Top Five: Paul Newman Moments
Posted by Dirty Harry on Saturday, September 27th, 2008
Not too long ago we did a list of our favorite Newman films, but today let’s focus on those all important moments, for it’s moments that define:
1. The Verdict (1982): Every circumstance builds to that moment when James Mason’s Ed Concannon offers Newman’s Frank Galvin a settlement check neatly divided by three — and Galvin refuses. It’s the kind of moment that can reaffirm your faith in movies for years.
2. Cool Hand Luke (1967): Luke plays the banjo and sings “Plastic Jesus.” …cuz I got the Virgin Mary assuring me that I won’t go to Hell. A lost soul … searching, searching for one last thing to hang onto before he breaks. This is the only moment we’re allowed to see the real Luke — the lonely little boy with the awful mother. The rest is all hustle — even when he drops to his knees and prays to God near the end.
3. The Sting (1973): The card game on the train with Robert Shaw. How he gets under the man’s skin is a thing of beauty.
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): The “fight.” Ace has the clip.
5. Nobody’s Fool (1994): When he turns down Melanie Griffith’s offer to run away, choosing finally to be a father and grandfather. Tender. The next scene’s even better, he demands his son call his wife and reconcile lest the young man end up him.
Listen close and from on high you’ll hear Newman and Charlton Heston debating over who won last night’s debate.
Filed in Top-Five |
Blancon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:17 am 1My five favorite performances by the great P.N.:
1. Reg Dunlop
2. Reg Dunlop
3. Reg Dunlop
4. Reg Dunlop
5. Reggie Dunlop (just to show I’m no one-note)
OK, sorry, but the perfect storm of one of the great talents in cinematic history (humorously and respectably) playing the greatest game ever conceived by mankind????
Not too shabby.
This is one of those guys who earned some trust and respect. Well done, Mr. Newman.
Ohio Wolverine momon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:19 am 2The Long Hot Summer, when he tells Joanne Woodward that she can change her name, dye her hair….then maybe, just maybe…..sigh.
Woodward and Newman were electric together on screen, unlike most real-life couples. Even when their characters were at odds, like in From the Terrace, sparks flew.
Johnny Ed's Babyon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:25 am 31. The Hustler - when he comes back to play Fats again after Sarah’s death. The man was on a mission.
2. Butch Cassidy - Laughiing - “Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.”
3. Cool Hand Luke - 50 hard boiled eggs.
4. Hud - the ending “This world is so full of crap, a man’s gonna get into it sooner or later whether he’s careful or not.”
5. Slap Shot - after meeting the Hanson brothers “They’re too dumb to play with themselves.”
R.I.P. Mr. Newman.
mjkon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:25 am 4I’m the only person in the world who loved “Exodus” (at least it feels that way).
I thought Paul Newman played Ari Ben Canaan with charm and the prickly Sabra-ness that worked so very well.
Of course, he was a fab actor that will never be replaced.
Ginaon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:28 am 5Oh, is THAT where that “Plastic Jesus” song comes from?? My dad’s been singing it all these years and I never knew where he got it!
maatkareon 27 Sep 2008 at 11:59 am 6Funny to think about it…but he may be remembered most by the next generation as…Doc Hudson.
wanketteon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:00 pm 7The first scene with Redford in The Sting.
(”Gladda meetcha kid. You’re a real horse’s ass.”)
wanketteon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:01 pm 8maatkare, thanks for that! My little nephew loves that character (as proven by the 4 different colored “Doc Hudson”s he owns…)
amzarakon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:32 pm 9Some of my favorite scenes from “The Color of Money”:
The opening when he discovers Vincent. “The kids got a sledgehammer break!”
The moment Eddie realizes he has been hustled by Amos (Forest Whitaker). The devastation he feels jumps off the screen. I know I felt it.
His comeback montage beginning with him rolling a ball around on the table, playing various opponents, to getting glasses, and culminating with beating Moselle.
There are so many more moments from other movies and this one as well. “The Color of Money” just happens to be my favorite. May he rest in peace.
PerfectTommyon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:43 pm 10From long ago when Dave Letterman’s show was funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cku2IeoP3QA
mjkon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:48 pm 11maatkaare,
Heh. True, true, but he was one awesome Doc Hudson.
That is funny as heck though.
maatkareon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:53 pm 12Thank you! I was thinking of my good friend’s son with 1001 “Cars” cars. His voice was awesome as Doc Hudson (and R.I.P. Filmore while we’re at it). Just right for the gravitas of the character, and a warm jolt for those of us who knew who it was.
Ginaon 27 Sep 2008 at 12:57 pm 13TCM hasn’t even got anything up on their home page yet. They’re getting lazy over there.
Capt. Nemoon 27 Sep 2008 at 1:08 pm 14I liked the scene in \”Road to Perdition\” when Newman\’s men where being killed by Tom Hanks and he realized that his time was up.
