What Are You Watching?
A podcast for people who LOVE movies. Filmmakers/best friends, Alex Withrow and Nick Dostal, do their part to keep film alive. Thanks for listening, and happy watching!
What Are You Watching?
189: Cool Hand Luke (1967)
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Welcome back to the WAYW New Hollywood Film Project! Alex and Nick break down one of their shared favorite films of all time, Stuart Rosenberg’s “Cool Hand Luke.” Topics include Paul Newman’s best performances, all the film’s iconic scenes (The Car Wash, Arletta, 50 Eggs, etc.), the ceaseless quotable lines, bucking back against authority, influence on other prison films, the marvelous 4K, and much more.
For WAYW, the guys review Olivia Wilde's new film, "The Invite."
Part 11 of the WAYW New Hollywood Film Project.
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You're gonna get used to wearing them chains after a while, Luke. But you never stop listening to them clinging. They're gonna remind you what I've been saying. Don't you ever talk that way to me? What we've got here is failure to communicate.
SPEAKER_00Smoking up here, boss. Hey everyone, welcome to What Are You Watching? I'm Alex Swiftrow, and I'm joined by my best man, Nick Dosto. How you doing there, boss?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing good in here, boss. That's a good boss.
SPEAKER_00Smoking up here, boss.
SPEAKER_01Smoking it up here, boss. Smoking up there.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to the W A Y W new Hollywood film project. Yes. We're excited. We told you we weren't going away. We're not coming back with like 10 more right away. We're just gonna chip away, you know? We're actually going back. We did 70 to 79 last time. Now we're going back to kind of the beginning of the movement, some of the earliest traces of it. 1967. Today we're talking about Cool Han Luke, the great Cool Han Luke, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring a perhaps never better Paul Newman. I love this movie. You love this movie. This is this has been in my, I'll say like top 20 favorite films of all time, basically since the first time I made that list, because I saw this at a very young age, which I'll get to. My this was one of my mom's favorite movies. We watch it together all the time. She loved it. And I say that out loud as I've been watching it this week. I and I've been thinking about that. I'm like, hmm, I wonder why her youngest son tends to have such an issue with authority now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, gee, I mean, you know, always it, it just it taught me a lot from a really young age. But I know you think very fondly of this movie too. So tell me about Cool Han Luke. You excited to be here?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god. I mean, well, I mean, we are officially talking about one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and we will do the addendum episode, episode 200, where we will make, I will make pretty minor adjustments to my top 10 of all time. And then still some minor adjustments to my top 25 of the century so far. You will be making significant changes to both, I understand. So I didn't know if this would still make the list, but yeah, this is in your top 10. I don't think this is going anywhere.
SPEAKER_01I don't know where exactly it's gonna, I don't, I don't know if it's gonna fit into where it was previously. So be on the lookout, folks, mad movie buffs for that new order. But I don't think Cool Hand Luke is getting knocked out of that top 10 spot. Um and yeah, and so like on the pod, it's not every day. We're doing a deep dive on one of your favorite movies of all time. Yeah, you know, and this is a very funny one because I actually don't remember how this came into my life. Oh, okay. I know I was in my late teens, but this was like I had not really entered college yet. And that's really where I kind of considered a lot of my main, like, you know, film knowledge began. I always kind of my life sort of began in the beginning of college. And um, and everything up until then were sort of like, I suppose you could say, like like, you know, unbeknownst to me. I was scratching the surface on what I wanted my life to be. So if I did come across a really good movie, I didn't know how or why. I couldn't really speak to it. I just knew I just saw something that was monumental for me. And this was one of them. Yeah, I have no idea how I don't even think anyone recommended it to me. I certainly hadn't fallen in love with uh Paul Newman yet, who is one of my all-time favorite actors. I just put this fucker on.
SPEAKER_00I have an extra okay, I have an extremely odd question. I'm trying to get the timing. Do you think you saw this is very random, but do do your best, 25th hour first with Edward Norton? Because this movie got a huge pop from people of our generation because the poster in his apartment, it's not even a poster, it's like a damn plaque, it's like a monument, it is amazing. And I had already seen the movie, but that helped me get a lot of my friends to see Cool Hand Luke because they're like, yo, we love 25th hour. Monty Brogan has the poster. What's this flick? And I'm like, here you go.
SPEAKER_01All right, I can answer your question now because I remember it. It I bet you it was not far off, but I definitely saw Cool Hand Luke before 25th Hour because I remember when I first watched 25th Hour seeing the poster and really lighting up. I was like, oh my god, he's got a giant cool hand Luke poster in there.
SPEAKER_00So cool. I got a mini version of it here above my in my closet here. You can see it. You see it back there? Oh, yeah, I know. I've been jealous of that thing every single time I see it. My and it's the same style as his. It's um it's the exact same horizontal, not vertical. Yeah, anyway. So yeah, so you don't even know why or how it just like you you just fell upon it and loved it.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah. I very much like you, I I have a very, very big anti-authority problem. I am not one who likes to follow rules, and I really came up against it in high school and just in terms of school. I hated it. I hated every second of it. I I didn't I didn't believe in education, I didn't believe that there was a point. Yeah, no, I I I did not, I I if you if I could have legally like chose to work instead of being in school, if I didn't have to like actually like I would have left. I didn't see any point, and I wasn't good at anything there. And anyways, so I saw this movie around somewhere in that period. So there was finally a movie that came and expressed this anti uh authority rebellious thing that was in me. And but it's done in such a in such a way where it's not like it's not like punk rock. It's not aggressive in a as a movie, it's not aggressive in its in its message against anti-authority, it's just a very sort of real, I don't fit in anywhere, and this is and this is a thing. So this became a huge movie for me because I I could actually, and I know you talk a lot about this with movies in your life where you kind of use a movie to lean on. Like I I finally had found something that I was like, oh, I'm like Luke in in this time. Like I feel this, there's no room for me anywhere, and I don't belong here, I don't want to be here, but I'm stuck here. What do I do? I was not as cool as Coolhand Luke was. So, yeah, so this is why this movie kind of holds such a huge meaning for me because it it really fell into my life at a time where I really needed it. Obviously, we look at some of our favorite actors, and Ethan Hawk is one of them. I mean, really, I don't think you can really find an actor, a male actor of that particular generation, that does not have a reverence for this movie. But I wonder what this movie means to the younger generations now. I don't know if it would actually have that sort of meaning that it had for us in the older generation. I don't know if that sort of idea resonates as much. What's your take on that?
SPEAKER_00I mean, if they can find it. Yeah, absolutely. I if they could find it, I think they would really love it. And like a few of the new Hollywood film project movies we've covered, this has, I mean, not one. This has all the things it needs to endure for its legacy to endure. It has the jaw-dropping sequence, exactly 10 minutes long. I can eat 50 eggs. You can show that scene, pull it up on YouTube to anyone at any time at of just about any age, and go, wanna watch that movie? I got a whole version of that. Like you, so you can do that. It has some of the it has one of the most iconic lines in the history of cinema. What we got here is failure to communicate, and it has way more iconic scenes, way more famous one-liners. So it lives on that way. So, yeah, I mean, I think just about any movie we've covered in this series, if the younger generation could find it, they would. I I think this will always live on, and its legacy will always endure because of the message, because it's ultimately about authority versus individualism, but he is not expressing his individualism in really radical ways. He's not, you know, so that might be what younger generations have a harder time with now in movies. You know, people like in one battle, they're like blowing up banks, like that. That's how they're bucking back against rules. So it's it's a heightened scale. He is so just like downtrodden and read whatever you want into it. His his mom is ailing, his war stuff, whatever you want. But the way that he just has this kind of apathy to everything, and and I'll and then this brings it back to my issues with authority. Like, I wasn't like fuck school just because school exists. I on I viewed it and still view institutions like that as a game, and like, okay, it's your game. I'm I'm I'll play with your in you inside your world and inside your game, and I'll follow the understood logical rules that everyone does. But as soon as you had a teacher who would make up their own rules and have and abuse that little bit of authority, that never made sense to me, and I always, always, always would buck back against it. Still do. I mean, and you see that you see that with uh from every like people who are controlling lines like it in busy areas and they just flip out about something. Or I have this a lot with TSA, I travel with a lot of recording equipment, it gets flagged a lot, and the the amount of authority that they just want to inflict and abuse for no reason, yeah. So I have a problem with that, and that is kind of what it seems like he has like he committed the crime, he ripped the heads off parking meters, he has the two-year bit to do. What he doesn't like though are the arbitrary rules that start to make no sense, and there's like there's really no winning, so and then you know, he detests the rules within the rules, like you know, drag line going, keep your mouth shut, less you can follow the rules, and he's like, I just it's all I'm hearing, rules and regulations. So just let me do my time in peace. It but he's seeing all these abuses of power going on, and he just can't stand for them. But the way that he rebels is like usually sometimes through acts of like playful kindness, like we paved the road in one day. Is that bad? Yeah, I mean, not really, but yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Like there, there's there's a playfulness to his rebellion in almost every single way. Like he doesn't hurt anybody ever, right? Right. And most of it does come from you's got that line where he says, like, I never planned anything in my life. I truly believe that. I don't think that you like even from his first escape attempt, that that I we'll get to it, but I love that cut because there was no talk, there was no plan. Like, you know, you look at all these prison movies, and there's always that scene, right, where someone's like, I gotta break out of here. And then they're like, You can't do it, no one's ever done it. You know, the whole entire deal, you hear it all the time. Like, we're just we went from one scene, and in the very next, everyone's dancing, pardon because it's the jump for July 4th, and he's just working up the floor. Yep. And and he doesn't that's when he is does it, like he doesn't try to wait for the next day, you know. He just fucking does it, and it's like you can actually imagine, like, because all the other guys do know, so there was a conversation that must have happened, but you it's so on the fly, maybe, or he just started doing it and they're like, Oh shit, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, yep, stand guard. Uh the cool hand's going for it. Let's go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. And um, and and yeah, so he never hurts anybody, but the thing that I start to notice more and more every time I've rewatch this movie, and man, I can't, I don't even know how many times I've rewatched it. You start to feel the ugly he has for himself. Like, he doesn't necessarily really show it, but there's there's moments where he internalizes it, and the like whatever that real emotional conflict is, that's why he's so cool, is because he hardly ever expresses it. You get to some moments when like the system really does break him, and and some of that comes out, but like there are little facial gestures, there are little like breaths that he takes, where he's really there's so much there, and and it's what makes the movie so compelling is like you hear what he's done, like you know, that he was a war hero, or not a war hero, he's just in the war, he came out the same way he went in. He just sort of has this there, there's there's something in him that has let has got him here that uh he can't come to terms with. Right. And it's really fascinating to watch that clash with uh how cool he actually is and how likable and charming and charismatic. That's that's Paul Newman. That's just that's just talking about one of the greatest movie stars ever. Is you can't you can't un get that out of him, but it works so well in this context.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this is why I mean we'll we can save the discussion, but if someone calls this the their favorite Paul Newman performance, how can you argue there you could say that for any number of movies, but I mean, come on, this is like this is just it for me. I th when I think of Paul Newman, I think of Luke. I do. I see Luke smiling, I see him eating those damn beans with the spoon still in his mouth, I see him sitting on that damn shovel that does not look comfortable at all, and just laughing and carrying on. And you know, this movie is gonna be 60 years old next year. And when you visited me in April, I had a few 4K's that I wanted to show you. This is one that we watched in full. 60 years old, and this I mean, it looks better than the majority of movies made today. Like it, the crispness of it, the colors are they just pop. It is every frame is beautiful, even if frames need to be like muddied, like it looks gorgeous. So the print and the disc is as good as the movie deserves. So I I think kind of anyone of any age could watch this and really get something out of it. It's not lewd, it's not obscene. I don't, I don't think it would be rated R. Maybe it's like PG or something. I mean, there's not there, yeah, yes, there's like some stuff in it, but it is it it is a very accessible movie. My mom showed me this when I was nine or ten, I don't remember the exact age, but I remember it was that because she loved it, and I I've loved it ever since. So yeah, I I really hope this, you know, people saw the title, the episode title, and they're like, Oh, I've wanted to go see that, or go re-watch it. Cause yeah, since we watch it together in April, and then I've watched it twice this week, once with the commentary, and then once this morning, right before we recorded. And yeah, I can watch it anytime. You always get it doesn't get all too. It doesn't, it doesn't, it's really well paced. Like those first 40 minutes, we'll when we get to like the outline. I mean, you are you're really just cooking, it's like kind of one big scene after the other, and there's not much glue needed in between. You're just moving, it is a great narrative, so uh yeah. I I mean it's just fantastic, and I'm really glad we're going back a little farther than 1970 to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01I I watched it the other day, and I got a huge brand new experience with the movie, and I go, I think I always knew it, but I never actually like it, never sunk in.
