Cool Hand Luke review

Number 150 on top 1000 films of all time is the 1967 prison drama, Cool Hand Luke.

Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is a likeable and relaxed war veteran.  When he is caught drunkenly destroying municipal property, he is sent to a Florida prison.  There he quickly becomes a hero to the other prisoners, in particular to the formidable Dragline (George Kennedy,) when he refuses to bow to the prison rules.

When I started looking into this movie, I thought it would be something like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Luke Jackson is McMurphy standing up to the Nurse Ratchetesque guards.  Except the film didn't play out like that. 

Although the film is supposed to be in a prison, it didn't feel like that.  The prison guards didn't have the tyranny or the hostility I was expecting.  I thought they would be absolute despots abusing their power and their prisoners, but they seemed more like bored college kids at a holiday camp.  True, they weren't overtly cruel, but they were also quite indifferent to the prisoners.  They were more like acquaintances than prison and guard.

While there was the punishment of spending the night in the "box" -  a tiny cell with barely enough room to sit - and the prison bosses, but I don't think they were utilised enough for them to be any serious threat.  If we had seen more of them - more of the true horrors of the box, then the drama of this film would have been more apparent.  But as it stood for me, I didn't find it particularly tense or engaging.

What I preferred watching was the relationship between Luke and the other prisoners particularly Dragline.  George Kennedy won Best Supporting Actor for his role and it was well-deserved.  Kennedy was a powerhouse in this film.  He brought a great energy to the role and was very charismatic.  Although the two initially are at each other's throats, they quickly win each other's respect. 

And with Dragline's respect, the rest of the prisoners quickly follow.  There is a particularly powerful section where after Luke is recaptured after an attempted escape, the guards give him extra rice to eat at dinner.  If he doesn't finish his plate, they will punish him.  The prisoners all take spoonfuls of rice and help him to finish.

I imagine I'm going to get some slack for this review, as I usually do, if I don't positively review one of the best 1000 films of all time, but Cool Hand Luke didn't land for me.  While I liked the relationship between the prisoners and George Kennedy was great, this film didn't have enough dramatic tension to keep me engaged.