Cool Hand Luke: 1967 (directed by Stuart Rosenberg)

Cool Hand Luke is a movie about prison, both literal and figurative, and how, if at all, one can escape it. The film implies that you can’t escape either, or at least not for very long.

Paul Newman plays Lucas Jackson, the title character. A war hero who ends up in jail after drunkenly cutting the heads off of parking meters, he is a confident and likable type of guy. Yet to paraphrase his dying mother, he’s always been one to break the rules. Nobody could ever understand why, especially Luke himself. He is smart and self-conscious enough to admit as much.

The jail Luke resides in is not your typical movie jail with guys behind bars holding out their cups. Instead, they are forced to do manual labor, in what appears to be a southern locale, and all sleep together in one big juvenile hall-like room. They are all enforced by the captain, played by Strother Martin, who rules with an iron fist. He is always to be addressed as “Captain,” and all the guards that work for him as “Boss.” These prisoners have very little personal freedom, if any at all; they must request to one of the bosses if they so much as want to take their shirt off or have a drink of water while performing their arduous manual labor. Hard time, indeed.

But once Luke arrives and settles in—after a bloody fight with the inmate leader—he is instantly accepted and liked. His strong spirit offers the other prisoners a sort of hope, or at least a distraction. He’s different from all of them, and he accepts this. And they love him for it.

Paul Newman is perfect as Luke. His good looks and blue eyes bleed enough charisma as to where we care about this character, as flawed as he is; this guy was born to be a movie star. The supporting cast is also outstanding, most notably George Kennedy (of Naked Gun fame) and Strother Martin. Martin’s speech about “a failure to communicate,” as sampled in the Guns ‘N’ Roses song “Civil War,” is the stuff of legends. Newman once said about the movie: “Give an actor a good script and he can move the world.” Well, as good as this film and his performance are, neither have moved the world. Yet they did create one goddamned fine movie.

My only complaint with the film, which has nothing to do with the narrative itself, is that it feels too dated. It’s been near 40 years since this movie was released, and having grown up on the likes of The Shawshank Redemption and other movies that show prison as a horrific, brutal place, this setting just seems too kosher; these men act more like a family than a bunch of criminals grouped together against their will. While somewhat inspiring, it just doesn’t ring true to me. Maybe because of the era in which it was released, the filmmakers had to idealize things just a tad.

Despite my beef, this is still a wonderful movie about what lies inside of you, and forces you to question if you can ever change that. Luke could not, and ultimately, he ends up paying for it. This film serves as both a warning and a reminder of the lives we choose to lead.

Sometimes nothin’ is a real cool hand.

Previous Movies of the Week:

#1: Gladiator
#2: The Passion of the Christ

This one is for Clubber.

So many great lines, and so well written. I fucking love this movie.

Never seen it, but I look forward to checking it out sometime soon.

frank,

i saw a special once about the religious imagery of this movie. apparently much of the movie included subtle crosses in the scenes to get across a small theme of 'being saved' -- maybe like luke was jesus to the other inmates. one of the strongest scenes, apparently, is when he's in the barn -- you should be able to make out a cross above the doors to the barn and below the loft.

know anything about this?

This movie is in my top 5 best of all time. Love it. Havnt a bad word to say about it.

I've never heard of this, but I don't know the movie well enough to deny said theory. I'll watch it again in the next couple of days and look for that imagery, though.

Maybe someone who is more familiar with the movie can enlighten us?

i found this:

http://www.coolchurches.com/articles/moviemessiahs.html

The cultural upheaval of the late 1960s demanded a new kind of Jesus. The most interesting musicians and film characters of the time were rebels. So eventually Jesus had to become the dissenter.

Cool Hand Luke (1967) marked a crucial transition and a defining moment in the way movies presented Jesus. Screenwriters discovered that it is not only possible but also quite effective to take the bare elements of the Jesus story and place them in a present-day setting.

Paul Newman plays Luke Jackson, a man sentenced to hard labor for destroying parking meters. In prison, Luke recruits "disciples" and tries to make hard time more endurable, even fun -- doing things like wagering on whether he can eat 50 boiled eggs at once. Of course, conflict with the prison establishment is inevitable for this rebel. When he turns the arduous task of repaving a highway into a joyous game, the guards begin to fear his influence. From that moment on, the establishment knows there is a troublemaker in their midst, and they plot to ruin Luke.