SPEAKER_00We'll get to it because it's in the very beginning, but um well, it was also this movie was a response to you know, Vietnam is taking off the Vietnam War, and all that's going on, so that's part of the new Hollywood movement. And in my opinion, this movement begins officially in 1967, and you can go back a little earlier. There are ones, there's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, A Thousand Clowns, both movies I like. Bonnie and Clyde is kind of the first announcement of the new Hollywood movie, 1967. It really does change cinema, and we will cover it in this series, but also just in 1967, just from the new Hollywood movement Cool Han Luke, The Dirty Dozen, Don't Look Back, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in Cold Blood, in the Heat of the Night, Point Blank, Valley of the Dolls, Wait Until Dark. That's just a few in this year. So it's not only a movement announcing itself, it is a movement taking off. And one of the themes we've talked about over and over and over in the series is this bucking back against authority. You know, it's Serpico going bucking back against his own system, even the French connection that's happening. All of it, all the president's men, like that's what a lot of this movement was about. And before we get to Newman and the film proper, I want to talk about a little where the movie came from because its director, Stuart Rosenberg, he's one of the journeyman directors that just kind of chipped away in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And uh I don't think a lot of people know him by name. I do think Cool Han Luke is his most well-known film. You made four movies with him, also W USA in 1970, Pocket Money in 1972, which is written by Terence Malik. I have not seen the film and I want to, but that also stars Newman. He made The Laughing Policeman with Walter Mathau, which you said you were gonna watch like five years ago and haven't. He made The Drowning Pool with Newman, sure did not, Voyage of the Damned, which is a good movie, The Amityville Horror, a movie a lot of people know, the original, Bru Baker with Redford. I've talked about this on the pod. And I think his last notable big movie was The Pope of Greenwich Village with Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts. But yeah, clearly they are buddies, him and Newman. They're teaming up here. They went on to have a good career. There's this guy, Don Pierce, who wrote this book, Cool Hand Luke. Don himself was a merchant marine as a teen, got up to some stuff in the years after money counterfeiting, burglary, safe cracking, landed himself a two-year bit at Tarvery's Road Prison in Florida. Sounds a lot like our beloved Luke. They modeled the prison set after the place that he served time, Cool Hand Luke. The novel was written in 19 published in 1965. It's 313 pages. I attempted to read it for this episode, but got sidetracked with other things. So I am gonna read it. But then he goes on to write the co-write the screenplay with fan with Frank Pearson. This is a great career. Starts with TV. He writes Cool Hand Luke, Oscar Dom, the Anderson tapes with Sidney Lumet, wins the original screenplay for writing Dog Day Afternoon, wrote Presumed Innocent with New Hollywood stalwart Alan J. Pakula, did a whole episode about him. Frank Pearson wrote and directed 1976's A Star Is Born with Barbara Streisand and Chris Christopherson, made some good TV movies. Okay. Actually, I gotta mention one conspiracy. If if people have not seen Frank Pearson's conspiracy and HBO film from 2001, it's remarkable. It's like the zone of interest before that movie. Just a bunch of guys, white dudes sitting around tables talking about how to carry out the Holocaust in the best, most efficient way possible. Kenneth Brana, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth, all playing Germans. Really fantastic, truly horrific. Okay. Oh, yeah. Wow. It's wild. It's a really good HBO like original, just all talking. But Paul Newman, yeah. I mean, Paul Newman. Lead actors we've covered as part of the WAYW New Hollywood film project, Gene Hackman, Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheiter, Burt Reynolds, John Voigt, Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, John Travolta, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and now finally we arrive at Paul Fucking Newman. Yes. When did you fall in love with this man? Because he's been your number one or two for a long, long time since I've known you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh well, I mean, this was my first. I man, as soon as this individual is steps onto a screen, you can't take your eyes off of him. This is one of the most magnetic, charismatic individuals that is ever, in my opinion, that's ever graced cinema. Same. Well, one, I mean, he's absolutely like he's a very, very good looking man, always has been. Even as he was aged, he became a very cool looking older guy. When you especially go back, because even in Cool Hand Luke, he is a bit on like the older side, like when you start to go back. Back to his 50s stuff, and you see, oh, this is what got him, this is what started him here. Right, right. I mean, those like everyone talks about like the best blue eyes you've ever seen. Um, and the the thing that I always gravitated towards him was you you can't teach this. It's you are like I don't even understand how it works when it comes to acting, but there are certain qualities that that you just exude on a camera that cannot be acted, they can't be done. And it's this X factor, and he has it, and but there's a likability to Paul Newman that I don't think is matched. I don't know, I can't think of any other actor in the world that that I've seen where you just sort of uh fall in love with him. Like you can't not, like, there's just the the smile, the charm, the humor. And and he goes in his career, like when you get into stuff like the verdict, like he he he is and can be an ugly uh human being. Oh yeah, oh yeah, but you never still not like him. You can't. One of the cool things we'll get get into with this movie is uh is when Frank Pearson and the author were writing the script, he said, I really hope you're not writing for me. Right. And and what he meant by that was he knew who he was in Hollywood, he knew what he meant to the business, and he knew what he does, and what he does is swoon, you know. He kind of knew like smolder and swoon. Yep, that's his whole entire thing, and he delivered great performances doing that, but he wanted something that was gonna actually gonna make him stretch, and I think they absolutely nailed it, but even still, you can't you you you you're still never gonna be without Paul Newman. Like George Clooney has it a bit, you know, there there's a certain sort of charm and likability to him that he can't get rid of no matter how he tries. It's like that, but I but there's something even there's even something more um pure about Paul Newman that it's just like it's kind of like touching the sun.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, that's an interesting parallel because Clooney has gone on like Newman. I don't even know if people are aware that Newman directed like 10 movies, most of them starred his longtime wife, Joanne Woodward. Most of them are pretty obscure. I think the most popular one is Rachel Rachel from 1969. He got nominated for Best Picture for that because he produced it as well. But also, you know, Clooney's gone on to make to direct a lot of movies that have not gotten a lot of attention, and that you know, I don't think hit his career will be known for his directing necessarily. But yeah, he Clooney just has this like gravitas that even if he plays a prick, you're still like, oh wow, I'm I don't know, kind of like a likable guy. Yeah, so they're yeah, they're in there, they're in the same field a little bit. Yeah, similar. Newman's just he's a fascinating case because you know, he's one of the earliest examples of my dad still calls it the Paul Newman curse about being nominated. The guy got nominated for like 10 Oscars and had one competitive win, and he can never win. Let me just go through his noms. Cat on the hot tin roof was first, the hustler, HUD, Cool Han Luke, Absence of Malice, The Verdict. They give him an honorary Oscar in 1985, like saying, Hey, thanks, buddy, and then he wins the next year for the color of money, and then he gets a final best actor nomination for nobody's fool in 1994, and his final acting nomination for supporting actor for Road to Perdition, which he's great at. Yeah, so he is it it was kind of like this guy has does have it all, and Hollywood does know what to do with him. He is like the charmer and the swooner, and he has you know the attractive wife, and he gets all the careers, so we don't need to give him an Oscar, but he just kept on coming back. But moreover, like there is an effortlessness to what he does that yeah, I at this point, I don't know if it's actually how he was or if this is just the lore behind him. But by all accounts, including that six-hour documentary Ethan Hawk made about Newman and Joanne Woodward, like he was a lifelong chronic alcoholic who really did not think he had much acting skill and just went and kind of stood there and said lines. And it really doesn't sound like the way that he tells it, there was a lot of technique to doing what he does, and it really sounds like he was just, you know, hung over a lot when he was acting and stuff. So I I don't know how much of that to believe, but it it him and Robert Redford are will always be associated because of their work together, and they had, you know, they both had charitable organizations, all this stuff, and they were friends and all this. I mean, you know, call me crazy when you see them on screen together. I see one guy trying and doing a good job in those performances, and then the other guy, the older guy, you know, Butch Cassidy over there, is just effortless, and he is he is not trying at all. He is just being, and I he really is a fascinating movie star. He's fascinating.
SPEAKER_01Well, one thing I definitely do know about him. Um, uh, I I happen to know somebody um that's a part of the actor studio that uh knew Paul for a long time. Wow and um worked with him, you know, because Paul Paul's like he was one of the you know, with the actor studio, which is uh uh many, if not most, of the supporting actors in this movie are all members of the actors studio. Yep. So it was kind of just like a big group, you know, film for them. From my understanding, is like is you're completely right. Like he battled his demons for his whole entire life, but he was always about the work. Exactly. He was always it. So I think I think what you kind of end up getting with him that type of effortlessness, it's because someone's put in that kind of work for such a long period of time, and because he also never stopped. Uh, I I do think there are certain people that do have a certain way that does help, and I think he was gifted with those things, but I still think that you get these because the longevity, that's the thing. Like, usually a lot of these people that just have no training, that don't do anything, they pop for a little bit, but there's no real kind of way to kind of sustain it without all that extra work that they're kind of doing in the invisible. And Paul Newman was always doing that, and that's why as he got older, his performances just kept getting better. They were great. Sometimes you see like a lot of these older, these older cats, and they kind of get to that point where they're like phoning it in. I mean, Newman started getting like grittier and uh goofier and sillier and darker with like all the it even in Empire Falls, which is one of my favorite Newman, that was a mini-series on HBO. You know, he's this crazy kind of like you know, guy. And it it's still fresh, like he's always fresh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, always, always. And I mean, even his last like big notable film role, Road to Perdition, like that character is a son of a bitch. The implications of what I mean, he's gotten little boys killed, and like, yeah, no spoilers, but man, his final seed at Road to Perdition is Sam Mendes just did the he really did a great job there. Watching Cool Han Luke this this much this week. I'm gonna go back and revisit Road to Perdition. It has been a long time since I've seen that, but there's like a a qual, yeah, a formalness to it. I I want to go back into American Beauty too. That's been I don't know, that's just been a long time. But anyway, yes, he's great in Road to Perdition, but yeah, like I mean, cat on a hot tin roof and color of money, that's like 30 years difference there. And that's his first nomination to the one that he wins for. And he got nominated in the 90s. Like, yeah, there was no phoning it in from this guy, dude. I had to I wanted to do this now before we get into the outline. I don't know if you prepared a list of your favorites, it doesn't have to be ranked, it can be whatever you want, but I would love to know the Nick Toastal. Of course I have the ND top, what do you do? What do you have? Five Paul? I have five. I so do I. I have five. Now, do you have them ranked?
