The Couch Potato's Guide to Old Hollywood: The Legacy of Paul Newman« The Pen in Hand Blog

Warner Bros., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Geoff Carter

Paul Newman was a master of cool—right up there with his peers Brando and James Dean—except he also had a certain down-to-earth quality the others lacked. Like Dean or Brando, he excelled at portraying characters that were typically a mixture of charm, intelligence, and sometimes larcenous free-spiritedness, but unlike the other two, his characters were exceedingly accessible.

Fast Eddie Felsen, Butch Cassidy, Hud Bannon, and John Russell are—at the very least—anti-social characters; at worst, they are criminal. Yet we can’t help liking them. Pauline Kael once said during her 1977 review of Newman’s film Slap Shot that “his (Newman’s) likableness is infectious; nobody should ever be asked not to like Paul Newman…” She also argued that Newman, when fitted with a role that suited his temperament, was absolutely peerless—an opinion I would definitely agree with. She didn’t, however, believe he had great range as an actor—an opinion I would definitely dispute.

While Paul Newman was the type of actor who never strayed too far outside his own persona, he was still a master of his craft. Like Jimmy Stewart or Humphrey Bogart, Newman so skillfully layered sensibilities and depths onto his characters that the moviegoer is barely aware of the acting process. The subtle set of the jaw as he steals the truck in Cool Hand Luke, the steely glare as he takes on the bandits during Hombre; the quick nod while cracking wise during Harper; or—in his later career—the hesitant speech and painfully deliberate thought processing during The Verdict deftly reveal subtle nuances in each character.

At the beginning of his career, Newman was saddled with the “pretty boy” label which, through his skill and acumen, he soon sloughed off. He was too good an actor for that—although his good looks never did hurt his box-office appeal. And although he worked with some of history’s best directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, John Houston, and Martin Scorsese, he—weirdly—never seemed to manage to appear in any of their master works. Torn Curtain, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, and The Color of Money were good movies, but hardly these directors’ best.

Paul Newman was also an outstanding movie director in his own right, and—along with fellow actors Barbra Streisand, Steve McQueen, and Sidney Poitier—formed the First Artists production company which was designed to give each artist more control over their films, providing us with off-beat movies like The Life and Times of Judge Roy Beanand The Getaway.

Newman is a screen icon. He’s played an outlaw, a hustler, a con, a gangster, and a killer—and even more egregious characters. Yet, for all their flaws and digressions and sins, we love these characters. We have to—because of Paul Newman.

Paul Newman’s Ten Best Films

Cool Hand Luke: Sentenced to a term in the Florida prison camp for defacing parking meters, with his wit, daring, and intelligence, Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) becomes the scourge of the guards and the idol of the other prisoners. Newman’s Luke is the epitome of Southern charm and good humor; he is at his jaunty best here. His daring and shrewdness has the audience in his corner up until the end of his final escape. Notable for Strother Martin’s iconic “What we have here is failure to communicate” line as well as a stellar supporting cast of future acting greats.

Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Harry Dean Stanton, Ralph Waite, Joel Grey, Dennis Hopper, and Jo Van Fleet. Written by Don Pearce and Frank R. Pierson. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: A liberal and comic fictionalization of the real-life exploits of the titular Western outlaws. Newman’s Cassidy is a good-humored, friendly, well-intentioned, and benevolent anti-hero who functions as an excellent foil for Redford’s taciturn Sundance Kid. The film is mostly light-hearted romp through the Old West until the pair finally meets their match when the railroad puts a super-team of lawmen on their trail. Barely escaping, they head to Bolivia to ply their trade there. Notable for the outstanding chemistry between Redford, Newman, and a mostly underused Katherine Ross.

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, and Ted Cassidy. Written by William Goldman. Directed by George Roy Hill.

The Hustler: “Fast Eddy” Felsen is a hotshot small-time pool player who takes on and loses to the best, Minnesota Fats. Felsen falls in with Bert Gordon, a professional gambler, who takes Eddy cross-country in an attempt to make a killing off him. They travel with Sarah Packard, a young alcoholic Eddy picked up in a bar. After events take a tragic, but inevitable, turn, Eddy is dumped by Bert, but returns on his own to take on Minnesota Fats in a rematch of their initial match. Notable for Jackie Gleason’s portrayal as Fats and George C. Scott’s rendition of the reptilian Gordon.

