FileFront Forums - Farewell

Paul Newman was cool before Steve McQueen, although I gotta admit McQ was edgier and could be more menacing. But Newman was like somebody you always wanted to be around.

His movies are always fun to watch, even if he's completely butchering a "Southern" accent in one of Tennessee Williams' super-flamer gay-subtext movies made from his plays (mostly because everybody in a Tennessee Williams movie butchered a Southern accent).

You can't imagine the electric thrill it was in 1969 to see him in Butch Cassidy, which even today is like a primer on cool buddy movies. And Slapshot was a blow-a-Coke-out your-nose funny, because it was not only so damn outrageously and raunchily hilarious (remember, that was 1977 we're talking about), but it was so unexpected. It was a sleeper which the critics for the most part trashed, and was sinking until word-of-mouth saved it. What made it sublime was that the king of quiet cool, Mr. Paul Newman, was showing he had real comedy chops.

But Cool Hand Luke was the pinnacle of tough cool. As a completely indestructible, unbeatable, indomitable Luke, Newman was perfect for the role with his low-key strength. McQueen, with his smoldering, raging-filled cool, would have burst into apocalyptic movie-ending flame about 15 minutes after the previews. Newman simply endured and kept escaping.

Newman was one of a kind. And a delight to watch. Nobody will replace him.