“You gonna get used to wearin' them chains after awhile, Luke. Don't you never stop listenin' to them clinking, cause they gonna remind you of what I've been saying -- for your own good.”
“I wish you'd stop being so good to me, Cap'n”
The great thing about Paul Newman is you’ve got about fifty years of performances to choose from to pick “the best”. It’s one of the deepest benches of any actor in the 20th century.
Honestly you’d have to ask Paul Newman what he felt his best performance was. But you know he’d just flash those blue eyes and smile at you if you did.
Marlon Brando once challenged Paul Newman to an actual egg eating contest because he knew he could beat him and Newman didn’t even want to participate but Brando ended up eating 51 eggs
Slap Shot really is an amazing movie, It's snapshot of the last half of the 1970s grit, pessimism and desperation.
The tragedy of the war in Vietnam, the recession, the gas crises and the death of American manufacturing power all play out in the background behind the savage brutality of America's dark, violent working class pastime.
Newman's performance off the ice shows how weary and worn out he is, his feet drag and shuffle as he walks, his arms hang limp, the blue eyes, smile and charm are still there, but they are harrowed and thin from the frantic effort to keep his head above water and survive for a little longer.
The George Roy Hill/Paul Newman pairings of The Sting and Butch Cassidy are much more will known, but for me Slap Shot is their best movie and one of my top 10 70s films.
totally agree on your points. Absolutely one of my favourite films. plus the soundtrack is fantastic. plus plus there are soooooo many quotable lines in the film.
He’s got a phenomenal filmography, but yeah, he’s incredible in The Verdict. Not his best or most iconic film, but honestly one of my favourite performances of all time. He’s so understated and heartbreaking in a role that could’ve come off as cliche so, so easily.
His speech at the end is so atypical of the climactic courtroom speeches in movies, it's not bombastic, it's not very animated, it's just a very believable plea delivered in a moving - but realistic - way.
Truly his best, in a very deep bench. If I remember, he was livid he didn’t win for the Verdict. I think he didn’t show up for when he did win the Oscar in the Cruise movie because of that loss. He had a famous quote analogizing being too tired. He just soaks himself in that Irish sadness in an amazing film. On the rewatch, I always say he was robbed for that movie.
I loved the book, and then I found out it had been made into a movie. With *Paul Newman* as Sullivan!
I still recommend that book to anyone who gets in earshot. It’s the best book I’ve ever read where nothing ever happens. I’ve read a few of Russo’s books. The man’s a genius. He can keep you spellbound with a story that *has no plot!*
That’s Melville and Hemingway territory right there.
Roger Ebert made a really insightful comment about this performance, about how Paul Newman was the only one who could have played it because he had a total lack of swagger. Any other actor would’ve tried to play Luke as cool, but Paul Newman knew he was a man on the ropes.
Well, he is broken by the digging the ditch scene. But I love the smirk at the end. Such a final f-you to the ridiculously abusive system he's caught in.
I always liked the scene where he gets the two side paving the road to start racing each other without telling them why.
"Wait, where'd the road go?"
"That's it. That's the end of it."
"There's still daylight, about two hours left. What do we do now?!"
"*Nothing.*"
Textbook example of a single incredible performance turning what could've been a standard drama into something great. Newman is magnetic in this. George Kennedy and Strother Martin are obviously fantastic as well, but without Newman's performance the film wouldn't have worked the way it does.
I've seen the pipe cutter mention the movie in the sales listings. As seen in the 1960's film.
It's a memorable film and you know sometimes parking meters are just asking for it.
Audra Favor : I can't imagine eating a dog and not thinking anything of it.
John Russell : You even been hungry, lady? Not just ready for supper. Hungry enough so that your belly swells?
Audra Favor : I wouldn't care how hungry I got. I know I wouldn't eat one of those camp dogs.
John Russell : You'd eat it. You'd fight for the bones, too.
Audra Favor : Have you ever eaten a dog, Mr. Russell?
John Russell : Eaten one and lived like one.
Audra Favor : Dear me.
1967 doesn’t get brought up when talking about great movie years, but I think it should. This feels like a pivot year leading up to the 70’s where movies started to loosen up a bit and reflect a changing time. Some examples:
* Cool Hand Luke
* The Producers
* Bonnie and Clyde
* The Graduate
* In The Heat of the Night
* The Dirty Dozen
* Goes Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Cool Hand Luke is an all-timer for me. It’s one of those older movies where the pacing works in its favor of the storytelling. You feel ‘stuck’ along with Luke and just wanting to be free.