SPEAKER_01I do, I do have them ranked.
SPEAKER_00Christ, I don't, but I can do it really quickly while you speak.
SPEAKER_01All right, yeah. So I mean, and this was a good one to do a top five for because I could have easily done a top ten, and I and I really kind of wanted to uh get a little bit of everything in here. All right, so we're gonna start. My number five is the performance that he won the Academy Award for in The Color of Money. Okay, okay, very good. Which is also a sequel, like he is playing a sequel character to who he played in the hustler. Yep. There's there's a certain thing that I really like about his performance in the color of money when it just comes to being the older guy that now bestows the wisdom. Like he's not the hot shot anymore. Right. Tom Cruise is, and yet he's still though the cock of the walk. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's a cool, it's always cool to see like those sort of like handoff like like stories where because Tom Cruise was gonna be the guy, and Paul Newman, like you what who who could ever imagine we're gonna get a movie with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise? It's amazing. It's Scorsese, baby. And it's as good as you'd want it to be. It's a really amazing movie. So I put that in my top five. Now, this was where I got a little, this is hard to put this one at number four. I went with Butch Cassie and the Sundance Kid at number four, could absolutely be higher on the list. I love that what you said earlier about you know Robert Redford, who's another effortless actor in that way. But you can't beat Paul Newman.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I see the scenes a little bit with Redford, which is fine. I'm not hating on him at all, but if we're comparing the two, I yeah, there's there are a lot, there's just about every Redford performance I think Paul Newman can do. There's absolutely no way Robert Redford could do the verdict. There's absolutely no way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and and and there's something in Butch Cassidy where it's it's that it's that it's that it's that Newman's silliness. Like he he allows himself to be so goofy and um that they the way that they test their friendship. Oh, yeah, it's hilarious. At the end of the day, like they're never gonna leave each other, but like the things that irk them about the other and and vice versa. Number three, cat on a hot tin roof. Oh, good, good. I wanted to put pick one of the Tennessee Williams performances because they're like that is a perfect cast, Elizabeth Taylor and for Paul Newman, and to watch those two just play tennis with each other for that entire period, it's just great. It's it's two movie stars who can act. Yeah, and it and you're talking about some of the best writing you can get. It's it's fan fucking tastic. Number two, the verdict. Yeah, nice. It's a towering fucking performance. We've talked about it on here. Every single element of his performance is so lived in and colored and specific and real. You believe it all. It's it's it's yeah, it's towering. And then we're gonna end it cool hand loop because number one.
SPEAKER_00Number one, cool hand Luke, baby.
SPEAKER_01It's as iconic as iconic performances get.
SPEAKER_00Nice. I love that. I was writing yours down as you went. I'll do mine as well. We actually we had some overlap. So, number five for me was HUD, and I wanted to pick that because he's an asshole in that movie. Like he is a giant prick in it, and you really don't see that a lot in his earlier work. So I wanted that that movie really surprised me, it really did, but yeah, HUD.
SPEAKER_01I I still had a hard time. I I agree. I it is it is the that that is the complete outlier of his career. Yeah, if you're looking for uh that's the closest you're gonna get, but I still couldn't really get behind it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean it's I still I still couldn't I'm gonna all the way despise him. Well, yes, yes, that's true. I mean, he he he doesn't go like full villain, really, and you know, Patricia Neal won the Oscar for it, she won Best Actress, and she's great, but their work together I really like. But him showing like a a different flash of what he can do, but no, he doesn't go like all the way bad. That's true. Number four, the same Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Love him, he's hysterical. I love him. Number three, you had cat on a hot tin roof. I went old school as well. The Hustler. Oh god, I love that movie. Yeah, I rewatched that last year just for the hell of it. Love that. And I mean, you can do like 3A Hustler, 3B, Color of Money, because I do not have Color of Money officially my top five. Number two, we two and one the same verdict, cool hand Luke. Yeah, but both folks, if you haven't seen the verdict, my god, please go see that. It's what a film. What a just good and complex film. And he is such uh God, his character is so drunk and lost and gets this determination like out of nowhere. Oh, it's great. I love that movie.
SPEAKER_01And a nice little uh uh if you want if if if people are interested in that kind of hot tin roof business, also check out Sweet Bird of Youth. Yep. Uh, another Tennessee Williams movie. I that's one of my favorite Tennessee Williams plays of all time. Newman is perfect in it. Newman. Newman that is a special, special uh celebrity that we uh that we had.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it was. I I remember when he died. I remember when he passed. It was like, uh, that's that's a legend lost right there. Just one more person to mention before we get into the outline, because when you watch this 4K, you can't not walk away talking about the great cinematographer Conrad L. Hall. As we were watching the 4K, I'm just sitting there with you and I'm going, man, who did this lose best cinematography to? Like, this is this is crazy. I look, he wasn't even nominated, wasn't nominated for best cinematography. He conrad L. Hall was nominated that year for filming in cold blood, but there were ever a time for a double nomination. I mean, it's just crazy. That's how good of a cinematographer this guy was. Cool Han Luke, Hell in the Pacific, Butch Cassidy, which he won the Oscar for, his first Oscar, The Day of the Locust, Marathon Man, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fisher, A Civil Action, American Beauty, second Oscar, Road to Perdition, third Oscar, which he won posthumously. Because he had already passed. But yeah, what just one of the all-timer DPs. We've talked about him before because we covered Marathon Man, but yeah, not a frame of this looks bad, and that's just talking about him, Newman. It's a great way to get us started here with you know knocking the heads off barking meters, which is so I love it.
SPEAKER_01Uh let's start it up. There's no better, this is one of my favorite opening shots in any movie. You just get that parking meter tick go up that says violation. It's you're in, like you're immediately in. Like you're you're getting everything that the movie is about in your opening shot. It's fucking brilliant. And yeah, he's just drunk and he's just cutting the heads off fucking parking meters. And yeah, and why exactly? Why? It's just like an absurd thing to do, just to pass the time. He's not just cutting off parking meters, he's cutting off something that is stupid that he believes. Like he can be doing anything to cause public, you know, damage, but he's choosing one that has to do with something being like, you shouldn't be charging us to park. So fuck this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we didn't used to have to. When my day when I was a kid, my bad, my pop didn't have to pay to park if if he were lucky enough to have a car. Now that you have cars, we have to pay to park. Yeah, but all none of that is uh said, it's not verbalized, it's just hey, just this drunken guy, and it's a brilliant introduction, even to the way his title card comes up, like the camera boom, tilts up, and then we get his title card and him in frame. Oh, it's with a smile. Yeah, and he's got the damn, you know, the key, the necklace with the bottle opener on it, and what are you doing here? Oh, it's great. And the you know, movie title card and the theme starts off perfect.
SPEAKER_01I because we're probably not gonna get back to it, but uh there later on when um the guys are kind of razzing him about what he was doing. Um Paul Newman has Luke has a great response because they're like, What's someone like what's a thing like that to do? And he's just like, uh, just settling some old scores.
SPEAKER_00Settling some old scores, I guess. Yeah, so after that intro, we get to you know, briefly meet the crew as you know, Luke is going to his first day there. We get our first shot of boss Godfrey, the man with no eyes, the glasses, an iconic image of really American film. Just these we never see his eyes, he never speaks. It is it's iconic. It is still being used as reference in movies and TV shows today, all the time.
SPEAKER_01All the time, all the time. It it's like I I've been noticing it so much like uh it's like there it is again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we I just re-watched Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and the main villain, that guy, Rest in Peace, is doing that the whole time. It's the exact same character, it's just it's hilarious, but yeah. You know, Luke's first day, we get to meet the captain there, Stra the Martin, who just I can be one mean son of bitch, and you know, he's he's kind of talking about Luke's military service. Luke doesn't really want to talk about it, but we're just kind of getting the lay of the land here of like meeting everyone, and you know, it's this is also I I don't want to breeze past the scene, like this seems to be copy and pasted right into Shaw Shank Redemption when he's you know, when the warden is in talking to all them now, you know, yeah, you'll get the Bible, you'll get this. It's it's the same type of thing, but this introduction, yeah, where we're really sizing people up, and Luke's kind of apathy seems to be getting to it, you know, the guards don't really like know what to do with it right away. Like, all right, who is this guy? Seems like unbothered by stuff, like, all right, whatever. And the the prisoners take to him the same as well. Like, who the hell is this guy?
SPEAKER_01Think you're all cool? And I I really love this scene because one, you got Suther Martin, who that guy just sort of like it he's got such got that voice that you were doing that's like right on point, but he's also just so unbelievably honest, yeah. Yeah, like he's not actually he's not actually being a dick. It it's hard to not kind of not feel like that, but in a way, but if you really look at him, like he's actually, I think, coming from a very like honest place. Well, he's doing his job to me.
SPEAKER_00He yeah, the whole time he's doing his job, he really crosses the line once. I think it's the most like devious act in the movie, which is putting poor Luke in the box the day that his mom died because the assumption of man gets you know loose feet, he wants to run when something like this happens, and that's it in his blood. Yeah, that's the those are the arbitrary, like you're going against your own rules now. No one told me that rule. No one told me that if my mama died, I gotta go in this damn shithole box. Like, that's not I've been following all your other rules, so yeah, but I mean, no, he's doing his job, he's just yeah, he says it right from the bat. I can be a mean son of a bitch or follow the rules, and we'll we'll get on.
SPEAKER_01And and and this speaks to the writing of this scene too, because you find out everything you need to know from him in that line right there. Like that's that that literally sums him up. Yeah, and you also have two lines from Luke that sum him up, too. He says, just passing time, Captain. I guess you could say I wasn't thinking. Yep. I mean, honestly, there is an argument that that that that is Luke. He's just passing time. There's so much more that's layered into it, yeah, but that's that's literally who he is. And like I and it's all said in this opening scene, and it's uh it's it's it's perfect. The the the one thing that this is what I was gonna say, I never actually really acknowledged those like four guys, they are very much ostracized from the rest of the group for quite a period of time. Like, I never even thought that like when they enter into there, all those guys are out working, like they're they're alone in that prison for for the whole spend the night in the box for that whole speech, just the four of them. Yeah, yeah. I I thought that whole spend the night in the box speech we had everyone in there, and then you see the way that they all come in and they use the expression new meet, like they're referring to all these guys and they're taking like bets on them. Yep, Shaw Shank, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I never really clocked how long that that sort of dynamic goes on for I just yeah, just wanted to point that out. Like that dynamic that exists with these guys is really, really cool.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, one of them's Paul Newman, Luke. The other one is the great Ralph Waite, which we've talked about because he was in five easy pieces, he's in that, and then he's also Kevin Costner's dad and the bodyguard and Frank, Frank, and Cliffhanger. And I am I looked him up because I'm like, this guy has to be known for something else, so older listeners will know him as John Walton Sr. on the Waltons from 1972 to 1981, unseen by me, but that is his that's the main headline of all of his pages. And I'm like, I probably sound like an idiot for never having mentioned that before. And then one of the other newbies is Harry Dean Stanton there and a really early ball from him. And yeah, Ralph Wake, it's like that character. Gets hustled, he gets screwed over his first day of work. Yeah, Harry Dean is also a little on the outside, too. But he starts, he's a musician, so they start to accept him. Obviously, Luke is gonna be accepted pretty quickly, but not in this. I love this first scene where you know everyone comes back, yeah, they're poking fun at him, and Luke's just doing really, I think the smart thing when you step into a new institution like this is uh keep quiet, listen, mind your business. So he hears and observes all the hustles going on, and he waits for his moment to you know laugh. And he by now he knows, oh, that drag line there. Okay, that guy's he's the leader, and then drag you know, you can't follow the rules in here, you can't, you know, belong in. And it's just like the so now there's more rules on top of what the guards are telling me, like that those I can't give myself a name until drag until this guy gives me one. Like, uh all right, and then are you in or out out and just walks? Hey, I love it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh, I love it. And this is the thing that I'm talking about. Like, it's just such a weird male thing, right? Like, oh yeah, when you're when you're in a weird situation, because yeah, because basically drag line's laying down the law, he's letting you know that in here he's the alpha. And but there's something that men do where they'll give you shit because yeah, you're new meat, you're this or that, like you're nothing until I say you're nothing, you gotta get you gotta get all this. So, but hey, you want into this, like into this game, whatever the situation may be. This in this case, it's it's cards, but it could be anything. And if you reject that, that's personal. Oh, yeah. That yeah, yeah, that's like that. That's like, what do you mean, no? What do you mean you're not gonna join us and play cards? Like, I don't know what it is about the male psyche, where that is a way that we bond, you know, we like kind of give you shit, but then we invite you in, and if you say no to it, that's a problem.
