Paul Newman

Paul Newman has died. He'd been ailing for a while, so it wasn't a surprise. He was known as a race car driver, a cook, a businessman, an activist, a philanthropist and a faithful husband, but it's his work as a movie star for which he'll be remembered. (Maybe he wouldn't want it that way, but that's how it is.)

He may have been the biggest star of the second half of the 20th century. Certainly there were few others who were as big as he was for as long as he was.

He was born in 1925 and worked in theatre and TV before his first big film, a costume epic entitled The Silver Chalice (1954). For years after, he made light of how bad it was. I've never seen it, but I wonder if it's as bad as its reputation.

No matter how awful the experience, he didn't give up, and not long after achieved stardom as Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956). He soon became a steamy heartthrob in films such as The Long, Hot Summer and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, both from 1958. (The same year also featured him as Billy The Kid in the unconventional western The Left Handed Gun.) He also got to recreate his stage role in another Tennessee Williams-based film, Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962). I'm not the biggest fan of these films, since I have trouble in general with the overheated melodrama--that still has to hold back for censorship reasons--of the era.

Newman was perhaps the last of a line of post-war male stars from Montgomery Clift to Marlon Brando to James Dean who were handsome on the outside and troubled on the inside. (In fact, Newman played roles that were planned for Dean had he lived.) He would go on to deepen his career and establish himself in the 60s as the top anti-hero. Maybe he just didn't want to cruise on his good looks, but that decade saw him in a series of roles where he was a beautiful loser. It's not all he did--he was in some forgettable comedies, for instance--but it's those films that stick out. The three best known of this period are The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).

The Hustler, where Newman plays Fast Eddie Felson, has some of the best hardboiled dialogue ever recorded. Newman plays a pool hustler who wants to rise to the top and beat Minnesota Fats, but goes through more trouble than he ever expected to get there. And when he does, he realizes it wasn't worth it. It may be the best of his early roles, and the film still packs a wallop (though I think George C. Scott steals it from Newman).

In Hud he's a modern-day cowboy who creates trouble for all the people close to him. I don't think this film is as good as its reputation (like a lot of Martin Ritt films, it's a little too earnest for me), but Newman is good, and the black and white cinematography by James Wong Howe is superb.

In Cool Hand Luke he plays his most existential anti-hero. He's a rebel, certainly, but not only without a cause--he doesn't seem to think about what he does at all. For most of the film he's in prison, though he escapes more than once only to be brought back. His failure to conform (and communicate) struck a chord with the spirit of the late 60s. But Newman was getting older, and couldn't play the rebel forever.

In 1969, he made Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (with Robert Redford, who wasn't a big star yet--this film made him one), and it became Newman's biggest hit to date. It's sort of an anti-Western, with a smart alecky script by William Goldman, and for most of its length, it's a rollick. Of course, this being Paul Newman in the 60s, he still loses in the end. The film has its detractors--it doesn't really play by the rules--but I think it still holds up.

Newman and Redford reteamed in 1973 to make the biggest hit either ever had--and an Oscar winner to boot--The Sting (which I watched earlier this year). The film may not be very deep, and Newman sits back and lets Redford do the heavy lifting, but it's a beautifully wrought entertainment machine, and there's nothing wrong with that. Another huge hit of the time--maybe the biggest of the series of disaster films popular back then, 1974's star-studded The Towering Inferno--does not hold up so well, and was probably done for the paycheck.

In 1977, there was his best comedy--maybe his only good one--Slap Shot. It's about the travails of a minor league hockey team. Directed by George Roy Hill, who also did Butch Cassidy and The Sting, it's more than just frivolity, with an undercurrent of desperation as the people in this small-town world try to get by. It's become a cult item, especially due to the bizarre Hanson brothers.

Newman was in his 50s, but could still play action stars--Fort Apache The Bronx (1981)--and romantic leads--Absence Of Malice (1981)--in major Hollywood releases. These films are not classics, but it's fun to see Newman still delivering the goods. But he also started playing seedy or down-on-their-luck guys, past their prime and hoping for one last shot at glory.

In The Verdict (1982) he's a washed-up plaintiff's lawyer who's too tired to even chase ambulances. He redeems himself when he takes on a malpractice case against a huge hospital and huge law firm. The film is highly respected, but it leaves me cold--directed by Sydney Lumet, it's artfully done, but it stacks the deck so much, and tries so hard to tug at your heartstrings, that I find myself rooting for James Mason's law firm.

In 1986, he played Fast Eddy Felson again in The Color Of Money. In The Hustler, Eddie won his last match and hung up his pool cue (partly because he had to). Here, he's back and has a protege played by Tom Cruise, whom he hopes to coach to the top. Newman won a wholly undeserved Oscar for this role--most people believe it was given for his body of work, since he'd often been nominated but never won. The film, though directed with flash by Martin Scorsese, can't hide its emptiness.

Now in his 60s, Newman started playing more character parts. He was in a few memorable films, though not up to his best earlier work. And since I think this is getting too long already, I guess I'll stop. Looking back I see I left out a lot of work, some of which is pretty good, including some smaller, more personal films. And I didn't even discuss his career as a director. So if any of you would like to add anything, please leave a comment.