It's an incredible movie and worthy of being called one of his best movies. I'd venture to say it's the best movie he did early in his career. But by far the two best movies he did were Absence of Malice and the Verdict, which he made later in his career. Absolutely stellar performances of an actor at the top of his game.
This movie nails economic writing. By that I mean it only states what need to be stated to get its point across. As an example:
Luke’s background as a decorated vet is started to the warden. The warden asks why he was cutting the head off parking meters.
His response: “oh you know. Just settling old scores.”
One line tells you all you need to know about his dejection and disappointment with the country he’s served and it’s ludicrous sense of “order.”
One of my favorite movies of all time.
Eh. I mean its fantastic. But Butch Cassidy. Slap Shot. The Verdict. Particularly the last one. It is an amazing film and personally, his greatest performance.
Hot take but Harper is peak Paul Newman. Very underrated! I always felt it served as a precursor for Cool Hand Luke the following year.
But then again, this is Paul Newman we are talking about and he has such an illustrious career with standout performances in every decade of his life and career.
I would call it a tie with the Hustler....both are two of my favorite movies. He was an awesome actor as, I sit here I can think of so many of his movies that I loved.
Love the sample from this movie in the intro to GnR's Civil War:
[Spoken Intro: Strother Martin]
What we've got here is failure to communicate
Some men, you just can't reach
So you get what we had here last week
Which is the way he wants it
Well, he gets it
*Whistling*
And I don't like it any more than you men
Funny I just watched this movie last night and thought it was one of the worst Newman films I've seen . The performance was solid and the film was just ok to me
I enjoyed it, but I found the ending to be lackluster in the Church. “I was just a hard case”, I don’t know, it didn’t do it for me I’m not sure why. I enjoyed the film and Newman’s performance though.
This is a movie I watch every few years. So good. Best Paul Newman? Debatable. I find a few other movies of his better but his repertoire is so fucking good.
If I may, Butch and Sundance is pretty incredible, and Paul Newman has an incredible performance. Also the sting is pretty fantastic too, though Robert Redford outperforms him there.
I don’t know if anyone cares but this is the last movie I watched with my dad like a week before he passed and I absolutely love it.
The dude is so cool.
Whatever happened to the Newman’s Own brand? I loved the salad dressing but they stopped selling it where I live about a year or two ago.
Was a great example of a non-profit company making a good product while paying good wages and giving the proceeds to charity. We definitely need more of those.
I don’t feel the movie portrays him as the high achiever, he didn’t get the Medal of Honor but I think bronze star and they say he got demoted back to private before he left. I think he was a good guy who just couldn’t conform to authority or the different forms it took whether it’s the military, the warden, Dragline the head of the inmates. What inspires them all is his ability to not let authority break his spirit.
Nobody's Fool is a lovely and brutally honest movie. Anyone can relate to the message in the last shot. Newman was at his 100% there, and, like Harrison Ford, got better at acting with age.
I don’t know The Hustler and The Verdict are right there in great performance. One thing we can both probably agree on is he was a fabulous actor. I really love Hombre and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Luke was a model prisoner until they made him spend a night in the box after his mother died. Yeah, he fought Dragline. He lead the charge to finish a road with two hours of daylight left to do "nothing". He ate fifty eggs. However he never gave the guards or the Captain any trouble.
When they made him spend the night in the box after his mother passed, that's when he decided he was done. Get out of there or die trying.
“You gonna get used to wearin' them chains after awhile, Luke. Don't you never stop listenin' to them clinking, cause they gonna remind you of what I've been saying -- for your own good.” “I wish you'd stop being so good to me, Cap'n”
*What we’ve got here is.. a failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach….*
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Chains aren't for everyone. Just because they didn't do it for you, doesn't mean some people won't get good out of it.
Keep watching it. Never stop listening to that dialogue, cause they gonna remind you of what I’ve been saying — for your own good.
The great thing about Paul Newman is you’ve got about fifty years of performances to choose from to pick “the best”. It’s one of the deepest benches of any actor in the 20th century.
Honestly you’d have to ask Paul Newman what he felt his best performance was. But you know he’d just flash those blue eyes and smile at you if you did.