SPEAKER_00I know, I love that. Dragline is like, he's not used to that. He's thinking, you know, yeah, well, what the hell? I made the effort here, like, and now he's gonna all right. I I'll keep my eye on you, you know, and go to bed. That place just feels hot, that exposed light bulb right above his bunk. It's brutal. It's oh god. I and this stuff we're talking about with Newman, like these looks, he has I don't know if it's him, I don't know if he's giving this to Luke, but Luke has this inherent pessimism that is just so profound to me. There's no like nightmare recollections of his war, horror, no, no long-winded monologue to explain his plight. We just listen, no, we observe, and we get it. He doesn't even talk that damn much in the movie, not really. And we just get it. It's he's really living this guy. And I know we had a lot of fun playing him, like, and you can just tell when you're when you're watching the film. And then I love just back to the movie itself, not just Newman. I love observing the process of everything, like the chains, the water, the counting, the truck, the rules, the asking permission, process, process. And that's all prison is really it's rules, routine, process. Keep your mouth shut or spend the night in the box. You know, we get poor Ralph Wake gets hustled there, and he has to spend a night in the box. We get George Kennedy, the great George Kennedy is drag line. He's announcing himself as the bunkhouse leader. Uh, it's just that box is like nightmare fuel. You cannot extend your legs all the way, you're not wearing proper clothes, it'd be hot as hell. You have a bucket for your excrement. I mean, you had those beans for lunch, that could be a rough, rough night in the box. It's just it's brutal. Like when he the guy's even explaining it, and you see the first guy get into it, and we know like Luke's gonna end up there eventually, and oh, it's oh bad. But I just love meeting all the, you know, meeting the crew here. It's fun to get a different sense of the personalities. The more you watch it, the more, you know, you I mean, you watch it a few times, you go, Oh, that's Dennis Hopper. Like, yeah, he's in there, and yeah, like I said, Harry Dean Stanton. There's some you know, notable names like that in it, but it's uh all the crew is really good, all the prisoners, just a good team, a good assembly of actors.
SPEAKER_01And you just feel like it just feels very lived in, which is the number one thing you want right here. Like you like everyone is doing their own little character-y things that you pick up on, and you know, they they all the actors talk about how that was what it was really like. Like everyone was friends, but they were all doing this type of stuff. And Paul Newman uh was very was heralded by the crew and the other actors for being the most non-movie star-like person.
SPEAKER_00That's just they were all like Paul Boys, yeah, just hanging out, hanging out with the crew. That's why he started directing too. Like, any anyone is gonna start directing, like those actors are usually not sitting in their trailers, they want to see the mechanics of how everything is working. But yeah, Morgan Woodward is boss Godfrey there never said a word. He would, in between takes, go sit off set and just sit there. But yeah, they didn't allow women on the set, no, you know, no wives could visit, nothing like that. So I I think this movie was hugely influential, but you have to I have to assume that everyone involved in Cuckoo's Nest was just watching this a lot. It's the same thing of like being locked into an institution. But the move of this movie is not to go and give you all like five minutes of separate screen time to where we understand you all. You have to be lived in and locked in. So by the end of that first meeting with Nurse Ratchet, we know who you are and we know what set you all, what sets you each individually off. We know your ticks, all that shit. Yeah, and you we that is here too. Like the all the dynamics are very well lived in. Shaw Shank, which I'm mentioning that a lot, but it's the same thing. Like five minutes with those guys, you're like, all right, Red's the cool one, he's in charge. That guy's the funny clown, those guys, the sisters are the freaks. Like, you just get it, you get the whole mechanism.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's just what happens, like it it's a natural weird thing for humans to do. Like, if you just take like a group of like 10 humans and basically stick them in a situation where it's like, hey, you're just gonna be spending a lot of time here. Yeah, you're all of these dynamics are going to form. Like it, it's it's crazy how it is. And and and you just once you kind of find out as the actor where you lie in it, and we're like, all right, well, if I'm gonna be that guy, then how do I how do I be that type of guy? How do I bring unique flavors to all this?
SPEAKER_00You know, I mean, again, the movie's cruising. Like, I did not remember watching it with you, how early that car wash is. I mean, it is early in the movie, and it is funny, like it is a funny, oh yeah, very iconic scene where a woman is washing her car and essentially teasing the prisoners as they run work their chain gang, and they budgeted to film this for an afternoon. Just that that was how long they were gonna take to shoot it. And Stuart Rosenberg absolutely did that. Just kidding, he spent three whole days filming his car wash, which is fucking absurd, and like this poor woman should have filed. Like, that's ridiculous. But I mean, again, what a scene. And I remember watching this with my mom when I was a little kid, and her she was laughing hysterically. Like, oh come on, I'm dying here.
SPEAKER_01It's it's it's a it's a it's a I mean, I still oh I I still think it's really risque.
SPEAKER_00Like, I'm always shocked by this scene because I am too, but this they wouldn't have been able to do this in 1965, no way. This is like yeah, haze code is breaking down, it's you know, they're they're pushing it, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, the there there isn't any nudity, but just the implication of what it all is and what it suggests is just like it's as like fired up as all the guys are feeling watching it. And uh, what does Dragline say? He's like, Hey Lord, whatever I've done, don't strike me blind for another couple minutes.
SPEAKER_00The shit they're saying is so funny. Like, it's oh my god, you I guess they just let him cook and like say all this stuff. Oh, it's great. I love that scene, but yeah, that's like a huge that's a big scene, and then that big scene leads to drag line can't shut the hell up about it. I hate that. Like the thing is done, it's been done for hours, and the guy, the loud mouth, is oh, remember when she did that, remember? And then Luke, you know, everyone's trying to sleep, and he's like, knock it off, man. We get it, yeah. So then what happens? That's it, buddy. Sick of your mouth, fighting time, and we get a really, really icon tomorrow, a really, really iconic fight scene. Not because the action is brilliantly staged and all this, it's because this the whole crux of the movie is right here. No matter how many times you knock Lucas Jackson down, he will get up. It does not matter, and this wins the respect of everyone. I counted. He hits him 22 times, 22 straight power shots. That is, he wins by losing. It's a great, great scene.
SPEAKER_01It it's it's so good, and and I was gonna say, like, what what is it about us as humans where there is like this sort of respect, like that, like this is a this isn't just go for the movie, but it because that's why the the scene resonates so much in us, is because when this scene ends, there there's is there you said it best where it there is a victory here, but it doesn't necessarily feel like it, like right. Everyone is sort of so like stayed down, just stayed down, but he keeps and then you see the field like like dwindle, like everyone is like, I can't watch this anymore, I've had enough. They leave, and then even when dragline walks away, he he walks away looking defeated because he didn't win.
SPEAKER_00That's the thing, he could not break his spirit, just as the guards won't. You are going to have to fucking kill him to break his spirit. That's and dragline knows that I did not win. I can beat the shit out of any man here, I can beat the shit out of any of these guards if they didn't have a gun. Everyone knows it, but that's not how you win.
SPEAKER_01It isn't, and you've got that great overhead shot of Luke just like you know, like barely able to stand, just sort of like stumbling kind of around the yard, where all like there's only like two or three guys left there, and he's just bloodied and dirty, and and that's it. And then and then uh and then again, the very next scene is where like everyone's warming up now. Like drag line, like kind of comes up, he's like just like Luke today, still coming at me with nothing, nothing. Yep, and but like now he's got the respect, yeah. And it's also Luke. I also track this for the first time. Even though this all happened, Luke is now participating. This is the whole take a buck. Well, he's kick a buck, kick a buck, yeah. This is when he gets his nickname, yeah. This is cool. And Luke, yeah, but you kind of start to notice like everything that happens to Luke, there there is something, there is a reaction that he has to everything. So he has this fight where he just doesn't leave, he does he doesn't ever stay down, but now he's participating more because he wasn't up until this point, and it it's just an interesting thing this to kind of like work out for yourself. Or I don't I'm I'm I'm just very like confounded and perplexed in a great way by this movie about just like the human experience, like why we do what we do and relationship to all this.
SPEAKER_00All the cards are on the table now. You have proven Dragline that you can beat the ever-loving shit out of me, but I've proven to you that I ain't backing down, and even I mean, you know, if drag line could have gotten on top of him, sat on top of him, and just you know, beat him until his until his face didn't exist anymore. But that's not the rule of boxing. Dragline is an institutionalized man, just like poor Rhett um Brooks from Shawshank. When he gets out, he does not know what to do, he he does not want freedom. He is the king of this farm chain gang prison. He and he respects the just Luke's spirit and drive. But while he's gaining the respect of the prisoners, he's only catching the R of the guy, the eye of the guards because they don't like this individualism, no, they don't like this free-spiritedness. And I think the scene resonates, just the the fighting scene in general, because that's the thing. Like, if you want to keep hitting me, that's fine. I'm going to keep getting up, and you know how you could win, but my spirit will still be here. Like, so come on, keep at it. And that's the ultimate point. Just I really think of the movie. Like, again, there's no he doesn't hurt anyone, Luke doesn't. It's not like that. He doesn't manipulate or lie to anyone to like get out of to escape from prison. It isn't like that. It's just I don't like these rules. I am a free spirit, and I'm gonna leave because I want to. And again, it doesn't all have to be not every act of defiance is like a bad thing, like it's an act of defiance to pave that road really quickly, which we'll get to. I don't want to jump too far ahead, but yeah, right after the fight is when he gets cool hand loop, drag line names and cool hand loop kick a buck for bluffing. I love it. Sometimes nothing's a real cool hand, yes, it is. Oh, and then the next scene, another big one, Luke's Mama Visits, played by the great Joe Van Fleet. She won an Oscar for Ilya Kazan's East of Eden, where she played James Dean's mother. We know her as Ella Garth in Ilya Kazan's Wild River, where she played a character nearly twice her age. She's uh, she's so good. She was only four years older than Newman in real life, and she is they aged her up a lot for a lot of her best roles. But uh, I just yeah, this is such a good scene. And but again, not like too much. It's not like teary, it's not a confession, it's not everything out there. It's just you know, given showing us enough of what we need, and you know, smoke it up, A boss. Oh god, it's perfect.
