Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Oscar-winning show. The Newman star is in the title role as Luke, a prisoner at a Florida prison camp who refuses to submit to the system.
The film, which began in the early 1950s, is based on Donn Pearce's 1965 novel of the same title. Pearce sold his story to Warner Bros, who then hired him to write the script. Due to Pearce's lack of experience, the studio added Frank Pierson to rework the scenario. Newman's biographer Marie Edelman Borden states that the "hard and honest" script united several threads from previous films, notably Hombre, the previous Newman film in 1967. The film has been quoted by Roger Ebert as anti the formation of films shot during the Vietnam War, in which Newman's character survives "physical punishment, psychological cruelty, despair and equal parts of sadism and masochism." His influence on his prison and torture friends was compared to Jesus, and Christian symbolism was used throughout the film, culminating in a photograph that crossed the crossroads at the end of the film compared to the crucifixion. The filming took place in the San Joaquin River Delta region of California, and the set, imitating a prison farm in Deep South, was built near Stockton, California. Filmmakers send crews to Tavares Road Prison in Tavares, Florida, to take photographs and measurements.
Upon release, Cool Hand Luke received favorable reviews and was a box-office success. The film confirmed Newman's status as one of the top actors of the era, while the film was described as "the touchstone of an era." Newman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, George Kennedy won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Pearce and Pierson were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adaptation Scenario, and a score by Lalo Schifrin was also nominated for Best Original Score. In 2005, the United States Library of Congress voted him for the National Film Register, taking it as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically." It has a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The quote used by prison guards (Strother Martin) in the film, which begins with "What we get here is a failure to communicate," listed in No. 11 on the American Film Movie list of the 100 most impressive movie lines.
Video Cool Hand Luke
Plot
War veteran who brought in Lucas "Luke" Jackson (Paul Newman), was arrested for cutting parking meters from their pillars on a drunken night. He was sentenced to two years in prison and sent to a Florida chain-lined prison run by a hard warden, Captain (Strother Martin), and a stoic sniper, Walking Boss Godfrey (Morgan Woodward), whose eyes were always covered by a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Carr (Clifton James) the floor guard, informed the rules to the new prisoners, with any offense resulting in spending the night in a "box," a small square room with limited air and very little room to move.
Luke refused to observe an established order of power among the prisoners and quickly collided with the detainee, Dragline (George Kennedy). When the couple has a boxing match, the prisoners and guards watch with interest. Even though Luke is so outrun with his bigger opponent, he refuses to agree. Finally, Dragline refused to continue the fight. Luke's steadfastness earned the honor of the prisoners and attracted the attention of the guards. Then, Luke wins the poker game by bluffing with a worthless hand. Luke commented that "sometimes, nothing can be a really cool hand", prompting Dragline to call her "Cool Hand Luke".
After a visit from his ailing mother, Arletta (Jo Van Fleet), Luke becomes more optimistic about the situation. He constantly confronts the Captain and the guards, and his sense of humor and independence proves to be infectious and inspires other prisoners. Luke's struggle for the peak of supremacy when he leads the work crew in an seemingly impossible but successful effort to complete the paving work of the road in less than a day. Another prisoner started idolizing him after he made and won a betting moment that he can eat fifty boiled eggs in an hour.
One day, Luke takes a deadly rattling snake from a grassy ditch and holds it for Boss Godfrey to shoot with his rifle. Luke throws the snake into his boss as a joke, before he hands over the walking stick. Dragline advises Luke to be more careful about his actions relating to "a man without eyes." A rainstorm causes everyone to stop their work prematurely. Before he joined the other prisoners in the truck, Luke shouted to God, testing him. That same night, Luke received a letter stating that his mother had died.
Captain, anticipating that Luke might be trying to escape to attend his mother's funeral, keep him locked in a box. After being released from the box, receiving word that his mother's funeral was over and told to forget it, Luke was determined to escape. Under the auspices of the Fourth of July celebrations, he made his first escape attempt. He was later recaptured by the local police and returned to the chain gang, but not before one of three sniffer dogs sent after he died of heat and exhaustion, including tension repeatedly under a wire fence, in an attempt to trace Luke. After his capture and return, the Captain had Luke equipped with iron legs and delivered a warning address to the other inmates, explaining, "What we get here is a failure to communicate Some men you can not contact So you get what we have here last week, which is the way he wants it, well he understands, and I do not like him more than men. "
A few moments later, Luke escapes again using a rope to shake the bushes and deceive the guards about his location while taking a pee rest behind the bushes, afterwards visiting a nearby house where he uses an ax to release the shackles. To keep the guard dog from following his scent, he spread curry powder and chili powder on the ground to send them into sneezing and contaminate their sensitive sense of smell. While free, a letter Lukas Dragline magazine that includes a picture of himself with two beautiful women. He was immediately arrested again, beaten, returned to the prison camp, and equipped with two sets of iron legs. Luke is warned by the Captain that if he tries to flee again, he will be killed on the spot. Luke was now distracted by the other prisoners who licked the magazine's photo and revealed it as a fake. At first, the other prisoners were angry, but after a long stay in the box, when Luke was punished by being forced to eat a massive rice, they came to help him finish it.