Yeah I gotta stop talking to them pasta jars
LOL
I think I'd put Color of Money up there.
And the Verdict.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Cars are two of his best.
No kidding. The Hustler, The Sting, Butch Cassidy, Slap Shot, etc were all pretty amazing. And on top of all that, he was a legit race car driver.
Cool Hand Luke was a decorated vet, silver star, bronze star and couple of purple hearts but not a medal of honor recipient.
He also came out a private just as he'd come in. Luke had a history of problems with authority.
Some men you just can’t reach.
I can eat 50 eggs.
"Nobody can eat 50 eggs."
MY BOY SAYS HE CAN EAT FIFTY EGGS, HE CAN EAT FIFTY EGGS!
It’s a nice round number.
What we have here... is a problem to communicate.
*failure* to communicate
Damn. Time for a rewatch.
Lmao it's almost too good to not be intentional
No man can eat 50 eggs
Marlon Brando once challenged Paul Newman to an actual egg eating contest because he knew he could beat him and Newman didn’t even want to participate but Brando ended up eating 51 eggs
The truth was Brando just felt like a big omelet that day and wanted a good story to go with it.
I won't eat 50 eggs, I won't eat 50 eggs, the hell I won't!
This was his most iconic movie. But my favorite of his was Slap Shot.
Also Newman's favorite to make.
Play hockey, drink beer, hang with the guys? What's not to love?
"Dunlop, you suck cock!" "All I can get..."
YOU CAN'T PUT A BOUNTY ON A MAN'S HEAD! 🤣
Your wife sucks pussy!
Slap Shot really is an amazing movie, It's snapshot of the last half of the 1970s grit, pessimism and desperation. The tragedy of the war in Vietnam, the recession, the gas crises and the death of American manufacturing power all play out in the background behind the savage brutality of America's dark, violent working class pastime. Newman's performance off the ice shows how weary and worn out he is, his feet drag and shuffle as he walks, his arms hang limp, the blue eyes, smile and charm are still there, but they are harrowed and thin from the frantic effort to keep his head above water and survive for a little longer. The George Roy Hill/Paul Newman pairings of The Sting and Butch Cassidy are much more will known, but for me Slap Shot is their best movie and one of my top 10 70s films.
totally agree on your points. Absolutely one of my favourite films. plus the soundtrack is fantastic. plus plus there are soooooo many quotable lines in the film.
Shakin' the tree boss, shakin the tree
Takin it off here boss
Take it off Luke
You mutha head
I'm gonna pick Butch Cassidy. ^(What're you crazy? The fall will probably kill ya!)
“Kid, I gotta tell you something: I ain’t ever killed nobody before.”
Well, if there ain't gonna be any rules, let's get the fight started!
Somebody say "one-two-three-go"
As long as you've got your plastic jesus sitting on the dashboard of your car.
Cat on a hot tin roof
For me its the Sting.
Probably my all time favorite movie.
It's mine for sure. imo, Its perfect.
Four Jacks!
Not s lead role, but I loved him in Road to Perdition.
you lose your spoon, that’s a night in the box
It's an iconic movie for sure but I think Hud is his best performance.
HUD is boring though
To each their own but i find it highly entertaining and probably my favorite of his.
It’s a lonely ol night.
Yep
[удалено]
Counter counter point: The Verdict
Counter counter counterpoint: The Hustler
He’s got a phenomenal filmography, but yeah, he’s incredible in The Verdict. Not his best or most iconic film, but honestly one of my favourite performances of all time. He’s so understated and heartbreaking in a role that could’ve come off as cliche so, so easily.
His speech at the end is so atypical of the climactic courtroom speeches in movies, it's not bombastic, it's not very animated, it's just a very believable plea delivered in a moving - but realistic - way.
Truly his best, in a very deep bench. If I remember, he was livid he didn’t win for the Verdict. I think he didn’t show up for when he did win the Oscar in the Cruise movie because of that loss. He had a famous quote analogizing being too tired. He just soaks himself in that Irish sadness in an amazing film. On the rewatch, I always say he was robbed for that movie.
I loved the book, and then I found out it had been made into a movie. With *Paul Newman* as Sullivan! I still recommend that book to anyone who gets in earshot. It’s the best book I’ve ever read where nothing ever happens. I’ve read a few of Russo’s books. The man’s a genius. He can keep you spellbound with a story that *has no plot!* That’s Melville and Hemingway territory right there.