SPEAKER_01Uh we we might be. I have I have uh I don't want to jump ahead here, but it's an opportunity because we did because this is a W A Y W new Hollywood film project. One of our categories is the N D H T, the Nick Doso Hot Take. Yep. I have two of them for this movie. Oh wow, a gift from God. But I feel like this would be the right time to bring this up right here. Okay. Give me, yeah, hit us, hit us with one. I think this might be my favorite singular scene. Like when you're talking about a movie where like you know what I'm talking about. Like it's not just like this, it's not the best scene I've ever seen in my entire life, best sequence, but when you talk a single serving sequence, yeah, we only meet her for this one scene and we never see her again. It's a complete departure from the movie. It's kind of like the like the Wolf of Wall Street, you know, Leo Matthew McConaughey thing, where it's sort of like this is only really kind of happening in this one little moment right here. That's so a single serving scene. I think this is my favorite of all time. Oh, wow. Wow. I thought you were just gonna say in this movie, oh my god. No, no, because what you end up getting in this scene is absolutely brilliant in terms of writing, direction, and performance. We learn in this scene, this scene gives us all the exposition that we could ever really want about Luke. Yeah, but it's done in the most present tense way. The way, like, because one, he never calls her mom. Right. We don't really know. Like, he's just our letter. We learn throughout the conversation that she's gonna be dying very soon. And so, uh, so basically, without really saying a lot, we learn that this is his mom. She doesn't have much time left, she's been driven by her other son, Luke's brother. They don't have a very good relationship, and we learn that he grew up without a father. They know exactly who they are to each other. The way that she cannot stop smiling as soon as he approaches the truck. And she even says, like, you know, the whole entire reason she gives the farm to the other brother is and Luke even goes, he's like, Well, he earned it, nothing to do with it. I loved you more. I've had a feeling of like sometimes you have a feeling for a child, and I never had that for John. That's a really fucked up thing, but it's a real thing to say. I think that the writing and performance in this scene is as good as you can possibly get, and it does not feel like we are being fed exposition, it does not be feel like we're we're just getting ultimately what this scene is is a farewell. That's what this scene wraps it to be, right?
SPEAKER_00And it doesn't, it seems like they're figuring that out in real time as well, and in real time. So I love, man, I love, I love the take. I love the take. I yeah, like the criteria for a single serving scene walk in pulp fiction, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like walk in true romance. If this scene was not in the movie, the movie would be fine. Like this this scene Yeah, it could the movie could still exist. Like this scene serves no real purpose for the overall story, but what we get as a result of having it is so special.
SPEAKER_00Mammoth wrote the Alec Baldwin stuff in the for the Glenn Gary movie. That wasn't even a part of the play, so like, yeah, that is proving it doesn't need to be part of stuff. I mean, yeah, people have been nominated for this stuff. Beatrice Strait won an Oscar for Network for a scene like this. Viola Davis is in one scene of doubt and she just kind of crushes it. So, no, I know exactly what you mean. And I yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I love the take. I love the take. It it makes me want to go re-watch the scene right away. So that's that's good. I'm sorry to just breeze past it, but no, I mean that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01I wanted to give us some time to it just because like it, I I think there's there's there's a lot of worth in this scene, especially coming from a screenwriting standpoint. Real, like that's uh that's why this scene has got so much, is there's so much pain in what is going on here, too. And none of these two people can really speak to it. She does a better job of it than he does.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right after is the paving the road thing, which we've talked about a lot. You know, they get this is gonna take a long time, but he does it really, really quickly. And I I this will always be one of my favorite scenes because I remember first time I watched it really young, I got what he was doing and why he was doing it. Like I connected those dots for myself, yeah, yeah. Bucking back against their rules, but not, you know, the uh probably the most uh obvious way to do that is to not work, like that. That's the most defiant way, but instead, let's overwork and then why? Who knows, who cares? Like, here we are. But again, the guards are not liking this, they're not liking that he is not conforming, that he is standing out, and then immediately right after it's just one scene after another, after another. Everyone's hanging out. What can Luke do? What can he do, folks? I can eat 50 eggs, and we get yeah a scene exactly 10 minutes long of Paul Newman betting the entire barracks that he could eat 50 hard-boiled eggs in 60 minutes. This is one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema. It's endlessly rewatchable. Like I said, you can get someone to just watch this scene on YouTube and they will want to watch the whole movie. I don't even know. I I don't even know, like, uh, we could do a whole pod just to like breaking this scene down. I love Dragland right away. Luke, what do you have to say? 54, why not 35? I love that. Get mad at them damn eggs. Uh and then I mean, even with the eat ending with him like like Jesus on the cross, you know, just splayed it out. It is it's just a great sequence. It is so, so funny. I love this.
SPEAKER_01One of the I think the really great uh aspects of it is they start shoving the eggs down his throat, and the first count we get is uh one to twenty four. Oh, yeah. So in a very fast period of time, we get a oh, so we're like, okay, oh, we're at 24. So he's got he's halfway. But then the how long it takes to get from 24 to 50. It's like because it's like it's 24 and then 32. Yep. And then when we get to 39, it's pretty much one after another, and it feels so overwhelming. Like, oh my god, it's like he's still got six more.
SPEAKER_00How many more minutes? Trying to do laps with them walking off, they're rubbing his belly. I just love George Kennedy standing over him, those damn eggs ready to plop a new one in and then putting his hand over his mouth. Come on, chew, get mad at him.
SPEAKER_01And apparently, Paul Newman can actually physically, he was able to just distend his stomach. So that scene where he's like putting it all out, that's just something that he's kind of crazily like physically able to do. Yeah. And they were like, Let's use it. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not a scene to just like breeze by, but it's it's so good. All the beats of it, every everyone has an opinion, everyone's betting money. This one guy, what he's peeling the eggs first. I didn't agree to that. He's like, Yeah, of course he's peeling the eggs. It's like it's just great. I mean, and then when he does complete the task and everyone leaves him alone, I love the bit. You gotta kind of listen out for it. But now Luke has he's the bank of the barracks, he has everyone's money, so people have to come to him for money. It's so uh it's so funny. But then, yeah, after all this triumph, he it things get swung back again. He finds out Arletta has passed, and it's a moment of you know, sadness, reflection. He plays the banjo. I love the little fact that um he had no idea how to play the banjo or sing. So this was the very last thing they shot because he spent the whole time filming the movie, and you know, Harry Dean taught him how to play and stuff, but the whole the whole time filming, learning how to play the banjo, and it's it's a great scene. This is where the movie star shows up because the single tier.
SPEAKER_01Come on, man. And and and you can tell like he doesn't really know how to play it, but it's good enough. Yeah, it doesn't matter. Yeah. But you get all the emotion behind it. And my favorite is when there's like there's like the first half of the song, and then he kind of like bows his head a little bit, but then comes back and the strumming's a little bit more energetic. And I was sort of like, This is uh this is why you pay Paul Newman whatever you're gonna pay him, because like you you you need the emotion of this scene to fucking lift off, and it's glorious.
SPEAKER_00It is, and then right after that, as I mentioned, I think one of the cruelest things in the movie is Captain throwing Luke in the box just because his mom died. That yeah, that really is devious, and that does not ensure trust in your system. That should not be a part of the routine that's gonna make someone like Luke want to rebel even more, which he does. That I mean, the next thing is the fourth of July party, sawing through the floorboards, other guys are helping distract, but you know, he's out, but the the hound dogs are on him night and night into day.
SPEAKER_01Well, and and there's also like I think there's a nice case to be made, even though the movie does not harp on it at all, but from just like a psychological standpoint, this is the downfall for Luke. Yeah. When he finds out his mom dies, it's the beginning of the end. From here on out, everything that either happens to him that's not in his control or what he chooses to do, we're not in good, we're not in a good place. Like what what he he's not helping himself, really. Um, even though sometimes you don't really kind of like feel that because some of these escape sequences are so damn fun. Yeah, yeah, the big smile on his face and all that. But ultimately, what we kind of learn as each one of these happens is like for every action there's a reaction, and this is a steady downfall. One could argue just from a psychological standpoint, you know, just from the steer fact that his mom has died, and he might not really know how to deal with that. He is already a conflicted person that this just adds to it. And now he's doing things that are a little bit more sideways than usual because of grief, and he doesn't know how to deal with any of it. There's just an not that the movie posits that, but it makes sense though. That whole entire like like psychology standpoint. I think I think tracks for all this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, after his mom dies from here on in for Luke, it's one battle after another. Shut up. First escape, you know, we talked about he sneaks out during the party. They catch him. He's, I mean, one of those poor dogs runs himself dead, but they catch him in blue, yeah. Blue, poor blue, and they prayed Luke before the chain game and chain gang. And this is where you know, Luke uh captain hits him, and this is when we get what we've got here is failure to communicate. You know, a boss said that to me once, not to me, it was just like about the general like stance of like how the shift was going, and I answered back with a Struthern Martin line, and she did not understand what I was talking about. And I went, All right, well, whatever. That's happened to me so much in my life that someone will say a movie quote and I'll say the exact next quote, and they're like, wait, huh? And I'm like, I'm doing all right, man, whatever. Uh that's my plight. That's escape too. I mean, there he's not wasted any time. He immediately fixes that rope to the bush, asks the boss to pee, and it's just shaking boss, I'm still shaking here, you know, because the boss with sunglasses, man, is proven that he's a hell of a shot. He don't talk much. I think he just said something. Yeah, so that's that's something that we are aware of. And this this second escape is the fun one because you know he asks the um finds the black family, uses a bit of like reverse psychology on the kid to get the axe off. I bet he couldn't get it off. I love the other boy. Well, go get him, man. I love the way he is with these boys and the the spices. Like, I remember that the first time I saw it, not really knowing. Like, you got some spices back there, and I'm like, what are those good for? He's like, Oh, you want to see something funny? It's just great. Like, and the dogs come and they're all thrown off by it. I it's again, it's the process, like it's it's fun. Yeah, it's I don't know. I I just love it, I've always loved it.
SPEAKER_01There's something that these escapes do every single time. I don't feel this way in Shawshank, and I've got nothing but great things to say about that movie. These escape attempts, when he is out of there, there is a level of freedom that I feel as an audience member that I I don't get from other prison movies when they escape. And you're even though it's not like it's not full, like it's not a comp like. I think Shawshank, it's because you know he's out and he's in the clear. Maybe it's because you you don't exactly know, but like when that line where he's like crawling across it, yeah, and and then he looks up and he smiles. Like, I feel like the sun on his face, like like he is free, and there is like this part of me that just like I never want to root for someone's escape more, but I don't know how you do that. I don't I don't it's not like there's something going on in the cinematography, the music helps, the music like kicks it up a little bit.
