Cool Hand Luke

(Stuart Rosenberg, US 1967, 126 min., 35mm)

12 Postcards from Prison. In this film about prison life and undying spirit, Paul Newman is Luke, a loner sent to a chain-gang camp for “cutting heads off parking meters.” For his fellow chain-gangers, Luke offers inspiration, whether it’s digging ditches all night long or eating 50 eggs to win a bet with Oscar winner George Kennedy. First-time feature director Rosenberg’s exciting staging and Conrad Hall’s superb color photography make a traditional subject—life on a Southern chain gang—seem fresh, and Newman gives one of his best “loner” roles as the title convict.