Cool Hand Luke even concludes with two scenes that recall Jesus’ Gethsemane and crucifixion. Pursued by the prison guards, Luke stands in an abandoned chapel and asks God, "Is this the way it has to be?" Then he is gunned down unjustly by the guards’ fearsome leader who hides behind his ever-present sunglasses -- the spiritually blind "man with no eyes." A "post-resurrection" scene follows in which Luke’s disciples reflect on their experiences with him.

The Cool Hand Luke formula was later duplicated with critical success in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Dead Poets Society (1989). Both films have a "Judas" and a resurrection scene that vindicates the martyred non-conformist.

That's some pretty deep stuff. I never saw any of those characters as Christ-like figures, aside from the martyrdom each portray. I'll have to think about this before I can fully respond.

I've never seen it

i think i'll bump it up on my netflix list.

First of all, for the people who haven't seen this movie, rent it, buy it, do whatever you can to get it. It's classic cinema with one of the greatest performnaces by one of the greatest actors of all time. It has no special affects, the directing isn't overwhelming, and it doesn't beat you over the head with a message. It's just an amazing script with Paul Newman showing off his "chops", classic scenes and lines, and a great ensemble and underrated cast of characters. You're not gonna be blown away, but you will see this movie over and over again because there are no dull parts and nothing over the top that will keep you away.

Newman is cooler than cool and influenced a shitload of today's performances and actors with this role. Luke is not a leader, he's not not trying to impress, he's just who he is. I wouldn't even consider him a rebel, he is just trying to live the way he knows how. If that means ruffling some feathers then that's what's gonna happen. Basically he's trying to keep himself from being bored the whole time while in jail. The other inmates easily sense the vibe that Luke gives off and can';t wait to see what he is going to do next. Their lives in the outside world are gone so they decide to live through Luke who provides them with a sense of freedom that they wouldn't be able to fathom without Luke showing them the way.

The funny thing is that Luke was almost a model inmate if it wasn't for his mother dying. They throw him in the "box" and THEN he decides to stir the shitstorm and see what he can get away with. It's almost as if he's ok with authority until they punish him for no reason. The authority figures in the prison actually drive him to do things he wouldn't normally do. It's quite the social commentary when you look deeper into it.

You also have the "christ" comparisons which are almost literal. I'm not a big fan of stuff like that but when you have a character like Luke it's hard not to like.

I also can't say enough about the supporting cast. george kennedy as Dragline is amazing. I never considered hima good actor until i saw this film. My favorite character is the "banker" guy who doesn't seem to belong at all. You throw in a young Dennis Hopper, the Captain", the "man with no eyes", there's just so many great small parts that are played superbly.

I can go on...and will go on soon enough. I have to put my Mario Kart title on the line

This is the first Movie of the Week that I've actually liked.

I'm surprised at the, well, surprise of people here about the Jesus symbolism. I thought it was way too obvious, actually. Even to the point of getting irritating at times. Take the moment right after Luke eats all the eggs, when he's lying, shirtless, on the table. He is spread out as if he were on a cross. It seems painfully blatant to me.

Beat me to it, LV.

Pretty cool. I mean, I have thought about that while watching it, but this is put together nicely.


Dragline: Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for? Why not thirty-five or thirty-nine?
Luke: I thought it was a nice round number.
(One of my fav. movie quotes, especially for the fact that it is a bit more obscure.)


And of course:
Captain, Road Prison 36: What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men.

Also, the song Plastic Jesus is one of the best religious satire songs ever written, both clever and funny.

I haven't seen Cool Hand Luke since I was a sophomore in high school, in my Psychology/Sociology class.

A lot of good posts on this movie, especially LD, DF, and Clubber’s, and about the religious overtones, it is plentiful. What especially hit me though, to me, was the one scene in which Newman is out in the torrential down pour with lightening constantly raining down. Newman, enraged, raises his fist to the dark sky and yells for his end. I love the message of “I’ve reached my lowest point, why let me continue, just end my journey” because I think we’ve all, at least some of us, have felt that way.
Besides the religious message, I think another central important theme concerns the human spirit. The more you attempt to control it (are indelible spirit) and subdue it, the more we fight back. The movie, to me, is about are incredible will to be free of all restraints.

I understand your point, but can't any "tragic hero" in movies be construed as Christ-like?

And for me, it wasn't blatantly obvious in Cool Hand Luke. The only two movies I've ever seen in which the Christ symbolism was blatantly obvious were Platoon and Bram Stoker's Dracula.