1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,440 Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Too Much Information, the show 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: that brings you the secret histories and little known facts 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: and figures behind your favorite movies, music, TV shows and more. 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: We are your two boss men of banality. I'm Alex 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: Heigel and I'm Jordan Run Talk and Jordan's Today we're 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: talking about one of the towering achievements of mid century 8 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: American cinema, a film that still holds on rotten Tomato, 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: A film that answers the question, as one Twitter user 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: dared to put it, what if the hottest dude ever 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: went to prison. That's right, folks, we're talking about cool 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: Hand Luke. Before we even get into it, I just 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: want to add this anecdote that Paul Newman. It's from 14 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: his biography about women just throwing themselves at him. He 15 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: was at a charity event where he was ladling punch 16 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: out and a woman asked if he could stir the 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: punch in her cup with his finger, to which he responded, 18 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: I'd be glad to, but I just took it out 19 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: of a Cyanide bottle. Greatest American man, I know, man, God, 20 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: I love him so much and for somebody. You really 21 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: could have just become like an out of control, like 22 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: raging monster with all of his considerable gifts and charisma 23 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: at his command. He was like, Nope, I love my 24 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: wife and salad and racing and chill cool dude and 25 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: be oh yeah, he loved beer. Did I put that in? 26 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: Later on, Ethan Hawk said he would. He when he 27 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: when Joann Wilbard kicked him out and they're compromised, was 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: that he stopped drinking liquor, but he would still go 29 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: through like a case of beer at dinner. Man. Yeah, 30 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: I think I saw a Cool Hand Luke when I 31 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: was a kid, because it's pretty minus the spoiler alert dying, 32 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: it's pretty kid friend and the boobs. It's pretty kid friendly. 33 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: As with every dad in the world, he loved the 34 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: failure to Municate line. But it was also one of 35 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: the few like capital F films that I've back to 36 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: again and again in between the rest of my youth, 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: which was spent mainlining John Carpenter and Jackie Chan. It 38 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: is a perfect film. Let's just say perfect film, full stop. 39 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: If you, if you, if there are people out there 40 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: who like I don't like Cool Hand Luke, it's like 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: the Thin Lizzy bumper sticker. It says, if you don't 42 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: like Thin Lizzie, you if you know what I like 43 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: Cool and Luke. That is not a reflection of the film. 44 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: It is a reflection on your moral failing as a person. 45 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: Um the lie when when they when he says, when 46 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 1: they asked him why he's cutting the heads off parking 47 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: meters and he goes a small town not much to 48 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: do in the evenings. Still one of my go twos. 49 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: It's just a perfect movie. Jordan's go talk about how 50 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: hot Paul Newman is. Yeah, I mean this movie looms 51 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: large for me, has a direct mainline to my heart. 52 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: Uh what is it about Paul Newman? And Dad's like, well, 53 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: you rocked me our two movies that just have the 54 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,399 Speaker 1: capacity to make men of a certain age weep. And 55 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: you know, I guess it makes sense because both of 56 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: these movies, Rocky and Cool Hand Luke, add a sense 57 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: of dignity to men being beaten down by forces bigger 58 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: than them, Rocky by Apollo Creed and Luke by drag Line. 59 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: During that famous fight scene, Uh, Paul Newman's character is 60 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: repeatedly getting hit by this beheamoth of a man over 61 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: and over in a scene that goes on for a 62 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: truly uncomfortably long length of time. He could barely stand. 63 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: And even the man beating Luke is telling him just 64 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: to stay down. And Newman says, what I think is 65 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: the crucial line of the movie, You'll have to kill me. 66 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: And you know, I'm almost embarrassed to say this. I 67 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: think about that line a lot in times of trouble 68 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: in my life, like, you know, you'll have to kill 69 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: me first. Uh. In Rocky and in Cool Hand Luke, 70 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: neither man buckles. They both go the distance, at least 71 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: according of their own moral code. Uh. There's a triumph 72 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: in just serve iving, which is maybe why both of 73 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: these films strike straight at the heart of I'll say anybody. 74 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, insert cliche about the durability of 75 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: the human spirit here. Newman has this in a lot 76 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: of his movies, actually, or at least the ones that 77 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: I've seen that have stuck with me. Uh. He's a 78 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: dreamer that doesn't have a chance, you know. And he's 79 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: in The Hustler, He's in The Sting, and especially in 80 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: Butch Cassie and the Sundance Kid, he brings the sense 81 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: of tragic optimism in the face of odds that we 82 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,919 Speaker 1: the audience know are absolutely crushing, and you know he 83 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: must know it too, And I think that gives this 84 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: movie and so many of Paul Newman's other movies this poignancy. 