As a further punishment for escape, he was forced to repeatedly dig a grave in the prison camp yard, refill it, and then beaten. The prisoners observed his persecution, singing spiritual songs. Finally, as other inmates watched from the windows of the bunkhouse, tired Luke collapsed in the hole, pleading for God's mercy and pleading with the bosses not to beat him again. Believing Luke finally broke down, the Captain stopped the punishment. Paul's boss warns Luke that he will be killed if he flees again, which Luke promised not to do. The prisoners began to lose their ideal image of Luke, and others tore Luke's picture with the women.
It seems broken, and again working on a chain gang, Luke stops working to give water to a prisoner. Watched by a disappointed prisoner, he ran into one of the trucks to take Boss Godfrey's shotgun at him. After Boss Godfrey shoots a broken turtle, Luke takes it from the slough for him, praising the boss for his shot. Luke takes one last stroke on freedom when he is ordered to bring the turtle to the truck. He stole a garbage truck, as well as a key to another truck. In the excitement of the moment, Dragline jumps on a dump truck and joins Luke in his escape. Later, after leaving the truck, Luke told Dragline that they should split up. Dragline reluctantly agreed and left. Luke enters a church, where she speaks to God and blames Him for sabotaging her so that she can not win in life. Moments later, the police car arrived. Dragline walks in and tells Luke that the police and superiors have promised not to hurt Luke if he surrenders peacefully. But Luke, feeling that his life is no longer worth it, walks over and opens the door to the police and mocks the Captain by repeating the first part of his speech ("What we get here is a failure to communicate."). He was immediately shot in the neck by Boss Godfrey. Dragline takes Luke out, then attacks the Godfrey Boss and tries to strangle him until he is beaten and subdued by another guard. In tears, Dragline begs Luke to live. The local police wanted to take Luke to the nearest hospital, but the Captain told them to take him to the prison hospital instead, a considerable distance that Luke's survival probability was so thin. When the Captain's car leaves, it destroys Boss Godfrey's glasses. After Luke's death, Dragline and the other prisoners recalled him. In the final scene, the prison crew was seen working near a rural intersection near where Luke was shot. Dragline now wears an iron leg, and there is a new Walking Boss. As the camera grows, the torn picture of Lukas with the two women is superimposed on the bird's eye view of a cross-shaped crossroads.
Maps Cool Hand Luke
Cast
Production
Scripts
Pearce, a sailor merchant who later became a fake and safe cracker, wrote Cool Hand Luke's novel about his experience working on a chain gang while on duty at a Florida jail. He sold the story to Warner Bros. at a price of US $ 80,000 and receive US $ 15,000 more to write the scenario. After working on television for over a decade, Rosenberg chose him to make it his directorial debut in theaters. He took the idea for Jalem Productions, owned by Jack Lemmon. Since Pearce has no experience writing scenarios, his design was reworked by Frank Pierson. Conrad Hall was hired as a cinematographer, while Paul Newman's brother, Arthur, was hired as a unit production manager. Biography of Newman author Marie Edelman Borden states that the "hard and honest" script drew the threads of previous films, especially Hombre, Newman's early 1967 film. Director Stuart Rosenberg changed the original ending in the manuscript, adding "the end the optimist who will repeat the protagonist's smile (and Paul Newman). "
Casting
The character of Paul Newman, Luke, is a decorated war veteran who was sentenced to two years in a rural Florida jail. He constantly opposed the facility's authorities, became a leader among the prisoners, as well as fled several times. While the script is being developed, the main role is initially considered for Jack Lemmon or Telly Savalas. Newman was asked to play a major role after hearing about the project. To develop his character, he traveled to West Virginia, where he recorded local accents and observed people's behavior. George Kennedy changed the Academy Award winner's performance as a prisoner leader, Dragline, who fought against Luke, and came to respect him. During the nomination process, worried about the success of the box office Camelot and Bonnie and Clyde, Kennedy invested US $ 5,000 in commercials to promote himself. Kennedy later stated that thanks to the award, his salary "multiplied ten minutes (he) won," also added "the happiest part is that I do not have to play just another villain."
