Can anyone recommend any movies about swimming? A movie with entertainment value (drama, documentary, fiction, nonfiction), not like a technical skills video.
I've seen "SwimFan" which is the only one I can really think of. I actually know the lead actress Erika Christensen. It's kind of a creepy movie though.
There's also "The 13th Year", a disney channel movie from the 90's about a middle school boy swimmer who turns into a Merman (male mermaid). I don't think I'd want to watch that again although it might bring back some childhood nostalgia.
I'm sure there are some other good ones out there. Any recommendations?
On A Clear Day is really good. It's about a guy who battles his inner demons by swimming the English Channel.
It was discussed in this previous thread:
Movie "On a Clear Day" Swimming English Channel as part of story line. - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
This is a good one -Swimming Upstream. The movie is set in the 1950s/60s, and here is the review at Amazon.com: "As the target of his father Harold's (Geoffrey Rush) drunken abuse, young Tony Fingleton (Jesse Spencer) escapes to the underwater solitude of the local pool, where he aspires to win his father's love by becoming a national swimming champion. But when his cruel father pits Tony against his own brother in a competition to make the Olympic team, Tony must find the courage to swim his way to victory... and out of his father's emotionally crippling net."
There was this one supernatural film with a good amount of swimming. I think that the one character used his powers to beat his competitors or something. It was set in a private school.Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Go Fish"???
Xander goes undercover on the Sunnydale swim team after two members are seemingly eaten, leaving only their skins. Their coach has been giving them steroids combined with fish DNA, which turns them into sea monsters. Buffy confronts the coach, and he is killed by the swim-team sea monsters.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Go Fish"???
Xander goes undercover on the Sunnydale swim team after two members are seemingly eaten, leaving only their skins. Their coach has been giving them steroids combined with fish DNA, which turns them into sea monsters. Buffy confronts the coach, and he is killed by the swim-team sea monsters.
I remember that Buffy episode. It was some movie that did pretty well at the box office but didn't have any stars. Whoever did the swimming had a good stroke.
You have to add Dolphin Tale to a movie about swimming. There was a backstory with the main character's cousin who was a star swimming before going to war and getting some leg injury. I only watched the last hour of the film on cable.
Former Member
There was this one supernatural film with a good amount of swimming. I think that the one character used his powers to beat his competitors or something. It was set in a private school.
I think the name of the movie was The Covenant.
The Swimmer 1968 (Burt Lancaster)
I'll second that. Though not a movie, I just read Lynn Scherr's Swim: Why We Love the Water (Amazon.com: Swim: Why We Love the Water (9781610390460): Lynn Sherr: Books), which has some nice history of swimming, including a list of movies where swimming favors prominently.
