Cool Hand Luke (1967) User Reviews

What we have here is no failure

[ferguson-6 · 9/10 · 21 June 2012]

Greetings again from the darkness. I went way too many years without watching this movie again, so when Cinemark included it in the summer classic film series, I was in my seat nice and early. Mention this movie and the first thing people do is quote one of the most famous lines in movie history: "What we have here is failure to communicate." No question that's a great line. But there is so much more to this movie and it holds up beautifully 45 years later.

Based on the novel by Donn Pearce, who spent two years on a chain-gang, this is the story of Luke (Paul Newman) who just can't bring himself to conform to the rules, regardless whether those be the rules of the military, society, prison, or those self-imposed by the convicts. We are introduced to Luke as he drunkenly cuts off the top of parking meters on main street of a small town. Later, in a throw away line, we learn he was gaining revenge on someone. It's the clear indication that while he doesn't always want to fit in, Luke clearly knows right from wrong.

There are so many terrific scenes in this film, that it's not possible to discuss each. Every scene with the prison warden, played by Strother Martin, is intense. Each of the Boss guards are frightening, especially Morgan Woodward as the sharpshooter behind the mirrored shades. There are numerous impactful scenes featuring the group of convicts. Even though we learn little about the individuals, we realize the fragile male psyche is on full display. Despite the power of all of these characters and scenes, the real strength of the film is the relationship between Luke and Dragline (George Kennedy). Watching the early cat and mouse game, and the subsequent transfer of power, feature two amazing actors at the top of their game.

George Kennedy rightfully won the Best Supporting Actor award and continued on to become one of the most successful and prolific character actors of the 70's and 80's, and his career culminated with his iconic role in the Naked Gun series. As for Paul Newman, this is one of his best performance in a long line of standout performances. This one is in the middle stage of his career and he exuded manliness with a touch of sensitivity. He and Strother Martin would meet again in one of the best sequences of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Watching Luke win over all the convicts, including the previous leader played by Kennedy is stunning, yet gut-wrenching when offset by the scenes with the guards who are hell bent on getting Luke to understand his place. They understand the risk he poses to the systematic rhythms of the prison.

The supporting cast is downright incredible. This was the feature film debut for: Ralph Waite (4 years later he became the beloved paternal figure of TV's The Waltons); Joe Don Baker(Buford Pusser from Walking Tall); James Gammon (later the crusty manager in Major League); and Anthony Zerbe, another iconic character actor of the 70's and 80's. Also featured are Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton (singing a few songs), Wayne Rogers (from MASH), Richard Davalos (James Dean's brother Aron in East of Eden), and Rance Howard (Ron's dad as the sheriff). In a brief, but truly great scene, Jo Van Fleet (also from East of Eden), appears as Arletta, and we quickly understand Luke's background.

Often overlooked by film historians, "Lucille" putting on a show for the convicts as she washes her car, is a scene that is meant for more than titillation. As she creatively buffs the windows, the reaction of the convicts reminds us that these are still men and no amount of humiliation and degradation can change that. One of my friends argues that Joy Harmon was clearly cheated out of an Oscar for this scene.

The score is the handy work of Lalo Schifrin and expertly captures the moment ... especially in the black top scene. Director Stuart Rosenberg was known only for his TV work when he got this script. He went on to direct another prison movie in 1980 called Brubaker. Starring Newman's Butch Cassidy co-star Robert Redford, the film was a decent prison drama, but not at the level of Cool Hand Luke ... which by the way, was installed into the National Film Registry in 2005.

Prison classic with a career-best Newman

[Leofwine_draca · 9/10 · 5 February 2017]

On the face of it, Cool Hand Luke tells a simplistic story about a guy who breaks the law and is sent to a rural prison, where he must earn status among the prisoners. This in turn sets him against the guards and governor, who want nothing better than to knock him down, and the plot goes from there.

Where this film excels is in its depth. It can be read in a number of different ways, from example as a religious allegory and also in terms of status and power in the modern age. In essence there's a microcosm of society inside the prison with each character fulfilling a different role or tier. Paul Newman plays the classic rebellious character, a man unwilling to conform, ever, and he does it in such a brilliant way that I'm surprised he didn't win his Oscar.

Newman's the perfect fit for the part: upbeat, funny, and incredibly sympathetic. I haven't seen all of his films, but I find it hard to imagine he could better his role here. Equalling him is George Kennedy, also at his best, and fully deserving his best supporting actor Oscar. His character is perfectly written and, indeed, this film is perfectly made, with great attention to visual detail throughout. It's also notable for featuring a number of classic sequences, from the egg eating to the 'Plastic Jesus' song and of course the escape attempts. A fantastic film indeed.

memorable

[rupie · 8/10 · 6 November 2000]

Truly a memorable movie, and more than just a documentary about southern road gangs. It's a study on the theme of the indomitability of the human spirit in the face of oppression. I was about to name this as Newman's finest performance until I thought of Eddy Felsen in "The Hustler" and Frank Galvin in "The Verdict"; it's impossible to choose among such a cornucopia of acting achievements, but Luke is right up there (the analogy to Luke as Christ becomes a tad heavy-handed when we see him, at the close of the egg-eating scene, stretched out, arms outward, feet crossed, as if crucified; none the less, it's a powerful image). There is no doubt, however, about George Kennedy as Dragline; it is his finest achievement, and fully deserves the Oscar he got for Best Supporting Actor. It is also fascinating to find so many familiar faces among the inmates - actors such as Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker, Ralph Waite. and Wayne Rogers - who would go on to fame in their own right. This movie can unquestionably be called a classic. American Movie Classics just started (11/2000) showing a beautifully restored letterbox version which shows it in all its glory.

