Paul Newman – A Tribute
iView Author: Ratnakar Sadasyula (Bhubaneshwar, India)
Email: ratnakar.techie [at] gmail [dot] com
———————————————————–
Paul Newman – A Tribute
———————————————————–
A bit late in the day, this tribute of mine to Paul Newman, was something I had been planning to pen, but could not. Anyway as they say, better late than never.
My first view of Paul Newman on screen, was in the 1974 disaster flick The Towering Inferno. It is the standard adrenaline filled Hollywood blockbuster, pretty much enjoyable nevertheless. The movie stars Paul Newman as Doug Roberts the architect, who has to battle a fire that has broken out in the skyscraper he designed, mainly due to faulty construction. There is a scene in the movie, when his character, walks into a cocktail party, wearing just a tweed jacket, shirt and pants. The builder James Duncan( William Holden) is shocked and asks him to get into a more formal dress. He refuses saying that there is a crisis, and that is more important to him. This is how the exchange goes
James Duncan: What I wanted to tell us is that Senator Parker is flying in for the dedication tonight. And he’s almost guaranteed to sign the Urban Renewal Contract. Now do you know what that means? Skyscrapers like this all over the country! You design ‘em, I’ll build ‘em.
Doug Roberts: Don’t you think you’re suffering from an edifice complex?
James Duncan: You’ll never leave.
Doug Roberts: Right after the party – come on downstairs and watch me burn my black tie.
The character of Doug Roberts, was what Paul Newman was in a way. An uncompromising rebel, a man who believed in himself, who was passionate about his views. But then doing things the conventional way, was not Paul’s style. Consider this, with his drop dead handsome looks, his blue eyes, his rugged personality, he could have made a career playing the handsome hero in numerous sappy romances. But most of his characters were either rebellious or gritty in nature. He was a total prick in Hud, rebelling against his deeply principled father. In Cool Hand Luke, he was the prisoner fighting against a corrupt prison system. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he was Elizabeth Taylor’s alcoholic husband, brooding over his friend’s suicide, neglecting his wife. Even in a movie like The Verdict, where he played a crusading lawyer, he initially does it just to earn something out of it. In The Hustler, he was this cocky, small time pool player, who takes on the champion, and beats him down.
As in movies so, in real life too. He deliberately stayed away from what he called the “filth of Hollywood” making his residence in the small town of Westport in Connecticut. Unlike his counterparts more colorful personal lives, he was a total family man. Devoted totally to his second wife Joanne Woodward, whom he met during the making of The Long, Hot Summer, and married later, he quipped when asked about infidelity “Why, go for a hamburger, when you have steak at home?”. Politically though his views were liberal, he supported gay rights, same sex marriage, and was a strong opponent of the Vietnam War. In 1968, he openly campaigned for Eugene Mc Carthy, leading Richard Nixon to put his name in the list of his enemies. Matter of fact, Paul Newman, happened to be the only actor, to appear in the list of Nixon’s 19 enemies, and he considered that one of the greatest honors.
Paul Newman’s rebellious on screen persona, came to fore in his 1956 movie Somebody Up There Likes Me. Based on the real life boxer, Rocky Graziano, James Dean was originally supposed to play the role, but his untimely death in a car accident, had Newman stepping in. Incidentally Newman was the original choice for James Dean’s role in East of Eden. Paul Newman, plays the central character of Rocky, who has a troubled childhood, and becomes part of a street gang. In prison, he is rebellious to the authorities, and on being drafted into the Army, runs away. How he redeems himself later by taking up boxing, is what the movie is about.. His other memorable movie role in the 50’s was as Brick Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The son of a wealthy Southern millionaire, and a former football player, he however now leads an unhappy married life with Elizabeth Taylor. Brooding over the death of his friend, he suspects his wife of having an affair with his friend, leading him to neglect her. This movie would also earn Paul his first Best Actor nomination.
It was this rebellious streak, that helped Paul to successfully make the transition to the 60’s, when revolt was the key word. Paul’s non compromising nature, his arrogant attitude, his “I don’t care a damn” style made him an icon of the 60’s and 70’s. And nothing emphasized that better than the 1961 movie The Hustler. As a small time pool hustler “Fast Eddie” Felson, who challenges the champion “Minnesota Fats” Newman earned his second nomination. Though ostensibly a story of the underdog winning against the top dog, against all odds, Hustler in reality had a deeply layered story, it is not just about Eddie becoming a pool champion, but also the attempt to find the human being within himself., which he does but after a terrible tragedy. The climax scene where he beats Fats, is to date one of the best scenes in movie history.