85 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: And that fight scene is the first thing I think 86 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: of when I think of this movie. Um, and of 87 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: course the poker scene where he gets his nickname because 88 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: he bluffs his way to winning, because you know, sometimes 89 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: he can just beat him with nothing nothing is pretty cool. 90 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: Hand like earlier today when he kept coming back at 91 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:02,119 Speaker 1: me with nothing. Ad too good. George Kennedy, George Kennedy 92 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: is so funny in this movie. He's he's playing this buffoon, 93 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: and in all of the interviews he's so soft spoken 94 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: and erudite. Yes, yeah, so, but did answer you to 95 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: your question? I would go. You know, you didn't ask 96 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,359 Speaker 1: me a question, you just told me to go. But 97 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: in answer to the prompt, wasn't Paul Newman hot I 98 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 1: have this to say? But yeah, I, um, I didn't. 99 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,799 Speaker 1: I didn't watch this with my dad. Actually, I every 100 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 1: Friday as a kid, I used to go to the 101 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: video store and get three movies for three days. For 102 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: three dollars, and as part of my ongoing campaign to 103 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: live life like it was the mid sixties, I would 104 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: always rent these old classic movies that were way too 105 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: mature for me, and I would watch them, usually by myself. 106 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: On this one, my dad's somehow intimated that Cool Hand 107 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: Luke was a truly good movie, like you know, one 108 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: that meant a lot to him, which was rare coming 109 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: from him, So that marked it a special to me 110 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: before I had ever seen it. And then when I 111 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: watched it, of course, that's just sealed it. I just 112 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: think it was, you know, as you said, a truly 113 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: great movie. Um. I think I watched it the same 114 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: weekend that I first saw Midnight Cowboy. I think I 115 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: watched them back to back and I just remember being 116 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: bummed out that whole weekend. I actually haven't seen this 117 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: movie in a very long time, but you you were 118 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: saying you saw it recently. Oh yeah, I watched on 119 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: my birthday. Um, because it is one of my favorite films. 120 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: Is like a top five for me for sure, probably 121 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: the only film with any dignity that's actually on my 122 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: top five. The other ones who are like John Carpenter 123 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: movies and again Jackie Chan, As I mentioned, um, you know, 124 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: I draw a lot of parallels between Jackie Chan and Luke. 125 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: They are both men who have to triumph against insurmountable 126 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: odds with a high degree of physical comedy. Kidding of 127 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: trying to make that work as the words came out 128 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: of my mouth and my brain was going stop. Yeah. 129 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: So I watched this with my wife, and we'd watched 130 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: it before at some point during the pandemic, but she 131 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: watched it this time, and when with the credits role 132 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: that ended that famous shot, she just bursts into tears 133 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: and then she goes, they killed him for being different. 134 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: And it's so I'm getting like choked up thinking about 135 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: it now, because that seems like an oversimplification of this 136 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: movie's themes, of which it is not subtle about. But 137 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: it is still a movie that hits you every time 138 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: the same way, and you can be a child or 139 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: a grown adult and you can still see it and 140 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: be affected by the same way, and it still hits 141 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: the same every time. And we don't get very many 142 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: works of art like that. You know, you can see 143 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: this movie as a kid and as an adult and 144 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: you still get every element of it, just you know, 145 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: people are like, oh it, HiT's different. Nope, it hits 146 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: the same. It's a hundred percent it's a home run. 147 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: No notes. So from the heart boiled X sailor turned 148 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: safecracker who wrote the source material to the woman being 149 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: hard Boiled eggs, hard boiled eggs, how did you miss that? 150 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: Damn it? Here's everything you didn't know about cool Hand Luke. 151 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: Cool hand Donald the man doesn't have quite the same 152 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: ring to it. The man who wrote the novel cool 153 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: Hand Luke was a guy named Don Pierce, Pennsylvania boy 154 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:33,559 Speaker 1: Keystone State. Uh. He was born in ninety in the 155 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:35,959 Speaker 1: Philadelphia suburb of Croydon, just on the other side of 156 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: the New Jersey border. His parents split when he was eleven, 157 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: but he was a sharp kid, valedictorian of his grammar 158 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: school in New York. He attended the elite Brooklyn Technical 159 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: School for two years, one ten dollars in a writing 160 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: contest in high school. Dropped out of school at fifteen, though, 161 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: and proceeded to have one of those truly bananas mid 162 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: century American man lives that uh well, stuff of novels 163 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: are made of. He attempted to join the Merchant Marine, 164 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: was turned away for being too young, and was accepted 165 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: into the army instead. You can't make money, but you 166 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: can die for us. That's fine. Yeah, I mean this 167 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: Jordan listen during night was a little thing called w 168 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: W two. They needed the big one that they needed. Uh, 169 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: they needed anybody, and they got a fifteen year old 170 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: Donald Pierce, who subsequently went a wall. Not so much 171 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: because he was scared, he said, but because he didn't 172 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: like all the rules, and he was sentenced to thirty 173 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: days in the stockase. He sent him to the box well, 174 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: but then they immediately lent him out. They were like, like, 175 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: we're shipping you off because again w W two. And 176 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,199 Speaker 1: then he wrote his mom and she subsequently he sently 177 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: essentially snitched on himself. He wrote his mom, who wrote 178 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: the army and was like, my kids, you know, fifteen 179 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: and you can't send him to the Battle of the Bulge. 