"Luke" is a character Newman was born to play - and this is one hell of a beautiful film

[gogoschka-1 · 10/10 · 18 December 2013]

This film got me from the first frame to the last. It's not even because of the story (which I love, of course) - it's just so very well made. And so modern. The kind of angles and perspectives the camera uses, the way it zooms in and out or even allows itself (literally) to get dirty - the way this whole picture was shot is just something I haven't seen in an American film released prior to this one.

And yet, although it is considered a classic, when people talk about the "New Hollywood" somehow 'Cool Hand Luke' is hardly ever mentioned - despite the fact that it came out only a couple of months after 'Bonnie and Clyde' in 1967 and before 'The Graduate'.

I look at this film mainly as a character study but the story arc also works very well and it hasn't aged a bit. This is one of those rare films that was way ahead of its time and which has simply everything: great acting, iconic characters and scenes, wonderful music - and the cinematography is just unbelievable.

Funny, tragic and moving, 'Cool Hand Luke' is one hell of a film. What we've got here is NOT failure to communicate - but a 10 star masterpiece.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

Not just a prison film, but an excellent film about not being able to conform in a world that requires it

[clydestuff · 10/10 · 10 February 2004]

Having had the advantage of reading Donn Pearce's novel about a year before seeing Cool Hand Luke, it was with great anticipation that I awaited it's transfer to the big screen. I was not disappointed.

Cool Hand Luke could easily be classified by the misguided as just a prison yarn, but it is so much more than that. It is the story of a man who refuses to be nailed down or conform to the rules and regulations of a society that he has never craved to fit into. When Lucas Jackson is arrested for cutting heads off parking meters, his explanation to the prison captain(Strother Martin) is "Small Town, not much to do in the evening", which would have us believe he was just being drunk and stupid. Later, to one of the other inmates he mutters the same answer, but importantly adds "just settlin some old scores". It is a brief but important point in helping to define the character of Luke beyond just being drunk and damaging public property. As a service man, we also discover that Luke won a bronze star, achieved the rank of sergeant but came out as a private. Again, early evidence that Luke is unable to conform to any body's rules but his own. Yet, we are given clear evidence that Luke knows what is right in principal and what is wrong. At one point in the film when they are putting Luke in the box under less than reasonable circumstances, he tells the boss, "calling it your job don't make it right, Boss." In a visit from his mother Arletta(Jo Van Fleet), Luke says plenty about his own character by telling her, "A man's got to go his own way" or as he also puts it, "I tried to live always free and above board like you but I can't seem to find no elbow room".

As Luke enters the prison that will supposedly be his home for the next two years, we meet the other inmates. Some of them wear chains, some of them do not. It is a point early in the film that director Stuart Rosenberg, emphasizes. We understand quickly that sooner or later you conform. You either walk the line the way the bosses tell you to, or they will find the means to get you to walk the line. As the Captain reiterates, "for your own good, you'll learn the rules" A point driven home often.

What we discover about their crimes is minuscule. One is jailed for manslaughter after hitting a pedestrian with his car, another is a paper hanger, another new inmate is charged with breaking, entering and assault. The nature of their crimes is unimportant to us. It enables to view these prisoners as men, and while we don't feel any genuine sympathy for them, feeling disgusted by their crimes would have been a distraction from the true purpose of Pearce's story, and Luke as the focal point.

Because of his individuality, it doesn't take Luke long before he unexpectedly becomes a hero to the other inmates. It is not a role he chooses, or even wants. It unexpectedly imposes the burden on him of having to live up to the expectations of others. He never truly understands the nature of this hero worship, and would be just as happy if he didn't have to deal with it. He is still trying to find his way in the world, and if there is any real purpose for his existence.

Another principal character is Dragline(George Kennedy). It is he who finally establishes the fact that Cool Hand Luke is a man who can not be beaten. Dragline's admiration for Luke seems to extend from the fact that he(Dragline)has learned the rules on how to get by, but yet regrets having lost some of his own individuality in the process. He is the rest of the inmates in microcosm. I can't remember a role that George Kennedy has ever been better in, and he deservedly won the best supporting actor award.

Cool Hand Luke is not without it's humorous moments especially in the early going. It is these moments that help move the film from the early stages to the darker more despairing later stages. Perhaps, for that reason alone we are even more effected by Luke's dilemma.

In translating his novel to the screen Donn Pearce along with Frank Pierson, has managed to bring the heart and soul of his nove to the big screen. Lalo Shifrin's memorable score emphasizes often the repeated drudgery of working on the chain gang. Director Stuart Rosenberg made more good films after Cool Hand Luke, but in my opinion never achieved the same degree of perfection that he does here.

As Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman give one of the most memorable performances in a long distinguished career. It is not an easy task portraying a man who travels the road from being a sincere individualist, to a man who may be beaten and defeated, yet in the end is still unwilling to accept that fate. Although Rod Steiger won the best actor award that year, one could argue that Newman's role was more difficult, as it required substantially different subtle ranges in character. As for the failure of Cool Hand Luke to achieve a Best Picture nomination, I'm at a loss to explain that malfunction, especially when the likes of Doctor Doolittle and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, far lesser efforts than this were nominated.

Cool Hand Luke is a true classic in every sense of the word. It is a film that will long be remembered.

