Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Set in 1950s Florida, a WWII vet (Paul Newman) is sentenced to two years on a chain gang for destroying several parking meters when drunk. A loner and a cynic and a rebel, he eventually wins the respect of his fellow inmates but he proves troublesome to the camp's "bosses". Based on the novel by Donn Pearce and directed by Stuart Rosenberg (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR). The 1960s were Paul Newman's decade. He delivered a series of superb performances in films like THE HUSTLER, HUD, SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, HARPER, HOMBRE and this one, perhaps his best performance in the bunch. The film plays to his strengths and it also provided George Kennedy (in an Oscar winning performance) with a breakthrough role which gave him a wider range of characters to play instead of just villains. The movie itself is not without some pretensions such as the Christ parallels attributed to Newman's Luke. Lalo Schifrin's Oscar nominated score is one of his very best. With Jo Van Fleet (just one scene but it's a beauty), Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon, Richard Davalos, Harry Dean Stanton, Joy Harmon and Joe Don Baker.