In what is probably his most iconic role in a highly prolific, illustrious career, Paul Newman stars as the titular ‘Cool Hand Luke’ in a role that became the new definition for machismo in a film that can be highly satisfying as a face value stickin’ it to the man prison fable or a more subtle but undeniable allegory of the gospel.
Released in 1967 – a great year for cinema as the eye of the Vietnam war was looming and films started to gravitate towards this mood and generational upheaval – ‘Cool Hand Luke’ was one of many seminal films to be released this year amongst Best Picture winner ‘In the Heat of the Night’, ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, ‘The Graduate’ and ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?’.
In fact, had ‘Cool Hand Luke’ been nominated for Best Picture instead of the pedantic ‘Dr. Doolittle’ (the above four were all in the Best Picture race that year), the Academy may have gotten things right for a change.
No, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ had to settle for a Best Actor nom for Paul Newman (who lost to Rod Steiger in the very important at the time racial-tension pic ‘In the Heat of the Night’) including noms for music and screenplay and one win; George Kennedy’s fantastic performance as ‘Dragline’ won him is one and only Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor.
So if the reception at the time was good but not great, it seems ‘Cool Hand Luke’ has the last laugh as it’s reputation has become indelible over the years with only maybe ‘The Graduate’ keeping up.
We start our fantastic trip with Luke being arrested for basically being bored and drunk. Sawing the heads of parking meters, he doesn’t get very far before he apparently decides to just sit down in a drunken stupor and await his fate.
Sentenced to a labor prison not unlike a POW camp where inmates are forced to work in the sweltering heat to clear vegetation off the sides of roads, the warden known as Captain (Strother Martin) becomes intrigued by Luke who, revealed from his records, was a former war hero with no prior arrests. What happened? Conformity may have got the best of him and he needed to strike out.
At first, Luke is at odds with the bulk of the inmates, particularly the oversized Dragline as he has no plans of walking down somebody else’s path. Fiercely independent and not afraid of a few hard punches, he eventually wins the inmates over by refusing to stay down when engaged in a fight with Dragline.
Becoming an inspiration through any number of bullish claims such as betting prisoners he can down 50 eggs in one hour, his harmless odes to distinctiveness become reckless when news comes that his mother has died.
The captain puts Luke in the ‘box’, solitary confinement, for as he puts it “when a man’s mother dies…his mind ain’t right” and the captain expects Luke might try to escape. This sets off Luke’s more aggressive rapport with the head guard Boss Godfrey (Morgan Woodward) aka ‘the man’; perfectly symbolized by his mirrored sunglasses.
After several escape attempts that find him back in prison, the man lays it on thick eventually breaking him down to a pleading, sobbing mess. Losing the faith of his fellow inmates after that demoralized display, Luke appears to be beaten down to a mere shell of a man but he has one last grasp of freedom left in him, a grasp that will lead to a dynamic finale.
Ostensibly, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ tells the story of a man escaping a prison, and even on that level, the film works magnificently driven by Newman’s charismatic, powerful performance and a supporting cast that not only includes the great George Kennedy and Strother Martin but also Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Joe Don Baker, Rance Howard, Anthony Zerbe and Ralph Waite among others.
While most are not given much to do, Harry Dean Stanton makes a great impression with his heartfelt rendition of ‘Just a Closer Walk with Thee’. But, of course, on another level both obvious and subtle, the film tells another story.
Based on Don Pearce’s own novel with him and Frank Pierson providing the screenplay, Pearce wrote the novel based on his own two years in a Florida state chain gang where he no doubt studied the bible frequently and envisioned for himself a fate later held for Luke.
Obviously a paean to perseverance and resisting conformity, it’s also an allegorical tale meant to mirror Jesus himself – to find purpose through inspiration and to stand tall even upon defeat.
Mirroring his prison number 37, Luke 1:37 reads “For with God, nothing shall be impossible”, indeed an apt slogan for Cool Hand Luke. Of course, how much you want to read into the story as biblical parable is up to you but once you take notice, the similarities number in the teens.
All told, whether it’s rooted in spirituality, a moral tale, a great prison drama/adventure or all three, storytelling and performance doesn’t get much better than this.
For those pundits who don’t think older films won’t benefit from a good high-def sprucing up, then they should check out this great WB transfer. Vibrancy and detail is a revelation for those used to catching it on TV and easily trumps the DVD for overall detail.
Maybe playing a few tricks like raising the contrast, the inherent softness of the picture gets a fantastic facelift from the VC-1 1080p transfer.
The audio treatment is less successful as WB seems to carry over the same mono track from the DVD despite claims that restored audio elements were used. Mono or not, a lossless track would still prove beneficiary.
Special Features are surprisingly light, particularly compared to WB’s recent ‘Booklet’ Blu-ray release of ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ but what’s here is fine. All supplements are presented in 480i or 480p. First up is a new doc ‘A Natural Born World Shaker: Making Cool Hand Luke’ which essentially is a medley of interviews with the cast and crew – almost everyone but Paul Newman seems to take part. Some good stuff here if amusingly imprecise.
A full-length audio commentary from Newman historian Eric Lax is hit-and-miss and is a fine listen for Newman fans (and who isn’t?). A trailer rounds things out.
So far, Warner Brothers is the best about getting great high-def transfers from their classics and ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is no exception – just look at the shoddy ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ Blu-ray from Fox for proof that a little care needs to be taken. As far as the film itself, I consider it to be a must-have for every video library.
Newman never got better than his portrayal of Luke and a great supporting cast and ageless themes of rebellion and individualism as well as some religious symbology add up to a classic picture with surprising depth. If you have a Blu-ray player and you don’t pick this up, I believe you’ll need to spend a night in the box.
Cool Hand Luke [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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