My grade: A+

Newman's Brilliance

[Michael_Elliott · 13 October 2008]

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

**** (out of 4)

Paul Newman plays the title character, a man who just can't reform to the rules in life and can't reform to the rules when sent to a chain gang. This is certainly without question one of my favorite movies and it certainly had a large impact on my life when I watched it as a teenager. I hold this film very close to my heart and especially the character of Luke but even without the personal feelings this remains one of the better movies out there. Some have called it a prison movie but I think that's really an insult because the film is so much more than that including one of the best character studies out there. The film has so many laughs, so many painful moments and so many dramatic moments but I think the true heart of the film is in its honesty towards Newman's character. There are countless great scenes including the legendary egg eating contest but one of my favorites has always been the ending with Newman talking to God inside the church. Needless to say, Newman is brilliant in the role and while it's hard to say which one performance of his is his greatest this one here is awfully close. You can really see Newman sticking his heart and soul into the role and you really can't imagine anyone else playing the character. George Kennedy also deserved his Oscar and Strother Martin makes for one great villain.

"What we have here, is a failure to communicate....."

[michaelarmer · 10/10 · 6 December 2019]

This is my favourite film, ever, just beating Bullitt by a whisker, and Paul Newman is one of my favourite actors, Laurence Olivier is supposed to be the best ever, but his forte is theatre, for movies I believe Paul Newman and Steve McQueen are better in the format, in this case I am talking about Mr Newman, his portrayal as Luke is spot on, one of the best ever movie acting performances.

I should not need to say more, however the supporting cast & director were all great, Strother Martin and George Kennedy played it brilliantly, Stuart Rosenberg directed brilliantly, it was well photographed, all the scenes looked so real, I felt I was in the mid-south of USA for a while. the music was also great.

It was also a stylish film, I don't know if it was the period or what but for me most of the best stylish films in history came from the 60's, and they all had a kind of style, not all the same style but all done well, and this is the best.

It has always been and always will be one of the best movies ever.

"I'm shakin' it boss, I'm shakin' it"

A classic that became a big part of my life

[prodigalorphan-72099 · 10/10 · 15 April 2016]

I first saw "Cool Hand Luke" the first week it came out. Went to see it with my father at a theater on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. We were just a few blocks away from the hospital where my Mom was dying of cancer and we just needed a break. It was cathartic. Feeling as beat up and left for dead as I was at the time, I came across a character who knew how to take the punches. "Luke" is a beautifully crafted film. Not one wasted frame or moment. Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson's screenplay is nothing less than a working man's parable of a truly good soul who just couldn't seem to get a break. In ways, it could be said he truly didn't let himself. But the strength within Luke that would not let him compromise who he was for who he was told to be, the resilience to fight back against those who tried to fight him on that was inspirational. Whether it was a carefully chosen remark or just one of them Luke looks, They knew They couldn't knock him out no matter how badly They knocked him down. Seems he handled life like that, and it was an example I've clung to and have tried to follow in the almost fifty subsequent years. Conrad Hall's cinematography was breathtaking, providing the scope of all the integral parts of the story with the immediacy of all the most intimate moments. Any single frame could hang on your living room wall as the centerpiece. The cast: Dennis Hopper, Strother Martin, Lou Antonio, Ralph Waite ... and George Kennedy. Academy Award Winner George Kennedy. "Dragline". The most unforgettable "gentle giant" I believe I've ever seen on the silver screen. Each and every one of them, in all their glory and in the simplest of nuances, helped raise Paul Newman's masterful portrayal to an ever higher level, maybe his best work ever. The character is very much the story in "Cool Hand Luke" and the ensemble brings it to life. Frustrating, challenging, confusing, pain- in-the-ass life with just enough of that rebellious spirit to bring hope to those facing some of their tougher times. I saw the film four more times that first year, and probably twice each year since whenever I could find it. Check in with Luke and the boys for a breath of fresh air and some world-shaking hope. Can't speak for anyone else, but Luke is right up there with Atticus Finch for me when it comes to celluloid heroes, these are the two whose stories got me through some really, really bleak times. And for me, "Cool Hand Luke" was ultimately a story of hope. The story of a man who never gave in. Never gave up. And never stopped grinning. All that they piled on him, all they tried to bury him under ... just wasn't worth his getting worked up over. Wasn't gonna get to his spirit.

Influential 60's prison drama

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 13 June 2016]

Set in the rural south, a man serves time on a chain gang after vandalising parking meters. When inside, he stubbornly refuses to bow down to anybody, be it the prison authorities or his fellow inmates. Soon, though, he becomes a symbol of hope to the other prisoners and his rebellious nature teaches them that their integrity is the most important thing they have.

This anti-authoritarian film is very much in a similar mould to Bonnie and Clyde which also came out in 1967. In both of these films the establishment are shown to be the bad guys and the criminals anti-heroes deserving of our sympathy. With this in mind it would only be fair to say that, like Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke could be regarded as one of the very first New Hollywood movies. It certainly is a film which indicates that the cinematic norms were changing. It's also one of the first of a new type of prison drama which tried to reach for more authenticity. In many ways it is a precursor to the classic incarcerated-man-against-the-system movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). For me, it's not in the same league as that one but it's pretty obviously a very influential work. It benefits from a good ensemble cast, with Paul Newman leading the picture very well, with impressive support in particular from George Kennedy who would go on to win an Oscar for his efforts.