180 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: He was charged with false enlistment, but he was released. 181 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: He said. He did later regret it. He regretted feeling 182 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: like a coward over it. Um which I don't know, dude. Uh. 183 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 1: Now of age, he joined the Merchant Marine. Uh. Timeline 184 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: is a little fuzzy here. There's some of the better 185 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: interviews with him go to like dead regional Florida newspaper links, 186 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,200 Speaker 1: but from what I was able to clean. At some 187 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: point in Venice, he fell in love with a pregnant 188 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: Italian newspaper reporter, but was not allowed to marry her 189 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: because he wasn't eighteen. And then in France he got 190 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:28,199 Speaker 1: involved with the thriving post World War two black market 191 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: there and was jailed for selling counterfeit currency to an 192 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: undercover cop. Supposedly, he escaped, made his way to Italy, 193 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: forged his papers to get back across the Atlantic, and 194 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: got back into the US via Canada, at which point 195 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: he joins up with a safecracker named Donald Graham Garrison 196 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: and attempted to make a go of things as a burglar, 197 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: a thief, a brigand no brigands. Robbed people face to face, 198 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: but by his own account, he was not very good 199 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: at it. Um he appeared there's a really funny episode 200 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: of the nineteen six game show to Tell the Truth. 201 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,839 Speaker 1: Are you familiar with your whole? Yeah? I thought so, Jordan. 202 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: What's to tell the truth? Uh? Show that they zero 203 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: dollars today they have somebody with insanely specific life story 204 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: like this guy and they bring on the real guy, 205 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: and then two people pretending to be that guy, and 206 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: then a panel of guests just ask them questions and 207 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: try to judge which one of them is telling the truth, 208 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: and at the end of the episode they vote on 209 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: which one is the real You know that the the 210 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: the minem line we were the real so and so 211 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: please stand up is from that show Holy and I 212 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,839 Speaker 1: never put that together. Yeah, uh well, he said during 213 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: his part of his panel appearance, and that he said, 214 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: I always seemed to pick the wrong safes and most 215 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,599 Speaker 1: often I found nothing but love letters and old sandwiches. 216 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: Incredible image that's up there with the fisherman pulling up 217 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: an old tire out of the water. That's great. Yeah. 218 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: So Pierce went to prison for attempting to rob a 219 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,960 Speaker 1: movie theater in Florida. I have heard two different versions 220 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,079 Speaker 1: of this. One is that he was either dating this 221 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: woman and told her that he was going to do 222 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: it and she was in the process of getting divorced 223 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: from her husband, who was a cop, and she told 224 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 1: her soon to be ex husband and that set him up, 225 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: or he was just hitting on her. Essentially, he was like, yeah, 226 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: I'm gonna knock over this movie theater and she told 227 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 1: her Picks husband who was a cop, and result was 228 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: still the same. Yes. Pierce was sentenced to five years 229 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: in nine and spent the first year working in the 230 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: print shop at the Florida State Penitentiary at Rayford, and 231 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: then he was sent to Road Camp number forty eight 232 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: in Tav's Lake County. That's how you say that, right, 233 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: I think so to varias, Yeah, uh, an experience he 234 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: described as quote a chamber of horrors and yeah, that 235 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: sounds about right. Many of the details from Cool Hand Luke, 236 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: like the box, the leg shackles, and the dog man 237 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: were drawn from his experience there, as was the climax 238 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: to the movie. Unfortunately uh. In the Florida paper The 239 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: Daily Commercial, unearthed through court records in August ninety nine, 240 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: Corners jury in quest into the shooting death of an 241 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: escaped convict, twenty two year old Luther Catured. Captured had 242 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: been sentenced to three years for unarmed robbery, but he 243 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: bolted from a brush cutting roadside work detail on you 244 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 1: Interstate four four one between Silver Lake Forks and Leesburg 245 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: Airport at eleven am one day with another convict all 246 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: of bureaucracy that they just drilled down into all these details, 247 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: and now fifty five years later we can be like, 248 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,319 Speaker 1: we know where the actual cool hand Luke was fleeing 249 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: from and subsequently shot to death. Yes, hunt by guards 250 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: and the Camps dog boys immediately started up, and prison 251 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: Captain W. P. Allison testified, we ran him until six 252 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: thirty and lost the trail it rained on us. But 253 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: by about ten pm guards and their dogs had tracked 254 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: the men to an African American church near Lisbon, and 255 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 1: a guard named A. R. Hampton testified that they found 256 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: one man laying on the floor and the other got 257 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: up with an organ stool or piano stool or some 258 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: kind of a stool in his hand and was standing 259 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: up with it and said some curse word about getting 260 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: the light out of his eyes. And he flinched with 261 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: the stool like he was going to throw it at somebody, 262 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: throw it through the window at us. And that was 263 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: when I shot him. He shot a man arms with 264 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: a church oregan stool. That is Gothic Florida. Baby. Yeah, 265 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: it's basically the last seed of the film, except instead 266 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: of taunting, the man just stood up and held a stool. 