Sometimes nothing is a real cool hand.

[TheWalrus]

Gonna miss the guy. Linky

[stray]

Ahh man. 

Pretty much the last of the coolest bunch of old school actors. Brando, Dean, McQueen..


My favorite Newman flick was when he was a little older. The Verdict. He played a burnout ambulance chaser. Cool for just an intro scene of him drunk and pissed, playing pinball. Famous for him giving some woman a slapdown.

[edit] On a funny sidenote, when Matthew McConaughey first showed up, in flicks like Lone Star (which is really quite good), I thought he could have been the next Paul Newman. LOL. I turned out wrong, of course..something happened to McConaughey. And Newman is irreplaceable.

[DraconianOne]

Damned shame.

[Chimpy]

 

[Oban]

So Newman's Own foods cause cancer?

[stray]

Even if they do, 83 is a pretty good year to last to while eating them! Sounds like a benevolent Cancer to me. 

[SurfD]

heh, I am reminded of a quotation we have on one of the between movie slides we show at the theater I work at.

"The embarrasing thing is, my salad dressings are out grossing my films" - Paul Newman

[schild]

I'm gonna watch The Sting tonight I think.

[HaemishM]

Damn. Hate that he started acting less and less but he was 83. Always loved Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

[stray]

Few of those older actors worked starring roles into their 50's, let alone their 80's. So I guess we should be happy that he did anything at all in the past 30 years. That a few were actually really damn good is quite an accomplishment. Not even Marlon Brando or, say, Peter O'Toole, did that. The Verdict, Color of Money, Hudsucker Proxy, , Slapshot, smaller parts in Road to Perdition and Cars..

I suppose TCM will start reeling all of his stuff in the next month. I know I've missed things.

[Trippy]

If more people lived their lives the way he did the world would be a much much better place.

[Selby]

Hate that he started acting less and less but he was 83.

Apparently one of his bigger hobbies was auto racing and he was doing that more as he got older since he liked it better.  Not to mention most actors in their 50's (as mentioned above) tend to get stuck in old fogey roles as side-kicks or comedic relief with zero real chance of starring roles, Hollywood favors the young (women especially are considered used up past 35-40 unless they defy aging well).

[stray]

That's the thing though. He could have done more, if he wanted to. He was still playing seriously cool roles in his 50 and 60's (Color of Money, Verdict), or even a pimpish role (Blaze), and not having everyone laugh at it. I can't think of many others who've done that.

[Nebu]

Sad, sad shame.  I'm going to miss this guy.  Salad dressing, not so much. 

[Slayerik]

Happened to have just seen "Cool hand Luke" for the first time the other night, the guy had some serious camera charisma. I never much got into older flicks, but I might lookup more of his work. Any recommendations?

[Mr_PeaCH]

Happened to have just seen "Cool hand Luke" for the first time the other night, the guy had some serious camera charisma. I never much got into older flicks, but I might lookup more of his work. Any recommendations?

The Hustler is probably his first 'best' movie.  Start with that.

[MrHat]

Fucking love The Hustler.

[stray]

Hustler, Hud, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Cool Hand, Butch and Sundance, and the Sting are probably the best of the first half.

Verdict, Color of Money, Blaze, and Slapshot are probably the best of the second half.

[schild]

The Sting. I can not repeat this enough. It really is Newman and Redford at their best.

Edit: Actually that's not fair. It's Redford at his best. It's Newman as Newman. The guy never really did WRONG, so much as he was just More Right for some roles.

[stray]

I think he rarely did wrong just as a person either. I mean, I think Brando is the true giant of the bunch, but man, he totally just threw it away sometimes. He'd play in crap, felt like there was little chance to make art or have an effect with films...and so shit on it for long periods of time..said he'd rather just get paid...he stormed through women and his kid's lives... and in the end, just became some 400 lb recluse in Tahiti. Newman had a better attitude. Maybe not as many brilliant moments, but plenty of more great moments.. And instead of turning into a blob, he raced cars in his 70's.

[Nebu]

The Sting. I can not repeat this enough. It really is Newman and Redford at their best.

The Sting.  See it.  It's one of my formative memories of a childhood movie theater experience. 

The Verdict wasn't bad either... but it's not classic Newman.   Also, Butch Cassidy was a bit too gitchy for me. 

[Tebonas]

I would have disagreed and said "Der Clou", but then I realiized that actually is the German title of "The Sting".

So yes, I agree. Put that DVD into my player as soon as I heard and enjoyed the movie like every other time I saw it.

[WayAbvPar]

The Sting has to be one of my all time top 20 favorite movies. TONS of good actors, stars and character actors in it. Great story, well paced, awesome soundtrack...it is almost a perfect movie.

Top 5 favorite Newman movies

1) The Sting
2) Slapshot
3) The Color of Money
4) The Hustler
5) Nobody's Fool

I saw The Verdict and Butch Cassidy so long ago that I don't remember much about them. I have seen all 5 on my list within the past 2-3 years (I own The Color of Money on VHS and Slapshot on DVD- I need to get a copy of The Sting), so they are fresh in my memory.

[schild]

The Sting is worth buying on HD-DVD by the way. Actually, tbh, it's THE REASON I went on an HD-DVD binge to begin with.

[Murgos]

I'm sure that most people know this, but if you are new to The Hustler and The Color Of Money.  Paul Newman is the same character, 'Fast Eddy' Felson, in both of them, 20+ years apart.

I don't think you have to watch them in order, I didn't, but I think you'll get more out of The Color of Money if you have an appreciation for The Hustler.

Has anyone read the books by Walter Tevis?  I'm thinking I might check them out.

[stray]

I might be wrong about this, but the one difference is that the Hustler is sort of/loosely based on a real Fast Eddie's story.  Tevis wrote the novel about a Fast Eddie Felson, but it was based on Fast Eddie Parker (although for some reason, they used the real name of Minnesota Fats). The Color of Money, otoh, was purely fictional (but rocked either way). He wasn't quite as down and out in his later years.

The Color of Money is also one of those few movies where Tom Cruise is good (he fits that "douchebag" niche well, k'know).


On a sidenote, Eddie was from my hometown, and there are a few poolhalls here in his name. I believe he set them up himself.

[edit] Hmm, according to Tevis, he made it all up! Oh well, cool flicks anyhow.