A Few Movies to Remember Paul Newman By
Paul Newman acted in some of my favorite movies, both new and old, and he acted at an ability some only ever dream of. From Cool Hand Luke to Road to Perdition and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to The Hudsucker Proxy, Newman made the movie theatre a better place to be. He worked with all the best directors of our time and did it with an easy charm that is impossible to duplicate on the screen.
It is with a heavy heart that I recommend a few movies for you to watch this weekend in honor of one of the most charitable actors the world has known. Hopefully at least a couple of these are movies you haven't seen and you'll be able to check them out for the first time.
1) Check out The Sting. It's brilliantly written and funny and Newman is a blast to watch. Seeing him go head to head in a battle of wits and con-artistry against Robert Shaw (Quint from Jaws) with Robert Redford by his side is a helluva ride.
2) Watch The Color of Money. Newman working with Scorsese at his best next to Tom Cruise in his first time actually "acting." Reprising his role as Fast Eddie Felson from The Hustler, Newman lights up the screen.
3) The Verdict. Sidney Lumet's classic film about a burned-out ambulance chasing lawyer played brilliantly by Newman. It has a script by David Mamet and Mamet's words coming out of Newman are a joy to watch. The film is surprisingly relevant in today's world of legal maneuvering and medical malpractice.
4) Torn Curtain. Some people say this is a "lesser" Hitchcock film, but those people are clearly idiots. Paul Newman stars opposite Julie Andrews in this taut suspense thriller about a mathematician (Newman) who defects behind the Iron Curtain, but ends up in an espionage oriented game of cat and mouse that (for lack of a better cliche) keeps you on the edge of your seat.
5) Also be sure to check out all the films I mentioned above: Cool Hand Luke, Road to Perdition, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Hudsucker Proxy. All of them are classics in their own right.
What's your favorite Paul Newman movie? Have any recommendations for me? Put them in the comments below.
(Bryan Young is the producer of Killer at Large.)
Follow Bryan Young on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigShinyRobot
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Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.
A masterpiece of restraint (by Woodward, too) which makes the viewer ache for both characters and their myopic, emotionless lives.
I just want to express how thriled I was with Newman's performance in CARS. I know, it's Disney kitche, but it's a solid little movie that allowed a whole different generation to begin to appreciate both Newman and George Carlin, and their two performances make the heart of the film for me.
That said, I must have seen Color of Money a dozen times when it was first released. I hadn't even seen the Hustler yet (I still cringe when I think about Fast Eddie being shown a lesson -- 'They broke my thumbs, Charlie! My thumbs!'), but I was able to connect with this once-great personality doing what he can to make a comeback (being the character.
There are people that make you bitter as they flaunt their blessings, and then there are those who make you celebrate their good fortune as luck happening to good people who appreciate it. Newman was forever the latter. The phrase "we'll never see another like him" has rarely been so applicable.
He so often rose above the quality of the movies he was in. I recommend 'WUSA', "Sometimes A Great Notion" and "Blaze. The first two are very hard to find.
Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie"!
The Young Philadelphians - an astonishing find for me one afternoon at a used CD/DVD store. His hard edge and barely concealed angst... what an actor. I can't believe he's gone.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Long Hot Summer these two movies show Newman , Eliz and Woodward at theyre best. Lts nothing like the classics to remain you get actors and actress. Those actors and actress perfected their skills which made you really enjoy seeming their film even now. They were really great actors and actress in the start of hollywood. Some today have great skills also but the classics really understood their FANS. God bless you newan and you will truly be missed with those sexually blue eyes.
I agree. Cat was Tennesse Williams at his peak, and Paul and Liz Taylor were great in those parts. Liz gets remembered for a lot of the personal turmoil, but she made some great films in the 50s, 60s. A Place in the Sun is terrific.
Let's not forget those blistering scenes between Newman and Burl Ives in "Cat"
The Verdict is my all-time favorite Newman movie. He was stunning (!) in The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (what woman didn't want to be riding on those handlebars) but I also really loved his recent work in the HBO 2-part Empire Falls.
When I heard the news today, it made me think back on all Paul offered to us, from his outstanding body of work as an actor to his extraordinary charity. He was a real man, in a real marriage, with a real heart and soul. AND he managed to make Nixon's list as an activist!
As I explained to my son today why I believed Paul Newman to be a great man, I was able to reach him by telling him Paul's voice was that of Doc Hudson in Pixar's "Cars", and how much Paul loved racing.
Paul, we loved you, appreciated you, and wish you well on your next journey. Once again, you will own the stage.
PEACE
The Young Philadelphians
So fantastic.
Exodus. Nobody else must have liked it but it's one of my favorite books and I thought Paul was excellent portraying Ari Ben Canaan in the movie.
Loved it. Seen it so many times.
"Nobody's Fool" -- nobody but Newman could have played that part and make it ring true -- glad to see lots of people remember "Slapshot" -- "The Verdict," yes -- He was the last of that whole crowd, Dean, Brando, Monty Clift, McQueen, who changed the craft of movie acting in the '50s. He made it all look easy.
Some critics think "Nobody's Fool" his finest and most subtle effort.
Hombre! Hombre! Hombre! old but one of my favorites. What a classy man.
Slapshot made laugh so hard I dam near cried.
The Hustler is one of the greatest American films ever made...alo
I had the chance to have this hammered home when I got to see 'The Hustler' in a restored print at the Detroit Institute of the Arts back in the (jesus...) late 1980s. I was already a devout film geek but had not actually experienced the Eureka moment of seeing a film in its true original format after I was already abundantly familiar with it on video. It was as if I had never seen it before. The whiskey bottle on the table at the train station - on a tv screen it's a whiskey bottle. In widescreen it's a reverse lighthouse
So...peace
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor when both were young. Newman always was great in parts where he fought 'The Man'
Newman's tour de force is The Hustler.
This movie defined him and made him the legend he is.
The sinister darkness of this film reveals the inner workings of society that constitute reality for too many of us. Reality brought to the screen.
Newman, George C. Scott, and Piper Laurie went beyond their best in making this film an all-time classic.
And whoever thought of casting Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats should be given a medal.
The director, Robert Rossen, said that Gleason was his only choice for the role. Gleason was an expert pool player, and he bragged in later years that on the set he bet Newman $50 that he could make a difficult trick shot. Gleason made the shot and won the bet, and Newman paid off with a huge jar filled with $50 worth of pennies.
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