267 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: Don Pierce told the Son Sentinel in that I never 268 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: knew Luke. He was a legendary con famous for escaping. 269 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: I did know the walking boss who shot him. I 270 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: put all these stories together. I mixed legends and used 271 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: myself as a model. The real Luke never bet the 272 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,200 Speaker 1: guards he could eat fifty hard bowed eggs. That was me. 273 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: They called off the bed after they saw how much 274 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: I could eat. Pierce did allow that the real Luke 275 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: was quite a banjo player and got his nickname from 276 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: his poker playing abilities. Uh. It has frequently been repeated. 277 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: You can still find it out there that that guy 278 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: Don Graham Garrison, who is Pierce's safe cracking buddy, was 279 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: the inspiration for the character. That is incorrect, as we 280 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: have just proved with official Florida State court records. But 281 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: that actually might come from Garrison simply saying that it 282 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: was which gotta respect the hustle there. Um. Don Pierce 283 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: was sufficiently annoyed by the fact that Garrison did this 284 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 1: to debunk the claim in an article in the Fort 285 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: laud Of News that I turned up. Um. He basically 286 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: just claimed that he visited Garrison in jail after the 287 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: film came out told him about the movie, and when 288 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: Garrison got out, he started being like, oh yeah, that Luke, 289 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: It's based on me again. Respect the hustle. So once 290 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: Pierce got out of prison, he zeroed on his ambition 291 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: to write. Owned he said by a proost reading Stanford 292 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: Grad he met at to Veres, and when he got 293 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: out of the prison camp after two years, he made 294 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: another go with the Merchant Marines and started writing while 295 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: on these voyages, saving all his money from that work 296 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: and moving eventually to New York City. After living there 297 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: for a few years, he got into a motorcycle accident 298 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: which took him two years to recover from, and in 299 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: nine he was on his way to the movie theater 300 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: on crutches when a girl walked towards him carrying a 301 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: radio which was playing Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans 302 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: with its chorus about the British on the run from 303 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson's Frontier Soldiers, and Pierce later said, when you 304 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: get ideas, they generally come in little flakes, like the 305 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: grains of sand and an oyster. That's good, cool head, Luke, 306 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: though came so hard and fast. I had a stop 307 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: at my crutches and leaned against the fence. I was 308 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 1: laughing so hard. That was Luke, like the British and 309 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: the song. He kept on a running and no one 310 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: could catch him. He was a superhero. Over the next 311 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: few days, the rest came to be in great, big chunks. 312 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: I always liked it to make him scrambled eggs. You 313 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: get different spots that that hard and first my analogy 314 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: is better. Uh, this is something like his. I've heard fifth, 315 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: I've heard seventh, finished novel rejected sixteen times before Scribner 316 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: picked it up, apparently only because an editor had taken 317 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: the manuscript home and his wife read it and liked it. 318 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: That was a listical, right there. Famous stuff that got 319 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: made because the producer's spouse liked it. I feel like 320 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: I've had a bunch of examples of that on here 321 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: wasn't Will Smith cast and then in Black because the 322 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: producer's wife liked him. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah she was. 323 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 1: I think she was because she was a fresh Prince fan. 324 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah. The novels published in nine sold uh 325 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: dred copies. I have never read it, have you. I've 326 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,919 Speaker 1: never even heard of it until this episode. Yeah, I 327 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: had no idea that was a novel until this, Uh. 328 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: Pierce struggled as a writer. After the book was adapted. 329 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: He published some articles and Playboy and Esquire. He has 330 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: other novels. He has an expose about the nursing home 331 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: industry in Florida called Dying in the Sun, which I 332 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,360 Speaker 1: feel like I have to read. After that came out 333 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: in seventy three, he pivoted to his latter day career 334 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: as a bounty hunter, an investigator, bondsman, although he disliked 335 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:28,399 Speaker 1: using that term. He preferred the term skip man, skip man, 336 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: what's the derivation of that? As? Yeah, I like that, Okay. Yeah. 337 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: He died in the age of twelve years after furnishing 338 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: this incredible quote to the Florida Sun Sentinel. The world 339 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: really isn't evil, It's just dumb. There's no cure for dumb. Dumb. 340 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: Will outsmart you. I sent that to a few people 341 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: after reading that. In the line, I was gonna say, Man, 342 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: that's a hell of a quote to go out on. 343 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,119 Speaker 1: Don Pierce. We hardly knew ye. Uh. Director Stuart Rosenberg, 344 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: who had been kicking around television for the previous decade, 345 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 1: discovered Pierce's novel brought it to Jack Lemon's Jalom Productions. 