Top 5 Paul Newman movies

Top Guy

1) Cool Hand Luke (1967)
At some point, everyone wants to be as cool as Paul Newman’s Luke. He earns respect by always dragging himself back up, he makes dumb bets because 50 seems like a nice round number, and he’s the ultimate thorn in authority’s side. Luke proves again and again that sometimes nothing is a real cool hand.

2) The Hustler (1961)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof made Newman a star, but this is the film that made him Paul Newman. He plays pool shark Eddie Felson, and Newman seems to live and die with each of Felson’s ups and downs. The scene where Felson hustles the wrong guys—and gets his thumbs broken in the process—is one of the most excruciating images captured on celluloid. He later revived the role for The Color of Money, winning a Best Actor Oscar in the process.

3) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
There might not be two more beloved anti-heroes than Cassidy (Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford). They rob banks and trains, trade wisecracks and flee to Bolivia when times get too tough in the United States. The final scene, where the pair tries to shoot their way through the Bolivian army, is the ultimate us-against-the-world statement.

4) Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
He’s grumpy. He’s mean. And he’s the ultimate villain opposite Tim Robbins’ awe-shucks Norville Barnes.

5) Slap Shot (1977)
There are great baseball movies (Bull Durham, Pride of the Yankees), football movies (The Longest Yard, North Dallas Forty) and basketball movies (Hoosiers, Hoop Dreams), but there is only one truly great hockey movie. The film follows a struggling team that turns around its financial and athletic fortunes by using a steady stream of fighting and violence during games. Newman was the star, but Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson and David Hanson steal the show as the ultra-violent Hanson brothers.

Top Lady

1) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Newman always looked cool playing a tough guy or outlaw; in this drama, however, he brings a heartbreaking complexity to the role of a son and husband who has to overcome alcohol addiction and a few other unspoken, unresolved issues to fulfill his place in the family.

2) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
OK—does anyone not want to ride around on the handlebars of Paul Newman’s bike?

3) Road to Perdition (2002)
In one of his few coming-out-of-retirement roles, Newman plays an Irish mob boss outside of Chicago who must make a choice right out of Greek tragedy—his own son has killed a trusted ally. Does he punish the crime? Only someone with 57 years of acting skill behind him could bring such nuanced anguish to the screen.

4) Hud (1963)
The film where Hollywood and everyone else realized that Newman could play a role that would otherwise be characterized as “the villain” yet turn him into a charming anti-hero.

5) The Sting (1973)
Basically Butch Cassidy, Part 2, The Sting has some neat twists and turns, but it is basically just another romp with Robert Redford and Newman in period costumes. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.