Very well-made with sense of graphic imagery and cinema view...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 9/10 · 7 January 2001]

The rebel character in Hollywood after the death of James Dean went through a period of transition and did not gain definite new characteristics until the late sixties...

The three established rebel/anti-heroes in movies were Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, and Steve McQueen...

In 1967, screen audiences were exposed to two new rebel hero characters, Clyde Barrow, a rebel without a cause with enough guts to strike out against any bank, and Luke Jackson, an anti-hero 'born to lose,' but a man full of pride and dignity...

"Cool Hand Luke" resumes Newman's career as another rebel, a non-conformist, a perfect hero who beats the system wherever...

Superbly directed by Stuart Rosenberg, Newman exhibits a complete arrangement of emotions invading every nuance and implication... Resources of his true command of his technical acting are breathtaking in their impact... The motion picture (nominated for 4 Academy Awards) won him his 4th Academy Award nomination...

Newman is again a cynical loner, but he's also charming, and everything is calculated to involve us with him; like "Hombre," the film begins and ends with closeups of his face, but here, appropriately, he has an engaging smile…

The opening, where he drinks beer, unscrews tops from parking meters and mumbles to the arriving cop, recalls Dean's drunken incoherence at the start of "Rebel Without a Cause"—an apt title for Luke… He breaks rules for no apparent reason, wherever he is, including the chain gang to which he's sentenced…

Unlike Paul Muni in "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang," who steals only to eat and is turned by society into a hardened criminal, Luke is a criminal from the start, and his crime isn't motivated by hunger… It's a meaningless anti-authority gesture—the existentialist "gratuitous act," committed purely for the sake of committing it… Luke engages our sympathy not because he is economically deprived or the product of an unhappy home, but because for him the act of rebellion is its own justification: he's the perfect sixties hero…

Initially, Luke alienates the prisoners by his indifference and sarcasm, and the top dog, Dragline (George Kennedy) picks a fight with him… Luke is severely beaten but keeps fighting, and this—plus his continual defiance of the guards—wins him the men's respect… Their admiration grows when he proves he can eat 50 hard-boiled eggs, one after the other, in only one hour, another gratuitous act ("somethin' to do").

But Luke gradually becomes a victim of the excessive admiration, rebelling because they expect him to, which leads to a pattern of escapes and captures… As the warden says, "What we got here is a failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach." Even though Luke becomes subservient after torture, he again escapes… Dragline admires the way he fooled the guards while planning all along to escape… But Luke says he really did break down, and asserts: "l never planned anything in my life." Even his last act is motivated not by heroism but by impulse…

The physical punishment Newman's characters often undergo reaches an extreme here, as Luke constantly invites pain (in his fight with Dragline, he says, "You're gonna have to kill me."). Underlying his sometimes vigorous rebelliousness is despair at a cruelly indifferent world… But the men need a hero, and Dragline perpetuates the myth, telling them that he had "that Luke smile" to the very end… We last see a montage of shots of Luke smiling—the men's vision of him as unbeaten and almost immortal…

Newman's performance is among his best, and Luke is one of his definitive studies of non conformism… As in "Hombre," he underplays, but in a loose, relaxed, "cool" manner… He's affecting in a wide range of moods: quiet detachment, wry contempt, raw courage, exhaustion, exuberance, gentleness, anger, resignation…

There's a superb1y understated scene in which Luke's dying mother (Jo Van Fleet) visits him… Like Rocky Graziano, he says he tried to live cleanly, but could never find a way… But the mood is quite different here: instead of intense emotion, there are on1y ingenious expressions of uneasiness, regret, sadness, acceptance… Newman conveys his unspoken affection entirely through his glances and reactions, as she wistfully remarks that she once had high hopes for him…

The actor even survives the film's pretentious attempts to make him a mock-Christ figure… Besides the obvious sacrifice-resurrection parallel, he's even shown in the exact crucifixion position following his fifty-egg (Last Supper?) ordeal… There are two badly conceived dialogs with a God he doesn't believe in—after which he realizes, "l gotta find my own way," a rather unconcealed statement of existential despair—but Newman performs them with quiet conviction….

His mock religion is better suggested by the bottle opener he wears in lieu of a religious medal… And the despair is effectively dramatized in his reaction to his mother's death… The men leave him by himself, and he sits on his bed, playing the banjo… With a sad, breaking voice, he sings a religious parody: "l don't care if it rains or freezes, long as 1 got my plastic Jesus…" He looks down and begins crying, but sings faster, obsessively, withdrawing into himself and expressing his utter loneliness in a world that has no God… It's one of the most moving scenes in all of Newman's work…

Paralleled to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Cool Hand Luke" is a character study, which works beautifully, very well-made with sense of graphic imagery and cinema view, a good-looking film with superb photography in Color, extremely good as an entertainment...

Unforgettable Paul Newman as a cool prisoner in a Southern chain gang who flees and is recaptured

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 21 June 2012]

Interesting flick about the deprivations and subhuman conditions of a chain gang and a rebel prisoner to whom wardens will attempt to break his free spirit . Based on a real story by Donn Pearce who wrote the novel on which the movie is based , he spent 2 years on a chain gang for safe-breaking ; Pearce makes a cameo appearance in the movie as a convict named Sailor . It deals with Luke (Paul Newman ) who is sent to a prison camp , where he gets a reputation as a hard man . He becomes a prisoner on a Southern chain gang , there the head of the gang hates him , and attempts to break him by beating him up . It doesn't work, and he gains respect and not even the deprivations of these wrong conditions will break his spirit . Irrepressible Luke even manages to win the admiration of his rival (George Kennedy) in the chain gang . Luke is visited by his ill mother (Jo Van Fleet was only 11 years older than Paul Newman , Bette Davis was first offered the role of Luke's mother, but refused the bit part) ; after that , Luke refuses to conform to life in a rural prison and he getaways , but is caught, but escapes again .

