Paul Newman stars as “Cool Hand Luke”, the irreverent loner, sentenced to work on a chain gang for destroying parking meters. George Kennedy stars as the sadistic convict boss who tries to break Newman’s spirit by using an arsenal of punishments and torture such as ‘the box’; a windowless cubicle designed to drive an inmate insane. In one of his most memorable parts, Newman as Luke, will not allow himself to succumb to the arbitrary rules of captivity. Nevertheless, the audience is left with an impression of Luke as a victim to be pitied rather than scorned.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Stream, rent or buy via
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
305935
Language
English
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Sadism in moving pictures
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Prison films
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Masochism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism in moving pictures
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Masochism
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Sadism
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)