Customer Reviews

Cool Hand Luke (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the perfect '60s movie. It is anti-authoritarian without being strident, a serious drama with whimsy, gritty and violent with a sexy side (who can forget the car wash scene?). Newman plays the "christ" figure and his prisoners as his disciples and believers (after he wins them over). The guards and the warden are the high priests and the Romans. And of course, they kill him in the end.

But we have some great fun along the way. Luke strips the heads off of a street of parking meters and gets a sentence far out of proportion to such a silly crime. To say that Luke chooses not to fit in is an understatement. It isn't that he takes on the system. Rather, his mere presence and indifference to the system causes it to change or to try and eliminate him as if he were some invading virus.

There are some wonderful and indelible scenes such as the egg eating, the fight with Dragline (George Kennedy), the race to the end of the road, the failure to communicate scene and the severe punishment Luke receives. It seems like you can sit around talking about scenes from this movie longer than the movie itself.

Paul Newman made Luke immortal, but George Kennedy as Dragline and Strother Martin as Captain are also essential to this movie's character and permanence.

Today's viewers might fine the pacing of the movie a bit slow and see some seams that those of us who love it might ignore, but so what? It is a classic and enjoyable film that is a touchstone for many who were young when they first saw it in 1967.

I have to admit Newman puts up excellent performance in Cool Hand Luke. But the film is really quite boring and Luke just gets annoying after a while. He annoys because he doesn't really want to escape prison and just wants to get caught. Of course this just serves to emphasize his existentialist nature, but it ends up being silly to a skeptic like myself.

This is the perfect '60s movie. It is anti-authoritarian without being strident, a serious drama with whimsy. It is gritty and violent and at the same time it has a sexy side (who can forget the car wash scene?). Newman plays the "christ" figure and his prisoners as his disciples and believers (after he wins them over). The guards and the warden are the high priests and the Romans. And of course, they kill him in the end.

But we have some great fun along the way. Luke strips the heads off of a street of parking meters and gets a sentence far out of proportion to such a silly crime. To say that Luke chooses not to fit in is an understatement. It isn't that he takes on the system. Rather, his mere presence and indifference to the system causes it to change or to try and eliminate him as if he were some invading virus.

There are some wonderful and indelible scenes such as the egg eating, the fight with Dragline (George Kennedy), the race to the end of the road, the failure to communicate scene and the severe punishment Luke receives. It seems like you can sit around talking about scenes from this movie longer than the movie itself.

Paul Newman made Luke immortal, but George Kennedy as Dragline and Strother Martin as Captain are also essential to this movie's character and permanence.

Today's viewers might fine the pacing of the movie a bit slow and see some seams that those of us who love it might ignore, but so what? It is a classic and enjoyable film that is a touchstone for many who were young when they first saw it in 1967.

newman (old blue eyes) stars as cool hand luke jackson, a war hero, who gets himself in trouble with the law, and is repeatedly beaten both mentally and physically savagely by the main boss of the prison he is in.

the main boss hates luke for several reasons: everyone likes luke. he is the typical rebel , yet he has a certain aura around that people love. even the people working in the prison like luke. the boss also hates luke, because he keeps escaping out of prison, which makes the prison's security and himself look bad. the movie from beginning to end, is one of the entertaining and powerful movies by newman. throughout the movie, we see luke's exploits including his status as "cool hand" which basically says that he can do anything. there is no better scene that shows this that luke's bet that can he eat 50 eggs in one hour. this scene is terrific and humorous to watch, time and time again. george kennedy plays greg dragline, luke's best friend and prison inmante. dragline's love of luke is evident through the whole movie. whenever, luke is mistreated dragline is there to try to pick up his spirits. whenever, luke is beaten severely for trying to escape the prison, dragline is one of the first friends that is there to pick him up and attend to him. then of course, this oscar worthy film has the memorable tunes and lines that all audiences all familiar with:

"what we got here is a familiar to communicate" is paul newman, legendary and household line that critics and audiences remember. this line has also been used in over a hundred, movies and tv shows including comedies, crime drama movies and much more. the line is a piece of cult phenomena and america which symobolizes a bad situation.

paul newman was nominated for best actor for this film, but didn't win. newman over his career has been nominated over 10 times for this aw ard: "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" , "Malice", "Nobody's Fool", are several of the great movies that NewMan has been nominated for. "Cool Hand Luke" stands as one of the American movies ever made. It represents the abusive and mistreatment that a couple of prisons have. It also represents an intelligent and popular fellow who all through his life had one bad situation after another, yet like Greg points "Ah Luke, always had that great smile." Luke's character in a way is a reflection on individuals like himself, whose life have been filled with pain and aggravation yet people like these never give up. Taken from a novel by Donn Pearce and directed by Stuart Rosenberg this film is a bonified classic.

