Rating: 
Summary: No failure to communicate here
Review: Paul Newman sparkles as the blue-eyed loner Luke. Luke finds himself stuck in a southern chain gang after committing a fairly ludicrous crime. He is amiable enough at the beginning, not looking for much out of people, just drifting along, but his charm and his take-on-the-world attitude win him over with the other cons. Soon he's making up challenges for himself, like the unforgettable 50 eggs in an hour scene, presumably out of boredom. But the viewer doubts that Luke is pulling these stunts because he's bored, it is more likely that he's trying to make his friends feel less like numbers and more like people, despite the chains and hard labor. Then things take a turn for the worse as the prison boss takes a dislike to our hero Luke, and suddenly Luke's antics aren't just for sport anymore, they're for his life. With a great performance by a diverse cast and quotable scene after remarkable scene after much imitated scene, Cool Hank Luke is a gem of a movie.
Rating:
Summary: Caused me to lose a little respect for some other films...
Review: After an entire lifetime of never having seen Cool Hand Luke (and always assuming that it was a Western, strictly on the basis of the title), I finally saw it yesterday. I won't bother saying much about the film because so many other reviewers have said it all already, other than that I loved it and it instantly became one of my favorite films. But I do want to say that The Shawshank Redemption, one of my all time favorite movies, has gone down a notch or two in my book after having seen this. It's so blatant. To a lesser degree, the same applies to One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest. I never really saw much of a connection between those two movies, but today I would bet my last dollar that they were both unabashedly patterned after Cool Hand Luke... all they did was change a few variables. Still great films, but as with Xerox facsimilies, the original is far superior to the copies.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, brilliant acting
Review: Even if you never saw Paul Newman in another role, you would conclude from his magnificent portrayal of the enigmatic title character (arrested and imprisoned for a minor act of property destruction in the deep South of the early 60's, who defies authority and eventually, like Christ, dies for his sins) that he is one of the great actors of our age. From the arrest scene, where Newman denies knowing why he committed his crime, to the famous scene where he devours countless eggs in a prison contest, to the poignant scene with his apparently alcoholic and degenerate mother, to the amazing understated scene where he strums his guitar and sings the underground classic "Plastic Jesus," and so on, Newman displays an astonishing range and is a compelling, captivating, anti-hero. George Kennedy is similarly wonderful as the de facto head of the jailhouse gang who at first exclude but then come to embrace Newman. Strother Martin is the personification of redneck evil, delivering the famous line, "What we have here is failure to communicate." (Contrary to popular belief, it is not "a failure to communicate." ) Get it, watch it, appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: No failure to communicate here!
Review: Great cast, led by Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon and of course Strother Martin. Great score. Surprisingly for a prison film, there is lots of humor, at the beginning some found in the notion that one could go to an oppressive road gang for just cutting the tops off of parking meters. Or, the woman washing her car with suds all over her breasts and DragLine's (G. Kennedy) great quote: "Anyone with a face so sweet... and a body like that MUST be named Lucille"! Unlike another reviewer, I was pleased to see a film about life in prison that did not include a rape scene. The notion of a rebel against authority (remember, though, that Luke was not too much of a rebel, because he won a Silver Star in the war) is one that resonates with lots of folks (and not just yuppies or baby boomers). How can one not identify with Newman, who is less than enthused about a "lot of guys, spouting off a bunch of rules and regulations". ANYONE who ever wanted to say to a boss "just because its your job don't make it right" ought to be able to identify with Luke on some level. But like many great films (among which I count this one), its a simple film. One guy who won't submit among a band of others who have decided that it was easier for them to submit. Another reviewer says its like a slow lazy day. Nothing wrong with that, and like a slow lazy day, this film it can be enjoyed over and over again, and comes around far too infrequently. To those who suggest this film is much ado about nothing, I commend the wisdom of Luke himself, who had the best line of the film: Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever --
Review: I've seen this movie more times than any other. In perhaps six viewings, I'm still struck by the tight editing and perfect casting. The music and bit parts working as one. The hound dogs chasing a man they'll never catch. How all the parts work better together than the individual aspects alone. There is a lot of humor in what is in essence a chain-gang movie. The red pepper sprinkled behind the fleeing Newman to thawrt the blood hounds, the phoney picture of Newman with two beautiful women sent to the men in prison, the busty car-washing woman, Lucille; it goes on and on. Just when you think you have it figured out, it twists a bit. The writing and screenplay are first rate. The movie strikes a chord with me personally as a baby boomer rallying against authority. Paul Newman shares a quality or two with our ex-president, Bill Clinton. They are both well liked and admired. The ladies think so too. They both take on difficult odds and never quit. It's that essence of taking advantage of a moment in time. George Kennedy at one point says to Paul Newman that he'd been kidding everyone and planning his escape all along. Paul replies he'd never planned anything in his life and just took advantage of a particular situation. (That sounds like Clinton.) Paul Newman's mother also won as best supporting actress and I see a resemblence to stories I've heard about Bill's mother. George Kennedy won as best supporting actor in a good-old-boy-farm-hand-convict role. Not too bright, perhaps, but willing to play the game our hero never does. Paul doesn't pretend on any level which is what gives him his heroic halo. "What we have here, is a failure to communicate." If I've communicated my beliefs, I trust you'll spend your money and buy this movie. I can't believe you'll watch it only once.
