Cool Hand Luke
A man refuses to conform to life in a rural prison.
- Director: Stuart Rosenberg
- Genre:Crime / Drama
- Runtime:126 minutes
Cast
Paul Newman : Luke
George Kennedy : Dragline
J.D. Cannon : Society Red
Lou Antonio : Koko
Robert Drivas : Loudmouth Steve
Luke (Paul Newman) is arrested for cutting the heads off parking meters one drunken night. He is sentenced to two years in prison and sent to a Florida prison camp, run by the sadistic Captain (Strother Martin). Luke is revealed to be a decorated veteran, and is initially known to the other prisoners as “War-Hero Lucas.” Luke fails to observe the established pecking order among the prisoners, and quickly runs afoul of the prisoners’ de facto leader, Dragline (George Kennedy). The pair spar with the prisoners and guards watching, and although Luke is severely outmatched by the larger Dragline, he repeatedly refuses to stay down and eventually Dragline refuses to fight further; Luke suffers a beating but wins the grudging respect of the prison population. Later, Luke wins a poker game on a bluff with a worthless hand; Luke comments that “sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand,” and Dragline gives him the nickname “Cool Hand Luke.”
After a visit from his mother he becomes more optimistic about his situation. Despite the brutal conditions within the camp, including hard physical labor and extended time in “the box”, a harsh solitary confinement used to punish disobedient prisoners, Luke demonstrates an unquenchable spirit and the other prisoners begin to idolize him, particularly after he wins a spur-of-the moment bet that he can eat fifty hard-boiled eggs in one hour.
Luke continually circumvents the authority of the Captain and the prison-guard “bosses”, and his sense of humor and independence in the face of incarceration prove contagious and inspiring to the other prisoners. This struggle for influence comes to a head when Luke leads the work crew in a seemingly-impossible effort to complete a road-paving job in a single day, in defiance of convention and expectations. Luke becomes recognized as a trouble-maker by the prison authorities. Read more