Modern slant on chain gang sub-genre with one of Paul Newman's greatest interpretations from his prestigious and long career , here as an obstinate , stubborn prisoner . George Kennedy's acting was equally excellent and deservedly won him a supporting Academy Award . Rosenberg's magnificent direction that underlines the strength of personalities involved , undercutting the less pleasant aspects and putting the focus squarely on Newman's tough performance and including the memorably unforgettable egg-eating contest . Top-notch secondary cast who gives splendid performances as Strother Martin , Lou Antonio , Wayne Rogers , J. D. Cannon , Dennis Hooper , Harry Dean Stanton , Morgan Woodward , Joe Don Baker , and Ralph Waite , Anthony Zerbe's film debuts , among others . Good sets and fine scenarios , as a Southern prison camp was built just north of Stockton, California , a dozen buildings were constructed, including a barracks, mess hall, warden's quarters, guard shack, and dog kennels . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by Conrad L. Hall . Atmospheric musical score by Lalo Schifrin in his usual style .

Stuart Rosenberg was one of the best TV directors of the 50s and 60s and subsequently realized segment of crime and mystery series . In 1967 directed his first film , ¨Mystery Inc¨ , and subsequently the successful ¨Cool Hand Luke¨ with Paul Newman . Rosenberg and Newman attempted in vain to repeat the formula in three further movies together as ¨WUSA movie¨, ¨Pocket money¨ and ¨The drowning pool¨ . However he achieved other two hit smashes , in the terror genre with ¨The Amityville horror¨ and again with a prison film titled ¨Brubaker¨. Since then Rosenberg's output has been unsatisfactory and sporadic as ¨The Pope of Greenwich village ¨ a Mickey Rourke vehicle . Rosenberg directed 5 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Peter Falk, Paul Newman, Lee Grant, Geraldine Page and of course George Kennedy with his top-drawer performance as Dragline . Rating : Above average , wholesome watching . Essential and indispensable seeing for the Paul Newman's fans .

The quintessential Paul Newman movie

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 9 January 2011]

I like Paul Newman, he is very likable while being suitably brooding and intense in his films. To me, as much as I do like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand Luke is my favourite movie of this great actor. What of Newman himself? Well he is just superb here, very cool and charismatic as well as the skills he is best at. The cinematography is also a delight, the Technicolour is just stunning, and Stuart Rosenberg's direction is a career-best. The dialogue is crisp and memorable, and the story is beautifully constructed. As for any memorable scenes, the prologue and the egg-eating scene are classics, the film succeeds adeptly at being a character study and I for one had no problem with the religious symbolism. Lalo Schifrin's music is very nice too. So all in all, if you love Paul Newman, you will love Cool Hand Luke. 10/10 Bethany Cox

He fought the law...

[Lejink · 6/10 · 7 October 2009]

Highly rated film that I don't rate that highly, if truth be told. There's plenty to savour, particularly in the acting stakes but I was ultimately confused and disappointed by the resolution to the various themes at play here.

The enigmatic opening, with Newman's Luke character casually vandalising the state's parking meters amusingly recalled to me the famous tag-line from Bob Dylan's near contemporaneous song "Subterraneaen Homesick Blues" - "Don't follow leaders and watch the parking meters", (both parts of the line are relevant - at one point he screams "Stop feeding off me" to his "follower" inmates) as Luke gets incarcerated in a brutally-run Southern prison work-house and becomes the unlikely and from his point of view, at times unwelcome talismanic figure representing to his fellow inmates a focal point of resistance to authority and in a wider sense, general conformity.

And yet this self-effacing persona which Luke adopts more than once however doesn't square, with me, to the self-publicising acts he does elsewhere, most famously the fight scene with the prison's "Big Daddy" inmate, Dragline, played by Arthur Kennedy and of course the egg-scoffing scene, where he deliberately draws attention to himself. I also didn't get Kennedy's character's change (adapting Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men") from George to Lennie, when after punching Luke to a pulp and establishing one would think once and for all superiority over him, we see him by the end almost acting as his lackey. Add to that an admittedly revisionist minor revulsion at the blatantly sexist soft-porn episode of the tongues-out chain gang ogling a scantily-clad nymphet foaming up a car and you can tell I had some issues with the movie, although a minor counter-case against the latter could be made for the insertion of the very mild homo-erotic and played for laughs sub "Jailhouse Rock" scene of the prisoners dancing with each other, dressed only in their shorts, on the 4th of July.

The ambiguities in the narrative however threw me off-kilter and while I can see that I was expected to cut Newman's character a lot of slack as a societal misfit whose "different-ness" is accentuated further after his beloved mother dies, ultimately, again to paraphrase Dylan, nothing has been proved. As to style, director Rosenberg certainly captures the heat and sweat of the workhouse but even then a lot of his imagery seems second-hand, lifting from the likes of Leone and Sturges. Lalo Schifrin delivers a satisfactory if occasionally blaring soundtrack.