Realising that his words about fathers and sons was about to go full circle.
Lord Jiggyon 27 Sep 2008 at 1:26 pm 15“Nobody’s Fool” was an underrated gem. Glad to hear someone else likes it.
Growltigeron 27 Sep 2008 at 2:58 pm 16The Hustler
Young Philadelphians
And I’m with MJK. I LOVED “Exodus”. I can watch it over and over. Newman was my idea of an Israeli. Netanyahu reminds me of the Ari ben Canaan character. The only flaw in the film was, once more, in CASTING with the awful actress who played Dov’s love interest — forget her name.
I preferred the TV version of Long Hot Summer with Don Johnson.
I’m going to rent a bunch of old PN films and revel in his talent.
NeoConJedion 27 Sep 2008 at 3:00 pm 17I’m with you mjk. Exodus is one of my favorite films of all time.
As for specific moments, I’ll give it a try.
1. Laying down the rules to the fist-fight in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
2. Old man Rooney dressing down his son (Daniel Craig) in The Road to Perdition.
3. Fast Eddie’s first meeting with Vincent in The Color of Money
4. Too many moments in Exodus to mention — any, really.
5. 50 hard-boiled eggs — can’t really argue with that.
Johnny Ed's Babyon 27 Sep 2008 at 5:22 pm 18Just saw the first Remembrance on TCM for Newman.
What memories of some terrific roles in some terrific movies.
Tom Aricoon 27 Sep 2008 at 7:38 pm 19The final scene in The Hustler is a must see.
Paul Phillipson 27 Sep 2008 at 8:53 pm 20The scene in ‘Sometimes a Great Notion” with Richard Jaekel stuck under a log as the water rises and Newman is helpless to save him always leaves a lump in my throat.
Scotton 28 Sep 2008 at 3:50 pm 21I’d have to second a lot of the choices for a Newman top 5, but as I’ve grown older, deepened my faith, I’ve come to put Cool Hand Luke off to one side as a film I admire for its technical merit and the quality of its performances but find difficult to recommend without caveat. I’m just not sure about its overall message, its secular gospel with Luke as the Christ-figure.
The reason for my reservations have more to do with present circumstances in many of our mainline churches wherein the liberal gospel has succeeded and we have ascendant those who simply cannot believe in the canonical gospels but prefer those that they can believe - stories like Cool Hand Luke wherein the Christ is not the incarnate of God born of holy Mary, but a vandal from a broken home, the son of a negligent mama who didn’t love him enough. The story of Cool Hand Luke is compelling in that the “miracles” he performs fall into more of what the gospels meant - literally “wonders” and Luke makes wonders happen: he turns the oppressiveness and drudgery of a work detail into a joyous and defiant game; he eats all those eggs, etc. But all of this is quite ambiguous in conveying the source of this “power” Luke has.
And, of course, there is no resurrection, except for the metaphorical one we witness at the end as George Kennedy fills the role of Peter, regaling new convicts with stories of the masterful Luke. This is very much the resurrection pedaled by the liberal clergy, sometimes openly, but more usually beneath a pile of verbiage to keep the congregation guessing.
What does Cool Hand Luke in the end convey to us? Is it a message of the indomitable nature of the human spirit or the saving power of the Holy Spirit? Is this the story of God’s grace at work in a man who finds himself surrounded by evil or the tale of one man’s powerful will set against the evil of the world? And if we choose the latter options, is this not the typical liberal-left take on the person of Jesus of Nazareth: not the Son of God, but a great human spirit.
I’m not dumping on the film. Let’s be clear, but I don’t watch it with the same sense of enjoyment as I do The Verdict, The Hustler, and the many other wonderful films Newman figured in.
H. Wood Bigshoton 29 Sep 2008 at 8:39 am 22I know this will be unpopular, but I have always thought Newman was a little over-rated. A fine actor-yes, but still a little over-rated.
His longevity speaks well, as he has some fine films, but I was never one who ran out to the theater thinking, “Wow! A Paul Newman flick!! I just gotta see it.”
I also thought his behavior during the Clinton Impeachment was disgusting-laughably so. I thought one of the funniest moments in that whole thing was the Chris Shay’s townhall meeting Newman tried to get in. He got rebuffed, and watching it, I fell out of my chair laughing at his over weening preteniousness. “Why, I’m, from Hollywood, fer Christ’s sake!”
Christianon 29 Sep 2008 at 10:27 am 23Oh come on. The finest Paul Newman moment ever captured on film was clearly from “The Color of Money” where he grabs Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio and says “I’m not your lover and I’m not your daddy!” It makes no sense at all and is totally brilliant.
movie fanon 16 Oct 2008 at 10:00 pm 24it’s hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways, such as his Newman’s Own line–high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes… very smart.