Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Not part of a collection.
The man... and the motion picture that simply do not conform.
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.
Filipe Manuel Neto
Mar 16, 2024 · via TMDB
**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.
John Chard
Jan 19, 2019 · via TMDB
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
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Criterion Channel
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Spectrum On Demand
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
Strother Martin
Captain
Jo Van Fleet
Arletta
Clifton James
Carr
Marc Cavell
Rabbitt
Richard Davalos
Blind Dick
Robert Donner
Boss Shorty
J.D. Cannon
Society Red
Joe Don Baker
Fixer
James Gammon
Sleepy
Wayne Rogers
Gambler
Ralph Waite
Alibi
Chuck Hicks
Chief
Rance Howard
Sheriff
James Jeter
Wickerman
Buck Kartalian
Dynamite
Anthony Zerbe
Dog Boy
Warren Finnerty
Tattoo
John McLiam
Boss Keen
Charles Tyner
Boss Higgins
Joy Harmon
The Girl
Kim Kahana
Convict (uncredited)
Rush Williams
Patrolman (uncredited)
Jordan Cronenweth
Camera Operator
Conrad Hall
Director of Photography
Jean Burt Reilly
Hairstylist
Chuck Hicks
Stunts
Stuart Rosenberg
Director
Gordon Carroll
Producer
Lalo Schifrin
Original Music Composer
Frank Pierson
Screenplay
Sternenhoch
Wild Geese
Unfit To Stand
Pavlínka
Acá te dejo
Last Chance Saloon
The Dropping of The First Atomic Bomb. An R & L Studios short.
Milky Way
Die Grünstein-Variante
A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story
Saints & Sinners: Judgment Day
A Stroll to Syracuse
Seven Sundays
Prides
Anne of Green Gables
beautiful angel
Faustrecht
The Iron Giant
Forbidden Games
Samskara
October Sky
A Season of Giants
Boogie Nights
La mossa del cavallo
Breakthrough
Beasts of No Nation
Girl, Interrupted
Midnight Runners
The Bad Guys
The Inquisitor
My Cousin Vinny
A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box
Devdas
Leave Her to Heaven
Pugowitza
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Hurricane
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Global Fan Screening
The Last King of Scotland
Chaplin
Sense and Sensibility
Kes
Duma
The Iceman and the Psychiatrist
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Bridge to Terabithia
25th Hour
Hamlet
Like Water for Chocolate
I am the Secret in Your Heart
Stranger Than Fiction
The Letter
The Secret Scripture
Don't Worry, I'm Fine
Queen Margot
Entranced Earth
Hunger
Sound! Euphonium The Movie: May the Melody Reach You!
My Friend "A"
The Player
BlackBerry
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Rakastunut rampa
Notes on a Scandal
Little Children
The Virgin Suicides
Felon
El Cantante
Romance Doll
This Is I
The Leisure Seeker
Der Tunnel
The Age of Innocence
Tea in the Harem
My Hometown
White Gate
Horror in Happy Swamp
Storm Over Jamaica
Filosofi Kopi 2: Ben & Jody
Soy leyenda
The Erasers
Poslední ples na rožnovské plovárně
Nobody Leaves Alive
Get Carter
Bronson
A Christmas Carol
Samaritan Girl
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Lola
ManSuang
King's Game
Little Caesar
Two Sons of Francisco
99 Homes
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
A Passage to India
Lost and Delirious
The Shoes of the Fisherman
A Tale of Two Cities
R
Inside
Suicide Mission
Mostly Martha
Mansfield Park
The Other Side of the Wind
The Sky Crawlers
The Mysterious Miss C.
Traitor
Under the Sand
Emma
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Since Otar Left
Passage to Marseille
Kotch
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
Radioactive
Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi
Beautiful Disaster
The Milagro Beanfield War
The Limey
Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser...
Emma's Bliss
Because of Winn-Dixie
Losing Isaiah
Varg Veum - At Night All Wolves Are Grey
O Quinze
Experiment
Un año y un día
Brokedown Palace
Boy Culture
The Number 23
Gangster No. 1
Poor Cow
Lucky
For Love of the Game
In the Name of the Law
The Postcard Killings
The Zone
Soundless
Arn: The Knight Templar
Fallen Angels
A Wrinkle in Time
Storm Over the Nile
Lost for Life
Moonlight Shadow
The Coast Guard
No Escape
Frontier(s)
I Saw What You Did
Hammett
Oliver Twist
Factotum
Running Scared
Castle Freak
Adam Resurrected
The Legend of Barney Thomson
Masquerade Night
The Man by the Shore
Keane
Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon
The Harder They Fall
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Lakeview Terrace
The Nines
Age of Consent
The Sensual Man
Party Monster
Drop Zone
The Cry of the Owl
The Last Grenade
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti
Eugenie de Sade
On the Edge
Jonathan
City of Industry
Suburban Girl
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
The Moment
A Room with a View
The Lost
Love and Anger
The Stranger in My Home
Dark Sun
Stoned
The Celestine Prophecy
Release
Gisela
River Made to Drown In
The Passion of Ayn Rand
Green Street Hooligans 2
November
Belated Flowers
Himmo, King of Jerusalem
The Woman Whom Must Be Hanged
Open Studio
Exit to Eden
Dangerous Paradise
Sedm bílých plášťů
Eggs for Breakfast
When We Are Gone
Lucrezia Borgia
The Portrait
In April
La Vie Magnifique De Charlie
The Awakening of Helena Ritchie
The Eternal Mother
Poslední rok
Semestr něžnosti
Nevada
Enez Eusa
Loose Ends
It Had to Be You
Sommer i Tyrol
Rukama nevinnosti
Blake Buried A Body
Peanuts
Paradise: Disturbed
Ghosts of a Holy War
The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
GoodFellas
Papillon
Mississippi Burning
Girl in the Basement
Escape from Alcatraz
Birdman of Alcatraz
Midnight Express
Papillon
Cape Fear
The Devil All the Time
Brubaker
Bad Boys
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Bronson
The Mustang
Death Sentence
South Central
Nowhere to Run
Convict
Monster
No Escape
The Onion Field
Nov 1, 1967
© 2025-2026 MovieNight. All rights reserved.
Versus
Sign in to play →
Too Much, Too Young: Children of the Middle Ages
2011
900 Neighbours
2006
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
Versus
Sign in to play →
Too Much, Too Young: Children of the Middle Ages
2011
900 Neighbours
2006
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
We use essential cookies to run MovieNight, plus analytics (Google Analytics) and advertising (Google AdSense) cookies. By continuing to browse, you agree to this — or click No and we won't. See our Terms & Privacy Policy to learn more.