Review of Cool Hand Luke (1967) by Michael Y — 05 Mar 2011
Paul Newman mesmerizes as the ultimate anti-hero in this classic prison film. In the 70's it seemed there was a movie every month, especially on TV that showed the horrors of Southern Prisons, to this day I have an aversion to the South out of fear of being mistakenly imprisoned and thrown into the "box" for any reason. All these films wanted desperately to be as beautifully crafted as"Cool Hand Luke".
The entire cast is filled with what seems like a rogues gallery of character actors who would dominate cinema and television throughout the 70's and 80's. Look It Pa Walton, There's Harry Dean Stanton - you know Andie's Dad from Pretty in Pink, Oh Hey that's Trapper John McIntyre from M*A*S*H, and on and on. Every one of them is great.
Movies like this once inspired us to liberalize Prison conditions and gain an ounce of humanity and some control over our instincts towards cruelty of the downtrodden or rule breakers. Maybe we need a contemporary reminder in our "Tough on Crime" obsessed political times.
This review of Cool Hand Luke (1967) was written by Michael Y on 05 Mar 2011.
Cool Hand Luke has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