346 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: Rosenberg would later tell The New York Times of the novel, 347 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: it was the first time I had come across an 348 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 1: existentialist hero, not an anti hero, in American literature. Here 349 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,120 Speaker 1: was a man not so much a rebel as a nonconformist, 350 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: a man who didn't belong, committed to no external idea 351 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:31,159 Speaker 1: but to himself, and desperately concerned to express that commitment. Uh. 352 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: To their credit Productions credit. They hired Piers for the screenplay, 353 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: although he had zero experience writing screenplays, and so it 354 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,400 Speaker 1: was quite understandable when they saw his draft and brought 355 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: it another guy named Frank R. Pearson to rewrite it. 356 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,199 Speaker 1: And yeah, as we'll talk about. Don Pierce was not 357 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: exactly complimentary about the film adaptation of his book, No Sir, 358 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: from Soup to Nuts. He hated it. Uh where does 359 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: that phrase come from? Yeah, it just the way that 360 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: meals used to be parsed out. First course would be 361 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:07,879 Speaker 1: soup and then they'd bringing nuts course. Yeah. Huh uh. 362 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 1: Pearson was a Harvard grad who's been a reporter for 363 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: Time magazine and a story editor for TV. His most 364 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,479 Speaker 1: famous screenplay prior to this was Western parody Cat Blue 365 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: had by the Beatles. I think it's Cat Belue. Yeah. 366 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: Pierson would go want to pick up an oscar for 367 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:28,880 Speaker 1: Dog Day Afternoon and a movie I cannot preference without 368 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: It's Always Sunny episode where Charlie is running around in 369 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: the street. He trying to reference the Attica scene if 370 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: instead is yelling Gattica, It's never not gonna be a 371 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:53,360 Speaker 1: Gatica gatricka um. He would also direct the nine version 372 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: of A Star Is Born. Pearson's contributions were ramping up 373 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: the religious themes president in the story, perhaps to a 374 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: an unsubtled degree, if we were being charitable and contributing 375 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: Strother Martin's iconic failure to communicate line as the camp captain, 376 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: which Pierce famously derided is stupid, saying that the overseers 377 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: at his camp were not that eloquent. It's probably fair. AXL. 378 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: Rose disagreed and has used a sample of that in 379 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,680 Speaker 1: not one but two separate Guns and Roses songs, A 380 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: Decade and Change apart, one on Civil War from the 381 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: not Appetite for Destruction Guns and Roses record and Democracy. 382 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: It's either lies er spaghetti incident or something. It's a 383 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,399 Speaker 1: civil war. We all need no civil war. Can't do 384 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: the break. We all need no civil war. It's certainly 385 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 1: the only good part of my anxious screechy does Pierson 386 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 1: said in a Writer's Killed of America interview, the phrase 387 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: just sort of appeared on the page. I looked at 388 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: it in in thought, now, that's interesting. Then I thought, these 389 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: words are going to be spoken by an actor who 390 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: is playing a real redneck character who probably never went 391 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: beyond high school, and it has a faintly academic feel 392 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: to it. That line, I thought people are going to 393 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 1: question it. So to that end, he wrote an entire 394 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: biography for the Captain was played by Strother Martin, as 395 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: we mentioned, a man George Kennedy described as both an 396 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: actor's actor and a bit cuckoo for real. He was 397 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,360 Speaker 1: also in Bush and Sundance with Paul Newman, and he 398 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:34,160 Speaker 1: sings a song that sounds a lot like plastic Jesus 399 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: right before his character gets shot. In Pearson's bio, the 400 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: Captain started out as an ordinary guard in the prison system, 401 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: but in order to advance to a higher grade, he 402 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: was required to do a certain amount of study and 403 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: take courses in criminology, so he was actually exposed to 404 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: an academic atmosphere, which would justify him using that language 405 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: after all that, though nobody questioned the line and those 406 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,399 Speaker 1: details were never used the Production Code Authority, which is 407 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: established nine and thirty four to enforce quote unquote decency 408 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: in films. If you've heard of the Haze Code as 409 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: the production code authority. Uh. They were sent the script 410 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: and they were not thrilled. They wrote in a memo 411 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: to the production that there's entirely too much profanity for 412 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: us to begin to consider approving the script, including by 413 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: actual count, four instances of son of a Bitch, six 414 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: instances of damn, eight instances of bastard, thirty two incidentss 415 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: of damn, thirty nine incidences of hell, and other assorted 416 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: expressions such as grab bass, wise ass, smart ass, raggedy ass, 417 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: shove it, and bitched up that one one. I don't 418 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: think that even appears in the film though. Uh. There 419 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: were several sequences which, as presently described, appeared to us 420 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: to be unacceptably brutal, savage, and sadistic. But the Haze 421 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: Code was on its way out by all, the teeth 422 