Strother Martin, known for his western appearance, was cast as Captain, a jailer who was described as a cruel and insensitive leader, loudly punishing Luke for his escape. The role of Luke's dying mother, Arletta, who visited him in prison, was forwarded to Jo Van Fleet after being rejected by Bette Davis. Morgan Woodward plays the Boss Godfrey, a short, cruel, and merciless prison officer whom Woodward describes as "Mephistopheles walking." He was nicknamed the "eyeless man" by the inmates for his glasses. Blonde Joy Harmon was thrown for a scene where he teased the prisoners in washing his car after his manager, Leon Lance, contacted the producers. He auditioned in front of Rosenberg and Newman wore a bikini, without speaking.
Filming
The filming takes place in the San Joaquin River Delta. Set, mimicking a southern prison farm, was built in Stockton, California. The filmmakers send crews to Tavares Road Prison in Tavares, Florida to take photos and measurements, where Pearce has served his time. The structures built at Stockton include barracks, mess hall, ward room, guard shack and dog cage. The trees on the set were adorned with Spanish moss brought by the producers to the area. The construction immediately drew the attention of county building inspectors who were confused with the housing of migrant workers and ordered him "convicted of code offenses." The opening scene where Newman cut the parking meter was filmed in Lodi, California. Meanwhile, the scene where Luke was chased by a sniffer dog and the other exterior was shot in Jacksonville, Florida, on Callahan Road Prison. Luke is played by a replacement actor, using a dog from the Florida Repair Department.
Rosenberg wants actors to internalize life in chain gangs and ban the presence of wives on set. After Joy Harmon arrived at the scene, he stayed for two days in his hotel room, and was not seen by the other players until the filming began. Despite the intentions of the directors, the scene was eventually filmed separately. Rosenberg instructed Harmon who was not aware of the various movements and expressions he wanted. Originally planned to be shot in half a day, the Harmon scene takes three. For part of a scene featuring chain gangs, Rosenberg replaces a teenage cheerleader, who is wearing a coat.
Soundtrack
The original score of an Academy Award nomination was composed by Lalo Schifrin, who created songs with popular music backgrounds and jazz. While some tracks include the use of guitars, banjo and harmonica, others include trumpet, violin, flute and piano.
The edited version of the musical cues from the Tar Sequence (where the inmates are passionately paving the way) has been used for years as the theme music for local television news programs worldwide, mostly owned and operated by ABC in the United States. Although the music was written for the film, it became more familiar to its relationship to television news, in part because its staccato melodies resembled the sound of a telegraph.
Themes
Christian Christian imagery
Pierson is included in the concept of explicit religious symbolism. This film contains several elements based on Christian themes, including the concept of Luke as a Saints who win over the crowd and ultimately sacrificed. Newman's character of Luke is described as "a redeemer like Jesus." After winning the egg-eating bet, Luke lay exhausted on the table in Jesus' position as depicted in his crucifixion. After learning about his mother's death, Luke sang "The Plastic of Jesus." Greg Garrett also compares Luke with Jesus, in that it is like Jesus, he does not physically threaten the people for his actions, and like the crucifixion of Jesus, his punishment is "beyond all proportionate."
Luke challenges God during a storm on the road, telling him to do anything to him. Then, as he was digging and filling the trenches and confronted by guards, a prisoner performed a spiritual "No Grave Gonna Keep My Body Down." Toward the end of the film, Luke speaks to God, evoking a conversation between God and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, described in the Gospel of Luke. Following Luke's lecture, the film depicts Dragline as a Judas, who escorted Luke to the authorities, trying to convince him to surrender. In the final scene, Dragline praises Luke. He explains that despite Luke's death, his actions succeeded in defeating the system. The cover shot shows the inmates working at a crossroads with an improved photo of Luke and the two ladies superimposed.
Use of traffic and signal signs
Different traffic signs are used throughout the movie, completing the character action during the scene. At first, when Luke cut off his head from the parking meter, the word "Violation" appeared. The stop signs are also visible. Examples include the street-paving scene and the last scene, where the path meets at a cross section. The traffic light went from green to red in the background when Luke was captured, while in the end, when he was badly injured, the green light in the background turned red.
"Failure to communicate"
- What we get here is a failure to communicate. Some men you can not reach. So you got what we had here last week. That is the way he wants. Well, he understands. And I do not like him more than men.