Starring: Paul Newman, George C. Scott, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, Myron McCormick, and Murray Hamilton. Written by Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen. Directed by Robert Rossen.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: In this film version of the Tennessee Williams play, Newman plays Brick Pollitt, a disillusioned heir frustrated by the way his life has turned out. Married to tempestuous Maggie the Cat (Elizabeth Taylor) who attempts to cajole him out of his drunken stupor, Pollitt refuses to reconcile with Big Daddy, the family patriarch who is dying from cancer, and lay claim to the family fortune. Newman’s inherent charm is mostly subsumed by his anger and bitterness here, but it is the underlying structure supporting the character—it is the reason Brick remains Big Daddy’s favorite.

Starring: Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, and Judith Anderson. Written by Tennessee Williams and Richard Brooks. Directed by Richard Brooks.

The Verdict: Frank Galvin (Newman), a washed-up and disgraced alcoholic trial attorney is given a plum of a malpractice case by an old friend. Instead of doing the smart thing and settling, he decides to try the case, taking on the powerful defendants, Catholic archdiocese, and his own client’s family in the process. Newman’s portrayal of Galvin is masterful. It almost hurts to watch him wade through his own pain and guilt in order to get justice for his client and—in the end—redeem himself. Notable for Charlotte Rampling’s tense-as-a-wire performance.

Starring: Paul Newman, Jack Warden, Charlotte Rampling, James Mason, Lindsay Crouse, aand Milo O’Shea. Written by David Mamet. Directed by Sidney Lumet.

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean: In this whimsical fable of the Old West, based loosely on the true-life adventures of the real judge, Newman portrays Bean as a homegrown and zealous purveyor of outlaw justice. Part crank, part zealot, and part ideologue, Newman manages to balance Bean’s brutality and inherent naivete with humor and a weirdly offbeat charm as he establishes an outlying base of “civilization” on the Texas frontier—the only law west of the Pecos. Notable for John Milius’ vibrant script.

Starring: Paul Newman, Victoria Principal, Anthony Perkins, Roddy McDowell, Ned Beatty, and Jacqueline Bissett. Written by John Milius. Directed by John Huston.

Harper: Newman takes on the role of Lew Harper, the wise-cracking and jaded private detective created by John McDonald. This role is tailor-made for Newman. Harper is smart, shrewd, inventive, funny, and—despite his protests to the contrary—a good guy. Hired by a bitter woman to track down her millionaire husband, Harper finds himself (a la Philip Marlowe) caught in the weird and convoluted webs of the LA underworld. Notable for an outstanding supporting cast including Strother Martin as a nasty religious zealot.

Starring: Paul Newman, Arthur Hill, Lauren Bacall, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, and Strother Martin. Screenplay by William Goldman. Directed by Jack Smight.

Hombre: Newman shelves his usual charming self in this adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel to play John Russell, a white man raised by Apaches who finds himself caught between two vastly different worlds. Russell is a taciturn and stoic man who generally keeps to himself and minds his own business. He does, however, have a strong sense of justice. When their stagecoach is held up, he is forced to guide the other passengers—including a corrupt Indian Bureau chief—through the desert to safety and to take on the bandits. Notable for Newman’s elegantly understated performance as Russell—the reluctant arm of the law.

Starring: Paul Newman, Martin Balsam, Frederick March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento, and Cameron Mitchell. Written by Irving Ratchet and Harriet James, Jr. Directed by Martin Ritt.

Sometimes a Great Notion: Based on the Ken Kesey novel, the film follows the Stampers, a family of independent loggers who defy strikers in their small community. Drawing the ire of the locals, Hank Stamper (Newman) battles the townspeople as they try to run him out of business. When tragedy strikes, Stamper is forced to take a final stand. As a man who is witnessing his world crumble around him, Newman’s performance exudes strength, helplessness, and desperation simultaneously. Notable for Henry Fonda’s supporting performance as the family patriarch.

Starring: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick, Richard Jaeckel, Michael Sarrazin, and Linda Lawson. Written by John Gay. Directed by Paul Newman.

Hud: In one of Newman’s finest performances, he plays Hud Bannon, a self-centered and unscrupulous rancher who takes on his father (Melvyn Douglas) in a battle for the family ranch. Faced with financial ruin after an outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease is discovered in the herd, Hud balks at his father’s (and the state’s) decision to put the cattle down and suggests selling the sick animals before word gets out about the epidemic. Caught in the middle are Hud’s young nephew. Hud is an atypical anti-hero, having almost no redeemable qualities, yet somehow Newman manages to make him seem less of a cretin than he actually is.

Starring: Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon DeWilde, Patricia Neal, Whit Bissell, and Sheldon Allman. Written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr. Directed by Martin Ritt.