Happy Birthday Paul Newman

by chuckofish

I miss Paul Newman. None of the young guys out there now (hot though some of them are) quite measure up in terms of presence and cool. I like a lot of his movies, but his best role ever was definitely “Cool Hand Luke”.

I watched this movie recently with boy #3 and it has certainly stood the test of time. I love the scene when Luke meets his dying mother and later when he mourns her death by playing the banjo and singing “dashboard Madonna” (who knew Paul could sing?). There are so many great scenes in this movie and the supporting actors — George Kennedy, who won an academy award for his portrayal of Dragline, Joe van Fleet as the mother, Strother Martin as the commandant, Anthony Zerbe with his dogs, Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, Harry Dean Stanton, and Jo Don Baker — are perfect. But Newman owns every scene. I was struck by how little he actually says in the movie, which just goes to show that the truly great actor can own a movie without saying a lot — and I don’t mean in a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western way. There’s a big difference between taciturn and quiet. Personally, I don’t think Clint’s movies have aged particularly well, but we can get into that another time…

I think my second favorite Paul Newman movie has to be “Hombre” — and again, Newman brings so much more to quiet cool than Eastwood ever did. If you haven’t seen this movie lately (or at all), watch it, it’s great. After I saw it as a kid, I went around trying to walk quietly like an Apache for days (I hope no one realized that at the time!). Here he is with co-star Diane Cilento (who recently passed away) in what has to be her best role.

I also really like in “The Sting”, “Long Hot Summer”, and “Road to Perdition” — what are your favorite Paul Newman movies?