The acting is great though, yet I'm sure I can see Steve McQueen playing the Newman role better. Arthur Kennedy is robust enough until he's reduced to a simpering wimp by the conclusion. Strother Martin, with that enervating southern drawl gets most of the best lines (especially the well-known "What we have here is a failure to communicate") and his underlings similarly exude cruelty and inhumanity, especially when breaking Luke over the pointless digging of a ditch. Amongst the inmates, by the way, it's interesting to note emerging actors of the television screen like Wayne Rogers ("M.A.S.H."), Ralph Waite ("The Waltons", "Mississipi") and Anthony Zerbe (everything else...) plus the young (Harry) Dean Stanton and Dennis Hopper.

Grandstanding scenes notwithstanding, by the conclusion, the film hadn't held me as it should have done and further weakened its case as an expose of the working methods of jail-masters of the recent past with a sentimental collage of Newman's smiling image set before us with all the integrity of an episode of the afore-mentioned "The Waltons".

Life on a chain gang in rural Florida in the early 50s

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 30 December 2016]

Released in 1967 and directed by Stuart Rosenberg based on Donn Pearce' novel, "Cool Hand Luke" is a prison drama starring Paul Newman in the eponymous role as a loner who disdains rules in the early 50s. He is sentenced to two years on a prison farm in Florida run by a stern warden, the Captain (Strother Martin), and guarded by a stoic rifleman, Walking Boss Godfrey (Morgan Woodward). Carr (Clifton James) the floorwalker, tells the rules to the new prisoners with violations resulting in spending the night in "the box," a small square room with limited air and little room to move. George Kennedy and Dennis Hopper are on hand as fellow prisoners, amongst many others.

I was wondering about the totally stoo-pid reason Luke gets 2 years in prison at the beginning of the film. He likely got a ticket for a "violated" parking meter while in town. So he has a few beers, gets his mitts on a big pipe cutter, and thought, "I'm gonna show these jerks."

"Cool Hand Luke" has a big reputation but, for me, it doesn't quite live up to it. The highlight is the iconic car wash sequence with Joy Harmon, as well as the ending when Luke talks with God about why He made him such a misfit. The rest is a decent prison drama about an eccentric individualist who inspires those around him stuck in the same pen. It's a character study of a likable, impressive, but unruly person who doesn't seem to grasp that getting sloshed and destroying public property has negative repercussions. Gee, maybe you shouldn't try to solve your problems by getting drunk and vandalizing. The movie is realistic and well-made, but generally tedious, although I'm sure that's the point – being confined on a prison farm WOULD be tedious. The Christ typology is interesting, however; and I can understand how some grade it higher.

The movie runs 126 minutes and was shot Tavares & Jacksonville, Florida; and San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, California, with studio work done in Burbank.

GRADE: C+ (5.5/10)

The anti-hero

[XRANDY · 2 January 2002]

One of the reasons that the late 60s/early 70s was such a powerful era in filmmaking is the emergence of the anti-hero (defined as an individual with heroic qualities, but not in a position we would usually find a hero). This is symbolized greatly in `Cool Hand Luke'. We can identify with Luke because his crime is venial and his concerns over the great questions of life are ours. It is because of this and his persuasive charm that the other prisoners (played remarkably well by Kennedy and a host of others to include Wayne Rogers, Ralph Waite, Dennis Hopper and one of the actors who played a crewmember on `Alien') live vicariously through him.

Filled with memorable scenes (the boxing match, 50 eggs, the fealty of his fellow prisoners who help him finish his food after his stomach is shrunk in solitary confinement, `shakin' it here boss', the sneezing dogs, and of course the carwash part) and outstanding character development (created by what is said and what is not said, i.e. the visiting brother), one of screen history's most repeated lines and the great acting of Newman, this movie deserves to be called a classic. Released the same year as `Bonnie and Clyde', it makes one long for the days when you needed a real script to make a movie.

"Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand."

[ackstasis · 8/10 · 2 February 2008]

'Cool Hand Luke (1967)' was and remains one of Paul Newman's most iconic performances, with the image of Luke Jackson – with his piercing blue eyes, blissfully carefree smile, dogged determination – forever entrenched in the minds of all who see the film. Having experienced a lifetime of difficulty and oppression, Luke is one man who never learned to conform to society, and who is willing to sacrifice himself in order to avoid compromising his own integrity. On many occasions, the motivation behind Luke's actions are dubious at best {his numerous escape attempts appear to have been orchestrated for the mere sake of rebellion}, but this all adds to the lure of his enigmatic personality. Many critics have noted the film's scattered Biblical references, with some proposing that Newman's character is an allusion to Christ, who mentored a group of "disciples" before offering his own life in the face of tyranny. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and wonderfully captured by cinematographer Conrad L. Hall {whose final film, 'Road to Perdition (2002)' is among the most beautiful of the new century}, the story of "Cool Hand Luke" remains one of cinema's most definitive prison dramas.

Influencing, in some way or another, just about every prison movie that followed, and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Milos Forman's masterpiece 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975),' the film's legacy has continued to stretch into the present, and the Captain's (Strother Martin) memorable line "What we've got here is failure to communicate" continues to be quoted often. Of course, it is Cool Hand Luke whom we shall always remember so vividly, his nickname representative of his independence, individualism and unwillingness to conform. Newman's superb performance was nominated for an Academy Award at the 1968 Oscars, but he was beaten by an equally-memorable Rod Steiger for 'In the Heat of the Night (1967).' Unthinkably, the film itself was denied a Best Picture nomination, presumably to make way for the epic musical 'Dr. Dolittle (1967),' a childhood favourite of mine that nonetheless should never have been nominated. The picture's single award went to George Kennedy, who is marvellous as Dragline, a tough, imposing but supportive inmate who strikes up a very close friendship with the prison's resident "messiah."

Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar and George Kennedy received one for his work in this allegorical prison drama.

[robfollower · 8/10 · 22 February 2019]

Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar and George Kennedy received one for his work in this allegorical prison drama. Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sentenced to a stretch on a southern chain gang after he's arrested for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. While the avowed ambition of the captain (Strother Martin) is for each prisoner to "get their mind right," it soon becomes obvious that Luke is not about to kowtow to anybody. When challenged to a fistfight by fellow inmate Dragline (George Kennedy), Luke simply refuses to give up, even though he's brutally beaten. Luke knows how to win at poker, even with bad cards, by using his smarts and playing it cool. Luke also figures out a way for the men to get their work done in half the usual time, giving them the afternoon off. Finally, when Luke finds out his mother has died, he plots his escape; when he's caught, he simply escapes again. Soon, Luke becomes a symbol of hope and resilience to the other men in the prison camp -- and a symbol of rebelliousness that must be stamped out to the guards and the captain. Along with stellar performances by Newman, Kennedy, and Martin, Cool Hand Luke features a superb supporting cast, including Ralph Waite, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, and Joe Don Baker as members of the chain gang.

The 'Anti-Hero' Emerges In Hollywood

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 15 June 2006]

Perhaps one of the last of the chain-gang movies (until it was briefly shown in the beginning of 2000's "O, Brother Where Art Thou?), this has always been (1) an interesting film (2) a wonderfully photographed movie.

You hear more about the story and about Paul Newman than you usually hear about the cinematography, but it's good and this movie should be seen in widescreen. It was offered as such even on VHS.

When I looked at this film sometime in the '90s, I was surprised that the famous line from it: "What we have here is a failure to communicate," was only used twice, and the second time being the last sentence uttered by Newman. I had thought that Strother Martin had said it several times. Boy, Martin was one of the more effective villains in some 1960s film, a mean-talking sadistic guy.

This movie was another of the pioneers in promoting a new thing on screen: the "anti-hero," so it was popular in the protest decade of the '60s. Newman's character fit right into the period where the rebel is the hero and the authority figure is the bad guy. You've seen this repeatedly ever since, although filmmakers have always loved rebels.

George Kennedy gives Newman memorable support as "Dragline" and was aptly awarded for his performance. Someone who I always remembered was the prison guard who said nothing, just stared through his sunglasses. I can always picture that guy and those reflective glasses. That, and eating 50 hard- boiled eggs have stuck with me for over 40 years!

One of the top ten films ever made

[mrush · 10/10 · 16 July 2006]

This is an absolute perfect movie in every way.Storyline,acting,settings---everything is perfect.Hollywood used to make great movies like this before it became the special effects driven computer generated movie making schlock capitol of the world.

The great Paul Newman plays a prisoner locked up in a Southern jail after a night of petty crimes.His constant struggle to be free even while locked up makes this one of the greatest roles ever seen in a movie.Newman is at his absolute peak playing the cool Lucas Jackson.I was so struck by Newman's performance in this movie I was determined to name my son Lucas Jackson,but alas,I only had daughters and my wife wasn't too thrilled about naming either of them Lucas.Oh well.

George Kennedy plays Jackson's enemy turned buddy and he is absolutely perfect also.His portrayal of Dragline is Kennedy at his finest.The sublime Strother Martin plays the prison captain and damn is he ever good.He was always so underrated as is Kennedy too,I think.

In fact this whole movie is full of familiar faces that would go on to other big time roles in TV and movies.In this movie everyone meshes perfectly to create an unforgettable movie that will stay with you long after many other movies you've seen fade from memory.

You must see this movie.

A well done prison movie with a stellar performance by Paul Newman.

[h-28658 · 7/10 · 27 June 2020]

The movie moves at a good pace, and it's fun to watch. There isn't much of an arc to the story.

Some men you just can't reach.

[TOMASBBloodhound · 10/10 · 14 August 2005]

Cool Hand Luke is perhaps Paul Newman's most memorable character. He was outstanding as Hud, but he seems to have topped that performance in this 1967 classic.

Newman plays a man named Luke. After cutting the heads off some parking meters, he is thrown into a prison system where he's forced to do some hard time tending to country roads. This character has to be one of the biggest enigmas in film history. Luke is likable enough. His mother points out to him that he's even had some good jobs. The viewer is left to ponder why in the heck he can't stay out of trouble.

Not much is told about his past. We know he fought WWII, and even won some medals. He has no wife or children to care for. He has a mother who appears to be dying of lung cancer or some such ailment. His other family members seem to hold a grudge against him. We never really learn why he feels the need to cut the heads off the parking meters, but he's caught red-handed. The prison he's sent to makes its inmates work their tails off, but it looks like they'll treat you fairly if you follow their rules. Luke has no intentions of following any rules laid down by the warden or the "bosses" that watch over the road work, though.

After taking a tremendous beating from the toughest inmate (Kennedy), Luke quickly begins to win the admiration of his fellow prisoners. His spirit catches on with the others, and they begin to get their work done more quickly and effectively than ever before. Things begin to go downhill for Luke once he learns of his mother's passing. He repeatedly tries to escape, and soon the warden and his cronies are out to break his spirit and make him conform. The film becomes a test of wills, and a fascinating character study.