I personally loved this movie. The story is interesting, with a minimum of twists and turns. This movie is entertainment at its best. Luke, who is arrested for maliciously destroying federal property, (cutting the heads off of parking meters) is sent to jail for two years. He is as his name implies-cool. He has very little to say, but when he speaks, the other cons listen. Suffice it to say that he's a man who can win lots of cigarettes and money in the big house. Many humorous moments can be found in the opening hour, such as Luke's consumption of fifty eggs ('nobody ever 'et fitty eggs before) but are used sparsely in the last half. The viewer, after an hour starts to see, that even though Luke is a messiah to the other inmates, he is essentially flawed. His family life is less than satisfactory, and when his mother dies, he is expected to 'lose it', and if numerous attempts of fleeing jail is 'losing it' Luke is crazier than Hannibal Lecter. Now, what I sincerely love about this movie is that Luke is an excellent guy, he is calm and clear-headed and refuses to be just another prisoner. He is, in the end a human, but a human with a better vision for what he wants his life to be. Expect no happy ending, just watch, please. This movie is superb.

There's just nothing bad to say about this movie. From the opening scene, in which a drunken Lucas Jackson gets busted cutting the heads off of parking meters (and gets two years in prison!), this film grabs you and won't let go.

Paul Newman's Luke stands as one of the finest roles ever played. He's easygoing and likable, but has a stubborn streak a mile long. That stubbornness, after creating initial conflict with the other prisoners, endears him to them. And he gets along just fine until his mother dies. After that, he can only think of escaping. Not to get to her funeral, though--just because he was treated unfairly by the warden.

This is a powerful, moving film. It's one that you never forget, and will want to watch again and again, if just to see that "Luke smile."

One of the best movies made during my lifetime (born 1952), they botched the DVD.

The image quality is average at best and if you factor in that this movie is a classic, the quality is poor. And, the special "features" are an insult to what this movie is, which is brilliance.

As had been said before, this movie is brilliant if you like great acting, great cinematography and editing, and wonderful scripting.
Beyond that stuff, it is supremely entertaining.

My guess/hope (I guess) is that they are throwing out this mediocre transfer prior to releasing the "quality" version.

They should be ashamed.

One of the few truly perfect movies ever made. Great cast, incredible chemistry, amazing flow, Newman in his prime, Strother Martin at his bizarre best. I might have put Joy Harmon in a thong but other than that I got no complaints. Do they still make sling blades? 5 eggs

"What we have here is a failure to communicate." Whoever has seen this film surely remembers that line - and the scene immediately following it. The opening scene is a winner, too: Newman, drunk and still drinking, walks down a street with a pipe cutter, whacking the heads off parking meters. Right there, he's put the audience 100% on his side. Brilliant. So he goes to jail, and the film pits the individual against the institution in a classic power struggle, the outcome of which is rarely in doubt. Oh, and don't forget the hardboiled egg eating contest, and the size and drum-like tenseness of Newman's stomach...
Cool Hand Luke made an icon of Paul Newman and cemented his place in history as an actor who could play a loner, a stubborn rebel. He's played in many times since, always well, but never better than in this movie. Just watch it. Invite your teenagers to watch it with you. They might learn a thing or two about Life.

I was really looking forward to watching this film, but after the first hour I almost turned it off. To say that it develops slowly would be an understatement; nothing much happens during the first half of the movie. I thought it could've easily been reduced to 90 minutes without losing much.

I did enjoy the first escape scene, where Luke brilliantly and mercilessly messes with the bloodhounds, and George Kennedy's performance was deserving of his Oscar. It was mainly the Luke character (figuring out his motivation) I had trouble relating to. Other than his charming smile, I found little else to appreciate about him. Unlike Butch Cassidy, I did not find myself sympathizing with this character.

Let's be honest here - if your teenage kid got drunk and ripped out a bunch of parking meters, wouldn't you think it was a really stupid thing to do ? If he let a bigger kid beat him silly, would you think him heroic, or lacking good judgment ? would you consider your kid praiseworthy for eating 50 eggs ? So why do these absurd actions make Luke (who is supposedly an adult) such a hero in the eyes of this film's fans ??

Overall, I would say Cool Hand Luke is highly overrated, and I'd recommend to anyone to rent it and watch it before buying.