Man on a Swing [Blu-ray] - Classic Mystery Thriller Movie | Perfect for Movie Nights & Collector's Editions

I was so happy when I noticed that Amazon had this hard-to-find Frank Perry film (almost all of his are hard to find) available to stream or download. The first Frank Perry film I watched was The Swimmer, and I have been a fan ever since. I was lucky enough to be living in Los Angeles when the Egyptian Theater featured a retrospect of some of his films including The Swimmer, Doc, Diary of a Mad House Wife, and another favorite of mine, Play it as it Lays. I would highly recommend all of his films including his first, David and Lisa. There's just something about them, that I still can't put my finger on. There's a quirkiness to them, and occasional imperfections, especially in The Swimmer, considered one of the first independent films, but under it all is a unique, but often subtle, auteur vision to his films. Man on as Swing was no exception in terms of those qualities, but it also has the feel of a film in which the director had a very solid command of his craft. It's Perry's only pure detective/police drama type of film I know of, but is, like all of his films, come to think of it, very focused on human psychosis. It's basically an unsolved murder case, supposedly based on true events, and focuses on a police detective played by Cliff Robertson, that is trying to solve the case of a young girl who has been strangled and left in her car in a mall parking lot. There's quite a few very creepy scenes in the film, including the images of this young girl's contorted dead body lying in the front seat floor. Cliff Robertson clocks in a really incredible performance as a cop that becomes haunted and obsessed with solving this case. He's got a quiet, brooding, man's-man type of thing going on. I had not seen him in too many films before and it really struck me how much he resembles Mel Gibson in terms of physical appearance and facial expressions. I'm pretty positive that Gibson must have fashioned himself partly after Robertson. In terms of a cop drama, this film fires on all levels. It's very tightly constructed and moves right along. Some folks would probably fault it for not having much action, because there is very little, if no on-screen violence, you only see the aftermath of violent acts, and feel an uneasy anticipation of future acts. It's very clever in that way. Towards a little bit past halfway, there is a lot of suspense that really builds when Robertson and his pregnant wife begin to be harassed at there home in the middle of the night, but every time the film goes in a different direction than expected, which to me is always the sign of a good quality mystery. The other star of this film is Joel Grey, who puts in a pretty wonderful performance as a "clairvoyant" who volunteers his services to the Cliff Robertson character to help solve the case. This would have been a very tough role to pull off, because the character was written way over-the-top. When he goes into his "trances" he flails around the room, evidently re-experiencing the actual events that he is accessing. The line between believable and ridiculous caricature is very thin here, but yet Grey does somehow pull it off most of the time. As the film progresses the question of whether Grey's character is a true clairvoyant or the murderer becomes the central question. What is impressive though is how fully his character is developed even though it's a supporting role. The interactions between Robertson and Grey are numerous and detailed. The dialog in this film is very well written. Cinematography and set design are not flashy, but very well done. There is an eerie score, containing mostly some kind of high pitched violin or synth/organ type of sound, that is used sparely enough to accent scenes but does not overly "guide" the audience. If I had to compare this to other films of the time, Rosemary's Baby comes to mind. Simply in the way that it steadily builds in creepiness throughout the film but never going really over the top. In fact, yes, it does feel a bit like a Polanski film, in terms of odd characters, and a central character playing the "normal" guy slowly unraveling in the midst of spiraling events around him. I won't ruin the final scene, but I will say that it ends on an somewhat unexpected but quite ominous moment. It's the type of ending that I know many people hate, but I personally love. There's a moment of disappointment because you think there's going to be more, but then once that initial emotion passes, you realize that it is a more authentic to life ending, plus the way this one ends is so eerie that it really stays with you for a while (especially when that shrieking score comes back in over the credits), and that can't be a bad thing in terms of effective filmmaking. I mean it's supposed to be a thriller after all, not feel good fluff.An A+ job once again Mr. Perry!!