Cool Hand Luke [VHS] [1967]

Luke is the hero of the prison population for his non-conformative style. This is an awe inspiring film with some truely great pieces of character acting. Paul Newman and George Kennedy are the two main stars, with Strother Martin strong as the warden. Kennedy is the prision hard man, who just can't get the better of Luke in a bare knuckle prison yard scrap. Luke just won't stay down. The scenes as the two work on the chain gangs are some of the best in the film.

Pual Newman is immense as the con who just won't reform. He has never ever done as he was told, and won't now, even in when beaten and tested to the physical limits in jail. When his mother dies, Luke begins a spiral towards self destruction, questioning everything from the system to God.

Luke is the anti-establishment hero that so many of our modern actors try to portray but are left not even fit to polish Newan's dusty prison boots.

Sharp filming and clever use of music make this a film that rises above most. It is so good it is well worth watching again and again.

"He had that ole Luke smile". Cool as you like Luke!

Luke Jackson (Newman) is caught vandalizing parking meters early one morning. As punishment for his deed, he is sentenced to a prison farm chain gang for two years. Unsurprisingly, Luke refuses to conform to the norms imposed on him by both the guards and the other prisoners. His defiance turns him into a folk hero among his fellow inmates but the prison staff is less amused by Luke's antics since his rebelliousness leads to repeated escape attempts from the camp. Defiant to the end, Luke eventually forces a final confrontation between himself and the system he so despises.

"Cool Hand Luke" is merely a serviceable vehicle for Newman. He turns in his usual stellar performance but the film is just one set piece after another interspersed with some occasional witty dialogue. The film does have some high-points - co-stars George Kennedy and Strother Martin are great and Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and Wayne Rogers ably fill their smaller supporting roles. Also, the interplay between Luke and his mother (Jo Van Fleet) is genuinely touching and helps to add tremendous emotional depth to Luke's character. However, "Cool Hand Luke" does not take its exploration of conformity, individuality, and reform far enough. What could have been an in-depth and enlightening intellectual analysis of the society around us and our role within it ultimately winds up as just another routine tale of a spirited outsider.