The film stars Luke Jackson (Paul Newman), who is sent to work in the summer heat of a prison after being caught committing the frivolous crime of breaking parking meters. Luke refuses to submit to the strict and sometimes debilitating prison authority. Throughout the film, Luke challenges the prison system by making wise cracks towards those in charge. After he discovers the news of his mother's death, Luke attempts to escape the prison multiple times, and meanwhile, creates a friendship with fellow prisoner, Dragline (George Kennedy).
The plot of the movie takes its time to unravel as we get more than hour of a glimpse into everyday prison life. The film does not seem to drag however, and the events that take place before Luke decides to escape all contribute to his character development. In one scene, Luke and Dragline box each other in the courtyard. Dragline is obviously butchering Luke, but no matter how many times Luke falls from the powerful strikes from Dragline, he always stands right back up. Eventually, Dragline has to ask Luke to stop standing up, afraid that Luke may get killed.
This scene shows the incredible determination of Luke's character. Another scene, filtered in a more comical light, features Luke attempting to eat 50 hard boiled eggs. He manages to succeed while the other prisoners gaze at his triumph in disbelief. Again, we see Luke's perseverance, which acts as foreshadowing for the escape journey that Luke will take later in the movie.
It is clear that the screenwriters and directer, Stuart Rosenberg understood the importance of character development in a story. Even after Luke is shot in the head by a prison guard, he still manages to die with a grin on his face. His character development continued even after he was shot.
In terms of how the movie was shot, there were no really snazzy effects, or tacky bells and whistles. The movie was mostly filmed in a very straightforward manner, but the music added color to the dramatic moments of the film. Suspenseful music would play between scene transitions, using the method of foreshadowing to get the audience to wonder what's coming next.
Yes, the movie has it's typical Hollywood characteristics. For example, it just so happens that the main character of the movie Luke, just so happens to be eye candy. Also, there is a scene which I'm not sure is supposed to be funny or serious, but it sure made me chuckle (It also made me wonder how this movie got away with a PG rating).
A typical, "dumb blonde" kind of woman appears out of nowhere and starts washing a car in front of the prisoners who are working on a farm. She is basically not portrayed as a human in the movie but rather a shallow sex statue for all the prisoners to admire. What's funny is, what was she doing by the prison? Why would she want to show off to prisoners? Maybe the scene wasn't supposed to make sense, and I'm looking too much into this. Needless to say, the scene seemed very random and unfitting with the rest of the story.
While Cool Hand Luke has some unrealistic attributes, the ending is abrupt and very lifelike. Luke and Dragline are caught in a barn after trying to escape the prison. Dragline tells Luke that the police will let him live if he surrenders peacefully. Luke peers out of a window of the barn, and before he can even finish a sentence, he is shot in the head.
While I had a feeling the police would kill Luke, I did not think they would take his life so quickly. In many movies, for example, it can take several seconds or even minutes for a gunman to shoot anyone. Just look at The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which came out the same year as Cool Hand Luke. I think many filmmakers draw out gun scenes to build suspense, but in this case, the immediate shooting of Luke created a powerful mood for the scene.
The ending of Luke is unique and intriguing, because it can be seen as both a happy and a depressing ending. The audience is left with a very bittersweet flavor in their mouths, and some viewers may even feel confused. Why did the main character, the protagonist die? Does that mean the antagonists won? No. In fact, I feel as though Luke ended up getting what he wanted: freedom from authority. Law professor at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Osborne M. Reynolds compares the story of Luke to another film. He writes, "An even more pessimistic view of the inability to overcome past conduct and change personality is presented in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, a futuristic epic depicting an unsuccessful attempt at altering violent human behavior" (Reynolds).
A scene from Clockwork:
Luke is obviously not nearly as deviant or vicious as the infamous Malcolm from Clockwork, but both stories revolve around a character who refuses to be controlled until the very end. Even though Luke is killed, he can still be seen as a successful protagonist because he never gave up his mission to escape the prison. If Luke had quit after the first two times he tried to escape, the antagonists truly would have won. When an antagonist can only win by firing a cheap bullet at the protagonist, it is clear that the protagonist was indeed one hard-nosed son of a bitch.
Professor of politics and government at the University of Puget Sound, William Haltom points out Luke's seemingly backwards view on criminals and law enforcement.
Haltom explains, "The story rehearses an establishment-bashing recipe...First, induce sympathy for an anti-hero who challenges unimportant or unjust rules. Next, relate the rules to a social structure in which 'every cop is a criminal / And all your sinners saints" (Haltom). I disagree with Haltom when he claims that the movie is spreading a message in which the cops are always the "bad guys". I don't think the film is expressing an unjust hatred for policemen. Luke shows the audience that not every prison has the best intentions, and some are more focused on instilling fear in their prisoners rather than actually teaching them how to be better, more respectful citizens.
Director Rosenberg smoothly combines the drab environment of American prison life with the glamour of Hollywood cinema. Luke by no means feels like some kind of boring, made-for-television documentary. While the film successfully captures the challenging schedule of those in the jail, we still get to experience the adventure of trying to escape the firm grasp of "the man". When Luke runs, we cheer him on, and when he is captured, we sigh. That is good, old-fashioned American drama.
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