I originally decided to have different people contribute to MBIP on the weekends, not only to give myself a little break, but also to have a different voice for these two days. Kind of a pallette cleanser from my five days of running around town and doing that MBIP thing that I do. Well, last Sunday we had a void to fill as I didn’t have anything from any of the MBIP Contributors to post. I did a new kind of post and we had an MBIP Sunday Record Party, which got a nice reaction and I enjoyed doing it so much I think I’m going to do it every Sunday. This way I’ll only have to fill Saturdays with entries from the MBIP Contributor Pool.
But, having said that, I don’t have anything to run today either! So I’ve thought up something to put up on Saturdays when there’s no contribution from the MBIP Contributors Pool and and I’m calling it, the MBIP Saturday Movie Matinee.
Basically I’m going to pick a movie that I really like, write about it and share images and clips from the internet and kind of remake the movie right here on MBIP. I got nothing from the MBIP Contributor’s this week, but that’s okay because sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. Okay, ready...set...ACTION!
“Cool Hand Luke” is one of my all-time favorite movies. If you’ve never seen it, you need to either buy it or rent it today! I’m a huge Paul Newman fan and I think this is his best character portrayal. And that says a lot, seeing that Fast Eddie Felson, Hud and Butch Cassidy are all on his acting resume.
I first saw “Cool Hand Luke” on a late night movie when I was a freshman in high school. It really had an impact on me. It taught me that it’s okay not to run with the pack and that being a non-conformist was a true way to live. It also taught me that sometimes you should do something simply because it’ll be something to do.
After I had seen the movie, I found out it was based on a book written by Donn Pearce, a guy who had served time on a chain gang in real life. After hunting around in book stores and thrift shops I finally found a copy at an antique store on Main Street here in Peoria. That’s one of the things I miss in this internet age where you can find anything you want in minutes. There’s nothing like finding a treasure after searching for it for months. Anyway, there’s a passage in the book that I love and I think way back when I first read it, it inspired me to want to write. Here it is:
“And then one night while playing poker he managed to bluff his way into stealing a pot of a dollar and sixty-five cents. Everyone else had thrown in his hand except Bullshit Bill who was holding a pair of aces. But when Luke raised the last bet a dollar he refused to call the raise. After dragging in the nickles, dimes and quarters, Luke showed his hand to Bullshit Bill. He had a pair of nothing. Smiling, he murmured softly.
‘Just remember man. Wherever you go and whatever you do. Always play a real cool hand.’
And from that night on he always answered to the name of Cool Hand Luke.”
I keep a framed copy of that page on my wall and read it when I need some inspiration to write something. If some day I can dredge up words as cool as that I’ll die a happy man.
Okay, let’s look at some scenes from “Cool Hand Luke.”
This is the original trailer from 1967 for the movie.
Here’s the scene where Paul Newman get’s the name of Cool Hand Luke from Dragline.
This car wash scene is a classic in movie history! “Lucille!”
“No man can eat 50 eggs!”
“I don’t care if it rains or freezes, long as I got my plastic Jesus.”
“That old Luke smile...a natural born world shaker...”
Related Post: MBIP Sunday Record Party!