Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Written by Donn Pearce (From his novel)
Starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Harry Dean Stanton
Rivaling Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire), Luke is in the forefront of the greatest anti-hero competition. Here is a man who would not conform and is thus set free. Cool Hand Luke is a film filled with religious and existential imagery and themes. It is also one of the best films ever made.
Newman plays Luke, sent to a Florida prison for cutting the heads off of parking meters. Once there he begins escape attempts and any other tomfoolery he can muster. The other inmates, including Dragline (played by George Kennedy who won a best supporting Oscar), begin looking up to him. They see his escape as their own. If he can get out, that’s just as good as them escaping themselves.
Cool Hand Luke is bursting at the seams with great scenes and moments. The infamous car wash scene being one of my favorites (hey, I’m a man and Joy Harmon is one of the sexiest women that ever existed). There is also the Egg sequence (most recently spoofed in the TV show Jackass).
Newman’s performance is one of restrained chaos. To me Luke hates conformity but he also hates the pain that not conforming brings him. Newman had been building up to a character like this in previous roles and here he tears a hole right through the screen and delivers a performance that needs to be seen. You should definitely check this flick out, if nothing else than for that “old Luke smile. Old Luke, he was come boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he’s a natural-born world-shaker.”
