The big draw of Cool Hand Luke is that people of virtually any era can identify with it. The defiance in the face of authority and the resilience to see things through is something that a lot of people have no trouble following after. Luke was a character that had no idea what his place in life was but would never back down to those that would deign to tell him just where he fit in. He wasn’t the toughest or smartest guy in the world but he had that kind of heart that wouldn’t allow him to just buckle and give up when life got too hard. He always tried to find a way to make things work and as a result earned a great deal of respect among his fellow inmates.
You can call him stubborn or hard-headed but there’s no way you could call Luke a coward.
10. The actors really did blacktop a road for the county.
They laid the blacktop for about a mile to get the feel of the work and keep in character. That’s a lot of work for a role.
9. The city never replaced the meters that were cut off.
In the opening scene when Luke was taking the heads off the meters the city opted to not replace them. They’re still not there.
8. About two hundred hard-boiled eggs were made for a single scene.
The bet was that Luke could eat 50. The crew at the rest of them and the set was filled with the sound of it the next day.
7. Joy Harmon almost didn’t do the car wash scene.
The director wanted her to act like she was stoned and insisted that she actually smoke marijuana before the scene. She argued enough that they cut the stoned part out and she got to do it sober.
6. A building inspector put ‘condemned’ signs on the set.
The sets were built in order to use with the film but a San Joaquin building inspector mistakenly thought they were real.
5. Paul Newman wanted a normal script.
He didn’t want the script altered for him in any way. This was to insure that he would have to alter his own mannerisms for the role.
4. The fight between Dragline and Luke took three days to film.
The actors had to take this much time since the scene was quite tiring. Newman had to recover from hitting the ground so many times.
3. Wives were banned on the set.
The director wanted the cast to get the real feel of being a chain gang, which mean no women on the set.
2. One of the lines in the film is considered to be among the best lines in film history.
“What we have here is failure to communicate!” This line has been used countless times since this movie.
1. Joy Harmon had no idea that her car wash scene was meant to be suggestive.
She simply performed the scene to the best of her ability and didn’t even realize the suggestive nature until she watched it.
Can you believe it’s been 50 years since this film came out?
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