And so did Paul Newman become the icon of rebellion during 60’s. Hud, where he played a totally rich, arrogant prick, who is an irresponsible womanizer. He is always at odds with his principled father, and blaming it on the lack of affection, as he says “My mama loved me, but then she died”. In 1966, he appeared with Alfred Hitchcock in their only movie together Torn Curtain. The movie was a Cold War thriller co starring Julie Andrews, and based on the incident of British spies defecting to Russia. Paul Newman plays a rocket scientist, who makes a fake defection to East Germany to gain inside information. However Paul never got along with Hitchcock during the making of the movie. Paul being a method actor, questioned Hitch, about the script, his character, which was not to the liking of Hitchcock. Having worked with actors like Cary Grant and James Stewart earlier, who would just go along with him, Hitch was clearly not too comfortable being questioned.
And then in 1967, came Cool Hand Luke, one of the most memorable movie characters on screen. This movie is about rebellion with a capital R. Luke Jackson, is the character you wanted to be, the rebel whom you cheer for, the man whom you want to succeed. A prisoner in a brutal prison set in Florida, he is one person who refuses to submit to the system. He is a kind of hero to the other prisoners, for his numerous escapes from prison, to the extent, that when he submits to the prison bosses, he loses his esteem. The movie is to date famous for the 50 eggs scene, and of course the tragic climax, where Luke is betrayed by his friend. One of the finest performances you will ever see on screen. Newman had that undeniable charisma, with his measured drawl, his careless demeanor, his piercing blue eyes, and mixing it up with his talent, it ensured he was magic on screen.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969, was noted for Robert Redford, but as Butch Cassidy, Paul Newman, still manages to pack a wallop. His bicycle ride with Katherine Ross to the tune of “Raindrops keep fallin on my head” is one of the most romantic moments in movie history, and of course the movie’s by now iconic climax. Both Newman and Redford would again team up in 1973 for The Sting, where they play professional con men, who take on the biggest task of their lives, conning an Irish mob boss, played by Robert Shaw, out of his money. In 1982, Newman gave another memorable performance in The Verdict, as a down on luck, alcoholic lawyer, who takes up a medical malpractice case. This was director Sidney Lumet’s second attempt at a legal drama after 12 Angry Men. Paul is exceptional as the lawyer who pursues a case, that could restore his lost respect and honor. Totally dark and gritty, this would always count as one of Paul Newman’s best performances.
Ironically, inspite of 7 nominations for Oscar, Paul Newman would win it only once, for his role of Fast Eddie, in the 1986 sequel to The Hustler, The Color of Money, directed by Martin Scorsese, where he plays a much older version of Eddie, who now mentors Tom Cruise. I guess it was a typical “We are sorry we did not give it earlier, but you can take it now” gesture by the Academy, considering Paul should have been winning it hands down either for The Hustler or The Verdict or Cool Hand Luke. Ironically his last on screen appearance, in The Road to Perdition, was a total anti thesis of his persona. As a conflicted Irish mob boss, who has to stop his surrogate son Tom Hanks, from taking revenge against his real son, played by Daniel Craig, Paul Newman was exceptional. Be it the scenes with Tom Hanks, or chiding his son, he was just brilliant, showing the same charisma and talent, with which he wowed movie goers during the 60’s and 70’s.
But more than a brilliant actor, Paul Newman was also a great humanist and philanthropist. He started Newman’s Own in 1982, and he put up a policy, that all the proceeds from sale, after paying taxes would be donated to charities. Starting off with a home made salad, which Paul himself made, it has right now expanded to many other items like pasta, cookies, coffee, juices, sauces. Every product has Paul Newman’s sketch stamped on it, and even younger people who have not seen many of his movies, are familiar with him, because of this. Another beneficiary is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, named after the gang in Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, which is a kind of summer camp for children suffering from terminal illness. As George Clooney remarked “he set the bar very high for actors like us”. The famous blue eyes which drove women crazy have now closed for ever. But we will never ever forget Butch Cassidy, Luke, Hud. Good bye Mr. Newman, as they say, they don’t make guys like you nowadays.
Tags: Paul Newman, Sidney Lumet, The Verdict, World Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
thanks for writing this Ratnakar.
Paul will always remain my idol. never before and never after the screen has witnessed a persona of his caliber.
still remember the day my uncle introduced me to butch cassidy and the sundance kid. i was around 5 then, but became and instant fan.
he will continue to live amongst us through his art.
Thanks Ratnakar!
For bringing back those beautiful memories of a true legend. A true fighter! Viva Paul Newman!
Leaving alone his works done in younger days, last I saw him in Twilight and Meesage in a bottle and still liked him.
The shining in his eyes was something very attractive thing to watch.
I have yet to watch his last film, RTP.
May his soul rests in peace.
Ratnakar, good write up. He was a brilliant actor and a wonderful man. I have loved all his movies from Hud, Cat on the hot tin roof, A long hot summer day, Butch cassidy, Verdict, cool hand, sting and so many more. Nobody beats Newman, a humble man, i saw his actors studio interview with Mr Lipton. Newman was a class act.
it’s hard not to admire Paul Newman for putting his money to work in such productive ways, such as his Newman’s Own line–high quality stuff and the proceeds go to good causes… very smart.