Sad day, This one hurts.
God Bless Paul Newman
A great actor and a great man, his charity work was second to none.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Paul Newman 01/26/1925-09/26/2008
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"Nightmare in Manhattan" by Thomas Walsh (Bantam 895)
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- Paul Newman 01/26/1925-09/26/2008
- Guns by Ed McBain
- Maiden Murders by The Mystery Writers of America
- The Last Detail by Darryl Ponicsan
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8 comments:
Sad. Expected, but still sad.
My very favorite Newman film was Cool Hand Luke, which was based on an excellent but little known autobiogrpahical novel of the same title by Donn Pierce (who last I heard was still alive and working as a process server near Daytona Beach), who had a hand in the screenplay and a small role in the movie as one of the prisoners, "Sailor." The novel explains Luke's background in greater detail than the film, and sets the action in central Florida rather than an ambiguous South.
John: A great film and I have the paperback edition by Donn Pearce. (But I confess, I never read it) My favorite line in that film is "stop feeding off me!"
Also, Newman playing the banjo and singing "Plastic Jesus" is wonderful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYqwYrbwHeM
If I were picking heroes, he'd be on my list.
August,
The most famous line in Cool Hand Luke: "What we have here is a faliure to communicate..." is not in the novel. In fact, Donn Pierce, who spent a year or so on a Florida chain gang, didn't want the line (the creation of his co-screenwriter)in the film because he said in his experience no officer in the Florida penal system was smart enough to have said it.
At the risk of being a boor, The Hustler and The Color of Money were based upon novels by Walter Tevis. The Hustler sticks pretty close to the movie version; Color of Money uses the title and goes off on its own. Both novels are well regarded but not read much.
A quote from Newman that I always liked: “If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.”... I haven't seen Harper in a long time. Maybe, I will look for it online tonight... This is sad.
"Harper" was special to me because of the Ross Macdonald connection, even with the character coming off different than Macdonald's Lew Archer. It's hard to pick a favorite movie, but I find I watch "Cool Hand Luke" quite a bit. As for his best acting performances, my worthless option:
50s: Cat on the Hot Tin Roof
60s: Hud
70s: Sometimes a Great Notion
80s: Absence of Malice
90s: Nobody's Fool
00s: Our Town
Seems we grew up with the man, as his film came out.
"I'm shakin it here, Boss"
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