After writing the sentence, Pierson worried this phrase was too complicated for the warden. To explain his origins, he created the backstory that was included in the direction of the stage. Pierson explained that in order to advance in the Florida prison system, officers had to take criminology and penology courses at state universities, showing how the warden might know such words. Strother Martin then clarified that he felt the line was the kind most likely his character would have heard or read from some "pointed-headed intellectual" who began to infiltrate his character's world under the general rubric of an enlightened new approach to detention. Some authors believe that the quote is a metaphor for the ongoing Vietnam War conflict that took place during filming, and others have applied it to companies and even teenagers. The quote is listed at number 11 on the list of 100 most impressive movie films at the American Film Institute. Audio samples from this line are included in the songs of Guns N 'Roses "Civil War" and "Madagascar."
Release and acceptance
Cool Hand Luke opened on November 1, 1967 at Loew's State Theater in New York City. The result of this premiere is for charity. The film became a box-office success, grossing US $ 16,217,773 in domestic screenings. Kennedy won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Newman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, while Pearce and Pierson were nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Adaptation Scenario and Schiffrin was nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Original Score.
Rosenberg was nominated for best director by Writers Guild of America and Conrad Hall was nominated for best cinematography by the National Society of Film Critics.
Variety describes Newman's performance as "extraordinary", noting the supporting cast as "versatile and competent." The New York Times praised the film, commenting that Pearce and Pierson's "sharp script", "realistic and reasonable" Rosenberg staging and direction "and the" grand "appearance of Newman with an" ineligible "cast, boost "It's among other prison films.
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website, gave the film a 100% score based on reviews by 47 critics - an average of 8.8 out of 10. The critical consensus states, "Despite being hampered by Stuart Rosenberg's directions, Cool Hand Luke held by a star script and one of Paul May's most indelible performances. "Empire rated him five stars out of five, declared the film one of Newman's best performances. Slant rated the movie three stars out of four. It describes Newman's role as "iconic", also praises the cinematography and sound score. Allmovie praised Newman's performance as "one of the most indelible anti-authoritarian heroes in film history."
Critics of Roger Ebert include the film in his review collection of The Great Movies, ranking four stars out of four. Ebert stated that it was a "great" movie and also an anti-establishment during the Vietnam War. He believed that the film was a product of his time and no major film companies were interested in producing films such as "corporal punishment, psychological cruelty, despair and equal parts of sadism and masochism" today. He praised cinematography, capturing the "punishing heat" of the location, and stated that "the physical presence of Paul Newman is the reason this film works: Smiles, innocent blue eyes, absence of pacing," which no other actor can produce effectively.
Contrary to general consensus, Newman's biographer Lawrence J. Quirk thinks that it is one of the weaker Newman shows, "For once, Newman's famous charisma failed, because in Cool Hand Luke he really does not have that charm, say, Al Pacino on Scarecrow easily shows when he plays a screw that also ends (briefly) imprisoned. "However, Quirk added that Newman's performance was stronger in the second half and said that "to be fair to Newman, he tries his best to play the impossible part, because Luke is a fantasy rationalizing a prisoner and never a real character." Some writers have criticized the film's depiction of prison life at the time. In a review titled "Sheer Beauty in the Wrong Place," Life , while praising film photography, criticizing the influence of visual styles in the depiction of prison camps. The magazine stated that the landscape turned it into "a resting camp where men get plenty of healthy sleep, food and exercise outdoors," that although the presence of guards shows that there is "a worse way to pay someone's debt." with the community. "Ron Clooney also said that the prison" is not a hotel and certainly not Cool So Luke's movies. "
Legacy
In 2003, AFI 100 Years... 100 Heroes & amp; Evil judges Luke as the 30th greatest hero in American cinema, and three years later, AFI 100 Years... 100 Cheers: The Most Inspirational Movie in America that is rated Cool Hand Luke number 71. In 2006, Luke was ranked 53rd in the Empire "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" magazine. This movie compresses Newman's status as a box-office star, while the film is considered a touchstone in that era. This film is an inductee of the 2005 National Film Registry list.
The book was adapted into the West End drama by Emma Reeves. It was opened at the Aldwych Theater London starring Marc Warren, but was closed after less than two months, after a bad review. This event was chosen by The Times as both a "Critical Choice" and "What Critics Will Pay To See."
An episode of the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard titled "Cool Hands Luke and Bo" is shown with Morgan Woodward playing "Colonel Cassius Claiborne" boss from neighboring county and his farm jailer. He wears the Boss Godfrey's distinctive nuances throughout the episode.
Nashville's alternative rock band based in Nashville, Cool Hand Luke, was named after the film.
See also
- List of 1967 American films
- List of movies with 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
- Abuse Prisoner
Footnote
References
External links
- Cool Hand Luke in the American Film Movie Catalog
- Cool Hand Luke on IMDb
- Cool Hand Luke in the TCM Movie Database
- Cool Hand Luke at AllMovie
- Cool Hand Luke at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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