Neddy Merrill (Lancaster) decides to “swim” his way home through the all the pools in the backyards of high WASP country in the Connecticut valley. Every stop brings back another memory. Lancaster’s powerful physique and piercing eyes give poetic life to the concepts of faded glory and shattered dreams in Frank and Eleanor Perry’s adaptation of the John Cheever story: there’s a whole biography woven into this performance. With a terrific cast that includes Janice Rule and Kim Hunter.

Images courtesy of COLUMBIA / THE KOBAL COLLECTION