodward's bayou home to investigate a blackmail plot against her. The title refers to a hydrotherapy bath in an abandoned mental home, which is typical of the oddball eccentricity of the film and its characters, of whom Murray Hamilton's oil tycoon is a standout. It's a pity that Stuart Rosenberg's direction is so straightforward because the impenetrable plot needs a more bizarre approach to keep us interested. Still, the cast supplies good sub-Chandleresque fun.