Rating:
Summary: "He's a Natural Born World Shaker"
Review: It is difficult to find a movie that has all the elements of "Cool Hand Luke," i.e., great screenplay, superb acting, great directing, and a wonderful musical score. The movie is very typical of the 60's genre where rebellion was in, and what we have in Luke is the consummate rebel. But a very lovable rebel at that. We learn of the various psychological complexities of Luke and of the very grim conditions of living on a southern chain gang. There are so many aspects of this movie that make it great that it is hard to isolate just a couple. The friendship that develops between the character "Dragline", beautifully played by George Kennedy, and Luke is wonderful to experience, as is Luke's constant search for God. The movie is full of humor, for example the famous egg-eating contest, tenderness, sadness and just about any emotion you can think of. I think that is what has made it so appealing over the years. I greatly appreciate the efforts of Director Stuart Rosenberg, Actor Paul Newman who gave, what I consider to be, the finest performance of his career, George Kennedy for his Academy Award winning performance, and composer Lalo Schifrin who wrote the beautiful musical score. All who worked on this movie deserve great credit, because they created, what I consider to be, the greatest movie ever made.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD, BUT NOT A CLASSIC
Review: Baby boomers love this film. It reconnects them to the pre-Yuppie period of their lives when they saw themselves as James Dean/Paul Newman rebels against The Man. Now they are The Man, but they can still get misty-eyed watching Cool Hand Luke and pretending to be like him. Plenty of posts have mentioned the Christ-allusions, which show that this film operates somewhere in the realm of myth and allegory. The problem with cinematic myth and allegory is that characters easily become caricatures. Luke has personality, but every other prisoner but Kennedy's character seems to be just an Everyman as foil to Luke's greatness. Nobody else has any fight, intelligence, or charisma? As every jeweler knows, it is a cheap trick to make a jewel look brighter by placing it amongst junk. This film is like a lazy stroll through a garden. It can be slow going, but there are some real pleasures. The oft-mentioned egg-eating scene is one example. So too Luke's punishment digging, refilling, and redigging the ditch. I don't know what was going through the minds of the Oscar judges when they awarded the Best Supporting Actor trophy to George Kennedy. His role is interesting and (as the Judas figure) crucial, but as always he overplays it. Whereas Paul Newman and all of the prison officials give naturalistic performances, George Kennedy is a hambone. Also straining credulity is that these prisoners almost never fight. (But there is one good fight scene between Newman and Kennedy.) Indeed, this is the least menacing group of convicts you could hope to come across. Also, for a prison film it is oddly asexual. In one scene the prisoners lust after a busty blond washing her car, but she makes no further appearances. Possible homosexuality amongst the prisoners might be hinted at, but it's hard to tell. (Dancing together, jumping rope in tandem with the same rope.) Thus the ever-present risk of rape in male prisons doesn't rear its head here.
Rating:
Summary: Newman's Greatest
Review: One evening about 1982, six of us theater types were sitting around drinking and jawing when I asked, "What's your favorite movie of all time, and don't give me any of the big musicals or overdone studio movies?" Three of us immediately said, without looking at each other, "Cool Hand Luke." I've had others join the list, "LA Confidential" among them, but it's still an impressive, thoughtful, subtle movie that I enjoy watching and rewatching.
Rating:
Summary: Unstoppable force meets immovable object
Review: Paul Newman brilliantly portrays Luke, a former war-hero whose inability to bend to authority lands him on a southern chain-gang. There he encounters both sadistic guards who use brutal force to maintain their positions and down-trodden prisoners who elevate Luke to the status of hero for doing only what comes naturally to him. Misunderstood by both groups, he is truly a man who just can't fit in anywhere. The cast is full of familiar faces at the beginnings of their careers. Based on the strength of this performance, it is easy to see why Newman became such a star.
Rating:
Summary: Classic!
Review: Probably one of the finest movies I have ever seen. Paul Newman, George Kennedy and a cast of very young upcoming stars! Wayne Rogers, Dennis Hopper, Joe Don Baker and Harry Dean Stanton add to a motion picture that say's, "drop everything and watch!" I've never grown tired of watching it, a masterpiece of American cinema! Robert Keller
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