#29 Cool Hand Luke - The basis of #1?

1967 dir. Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon.

Seen it before? Yes, senior year of high school for psych class.

I remember watching this movie in Coach Schuetz's class because he wanted to show us operant conditioning, punishments and rewards, and behavioral psychology. I remember seeing the part when Luke gets his nick name; when he eats the eggs and lays on the table in the Christ on the Cross pose. I remember thinking, "why was George Kennedy's character SO into having Luke in the chain gang when he was clearly the ring leader?"

I didn't mind that we were going to watch this movie as part of the top 250. I loved the part when Luke convinced the guys to work at a quicker pace so that they could finish sooner. My heart ached when I saw the relationship he had with his mother and then that he was put in solitary because they didn't want him to escape...which I think made it worse. He was already rebelling in the beginning which got him into his two year term to begin with. Of course putting him in solitary, and in essence keeping him away from the funeral, would make him want to run!

I forgot about the beginning with the parking meters and how he was a service man who entered and left the service with the same distinction. But I didn't forget the tanned topless men or Paul Newman's smile. I remembered that Luke was also compared to Christ...why we were discussing that in public high school is beyond me.

So now onto my Shawshank comparison...Luke is Andy Dufresne. Dragline was Red. The rest of the chain gang were the rest of the men Red and Andy would hang out with and eat lunch with. I wonder then if there is actually this type of camaraderie in real prisons. When Martha Stewart finished her 5-month sentence she talked about how she found a group of women to spend time with while she was in jail. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go to jail to find out if inmates act like kids did in high school with cliques and who is in and who is not in, but watching these two movies has got me wondering.

I know this posting sounds really bizarre and I attribute that to the fact that I'm watching Magnolia and it's terribly confusing and disturbing...so now I sound like I haven't a coherent thought in my head.

Would I watch it again? Probably
Favorite part? The egg scene - hilarious
Part that made me tear up (aside from the obvious)? When the guys help him eat his giant plate of rice

#29 Cool Hand Luke: What's your dirt doin' in his ditch?

1967 dir. Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon.

Seen it before? No.

Before I begin here, may I just ask - That Tooth Fairy movie, starring The Rock - they're joking, right? That's not a real movie?

Anyway, Cool Hand Luke. You read that correctly, I haven't seen it before now. On the other hand, this is one of those movies that's been parodied and ripped off so many times that it all felt very familiar. Sort of like Citizen Kane, which I'm pretty sure you could assemble entirely from clips from The Simpsons.

The titular Luke is Paul Newman, playing his usual too-cool-for-the-movie self. At the beginning of the movie, he gets drunk and destroys some parking meters, so they sentence him to do 2 years at a prison camp. At first it's all fun and games, and he's pretty much able to smirk his way through life. He eats 50 eggs for some reason. Then he tries to escape, and things get complicated...

OK, so:

Obvious Christ imagery. Lots of it. He gets beaten up pretty bad a few times but he just takes it. It's not quite as bad as that snuff film my mother-in-law made me watch but it was close.

Also Luke is constantly holding his arms out as if being crucified, and at one point they even put a white robe on him.

60's counterculture: Luke just doesn't dig your rules, man.

What was with that Plastic Jesus song?? That came out of nowhere.

I want a pair of those mirror sunglasses. That guy was harsh, I don't think he said two words the whole movie.

I thought George Kennedy (the Garlique guy, and he won Best Supporting Actor for this movie) was pretty funny. Such an obvious man-crush on Luke.

Hey, it's Trapper John!

The scene with the girl washing her car felt gratuitous. Not that I'm complaining.

Position in the list: 125
Should be sued for plagiarizing this: Shawshank Redemption