One line of the film’s dialogue from the Captain (Strother Martin) is often quoted: “What we’ve got here is…failure to communicate.”
With this classic, vivid film, produced during a decade in which protest against established powers was a key theme, we get one of the best performances from the career of the late great Paul Newman.
Cool Hand Luke (1967) is the moving character study of a non-conformist, anti-hero loner who bullheadedly resists authority and the Establishment.
The main character Luke (played by Newman) was inspired by real-life convicted safecracker Donald Graham Garrison.
Rich southern religious symbolism, references and imagery are deeply embedded within the narrative, with some critics, at the time, arguing that Luke represents a modern-day, messianic Christ figure who ministers to a group of disciples and refuses to give up under oppression.
After his arrest, Luke is placed in an isolated environment – a chain-gang farm – with strict rules, guards, and regimentation, leading to where his fiercely individualistic spirit immediately clashes with authorities wearing dark expansive sun glasses…
How about some scrambled eggs this morning?
Lobster on the Prairie 