Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, written by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, and starring Paul Newman in the title role. The cast also features George Kennedy, J. D. Cannon, Strother Martin and Jo Van Fleet. Based on Pearce's semi-autobiographical 1965 novel, the film is about a nonconformist convict in an early 1950s Florida prison camp who refuses to submit to the system. Filming took place within California's San Joaquin River Delta region; the set, imitating a prison farm in the Deep South, was based on photographs and measurements made by a crew the filmmakers sent to a Road Prison in Gainesville, Florida. Lalo Schifrin wrote the film's Oscar-nominated musical score. Upon its release, Cool Hand Luke received favorable reviews and was a box-office success. It cemented Newman's status as one of the era's top actors, and was called the "touchstone of an era". Roger Ebert called Cool Hand Luke an anti-establishment film shot during emerging popular opposition to the Vietnam War. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Newman, with George Kennedy winning for Best Supporting Actor. Both also received Golden Globe nods for their performances. In 2005, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, considering it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film also has a 100% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.