Review of Cool Hand Luke (1967) by Arun P — 07 Jun 2011

A movie that challenges a 1960s America at a crossroads, one that forces us to ask the tough questions and never to settle. Paul Newman's Luke Jackson is perhaps his most famous and beloved characters, but the reason for the attraction is less clear in this film than in some of his others.

Luke is an antihero, a person who stands for chaos and disorder, and one whose motives are never made clear; he is not on our side, and our constant eyes seem more of a disruption than a spectatorship.

Roger Ebert once compared Luke to Marlon Brando's famous rebel from 'The Wild One', but even this comparison seems too categorical. Instead, Luke stands for a vague idea, or set of ideas, be it nonconformity or awareness or independence or something else.

Regardless of what it is, the performance is a spectacular one and certainly ranks among Newman's finest, though he is given powerful backup by George Kennedy. Conrad Hall's cinematography, as always, is crisp and curious; he explores this world with a mixture of confidence and curiosity, always capturing the great essence of these moments but never ruining the surprise of their nature.