Cool Hand Luke

"The man... and the motion picture that simply do not conform."

1967 2h 7m EN

🙌

7.7

BANGER

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★7.7TMDB · 1,683🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●92Metacritic★8IMDB · 196,818

DramaCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

“The man... and the motion picture that simply do not conform.”

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Cast

Paul Newman
Luke Jackson
George Kennedy
Dragline
Luke Askew
Boss Paul
Morgan Woodward
Boss Godfrey
Harry Dean Stanton
Tramp
Dennis Hopper
Babalugats
Lou Antonio
Koko
Robert Drivas
Loudmouth Steve

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writers: Frank Pierson, Donn Pearce, Hal Dresner
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

59 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, shot by Conrad Hall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Lalo Schifrin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sam O'Steen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Paul Newman and George Kennedy and Luke Askew carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The man... and the motion picture that simply do not conform.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stuart Rosenberg directs. Conrad Hall behind the camera. Lalo Schifrin scores. Sam O'Steen cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 5.1× over at the box office.
359 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, shot by Conrad Hall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Lalo Schifrin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Sam O'Steen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Paul Newman and George Kennedy and Luke Askew carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The man... and the motion picture that simply do not conform.".
9IMDB entry: tt0061512 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "prison", "dying and death", "florida", "based on novel or book".

The technical file

Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original score: Lalo Schifrin
Editing: Sam O'Steen
Costume design: Howard Shoup
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Sound: Larry Jost
Runtime: 127 min · 2h 7m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,200,000
Box office: $16,217,773
Return: 507% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 92/100
IMDB rating: 8/10 · 196,818 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 11 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Stuart Rosenberg

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-01-19
★ 10/10
Oh Luke you wild beautiful thing! Luke (Paul Newman) lands himself in a Deep South prison farm for drunkenly cutting the heads off of parking meters. Once at the farm Luke refuses to be ground down by the system and its grinning warden (a brilliant Strother Martin). As things role by Luke becomes something of a hero to his fellow inmates and this is not lost on the authority in charge of the farm. Things are sure to come to a head as Luke rebels to the point of no return... Division of Corrections. Road Prison 36. The close examination of Cool Hand Luke over the years has rightly thrown up the fact that it's a Christ allegory. Which is just fine given that Stuart Rosenberg's film is one of the finest films that the 60s had to offer. It also boasts, arguably of course, the Paul Newman signature role (yes even better than The Hustler). As the title suggests, Cool Hand Luke, both the film and character, there is a great deal of cool here, in fact for a great deal of the first half of movie it's laced with comic touches as we warm easily to the "rebel against the system" machismo and charm that Newman provides as Lukas Jackson. Yet the film then shifts considerably at the mid-point to give us something far more potent and dramatic to alter any preconceptions the audience had of this just being a movie about a macho loner earning our sympathy. Calling it your job don't make it right Boss. Much in the film has been firmly ensconced in the memorable moments department, 50 eggs, tar that road quickly, the "Kick a Buck" poker game, "still shaking boss", a mountain of rice to be eaten, sneezing bloodhounds, the boxing match and one of the greatest and most iconic of tag-lines ever, "what we got here is a failure to communicate", all forming part of a truly great whole. However, revisiting the picture often brings the realisation that so much more is on offer than at first thought. Luke is a real war hero (this has been missed by both pro and amateur critics) whose crime is pretty tame for the sentence he finds himself faced with. The Dragline (George Kennedy kicking up a storm of acting quality) and Luke friendship that builds with grace and thunder, sexual frustration of the incarcerated male and a mother and son arc that attacks the soul and lets Newman show many of his acting peers just how grief should be acted out on screen... "Well, I don't care if it rains or freezes, Long as I have my plastic Jesus, Riding on the dashboard of my car. Through all trials and tribulations, We will travel every nation, With my plastic Jesus I'll go far" With Newman, Kennedy and Martin holding court with every scene they are in, it would be easy at first glance to ignore the supporting roles, but Rosenberg ensures that supporting players make telling marks. It's a roll call of sweaty and twitchy character actors that features the likes of Anthony Zerbe, Joe Don Baker, Clifton James, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Morgan Woodward, Wayne Rogers and J.D. Cannon. Filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, Rosenberg and cinematographer Conrad Hall do an amazing job of making Stockton, California feel like the actual Deep South. Film unfolds to the backdrop of a sun drenched land inhabited by life's unfortunates and the supposed upstanding face of American officialdom... Iconography and martyrdom unbound, Cool Hand Luke is a slow-burn classic of deep thematic worth. 10/10
Filipe Manuel Neto2024-03-16
★ 7/10
Celebrate rebellion at a time when everything deserved to be questioned. The late sixties marked the rise of a culture of rebellion and challenge to the established order. Young people, university students, minorities, suddenly society goes into upheaval and begins to question and make demands. In a very specific way, I think this film fits very well into this movement, giving us the story of a man who made mistakes and paid – that's for sure – and who, between hits and misses, wanted to find his own space in the world and live life on his terms. Luke Jackson is truly a non-conformist man and the face of a generation of people increasingly dissatisfied with the society in which they live. The film makes clear that he had everything in his hands to have other destiny, a stable and comfortable life, but that his own actions ruined everything. Why? Because that wasn't enough, and he wanted something different. Maybe he didn't know exactly what he wanted, but he knew exactly what he didn't want: to feel subjugated. This expresses what American society, particularly young people, had been feeling: no more meaningless rules, absolute dogmas, ostracism and sacred cows. In that prison where even to urinate or drink water they have to ask permission, Luke questioned all. A good story, very well written and with magnificent dialogues, is accompanied by a good work of cinematography, sets and costumes, and an effective direction guaranteed by Stuart Rosenberg. It is in the editing work that I felt the biggest mistakes were made, giving the film an uneven rhythm, as the film was composed of a collage of episodes from Luke's time in that work camp. That is, it lacks the idea and feeling of unity and fluidity, with several situations similar to each other and a certain absence of dramatic tension, more palpable in the final half. Paul Newman provides a strong and charismatic lead and was a safe bet to play the rebel hero. Fortunately for us, the film has the support of several other great actors in supporting roles, preventing it from being a one-man effort. George Kennedy, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor thanks to this film, stands out from the crowd thanks to a careful performance, the best of this actor's career. Worthy of mention are also the efforts of J. D. Cannon, Jo Van Fleet, Lou Antonio and Strother Martin.