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: had gone out of it. Standards were changing, so sorry, guys, tough, 423 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: Yeah suck. At Nerds, Conrad Hall, who would go on 424 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: to scoop up three Oscars and three BAFTAs for a 425 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: career included in Cold Blood, Butch Cassidy, American Beauty and 426 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,919 Speaker 1: Road to Perdition, was hired as the film's cinematographer. He 427 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: would later recall that he had to shoot one scene 428 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: five times because executives at Warner Brothers, who were distributing 429 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: the film, complained that Newman's famous blue eyes were not 430 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: coming through prominently enough in the dailies. You gotta do 431 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: the cigar chopping. Executive. I want to see those baby 432 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,640 Speaker 1: blue six ft tall on a big screen as you're 433 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: blue like a summer day on the sea. Sererulean even 434 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: making unnecessary impression here Boss in certain of recurring bit here, 435 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: Boss inserted recording bit there. Luke note on Newman's famous 436 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:55,320 Speaker 1: baby blues in the book Paul Newman The Extraordinary Life 437 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: of an Ordinary Man, which is I believe culled from 438 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: like an oral history, interviewed that he did. It's all 439 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: like transcripts of him talking yeah recently, yeah. Uh. He 440 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: said that, um, he was conflicted about getting noticed for them. 441 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: He said you work what you consider pretty hard at 442 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: your craft, and you're getting to the point where you're 443 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: just starting to feel kind of good about yourself. And 444 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: then somebody says, oh, God, take off your sunglasses so 445 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: I can see your baby blue eyes. Yeah, you have 446 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: that famous line. I picture my epitaph. Here lies Paul Newman, 447 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: who died of failure because his eyes turned brown. Well, 448 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: the sunglasses came about because he said, I really have 449 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: no tolerance for light. Uh, there's an accumulation of Budweiser 450 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,840 Speaker 1: as well as damage from my early days making movies 451 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: when the slower film exposure is often required an actor 452 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: to keep looking straight into an arc light, and in fact, 453 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: Conrad Hall, in an interview, talks about that's how they 454 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: got this shot of the baby blues that the cigar 455 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: shopping executive mandated. He was like, I just put an 456 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: arc light in front of him and blasted him with it. 457 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: So good job, Warner Brothers. You gave Paul Newman lasting 458 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: I damage. Is that new documentary that Ethan Hawk did 459 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,680 Speaker 1: on him? Any good? Last movie Star? Is it good? 460 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: I've heard it's good. I'd bear no quarrel at Ethan 461 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: Hawk starring in the aforementioned gatica UH. Paul Newman's brother Arthur, 462 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: was hired as the unit production manager, and despite maybe 463 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: being a bit of a nepotism higher, he actually admirably 464 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,360 Speaker 1: really busted his ass making this. They visited the Tavares 465 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: Camp in Florida, shot a bunch of pictures as references, 466 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: and then subsequently constructed a dozen buildings for the set 467 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: of this movie, which was filmed in Stockton, California, including 468 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: a barracks, mess, hall, warden's quarters, guard shack dog kennels, 469 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,920 Speaker 1: and then they brought in Spanish moss from Louisiana to 470 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: UH to dress all of this stuff in, and the 471 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 1: effect was so convincing that a San Joaquin County building 472 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: inspector drove past the set thought it was a migrant 473 00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 1: workers complex and subs squently posted a bunch of condemned 474 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: notices all over it for not being up to code. 475 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: The opening scene of Luke cutting the tops off the 476 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: parking meters was filmed in Lodi, California. Or load lowde 477 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: I have no idea. I assume it's loady, but in 478 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: um the credence clear Water rival song of the same name, 479 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: he says doesn't he say, stuck in lowd eye again, 480 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: stuck in lorda again. I'm keeping all this just because 481 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,120 Speaker 1: I want to hear you do your poet impression. Well, 482 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: it's just a bunch of dudes going, is that out 483 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: of their nose? For forty forty minutes at the clip 484 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: I had, I actually had worked on them, the drag 485 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,960 Speaker 1: line where you goes, Oh Lord, whatever I done, don't 486 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 1: distract for another couple a few minutes. Oh man, I 487 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,399 Speaker 1: love George Kennedy. I love that. We'll get it to 488 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: him in a second. Um the city to get sweet time, 489 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: replacing those meters. Apparently, for a few years after the 490 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: filming was wrapped, you could go there and just see 491 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: this block long row of headless parking meters. I hope 492 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: they put a plaque in. It was like like the 493 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: Rocky Steps in Philly. Um that has changed from the novel. 494 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 1: In the novel, Luke purposely crashed his car into a 495 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: diner to steal money, which might have been Donald Pierce's 496 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: second choice of his real life caper. I mean, Rosenberg said, 497 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 1: I thought an awful lot of businessmen wouldn't find that 498 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,960 Speaker 1: very heroic, and so he changed it for the film. Yeah, 499 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: Luke says in the movie that they cut the heads 500 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: off parking meters because he was settling an old score, 501 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: and the idea was that this crime would endear him 502 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: to the audience because nobody likes parking meters and probably 503 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: wish they had the guts that do the same thing. 