SPEAKER_00I I mean the difference between something Do you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, it's because it's so fleeting. It's like he feels fun when he feels fun. It's right now. Andy Dufresne planned that break for like 20 fucking years. He dug that hole so when he escapes, it's not it's like no, I gotta, I gotta go to the bank because I'm pretending to be this guy. I gotta get my ass to Zay Wataneo. Like, I gotta go to that, I gotta go to the fucking brick wall first. Like, he's got tasks. Luke is like, cool, I'm out. Uh, this is great. This is great, but I don't think I don't think he has any illusions about like I'm gonna be free for the rest of my life. He's probably like, I hope I'm out for a couple hours.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I mean, I think it goes back to his thing where it's like I never planned anything. I think he's like, Yeah, like he he's just going from here. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Sees an opportunity, yeah. His third escape is the same way. He does he just sees. I mean, this is when it's really fascinating because at when he gets caught with the second attempt, you know, he's brought back and he's really like sick of being glorified by the guys. You know, he sent the picture which would of him with two women, and he admits that he just edited it, he had it doctored up, and he's you know, leave me alone, all this stuff. He's gotta he's spacing out at work, he's spending a night in the box. The guards are fucking with him, giving him that extra food. Like, if you don't finish your food, you go in the box, then the prisoners help. So he's like, he's really down and out, and then they put the final nail in to dig the hole, fill it in, get beat by the guards, dig the hole again, get beat, begs for salvation. This is a tough sequence for Luke.
SPEAKER_01This is some of my favorite acting from him in his entire career. Because I mean, when he is laying in that dirt in the middle of the night, and he's got his arms outstretched with his eyes closed, and he's just crying. He's like, please don't hit me no more.
SPEAKER_00Like, like you believe you're like, Is he is he broken? It it hon it reminds me of the transformation in Nightmare Alley, the geek, like becoming the thing that you hate the most. It's like, is he becoming the the whacked out guy who can go run and get boss's gun because that prisoner's so fucking whacked out, you know he's not gonna run off with the gun. He's so institutionalized.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, is Luke getting to that point that and we we come to find out, like he tells Dragline later, he goes, No, that that was all fucking like yeah, they broke me. I always you just don't want it to be. You don't like you don't you just like how the rest of the guys lose the respect for him because they're like you were like in a way, like you were our example of like to always not to to to not do this, to rebel, to to rebel to not conform, and yeah, but I mean, man, when he clutches at that guy's feet, I mean there's nothing in there where you look at that and you're like, nope, that's a man who is completely surrendering.
SPEAKER_00The guards know it too. You ready to be good now, Luke? Like they they know they this is not their first rodeo, they have had Luke's, the captain has had Luke's, they know what to do.
SPEAKER_01And I and it's one of my favorite moments in the whole fucking movie is when he's got his mind right and he's walking back into the into the bunks, and everyone is just avoiding him, and then he can't reach for his bed and he falls. And the way that he lifts up his arm as if expecting someone's gonna be there to grab it, he lifts his arm up like almost like sort of like I'm down. Where where is my person that's gonna grab me? And no one's there. He like looks up and he screams out, Where are you now? And I was oh my god, it's just so fucking great.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love it so much. Uh yeah, and then we're really I mean, because the next day at the on the chain gang, he is that guy now. He's kind of he's the geek, he's really uh good, you know, good shot. He's got getting the turtle and all this stuff, and you're like, damn, is this real? And even drag line's trying to talk to him, like, are you you know, is this what what's going on here? Like, are you is this real? Like, what is it? And then takes off, gets in the truck, takes on off. I love it, I love it. But again, this is not a grand plan. I'm saying that. This is like fuck it, I'm going now. Just like drag line just hops into truck and like has no plan. And really immediately, this is when you're starting to see the how institutionalized dragline is like, what do I do now? Because you know, they run for a little bit and they have that meeting in the woods, and he's like, Well, where do what what do I do? Where do I go? And he does he has no idea what to do because in the real world, drag line is one of uh millions and millions and millions. But in that prison with what 18 prisoners, that man's king, king of the prisoners, but he's king.
SPEAKER_01I I think in a lot of ways, this might be probably one of the reasons why he won the Academy Award was because we don't get too much of it, but in that scene where Luke basically tells him, You're on your own, I'm gonna go my way, you go yours. We that big bear that we have come to know and respect as dragline is gone. It there's a vulnerability because he's just he just he literally is like he's like, Well, what do I where do I go? What do I do now? What am I supposed to do without you? And he doesn't cry to be told what to do all the time. Like, yeah, he doesn't get he doesn't overdo it there there, but there's just a stark thing where he's become a little boy all of a sudden. I think he's scared, yeah. He doesn't get mad.
SPEAKER_00He's like, What what the and then what the fuck does he do? He got the first chance, he gets he goes back to the police.
SPEAKER_01He probably as soon as he saw the cops ran towards them.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Uh you got me. It's okay. And then probably immediately went into I I can get him, yeah. Get the boy out the church. It's okay. Yeah, you you can trust me. Um I've been out here looking for him. Yep. And doing that, and he really thinks he can, but you know, Luke has after he has his little repentance there. Well, and I don't you don't want none.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's a tough feat to kind of where you know you you give at the very end of the movie your main character the monologue. Yeah. This has got to be one of the most well-earned monologue moments because yeah, because and it's not too wordy. It is a monologue, but it he's not saying too much. Yeah, it's very well written. You kind of hit the nail on the head where the fight scene is the it like is the cinematic sum-up of what this movie is. This is the literary sum-up of the movie. Like everything, because nothing is ever solved in this movie. This is the text. This is the text that puts it all together where you understand everything, and it's it's it's quick, but it's to the point, and it's I I I love the way Newman delivers it, and it's just sort of like he's like, Well, old man, like you know, you got to admit that you know you haven't really dealt me much of a hand lately. And I and it's like it's like he's like, and I just don't know where you want me. You made me like this. He's a guy who can't fit into the world, and then we get the yeah, get shot.
SPEAKER_00It's a it's still it's a really startling ending. Like every time I've shown this to someone, you don't expect, you know, he just mocks the captain there and then boom, shot. And you know, there was an agreement like we don't want to show him dying on screen, but it's very the implication of take him to the hospital, it's 60 miles away, captain. He's not gonna make it. Yeah, I mean, he's he is not gonna make it. And oh no, Dragline has a little fight to him, he attacks Godfrey there, but oh, I love it because it just has to end this way. I mean, it just does, and it's nice to see a little rebellion from Dragline, not enough to get him probably spend a few nights in the box, but you know, the next time we see him, they're working on the road right next to the church, and he's doing what dragline does, telling those stories about his old buddy, that old loot.
SPEAKER_01There there's something that happens with that when dragline kind of like goes to kind of strangle the man with no eyes, because the thing that I always liked is like that actor who like the the man with no eyes, like he is humbled by that strangle. Like he is on the ground, like he is like all flustered, so he loses all of his power in that moment, and the um meat wagon that takes Paul Newman away runs over the glasses, yep. Yeah, and then that and that beautiful green to red final shot is such a perfect way to kind of really kind of give you like that. It speaks to so much of like you know, it's like it's definitely kind of like symbolizing Luke's death, but also kind of the whole entire theme of the movie, like stop, go, stop, go. But when drag line is back telling those stories, there is something that's changed. Like, there is something that does and doesn't happen when the institution loses its power in the way where I think when the man with no eyes gets humbled and his glasses get broken, everything's gonna go back to the way that it was. Dragline's back talking, they're back on the road doing all that, but it's never the same anymore. When power can be broken, once you understand that and you know it, you kind of there's like a different like line that's like you like you kind of tread now because you're sort of like, all right, well, I'm gonna we'll go back to the rules, but you and I both know we've seen it, we've been through it. You're not all knowing and all powerful, like you can be broken too. There I I like that that that there's that idea that exists at the end of this movie.
SPEAKER_00I yes, I do too. It doesn't, it's not it's not like it's just a very new Hollywood film ending, yeah. You know, it is it's not too sad, but also not too like uplifting or anything. But yeah, I like that there's a little spirit and drag line that we see toward the end there. But that's that's the movie. I mean, it ends with drag lines. That's fucking it, baby. Yeah, his voiceovers. We see a lot of good shots in Newman, his luke there smiling, those are that picture.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I love that picture so much. I know it's it's heartbreaking when I found when when he yells that that's phony.
SPEAKER_00Like I know, like I was sort of like, oh man, and then uh well that brings us to everyone's favorite part W A Y W New Hollywood categories. We got 11 of them, 10 or 11, depending on if I need to interject. Your first hot take is good. It is. Let's start up here at the beginning. What is your favorite thing that makes Cool Hand Luke a new Hollywood movie?
SPEAKER_01I think there's a couple that really make this stand out uh in terms of this new Hollywood. I think your anti-hero, uh yeah that is a huge blaring one. Authority versus non-corform non-conformist. I just I think that theme, and in and we like talked about earlier, it's not an aggressive because Luke is not aggressive, but it's being tested the entire movie. That's all this movie is about. And then I think the car wash, I think that singular scene is a big is a big element that it I mean. I'm still shocked by it today. I every time I've seen it, I'm like, man, this is as like you know, in some ways, like it's even like sometimes nudity dilutes it, you know, when you're talking about sexuality, whether it's male nudity or female nudity, sometimes you get like these nude things, and it's less provocative than like what's driving those guys crazy, like the one he's like that thing's been hold and only held up by a safety pin, pop safety pin. Like it, it it's it's the imagination of it, and I it but then there's also like the one scene where her boobs are just like slammed up against the window. Exactly. And I'm like, God damn, this is really, really in there in your face.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they never would have been able to do that in 1965, so that is definitely with like the restrictions of the Hayes Code going away. That is them absolutely testing, you know, how far can we push movies now? Bonnie and Clyde does it with violence, yeah. No way. Those are good ones. Yeah, mine is that it's just it is very anti-establishment, which was not the norm for Hollywood studios at the time. That is because of the new Hollywood film movement, and then just talking about the movie itself, like there's no it's all character study, there's no like real plot, there's no growth, there's no arc, it's just it's one of my favorite character studies ever. If I had to pick one type of film I love most, it's character studies, and this is right at the top of the list. It's like in the top five for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Is this Stuart Rosenberg's best film? Absolutely. I've seen quite a few of them, but yeah, I mean, come on. Is this Paul Newman's best performance? We already said yes.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we agree on that. Yeah. Oh, Nick's favorite category and mind, and every single person in listening. What happened to them?
SPEAKER_01I've been waiting.
SPEAKER_00I got a lot of big we got a lot of big people in here. There's a lot here. Yeah, the one I went with because we talked about him before is Morgan Woodward as the boss, Mr. Sunglasses. He also plays the main boss in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. He's the one that orders the hit on the bookie. You know, we got this punk down in down in Chinatown. So I and I, you know, he has a pretty big IMDB, but I don't really see him in anything as notable as those two movies. So, you know, I wanted to talk about him. I got one. Wow, shocker. He participated. I participated in this one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got Clifton James, Clifton James, as this poor guy. Clifton James was the was the cop uh in Live and Let Die, the first Roger Moore James Bond movie.
SPEAKER_00This guy's had a great career. Yeah, this is the box guy. Spend the night in the box, spending the night in the box. No, I actually looked him up too. He's had I had seen him in like because you know, I I give a star to movies that I rate on IMDb, they're just private, but then I can go and see, I was like, Jesus, I've seen him in 20 movies. Like, this is crazy. Yeah, so that's cool.
SPEAKER_01That's a good pick. When I found out that he was the cop in Live and Let Die, because he's got such a specific voice in that, I would have never thought because he even changes his face. Like, he doesn't even look like Carl in this movie. I so when I found that out, I go, all right, that's where this guy is. He's in he's in number.
SPEAKER_00You know what else he's in? This is true, and I'm gonna I'm gonna push you. No excuses. Lone Star, which I sent to you. I know, I know. Criterion, baby. I know it's on your shelf. You it's it's it's I sent that to you as a gift after our favorite films of 1996 pod, because you are just gonna, I really think you're gonna love it.
