Review of Cool Hand Luke (1967) by Peter F — 20 Nov 2010

It is half way through "Cool Hand Luke" that Strother Martin utters the immortal words that the film will always be remembered for. After striking Luke down the hill the autocratic chief composes himself and in a high pitched, sickeningly patronising tone says "What we've got here is... failure to communicate.".

This film is a favourite of mine for several reasons. The film was perfectly cast; with outstanding performances from Newman, Kennedy and Martin in particular. This role, in my opinion, marks the peak of Newman's career. He has played a number of incredible characters in his career: Fast Eddie Felson, Butch Cassidy and Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to name a few. However, I believe that this is his best performance. It is one of those rare performances where it almost feels as though the character were tailor made with the actor in mind. It gives me the same goosebumps watching Luke flash his signature carefree smile as when I saw Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next" and Peter O'Toole in "Lawrence of Arabia." It feels as though the role was made for Newman and having seen the film I fail to imagine who could have played Luke better.

The rest of the cast do a stellar job, particularly Martin and Kennedy (the latter garnered an academy award for best supporting actor). Rosenberg (who is often criticised for his directorial technique in this film) give's us some extremely memorable shots; such as the mirrored lenses of the man with no eyes staring at the imprisoned men working in the intense heat.

Cool Hand Luke is a favourite of mine if not THE favourite of mine not only because it is well written, well acted and well made, but also because whenever Luke smiles we all smile with him.