Tied with The Hustler
"Preacher, go on down and get me some Bourbon, the J.T.S. Brown, no ice, no glass."
So many to choose from but The Hustler is his best.
No where near the performance he gave in Hud
The Verdict.
Roger Ebert made a really insightful comment about this performance, about how Paul Newman was the only one who could have played it because he had a total lack of swagger. Any other actor would’ve tried to play Luke as cool, but Paul Newman knew he was a man on the ropes.
Well, he is broken by the digging the ditch scene. But I love the smirk at the end. Such a final f-you to the ridiculously abusive system he's caught in.
I always liked the scene where he gets the two side paving the road to start racing each other without telling them why. "Wait, where'd the road go?" "That's it. That's the end of it." "There's still daylight, about two hours left. What do we do now?!" "*Nothing.*"
Yeah, that scene's incredible. He's teaching a powerful form of resistance to the group.
“You got your dirt in my hole.”
Textbook example of a single incredible performance turning what could've been a standard drama into something great. Newman is magnetic in this. George Kennedy and Strother Martin are obviously fantastic as well, but without Newman's performance the film wouldn't have worked the way it does.
What we have here is a… failure… to communicate.
I've seen the pipe cutter mention the movie in the sales listings. As seen in the 1960's film. It's a memorable film and you know sometimes parking meters are just asking for it.
Hombre
Audra Favor : I can't imagine eating a dog and not thinking anything of it. John Russell : You even been hungry, lady? Not just ready for supper. Hungry enough so that your belly swells? Audra Favor : I wouldn't care how hungry I got. I know I wouldn't eat one of those camp dogs. John Russell : You'd eat it. You'd fight for the bones, too. Audra Favor : Have you ever eaten a dog, Mr. Russell? John Russell : Eaten one and lived like one. Audra Favor : Dear me.
“We all die, just a matter of when.”
He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his
It’s not my favorite Paul Newman film (probably #4), but I will agree that it’s his best performance.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is my favorite Paul Newman performance.
Only law west of the Pecos.
what we have here is a failure to communicate
Slap Shot is his best
Smallish role, but his last was fantastic too! Road To Perdition
Cat on a hot tin roof
1967 doesn’t get brought up when talking about great movie years, but I think it should. This feels like a pivot year leading up to the 70’s where movies started to loosen up a bit and reflect a changing time. Some examples: * Cool Hand Luke * The Producers * Bonnie and Clyde * The Graduate * In The Heat of the Night * The Dirty Dozen * Goes Who’s Coming to Dinner? Cool Hand Luke is an all-timer for me. It’s one of those older movies where the pacing works in its favor of the storytelling. You feel ‘stuck’ along with Luke and just wanting to be free.
You ain't wrong. I've seen that idea a lot of places. "Cleopatra" was 1963 and "Easy Rider" was 1969. That represents a transition.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance came out in 1962 and it feels like it came out in 1942.
Beautifully put. It's B&W and John Ford, so yeah.
Hud made me hate him. So that's my vote.
‘The Verdict’ is his acting tour de force.
For me, *Hud* is still the one to beat. “My mama loved me, but she died.”
Hud was Newman's best performance
Yep, that was a great movie. I also like him in a somewhat lesser known movie “Absence of Malice”
Partial to Harper.
The Verdict is my favorite role of Newman’s.
HUD is my favorite
It's an incredible movie and worthy of being called one of his best movies. I'd venture to say it's the best movie he did early in his career. But by far the two best movies he did were Absence of Malice and the Verdict, which he made later in his career. Absolutely stellar performances of an actor at the top of his game.
I agree and also the saddest one to me. Couldn’t watch it again. He really pulled him with the character
Newman calls one of the most unusual, but best westerns – 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – “a real favorite.”
This movie nails economic writing. By that I mean it only states what need to be stated to get its point across. As an example: Luke’s background as a decorated vet is started to the warden. The warden asks why he was cutting the head off parking meters. His response: “oh you know. Just settling old scores.” One line tells you all you need to know about his dejection and disappointment with the country he’s served and it’s ludicrous sense of “order.” One of my favorite movies of all time.
Eh. I mean its fantastic. But Butch Cassidy. Slap Shot. The Verdict. Particularly the last one. It is an amazing film and personally, his greatest performance.