SPEAKER_01It's not even on my shelf, it's on my fucking flo like right next to the Blu-ray player because I do that too.
SPEAKER_00I guess the first, but I so yeah, like I always have whatever director we're doing next. I bring all theirs off the rack and kind of put them down there. I have um, I have every Nolan down there just because the you know, the Odyssey. This is gonna come out, I believe, our episode after the Odyssey. So God hated that piece of shit. Jesus, what a god, what a terrible film. Joking, joking, joking. Okay, thank you for participating. What happened to them? That was a good one. See how fun it is when you play along and you conform to my rules. Don't conform to my rules, you spend a night in a box. Favorite shot in the film. I mean, there's so many. Favorite shot. My single favorite shot, though, is the straight on man with no eyes shot. Like there's a few we get of him, but that fucking straight on one that is we are so close to his face. And you know, he doesn't have the best skin, but it helps, it aids in the performance.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love it. I really, I really like the overhead shot after the fight. It's great when he's just swaying away, yeah. Because it it it just shows a certain like loneliness to the plight of the if you choose to live life like how Luke lives it. So yeah, there's so many in here, it's really hard to pick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, it's single favorite shot is hard. What about scene? Single favorite scene. It kind of sounds like Arletta wins.
SPEAKER_01Arletta, but by far. Wow. I think that that scene is, I think, is is a is a it's A giant of a scene.
SPEAKER_00I love it. Mine, sorry to be an or me. I'm going with eggs, baby. Eggs.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I just love it.
SPEAKER_01And it's a whole entire scene.
SPEAKER_00I mean, there's so many to choose. Yeah, there's so many to choose from. Just like favorite quotes. Like, what we've got here is failure to communicate will live on like forever. It's so, so famous. But all the taking off air boss, night in the box. I mean, I can be one mean son of a bitch. I all of there's so many good lines of dialogue in this. But failure to communicate, I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean that that's that's right up there. Uh, I I my my favorite quotes are actually from the Arletta scene. I think that is just uh tried to live free and above board, but I just can't find no elbow room. I just guess I gotta love you and let go. Oh, it's just it's there's so much in that. It's just a beautiful, but there's yeah, this in the I mean you can't really go five minutes in this movie without hearing some sort of line that you're just sort of like, God, that's so good, or seeing some iconic shot, or you're 10 you're five minutes away from the next iconic scene.
SPEAKER_00That's why we're talking about it. I mean, I'm gonna I'll go first with what would your double feature pick be? I'm not gonna lie, I I initially had a little lazy, it's appropriate, but butchcasting the Sundance Kid would be good. But I'm actually gonna go with Shaw Shank, the Shaw Shank Redemption, because I mentioned it so much. And I know most people listening to this have probably seen that, and they've probably seen it more than once. So just that there's a lot in Cool Han Luke that is, I mean, the prison is much, much, much smaller. It's a work farm chain gang, but you know, there's a lot of similarities just in the dynamics, the process, all that stuff. So I think if you find yourself like re-watching Shawshank, just you know, maybe go, Oh, yeah, cool, those guys said Cool Hand Luke would be a good double feature.
SPEAKER_01Uh, so I kind of went on the new Hollywood kick with this. I went with uh, I think I think Bonnie and Clyde and Cool Hand Luke would make a really great double feature. I think you go Cool Hand Luke first here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't really concern myself with the order when I think it's the double features because oh it's well, but it's because I'm I'm a freak and I'll I I don't care what order movies come in. So I'm just like if if you're gonna go with an order, I always usually urge chronologically, but because these two are the same year, yeah, you wanna go out with the bang. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yep, it's hard to recover from. And that's why you leave with it. Because you don't want to go with that ending and then launch right into Cool Han Luke. But no, I always think of like if double features, which one do you do first, which one do you do second to have like the the best like double feature experience? Because I think about things like that, and you just think like a robot. I'm not a robot, I'm a machine.
SPEAKER_00There's a difference, there's a big difference. A machine, a robot already has all its inputs going. I can be calibrated and adjusted, but I move in one direction, go. I already listed a bunch of from 1967. I'll do my five favorites that in the new Hollywood film movement. Cool hand Luke. These aren't ranked, but Cool Hand Luke, the graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, the Dirty Dozen, point blank, five masterpieces, as far as I'm concerned, that I can put on just about any time. And the Dirty Dozen I watched for the first time in COVID. I had never seen that film. Also starring George Kennedy, it's John Cassavetti's only Oscar nomination. I and I've watched it many times since. Similar to like, if you love Inglorious Bastards and for some reason have not seen the Dirty Dozen, as I had not for like 15 years, then watch it because you're like, oh, that's where he pulled that, that, and that from. So I really like the Dirty Dozen a lot. It's a really good movie. I've never seen it. I figured, and I'm you know, no hate for me. It's it's it's great though. They planned, you know, this whole big thing, and then I won't say which one, but you know, there's a dozen, and they plan to like go in. It's not unlike uh the the mission in in Glorious Bastards, where you're kind of going in and it's unspoken that we're not all of us are gonna come out of here, and one guy in the dozen, just one, goes fucking nuts and kills everybody he sees, including his own men. He just something snaps, and you're like, What the fuck? And they're like, He's lost it, he's lost it. It's a great movie. I love the dirty dozen. But yeah, 67, a monumental year for film and the the most important year for the new Hollywood film movement. But what are some of yours?
SPEAKER_01I got a lot of the ones you mentioned. I got Bonnie and Clyde on here, I got the graduate. I think that might be my favorite if I had to pick another one outside of Cool Han Luke. Barefoot in the Park, Robert Redford. Great one, great one, yes. And then I also rounded up with uh because I gotta throw in a James Bond one. I don't have to, but I did because it's my favorite uh Sean Connery one. You only live twice.
SPEAKER_00Oh, there you go. Uh I love the Bond. I love Bond. The especially the Connery ones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, uh there's a reason why uh he's still regarded as the best, even though I'm uh I'm a Moore guy, which is I know people roll their eyes at that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that I would call that a TT, a terrible take, but oh I don't want that to get in the way of the W A Y W N D H D, his second for Pool Hand Luke. What do you have for us as a your second hot take? Your first one was pretty hot. I liked it.
SPEAKER_01The first one's a better one. This was actually a uh this is actually a bit nitky. Watching this with you on 4K was such an experience. It was the absolute best 4K transfer that you have shown me. It's astounding. I have it on regular DVD, I have it on Blu-ray, and I watched it on the Criterion channel, and there was another like streaming service that had it too. Every single one of them look different. Yeah. Every single one of them. And depending on which one you watch, you will be watching it in its most terrible way that you could possibly see it. I actually so my hot take is that I don't think that there is a movie that could potentially look worse from how good it actually does look. Of all like what you've literally blown my mind with all the 4Ks that you've shown me. But like, here's a good example. Like, we watched the Revenant together on 4K, it looked great. I don't necessarily know how much better that really would look versus like the Blu-ray of it. I imagine that it might actually kind of look a little similar in that way, but like watching this 4K transfer of Cool Han Luke compared to this DVD I have to the Blu-ray, we're talking about entirely different skies, and completely different.
SPEAKER_00I've had both I've had all three versions of I've had the Blu-ray and I've had the DVD. I've this is and then I upgraded the 4K. But well, the only thing we're talking about here, it is nitpicky because it's just resolution. That's it. Yeah, they shot all these movies, all this shit on 35 millimeter, which they can still use today. And if you preserve the image from the film negative, it is it's flawless. 35 millimeter, you can have amazing preservation in that. They bring along DVDs. It's the first time we get physical media in mass. I'm not even including VHS here. That was a smaller rip. VHS is like 420p, you know. I mean it's and then DVD is like 720, Blu-rays are 1080, and then double that for 4K. So we just keep getting more, but 4K is this is the closest it can get. And now I'm seeing stuff online about oh, you could they'd be able to blow up 35 millimeter to 8k. So what if we get those discs? Fuck all that. I'm done. I'm 40 years old. This is it, baby. It's 4K. If they stop making them, then my collection will maintain with what it is. I am very satisfied, but my eyes are only gonna get worse. Like this, it there's no need to go to 8k. I've seen stuff in 8k, not like feature films like this, but it it's just if you love movies a fraction as much as I do, doing this is so worth it because it, you know, it sounds silly to say, but it really does feel like you're experiencing the movie for the first time, or at the very least, slightly less grandiose, you are experiencing it the exact way the filmmakers wanted you to, and a lot of these 4Ks, just like Criterion, are like they're the restorations are observed by if the directors are still alive, the directors or the cinematographers or something. So, yes, I've had this on DVD and been like I mean, I first saw this on like probably on like TBS, you know, in 1994, honestly, or some VHS. So, yeah, I mean, I I do like that. Oh, and to your point, yeah, I first owned the Revenant on DVD, looked pretty good. I mean, if that's a 2015 movie, they shot it with updated stuff. So I see the jump in quality from the 4K's much more in the older discs, from in the older movies, rather, even older, like pre-2000, because eyes wide shut is bonkers. Oh, yeah, there you go. A 4K is always gonna look all my favorite looking 4Ks. All those movies were originally shot on film. I reference the Revenant as the best looking digital one that I think is out there, but yeah, and this yeah, this is it, it just looks amazing. So I love that. That's another great take. I love it. Full of them, baby. Chock full of them today. All right, Oscar nominations it received. I want to know. Well, I don't think you've seen In the Heat of the Night because that was the big one of 1967. It's a good movie. Best actor, Paul Newman loses to Rodsteiger in the heat of the night. That's tough. Best supporting actor, George Kennedy won, beating John Cassavetti's in the dirty dozen. But it's it's a great win. I'm so glad George Kennedy won for that. It's a really good speech, too. It was nominated for adapted screenplay, lost to in the heat of the night. It was nominated for score. Laylo Schifrin. Hopefully, I'm saying that right, but it lost to Thoroughly Modern Millie by Elmer Bernstein. Not nominated for picture, director, supporting actress, best cinematography. Like, what the fuck? Those are four that are just sitting on the table. I know Hall was also nominated for In Cold Blood, but still, like, come on. I mean, that's that's all. But it was a tough year. It was a really, really good Oscar year. Books have been written about this Oscar year because you know, you get it's the new Hollywood movement announcing itself, the graduate, Bonnie and Clyde. Yeah, I I don't know. I feel like they missed the boat. Yeah, I mean, it yeah, I'd be interested in your take in in the heat of the night, noting that it is not better than Cool Han Luke or any other movies it was up against. Not really, I don't think.
SPEAKER_01Well, and again, you know, you are kind of I mean, we are in the the privilege of being able to look back with, you know, how long do you say this was? 60 60 60 years. You know, you don't know in 1967 when Cool Han Luke comes out that this is gonna be a movie that's still gonna be revered. You don't but I mean I also kind of think like you are looking at an undeniable work, like back then and now, like um how you don't nominate it for picture director is crazy. That's that's a stupid, and I'm glad Paul Newman was nominated for it. I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, it's bonk bonkers to me.
SPEAKER_00Bonkers legacy for Cool Han Luke, the scenes we mentioned, the quotes we mentioned, bucking back against authority, all these things still resonate. The scene you pointed out, like it's a beautiful sequence that resonates. Like I said, um, Daniel von Bargan, Rest in Peace, plays like a template of this character in Oh Brother, where art thou? I've seen the glasses image on so many like just so so much. The a piece of the score was used for like news tonight. Oh, and eyewitness news, yeah. Eyewitness news, and they would get questions. Uh Stuart Rosenberg would get questions for like the rest of his life about why'd you use that music from the news? And he goes, No, they used it from us. Like it's just you know, it's true, it's crazy. So the legacy lives on and on and on. Anything else to say about Cool Han Luke before we get to what are you watching here? It's your movie, Haas.