504 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: And it also endeared him to the gang in the 505 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: prison camp, who were weirdly impressed by the randomness and 506 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: even pointlessness of this crime, which I like, I mean, 507 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: there's just so much This movie is also a really 508 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: great example of like the Iceberg rule. You know, there's 509 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: so much of it that's just hinted at, and like 510 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: the iceberg being like you only see ten percent of 511 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: the iceberg, and so you know, if you're in writing, 512 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: it's the idea of, like you just kind of hinted 513 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: stuff and you can leave a lot on set and 514 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: open to interpretation. I mean, it's just it's mentioned that 515 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: he's a war hero and he has all of these 516 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: medals and stuff. But what is settling an old score 517 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: against parking meters mean? Is that you know, he got 518 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: a lot of tickets once or you just mean generally 519 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: against like the machinery of bureaucracy. And city hall and stuff. 520 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: It's also you know this movie opens, it doesn't even 521 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 1: open with Paul Newman. It opens with the giant word 522 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: violation on the parking meter, which is just again on 523 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: the nose but very efficient. Well, then the end of 524 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: the movie, when he's dead in the back of the car, 525 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: you can see the red light from the stop light 526 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: up ahead, and then it turns the grain and the 527 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: movie opens with the red mean agreen to read, I 528 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: should say, yeah, picked up on that. That's so good. 529 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: Supposed to be just like symbolic of like, you know, 530 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: being told what to do, essentially great filmmaking. We're going 531 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but we'll be right back 532 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: with more too much information in just a moment. George Kennedy, 533 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: who as I mentioned earlier, won an Oscar for his 534 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: role as Dragline, lauded the productions worth in this memoir. 535 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,400 Speaker 1: Trust Me. The original in Florida, he said, was old, 536 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: the sideboards warped, the beams aged, it was all duplicated, 537 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: exactly started to the prison camp. Yes, he was talking 538 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 1: about Dennis Hopper. If you didn't know otherwise, you would 539 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: have bet hard cash it had been there fifty years 540 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: or more. All that said, though some of the movie 541 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 1: was shot in Florida. The scene in which Luke is 542 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: chased by bloodhounds and some of the other exteriors were 543 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: shot at Callahan Road Prison near Jacksonville, according to the 544 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: Florida Department of Corrections website. Um, it was a stunt 545 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: man playing Luke, but those were real Department of Corrections 546 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: dogs chasing after him. Can I can imagine getting that call? God, 547 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: what's it? Was it? Call? She'd say, Oh, I'm being 548 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: chased by Florida d O C. Dogs. The film is 549 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: famous for its ensemble casts, which includes Dennis Hopper, Harry 550 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: Dean Stanton, and as you mentioned, Trapper John Oh yeah, Whyene, 551 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: Wayne Roberts. Their camaraderie really comes across and it was 552 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: hard one and real. Uh. They all stayed in the 553 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: local holiday in together. They rode to the set each 554 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: day in the backs of the trucks that were used 555 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: on the film. I rather, they would play poker games 556 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: on the set and screw around, and this would occasionally 557 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: disrupt filming, but the director let it go because he 558 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 1: wanted that sense of camaraderie and rebellion to come through 559 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:00,840 Speaker 1: in the movie. I put us later on, but now's 560 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: a good time to mention it. They also banned wives 561 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: and girlfriends from the set because they wanted them to 562 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: all be convincingly man musk drenched, sexually frustrated maladroids. At 563 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: least one store I was not able to verify this, 564 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,960 Speaker 1: but at least one source claims that they actually tarred 565 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: a stretch of highway in Stockton for it. Can we 566 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,680 Speaker 1: get I heard to adopt that section of the highway 567 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: George Kennedy Memorial cool Hand Loop Driveway, all all hyphenated 568 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: like the side is like for long, the failure to 569 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: communicate Strother Martin Memorial Highway, Newman's own Blacktop. Ah, that's good. 570 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: That should be the next thing they experiment. They push 571 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: into Newman's own road. Tar Rosenberry actually had the ball 572 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: practice with machetes and shovels in the studio backyard for 573 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: the labor scenes because he thought some of them were 574 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: not convincingly convict like and their motions. Um Jack Lemon 575 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: was initially considered for the role of Luke because it 576 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,840 Speaker 1: was his production company. That would have been terrible. Uh yeah, 577 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: took himself out of consideration. Good move, Jack. They also 578 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: considered Telly Savalis ko Jack. Telly was in the UK 579 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: filming The Dirty Dozen with George Kennedy, but apparently Telly 580 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: Savalis was afraid to fly and they did not want 581 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: to delay production enough for him to get back into 582 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: the States by boat. George Kennedy got his ass on 583 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: a plane and that's why he won the Oscar. Did 584 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: you ever hear that that Skinnered song of this the 585 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: bit about there's a drive by trucker and song called 586 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,400 Speaker 1: get your ass on the plane? It is supposedly, I 587 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: think what the Leonard Skinner Road manager says said to them, 588 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: said to one of them, who I haven't heard this, 589 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: I did a whole thing on the Leonard Skinner plane crash. 