#1 - Cool Hand Luke (1967)

I really wanted to choose a great movie to start out the year, so I consulted my "Movies I've been meaning to watch for about forever" list and decided on this classic.  Prior to the viewing, I new scattered few facts about it:

1. Paul Newman's in it.
2. Something about a chain gang.  Probably this is Paul Newman-related, too.
3. George Kennedy won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as someone who isn't Paul Newman.
4. It's on the AFI's list of the top 100 movies of all time, probably because the AFI really likes Paul Newman, too.
5. It contains one of the most commonly quoted lines in moviedom: "What we have here is failure to communicate," which is spoken first neither to or by Paul Newman. (Which is just weird, 'cause Paul Newman is the best.)


Ready for the best movie synopsis in history?

Paul Newman (did you know he was in this?!) plays Luke (imagine that), a real cool hand (see the movie for the best definition of that).

To expand: Newman's Luke is thrown into a rural detention facility after an episode of public intoxication and vandalism of public property (he, quite mischievously, cuts the heads off several parking meters).  This opening scene prepares the viewer well for the kind of character Luke is.  He's a wry guy; we don't know why he's doing what he's doing, and we get to assume he doesn't really, either, but we're bemused by this character right from the start.

Luke and his fellow detainees do their work on the side of the road by day in several sequences that highlight the monotony of their responsibilities, but we are offered several scenes about the "down time" of the group that give some identities to who would otherwise be stock and flat characters. I won't go a whole lot further on plot summary, because I enjoyed the movie a lot more not knowing what was going to happen.

Now, 1967 was a particularly strong years for movies, especially when you consider that this classic film wasn't even nominated for the Best Picture statuette.  It's understandable when you see that the nominated films include some that hold up very well: The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde, and that year's winner In the Heat of the Night, whose Rod Steiger also beat Newman (and Hoffman, Beatty, and Tracy) for the Best Actor award.  I might as well throw in here that of all of these, In the Heat of the Night is probably my favorite, though it's like choosing my favorite Pixar film, i.e. they're all great.

Score: 9/10

I think it's very cool that my brother Mike watched this with me, so I did get to share day 1 with someone.  Onto day 2!