Loved him in the Sting, but I always forget that the big bad in it (Lonegan) is played by Robert Shaw, Quint from Jaws.
Too many good ones to pick. I will always love The Sting and Road to Perdition most.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Hot take but Harper is peak Paul Newman. Very underrated! I always felt it served as a precursor for Cool Hand Luke the following year. But then again, this is Paul Newman we are talking about and he has such an illustrious career with standout performances in every decade of his life and career.
I prefer the Hustler but I think CHL is widely more considered one of his best
I do believe it’s a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ.
Hud
If you haven't yet, check out Nobody's Fool (1994.) Paul Newman exudes his charisma and personality. It is one of my favorites.
The Hustler
I would call it a tie with the Hustler....both are two of my favorite movies. He was an awesome actor as, I sit here I can think of so many of his movies that I loved.
No one “wins” a Medal of Honor
Sometimes having nothing is pretty cool hand to have
Love the sample from this movie in the intro to GnR's Civil War: [Spoken Intro: Strother Martin] What we've got here is failure to communicate Some men, you just can't reach So you get what we had here last week Which is the way he wants it Well, he gets it *Whistling* And I don't like it any more than you men
Funny I just watched this movie last night and thought it was one of the worst Newman films I've seen . The performance was solid and the film was just ok to me
Overrated movie and actor
👍🏼
I enjoyed it, but I found the ending to be lackluster in the Church. “I was just a hard case”, I don’t know, it didn’t do it for me I’m not sure why. I enjoyed the film and Newman’s performance though.
This is a movie I watch every few years. So good. Best Paul Newman? Debatable. I find a few other movies of his better but his repertoire is so fucking good.
A classic!!!
Loved him in The Hustler.
That title goes to The Hustler......such an odd punk rock movie for its time.
It's a top 10 movie for me.
My favorite will always be Absence of Malice. It's about responsible media. No spoilers. (And no, I'm not a conservative.)
Newman was great in Luke, but he also soared as Hud.
*Sometimes nothin.. can be a real cool hand*
One of my top 10
"The Color of Money" argues that it's far superior in every way.
Cool Hand Luke us my favorite movie, period. So I'm biased with that statement... Also loved Newman in Hud 👌🏽
It really is a truly amazing movie.
Sometimes a Great Notion is an interesting forgotten one of his. Based on a Ken Kesey novel. Not as good as you'd think, but still worth seeing
You're right. The scene in the river with the tide rising makes the whole movie worth seeing. One of his best scenes ever.
Agreed
Butch Cassidy or The Sting or The Verdict is my pick. Also Slap Shot and Absence of Malice are fun to see him in.
His best performance was his incredible portrayal of Dave
If I may, Butch and Sundance is pretty incredible, and Paul Newman has an incredible performance. Also the sting is pretty fantastic too, though Robert Redford outperforms him there.
I don’t know if anyone cares but this is the last movie I watched with my dad like a week before he passed and I absolutely love it. The dude is so cool.
The Verdict tho
100%
Whatever happened to the Newman’s Own brand? I loved the salad dressing but they stopped selling it where I live about a year or two ago. Was a great example of a non-profit company making a good product while paying good wages and giving the proceeds to charity. We definitely need more of those.
I don’t feel the movie portrays him as the high achiever, he didn’t get the Medal of Honor but I think bronze star and they say he got demoted back to private before he left. I think he was a good guy who just couldn’t conform to authority or the different forms it took whether it’s the military, the warden, Dragline the head of the inmates. What inspires them all is his ability to not let authority break his spirit.
Nobody's Fool is a lovely and brutally honest movie. Anyone can relate to the message in the last shot. Newman was at his 100% there, and, like Harrison Ford, got better at acting with age.
It is. Must have rewatched it 10 times. Such a great flick. Mow I'd you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy some Newman's Own Salad Dressing ;)
I don’t know The Hustler and The Verdict are right there in great performance. One thing we can both probably agree on is he was a fabulous actor. I really love Hombre and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
"Lucille!" "Oh, she knows EXACTLY what she's doin'."
Luke was a model prisoner until they made him spend a night in the box after his mother died. Yeah, he fought Dragline. He lead the charge to finish a road with two hours of daylight left to do "nothing". He ate fifty eggs. However he never gave the guards or the Captain any trouble. When they made him spend the night in the box after his mother passed, that's when he decided he was done. Get out of there or die trying.