I was watching Desperate Housewives and they had a scene at Bree(Marcia Cross's)'s son high school swim meet. It was such a bad betrayal of swimming. There were no lane lines in the pool and no real timers. Plus, there were no bleachers, just chairs that you would see in a classroom. It would be nice if Hollywood got the accurate view of swimming.
Former Member
Could be a slow pool. I don't think they had shaved, either.
For Miracle the director said he chose hockey players who could act, rather than actors who could play hockey. I'm still not sure what the difference is.
I don't watch the show, but maybe it is an accurate portrayal. An aging swimming pool, and the athletic director siphoned off needed funds to get the football team a second set of new jerseys... :D
(In reply to Scooter below... They didn't have enough money to hire a real swim coach, so they must have hired the cheerleading coach to do double duty. Can't get the hair wet, after it has been groomed!)
Originally posted by aquageek
I stand by my statement that as a general rule actors are not athletes.
Obviously you never saw any of OJ Simpson's movies (before he didn't commit a double homicide).
Would it be better if the actors tried to act and take the swimmers from local clubs? Would that make the actors feel really awful for not having decent swimming skills or should we suggest a method actor for this part?
One good movie with swimming in it was Ordinary People in the early 80's. Timothy Hutten did a decent job with the freestyle, and the acting was incredible! Lane lines, flip turns, streamlining and all!
Where is Johnny Weissmuller or Mel Stewart when you need a great swimming shot?
While it's not swimming, the movie about Steven Prefontaine (a familiar name in the running community) was extremely well done. Prefontaine was a promising US star who came to a tragically early death in his twenties. A couple of his records still stand as world records. His coach, Bill Bowerman, later went on to found Nike.
The movie is fabulous, and it's a good one for athletes everywhere. Don't know of any swimming movies, unfortunately, unless "Open Water" counts;) (Oh yes, Swim Fan was not good. And please...don't have sex in a pool...the rest of us have to swim in that!)
