Cool Hand Luke (1967)

VERDICT:
10/10 Communication Breakdowns

My number one favorite movie of all-time, boss.

Cool Hand Luke is about a guy who finds himself thrown into a Southern chain gang for two years after lopping the heads off parking meters during a drunken bender. Before long, he settles into his new life and gives his fellow prisoners a whole new lease on life by stickin’ it to the man and just being his cool old self. Naturally, the man doesn’t take all too well to this kind of behavior, but then again, they’ve never really had anyone like Luke on their hands before.

So, yeah, favorite movie of all-time. Big statement, I know, but after watching it again last night for the first time in a while, it happens to be a surprisingly easy statement to stick by.

There’s a lot of reasons why I dig this movie over every other movie I’ve ever seen, but one of the biggest is that this is one of those movies that you can’t find any more, one of those movies that’s badass without even trying. Nowadays, filmmakers and screenwriters have this idea that the foolproof way to make someone into a hardcore mother effer is to give him a big ol’ gun, make him swear really loud, really often and have him whoop some ass while dishing out catchphrases. And then you have Paul Newman as Luke, a guy who does none of these things and yet lives up to his “Cool Hand” title like it was written on his birth certificate.

Now, maybe his inclusion on the banner up there isn’t enough to drive it home, but Paul Newman truly was one of the greats both on and off the camera, and if I wasn’t such a huge Clint Eastwood fan, Paul would be easily have my vote as Best Actor Ever. With that out of the way, his turn as Luke is one of those rare situations where the stars aligned and the perfect actor was cast in the perfect role. You watch Paul and you believe he’s Luke, like there’s not even a script to read off of. That right there is something special, folks, and I can’t think of too many instances where I’ve seen someone act so natural in a movie.

No idea how he didn’t nab the Oscar for this, but hey, at least George Kennedy did as Luke’s right-hand-man, Dragline. Also features some bonus appearances by a young Dennis Hopper and Harry Dean Stanton, but Kennedy really was great and for a guy who seemed to be in absolutely everything back in the day, it’s nice that he got recognized. That guy had some Southern drawl.

But aside from Newman, Luke is just something else in his own right. Like any true badass, he lets his actions do the talking, doesn’t give up no matter how high the odds are stacked against him and doesn’t bother himself with the trivial things in life that everyone else seems to be so hung up on, like being in a damn chain gang. He’s a hero (or antihero for all you law-abidin’ folks out there) you can’t help but root for right off the bat and he’ll make a lasting impression on you in the same way he does everyone else he meets.

And the writing here is out of sight. The dialogue is quotable beyond belief, a script that makes you wish like hell that you could talk as smooth as these convicts do, and it’s got a lot of profound and genuine things to say about living life at all times. Who knew that a scene about watching a guy eat 50 eggs could be so magical.

Folks, I just love this movie, no complaints. If you’ve never seen it and if you liked Shawshank and/or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, hop on that Netflix queue and get to streamin’. Cool Hand Luke is about getting dealt nothing but crap in life and turning it into solid gold, about grabbing a hold of life even when it seems like there’s nothing there to grapple, it’s about being a natural born world-shaker. Every time I see this it hits me right in the gut, gets me grinning from ear to ear and makes me long for the days when movies didn’t try so hard to be cool because they just were. Yup, this is the one to beat.

Great, great music, too. Just one more reason I need to pick up the banjo.