Bianca Garner Filmotomy Oct 10, 2024

Cool Hand Luke has one of cinema’s best character introductions and film openings.

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Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand May 6, 2023

There’s more than a bit of Christ allegory in the imagery but it’s the character of the scruffy prisoners in the impoverished prison... that gives the film its juice.

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Apr 8, 2023 3.5/4

In a career filled with iconic anti-heroes -- including what I deem the “4-H Club” from the 1960s (Hud, Harper, Hombre, and The Hustler) -- Lucas Jackson just might be the most popular of all the societal misfits played by Paul Newman.

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Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness Apr 4, 2023

Between the thoughtfulness of the narrative and both Newman’s and Kennedy’s performances (for which the latter won an Oscar), one can see why the film is as beloved as it is 56 years later.

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Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies Apr 4, 2023 4/5

Cool Hand Luke harkens back to an earlier era in Warner Bros. when they made gangster and chain gang films but this one is elevated by the likes of Paul Newman and George Kennedy.

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Tom Meek Cambridge Day Jan 23, 2021 4/4

In my mind, the most defining role of Paul Newman's long, illustrious career, and one of the great antihero films told with cruel wit - a black comedy if ever there was one.

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John Mahoney The Hollywood Reporter Dec 15, 2020

Well written by Pearce and Pierson and acted by a most talented ensemble of performers, Luke succeeds as both a highly humorous and deeply dramatic study of the immolation of human spirit in captivity and as an allegory.

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Aug 24, 2020 8/10

An archetype of '60s counterculture in cinema, particularly with its nuanced messages of discontent, conspicuous humor, and the unforgettable performance by Paul Newman.

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Wilfrid Sheed Esquire Magazine Feb 6, 2020

The movie cheats slightly by hinting Newman's death is a triumph - as if all crucifixions were alike. But this is a very small carp at a very fine movie.

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Jake Wilson The Age (Australia) Sep 27, 2018

The whole thing depends on Newman's blue eyes, easy grin, and ability to appear charismatic but never cocky.

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Brian Gibson Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta) Jun 26, 2015

As this 'Southern' turns up the heat, the sense of sadistic oppression, of being looked down on by 'the man,' swelters and burns. The glowering sun eclipses the convict in its hellfire glow. Newman/Luke's knowing smile, though, burns on.

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Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed Feb 16, 2014

An incredible film...

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Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm Jul 8, 2010 4/4

...a gulag melodrama, if such a thing is possible.

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Robert Levin Critic's Notebook May 2, 2009 4/5

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Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Apr 23, 2009

Stuart Rosenberg's direction is a horror, but the cast teems with so many familiar faces that this 1967 film can't help but entertain.

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Nov 16, 2008 3/4

Anchored by Paul Newman's thoroughly magnetic performance...

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Bill Weber Slant Magazine Sep 9, 2008 3/4

Newman remains watchable and glamorous throughout, bloody, muddy or coated in torso-flattering sweat, but the film's efforts to sentimentally "humanize" him by psychological revelation are clumsy.

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Chris Cabin Filmcritic.com Sep 5, 2008 4/5

The lines and the character have survived the film's oft-forgotten actual message.

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Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Sep 4, 2008

Cool Hand Luke now seems more like a well-made entertainment than any kind of American masterpiece.

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John J. Puccio Movie Metropolis Aug 26, 2008 10/10

...most viewers will have little failure understanding the movie and its motives. They communicate brilliantly.

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