The biggest question the viewer is left with is "why?". Luke could have simply served out his time and then gone on to a more normal existence. That seems to be out of the realm of possibilities for the character, however. He isn't simply out to impress the other prisoners. At one point he even demands they stop trying to feed off of him for all their strength. Luke seems like a man who simply cannot allow others to tell him how to live. There are a few moments where he openly questions the existence of God, but that angle doesn't go very far. It merely makes the guards want to abuse him even more, but that's about it. It becomes almost frustrating to see this man keep digging a bigger and bigger hole for himself. At one point Luke is forced to literally do just that.

What exactly is the film trying to tell us? It doesn't seem to be advocating disobedience. We cheer for Luke when he's causing trouble for the guards, but we feel his pain when they punish him. The film's conclusion is more somber than inspiring.

Rosenberg's direction is outstanding, and the supporting cast shines. George Kennedy earned an Oscar for his performance. Overall this is an excellent film not to be missed! 10 of 10 stars from The Hound.

Heavy themes, but lifted to joy by Paul Newman, and a playful script

[secondtake · 7/10 · 29 January 2010]

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

A movie famous as an anti-establishment send-up and for the charming, smiling Paul Newman. Worth seeing for either reason. It does have comic moments to talk about--egg eating among them--and it has an especially low point for the treatment of women, even though it is justified internally by the characters. Most of the time it's a well paced, well acted chain gang movie, with one getaway (that's no spoiler--all prison movies have getaways) that is an homage or ripoff of the 1932 LeRoy chain gang movie to beat all chain gang movies.

Because the movie is clearly set in the past, it doesn't indict the prison system directly, but does critique the problem of authority, and of what exactly is a punishment suitable for petty crime. I don't know if the title character (played by Newman) is an anti-hero exactly (he lacks any true badness) but there is no doubt by halfway through who the true good guy is. And by the end, the Christian symbolism is overwhelming. If Cool Hand Luke the man isn't quite what you think of as messianic, he still does at least show what it means to be good in very ungood circumstances. It's a complicated thing to be a hero, and to survive those who are threatened by those better than them, and in the end, that's what the movie is about. Compelling if never amazing, and most of all enjoyable.

"He's A Rebel And He'll Never Never Be Any Good"

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 8 August 2006]

In Cool Hand Luke Paul Newman shows us what the underside of what life is like as a rebel. Picture James Dean doing this part had he lived to do films like these.

Newman plays his usual non-conformist rebel type, but he's really a rebel without a cause. He's in his early forties, a Korean war veteran who just hasn't found his place in civilian life. He gets himself busted for no great cause, just on a drunken spree in some Southern town he decides to knock the heads off a bunch of parking meters.

That lands him a stint in a county jail with a lot of outdoor work on a road gang. He fights with, but later wins the respect and becomes friends with George Kennedy the head honcho in his barracks.

The real tragedy of Cool Hand Luke is that Newman is a failure in life, it's why he's in prison. He gains the respect of his fellow convicts for those ways, but that involves going against the penal system and in the end that gets you nothing. Can you picture James Dean as a forty something doing what Newman is doing? It would have been his kind of role for sure.

Newman does a fine job playing the non-conformist Luke who seems to be just going on the path fate has decreed for him. George Kennedy got his Oscar winning career role as Dragline. Other men in Luke's barracks are Wayne Rogers, Robert Drivas, and J.D. Cannon and they fill their roles well.

Strother Martin as the warden of the place is the guy with the film's favorite line, "what we've got is failure to communicate." Martin and his correction officers have many interesting ways of getting their point across.

Cool Hand Luke may very well be the saddest role Newman ever undertook in his long career.

Nobody up there likes him...

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 12 October 2008]

Rabble-rouser from the 1960s isn't as fresh (or as hard-hitting) today as it must have been in its time. Hell-raising ne'er-do-well with nothing to lose winds up on a prison chain-gang, setting a new pace for the guards and other inmates. Fairly straightforward crowd-pleaser, though with odd flickers of melodrama, heightened by Stuart Rosenberg's overeager direction and Lalo Schifrin's mercurial score. In its latter stages, the overlong film appears to aspire to loftier meanings, but for the most part it's Chain-Gang 101--though well-played by Paul Newman, Oscar winner George Kennedy, and a solid, sometimes funny and colorful supporting cast. The central character's sunny rebellion turns serious by the midway point, and director Rosenberg overdoses on inmate clichés, but one is so apt to be drawn to Newman's characterization that the sour residue the movie leaves behind is not likely to catch up to viewers until later. *** from ****

Pointless Movie About an Anti-Hero

[nathanno · 1/10 · 14 January 2010]

This movie tries hard to convince you that right is wrong, black is white, up is down, and most importantly, that the antagonist is the protagonist.

The main character is Luke, a jobless deadbeat who is arrested for sawing off parking meters while drunk. He is sentenced to two years in a chain gang. Despite the fact that he is apathetic, rebellious, irreligious, selfish, and totally deserved to go to jail, we the audience are asked to root for this person.

The law-officers are portrayed as evil, and somehow rules are "bad" and those who defy authority are heroes.

The plot is long, drawn-out, and boring. We simply watch two hours of this man Luke smart off and try to escape the chain gang, until he finally dies at the end during his final escape. Then he is called a "world-shaker." What? This man contributed nothing to his fellow human beings except to be a deadbeat rebel, and yet he's some kind of hero? The most Luke ever does in his life is eat 50 eggs. How inspirational! Don't waste your time with this movie that tries to warp the rules of morality, logic, and good-movie-making.