SPEAKER_01It it it will always be one of my favorite movies. It is a special, special movie. And if you've never seen it, cannot recommend it more. There's no way it doesn't do something for you. Like it really does, and it never stops. It never really stops kind of hitting those emotional places and and taking you on that journey. And the other thing we're talking about, this is a fun movie.
SPEAKER_00It's very fun. The whole thing is fun, it's funny, yeah. It and and it's paced so it is written so well because you're always getting to these next big scenes. Not every it's not fun to watch him like dig the whole fillet, dig the whole fillet, but yeah, you're in it then. You're you're invested into the story. It's a it's a great film, it's one of the best movies ever made, ever.
SPEAKER_01You're not setting yourself up, and again, I'm I feel like I'm knocking this movie into ways, but like it's you're like you know, sometimes when you want to watch Shawshank Redemption, you're like, all right, I'm gonna sit down for this, get a cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's heavier themes, it's longer, yeah. Yeah, this is not that.
SPEAKER_01Like, this is this thing cruises, and it's um, and you'll you'll be witnessing if you've never seen it, a true, true iconic movie actor, movie star that there's literally there's no one like him. Paul Newman. There's nobody like him.
SPEAKER_00No one. Now go on and stamp your form, Sonny, and stop wasting my time. That's good. What are you watching? Here we are. You want me to go first? I don't you you have one you've been keeping in the bank that you've been withholding from me. I'm gonna hold, I'm gonna withhold it for one more. Oh, you're gonna do that on the Patreon or next episode's Patreon. So I know it's up to you if you want to share that with the the coveted audience or the the masses here. Okay, good. What do you want me to go first? I'm I'm doing the one that I texted you about last night. We're do we're doing it. Oh we're gonna go there. We're doing it. I'm not text I'm not gonna talk about the stuff I texted you, but I'm gonna talk about the movie. Yeah, okay, then I'll tell you what. Let's let's synchronize. Let's go in on it. We're gonna synchronize our oh, that was gonna be a bad joke. Never mind. Um, we're gonna we're gonna synchronize dicks. Well, I was gonna say our cycles. You don't exactly synchronize dicks, but since we're not women, we have no cycles to synchronize. You crass son of a gun. You know, I just thought we would meet you guys, maybe fuck a little. Last night, I saw the invite directed by Olivia Wilde. By the time people are listening to this, it will it'll probably still be in theaters because it's going to be counter-programming for the Odyssey. It's getting good reviews. Nick saw it first. He sent me a pretty pleasant review of it. The whatever, the backlash of don't worry, darling. Not the backlash, just the way the filmmakers, including Olivia Wilde, handled that in the press. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I wasn't very excited to see this movie. I've seen material like this a lot. No, pretty much made you see it. Yeah, you were like, uh, just go check it out. I went in with a clear head. I really liked it. I I I liked it. I don't have any real like negative thing to say about it. I think people should go see it if they want to. It's getting good reviews. I laughed a lot. I thought everyone was on point. It is we got two couples, Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan, who've been married for a while. They have a kid who we don't see. The pretty much the whole film is set in their apartment, and their neighbors, another couple, Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz, come over. And if you've seen the trailer, you know, devolves into some fun talking and fun dialogue and everything, and where's it all gonna go? The entirety of the movie, like what it took me on, was fine. I did send Nick a voice memo about it yesterday, specifically saying there are a few things I can't talk about on the pod. So what I'm gonna say now is not a spoiler, and it's okay to say because we need to be able to have these conversations. I like the movie, thought they did a terrible job at the last five minutes. I really did not like the ending at all. But that and that is okay to say. I'm not gonna spoil what the ending is. I just didn't think it worked at all. But I do want to be clear that I don't think a bad ending necessarily or an ending you don't agree with necessarily ruins an entire movie. This is not an A masterpiece. This is not gonna make my top 10 of 2026. It was a movie that I went to on a Friday after work. I had a beer and I had some fucking mozzarella sticks while I watch it, and I laughed a lot, and everyone in my theater laughed a lot. And when it ended, I was like, eh, whatever. But had I seen it with you, or had I seen it with my wife, that it would have made for a good conversation on the way home. Not necessarily about the content of the movie, but what I felt was a um just a whiff. I'm not even gonna go into it more, but it's again, it's okay to talk about this stuff. I we just got done, we did our favorite movie endings, we talk about whiplash. While I'm in the end and get it right, thank you, good movie gods. I will always appreciate it. But you know, um like a mediocre, I'll give this movie a B if I was giving it a letter grade. B B minus. It you don't have to like, not every single thing has to be perfect, and not everything in the movie was perfect, but I did enjoy my time with it, and that is as fair and as balanced a review as your loyal podcast hosts can give, and that's that. It and and I uh I I agree. Oh shit. I I do have one other thing before you go, one other point. It maybe this was intentional, it was almost jaw-dropping how more skilled Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton are as performers. Maybe that was by design. I mean, those two have been nominated for Oscars, like one of them has won an Oscar for her acting, the other two have not, and I really felt I was like, man, they are so locked in in this and that. And then I just want to say one other thing. I normally don't talk about this on the pod. I ran this by my wife, it's okay. I'm not being a creep or anything. What like it it it's it's actually alarming when you see her on this big of a screen and how devastatingly beautiful Penelope Cruise is. This woman is just like I I'm I hope I'm not be that doesn't sound like weird, but from when I first saw her in Blow, and then I've gone back and watched her in some alma, you know, some other stuff to now. Like, she is the camera gets really close to her a few times, and you just sit back and you're like, Wow, they they got it right with her. All the genes worked, like she you she is just like a psychotic looking creature, she is an absolute goddess. So I I I really enjoyed Edward Norton. I I enjoyed the film.
SPEAKER_01I I uh I will actually be seeing it a second time. Um I'm gonna go with a buddy of mine, and um, and it'll be great because he's married, and and and he he'll he'll give me his little like vents about you know his married life and things like that. Um, so it'll be really fun to see it with him. I do recommend uh for everyone who if if you've been on the fence of seeing it, do try and see it with as big of a theater crowd as possible because the one that I went to, you some people are gonna find some things funny, some people are gonna be very uncomfortable. And this is the whole point of the movie is that it really just does address some, I think, very just true and honest sort of aspects of marriages and life and relationships. This is a fun movie. This is not a movie that is supposed to uh, you know, we're not, we're how do you want to say it?
SPEAKER_00Like, it's not drawing a lot of attention to itself like she was trying to do with Don't Worry, Darling, where she's really slamming that down our throat, is like, no, this woman is about this movie is about like sexual liberation and all this. And I'm like, no, it's not, it's about being imprisoned by men. Like, what are you talking about? And that movie is not good, it's not. You watch it, and it's like you hear someone hyping up a movie all the time, and I'm like, okay, it's like maestro, like okay, hype, hype, hype, and then we see it, and I go, That's what all this was about. And this doesn't have any of that pretension, none. It's very well shot, it's very well. I re yeah, it's shot on film. I all everyone was really locked into their performances. I like Olivia Wilde, some of her older stuff. She did this gnarly movie called Meadowland, where she loses her kid and she just has to sit with that. She's married to Luke Wilson. It's a real she's great in that. This is since her career's like, you know, she's gotten more famous, uh, famous marriage, divorce, blah, famous relationships, blah blah blah. She's entered is sort of the A-list. This is the best performance I've seen from her in that gear.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I think this is the best. It's not the best performance from Edward Norton or Penelope Cruz, if you talk about like how great as actors they are, but I do believe this is the best performance from both Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogan I've ever seen. I do, I agree with that as well. Yeah. And the four of the four of these people really have amazing chemistry. Every scene is very, very specific from where the characters are coming from. The movement of the camera and the blocking is honestly, I think, in a lot of ways, pretty masterful for when you're talking about a movie that's about two hours taking place in one apartment. For everyone who knows it, this is not Malcolm and Marie. Uh, this is a very, very fast moving, um, well-written and well performed and well-directed movie. You could do a lot worse. Yeah, and but I agree with the ending. I agree with the ending. It's not my favorite ending.
SPEAKER_00You agree with what I'm saying, or you like the ending? Oh, okay. You you agree with me. Okay, yeah. And I don't want to get more into it. That's not worth it. And it wasn't anything, even yeah, even in my voice memo, I wasn't like, what the fuck? I was just going, Oh, I really thought uh missed something. One other thing I'm gonna talk about. Because it'll be funny. In your voice moment of me after the first time you saw it, you said Seth Rogan's character was making you laugh a lot in the beginning because the way he was acting reminded you of how you think I would react in similar situations. Specifically, coming home, and your wife tells you we have people coming over tonight or we're doing this tonight, and then the inevitable conversation begins of what the hell are you talking about? I told you about this. No, you didn't. Yeah. Yeah, I did. No, you didn't. Yeah, I did when yesterday. Oh, really? When? And it just goes back and forth. And then to find out that Olivia Y was lying, she it didn't get set up last night. It got set up this morning. And just all of it. I I got a kick out of that. Yeah, it was good. It's a good movie to go see. And and you can see it with your significant other. It's not, it's not gonna like it's not gonna be like an awkward ride home. It's okay. It's it's fun, it's fun.
SPEAKER_01And I think Edward Norton proves again and again he just sees things that are just not on the page. Yeah, I don't think like you get that character on the page. You get an actor like Edward Norton, he's elevating that material into places that I don't think anyone else would think to take it. And it's just very apparent. Like uh I I really, really enjoyed his performance because I was like, this guy, he's just he's a fucking actor's actor. Like this guy knows exactly what to do here, and he has a ball doing it. Very much enjoyed everyone, yeah. And Penelope does so much in her in her style too. Like, I mean, again, you're talking about a four-hander that delivers on all fronts, and it's a fun time. Yeah, yeah, it's a wild time because of Olivia. Wild.
SPEAKER_00Wild time. Keep explaining it. Get it? Give us your what are you watching? Or no, we synchronize. That was it. We went we synchronized six. Great. Okay, so Jesus Christ. All right. Well, everyone, that's your I guess it is appropriate for a film talking about pegging a lot of the time. A lot of conversations about pegging. Yes, it does. Yes, yes, it does indeed. Um, okay, well, that was fun. It was fun to bring uh W A Y W new Hollywood film project back. We'll we'll go on them here and there, but I think a lot of the movies or a few of the movies you heard us mention today, you're gonna see pop up again. Let us know what you're watching, let us know what you think. Find us on Patreon. What are you watching? Bonus features. We got a lot of fun stuff going on over there. Our fans have started sending in deep dive recommendations. We're gonna start recording those. But as always, thank you so much for listening and happy watching. Go to our brand new website, wawywpodcast.com, for everything. You can write to us, donate if you're feeling generous, buy our brand new merch, and you can find our new Patreon link, what are you watching bonus features? We are on Patreon now, so for just a few bucks a month, you can get so much more WAYW content. Go to wayw podcast.com for all of your what are you watching needs. Next time we got another director episode coming. Two for one, the Cohen Brothers, Joel and Ethan Cohen from Blood Simple to the Ballad of Buster Scrugs and all of the great films in between. Stay tuned.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, take it up, regular. Bring it up, paper. All right, bring it up, Dambling. Get rid of it, move him down.