Cool Hand Luke (CHL) is 1967’s prison drama movie starring Paul Newman in the lead role of Lucas Jackson. It is based on the 1965’s novel of the same name by Donn Pearce.
ABOUT THE PLOT: Lucas gets arrested for breaking some Meters on the park, under the effect of alcohol, and is send to prison for 2 years. In prison he finds the captain and his men quite heartless and strict, making all the prisoners adhere to strict discipline and hardship. Within days Lucas becomes favorite among the inmates, more so in the eyes of Dragline (George Kennedy) (kind of leader of the lot) – but only after initial tussles and a big fight. Afterwards Dragline nicknames Lucas as ‘Cool Hand Luke’ for his cool nature and friendly behavior towards all. Luke’s cool but daring nature and good sense of humor impress and inspires all the inmates and despite the brutal conditions and lots of physical hardships and frequent visits to the box (a dreary solitary confinement), they start to enjoy their time in the prison. This kind of upsets the captain and his men.
When Luke’s mother dies, captain instead of sending him home for the funeral put him in the box, anticipating an attempt of escape that could provide him with an excuse to be hard on Luke. This doesn’t go well with Luke and he makes two attempts of escape each time getting caught somehow. This leads to more popularity and likeness among the inmates as well as harsh punishments at the hands of captain and his men. Luke’s adamant spirit finally breaks and gives up promising to follow all the rules and instructions of the Bosses. This kind of disheartens the inmates and they start to disregard Luke.
But men like Luke are hard to hold back and so he makes another attempt to escape this time Dragline accompanying him. Will Luke be 3rd time lucky and manage to escape all the way? Or will they capture him again and break his spirit, once and for all. Watch ‘Cool Hand Luke’ to know.
There are men who are different. They live life on their own terms and they can’t be controlled. They don’t think and plan about much they just do whatever they feel like. Luke is one such character, he don’t want to sit idle and always require something to do and that desire leads him to prison. In prison his sense of humor and cool nature inspires the other inmates so much so that they start to idolize him. He never plans he just do it and that’s the way he attempts his escape from the prison, that might be the reason for their failure , but then, he might never have tried them had he thought and planned them. CHL majorly belongs to this one character and Paul Newman has done his best to portray the character as best as possible. It seems like a tailor-made role and Paul looks every bit the character and got nominated for the best actor Oscar.
All other actors fit in their parts and have done well but one actor that stands out is George Kennedy in the role of Dragline for which he won Oscar for best supporting actor.
CHL is 2 hour long movie and moves at a relaxing pace that suits the plot and never let the viewer lose interest. It bestows the viewer with all possible sentiments be it of humor and fun or tragedy and sadness. Screenplay is good and dialogues are even better; some of them are quite famous even in current times like ‘What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate’. Music goes well with the pace and theme and impresses a lot esp. the songs.
CHL touches your heart for it’s quite a diverse but simple and remarkable plot. Luke definitely succeeds in making a room in the heart of the viewers and stays in mind. Paul Newman has really performed well. Some of the scenes that really impresses are:
a) Spar fight between Luke and Drag, when Luke declines to give up even after numerous blows and Drag had to stop the fight. It thrills.
b) Luke’s bet on eating 50 hard-boiled eggs at one go in 1 hour. Most humors part of the movie.
c) Luke’s mother’s visit to the prison, it’s quite an emotional scene and Jo Van Fleet has done it well on the role of mother.
d) Luke and teams enthusiastic work on the road paving job
e) Various escape attempts of Luke mostly the 2nd one.
f)Captain’s breaking of Luke’s spirit and making him beg for mercy.
FINAL WORDS: I didn’t know about this movie and it was by chance that I get to watch it but now I have a copy of it and will definitely be revisiting it in time to come. It’s quite different and is fun to watch for its plot and some heart touching characters of prisoners like Luke and Drag. Its one of Paul Newman’s best act in which he looks really cool. Luke Says ‘Sometimes being nothing is really cool hand’ and I would recommend to view it with the anticipation of nothing.
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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA............
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