and starring Paul Newman
. The screenplay was adapted by Donn Pearce
and Frank Pierson from Pearce's 1965 novel of the same name
. The film features George Kennedy, Strother Martin
, J.D. Cannon and Morgan Woodward
.
Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a prisoner in a Florida prison
camp who refuses to submit to the system. In 2005, the United States Library of Congress deemed Cool Hand Luke to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
.
Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman
) is arrested for cutting the heads off a town's parking meter
s one drunken night in the late 1940s.
Oh come on. Stop beatin' it. Get out there yourself. Stop feedin' off me. Get out of here. I can't breathe. Give me some air.
When it comes to the law, nothin' is understood...I'm his official egg-peeler. That's the law!
You gonna fit in real good, of course, unless you get rabbit in your blood and you decide to take off for home. You give the bonus system time and a set of leg chains to keep you slowed down just a little bit, for your own good, you'll learn the rules. Now, it's all up to you. Now I can be a good guy, or I can be one real mean son-of-a-bitch. It's all up to you.
The man...and the motion picture that simply do not conform.
On The Chain-Gang They'd Seen Every Kind Of Man - But Luke Became A Legend
"What we've got here...is failure to communicate."
He was a cool customer. . .until the law made it hot for him!