590 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: I guess it would have been the fortie anniversary. I 591 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: forget who it was, but one of the survivors of 592 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: the wreck, Artemis Kyle, like, oh yeah right, dragged himself 593 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: through the evert Clay shot shot at because he I 594 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: mean to be fair, that must have looked like something 595 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: I have Texas chainsaw massacre. This dude in like long 596 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: stringy hair, covered in blood, like emerging from the swamp. 597 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,399 Speaker 1: How what is this? Is this from? Maybe I'm making 598 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: this up. That sounds familiar, though someone was like they 599 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: were like I got a bad feeling about this, and 600 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: the tour manager or something was like, get your ass 601 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: on the plane. Okay. Finally got that thing moving on. 602 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: Paul Newman read the book and committed himself to the 603 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: project before there was even a script finalized, saying it 604 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: would have worked no matter how many mistakes were made. 605 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,759 Speaker 1: Great Line Luke was from West Virginia, so Newman contacted 606 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: Peace Corps founder Sergeant Shriver, who he knew through his 607 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: activism with the Democratic Party, to find him a guide 608 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,120 Speaker 1: through West Virginia to pick up on the accent and mannerisms. 609 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: Shriver got Newman in touch with the businessman in Huntington, 610 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,920 Speaker 1: West Virginia named Andy Kuvorus. But guide or no guide, 611 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: Paul Newman was recognized basically everywhere he went, obviously, except 612 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: at a Catholic school, where Anne shook his hand and said, 613 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: nice to meet you, Mr Newman. What do you do 614 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:11,280 Speaker 1: for a living? That is that is a charming story, 615 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: But I don't actually really remember being especially blown away 616 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,719 Speaker 1: by his accent and this. No, it's not like method level, 617 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,759 Speaker 1: it's just kind of general. Do you we see that 618 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: David Cross bit where he's like, uh, talks about the 619 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: redneck accent that's common everywhere in the world or everywhere 620 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 1: in the States. No man, I'm from Butte, Montana. No man, 621 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,359 Speaker 1: I'm from Corpus Christy, Texas. No man, I'm from hunting 622 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: West Virginia. It's just like just a common accent. Any Anyway. 623 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,239 Speaker 1: One cast member who didn't have a good time on 624 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: the set of this or agree with Newman's casting was 625 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: Don Pierce, who is credited as the film's technical advisor. 626 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:47,839 Speaker 1: Hasn't a bit part in it, is one of the 627 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,799 Speaker 1: one of the men he at least worked in like 628 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: the author of the book to try and yeah, yeah, 629 00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,279 Speaker 1: he's sort of bit. Yeah he really did. Uh. He 630 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: said he felt of place in Hollywood. Is an ex 631 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,399 Speaker 1: conn he said, felt kind of condescended to and felt 632 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: like an old man out. And he got in a 633 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: fight on the on his last day on set and 634 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: punched someone else who I was not able to find 635 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,759 Speaker 1: out who, but he was Subsequently Newman thought that it 636 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:21,879 Speaker 1: was so hush hush, like maybe they He was subsequently 637 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,359 Speaker 1: disinvited from the film's supremiere. Perhaps yeah, you wouldn't get 638 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: disinvited if you just like, if you hit like Trapper, 639 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: John was Hell, you'd be encouraged if you knocked out Hopper. 640 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,840 Speaker 1: Take a swing on him. Everyone does. Man, I forgot 641 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: about that dude in there with like the horrific scar. Yeah, 642 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: And then there's a great throwaway relying He's like, how 643 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: did you get that scar? And he's like, what scar? Yeah? Uh. 644 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: Pierce consistently derided both the finished film and Newman, saying 645 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: variously that he was too cute and too scrawny to 646 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: play a convincing as in Camp Inmate. He would never 647 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: have lasted in the role, he said, or in the camp. 648 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:06,840 Speaker 1: I seem to be the only guy in the United 649 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: States who doesn't like the movie. Said they screwed it 650 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: up different ways. And we talked about this doing the 651 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,400 Speaker 1: Never Ending Story episode where we did a sidebar on 652 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: authors who hate the film adaptation of their movie. He's 653 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: quoted as saying, they did a lousy job, and I 654 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:25,560 Speaker 1: just liked it intensely. Talking to the Telegraph Newman, he 655 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: would have lasted five minutes on the road. We mentioned earlier. 656 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,759 Speaker 1: Pierce got a small part in the movie The Convict sailor. Uh, 657 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: and I guess he tried to like have a conversation 658 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 1: with Paul Newman on the side, get some kind of 659 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,959 Speaker 1: relationship going. Don Pierce claims that Paul Newman even asked 660 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: him to dinner, but then canceled. This is Pierce talking 661 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: when his pr people realized that he didn't need to 662 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 1: be seen eating with an x con. I didn't like 663 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,839 Speaker 1: the guy. I didn't like the whole Hollywood crowd. I 664 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: was never made welcome, and so he punched someone. Um 665 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: going off on unnecessary tangent here, boss going often necessary 666 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: tangent there, Joan. Speaking of background parts, did you know 667 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,200 Speaker 1: that Ron Howard's dad, Rance Howard appeared as an an 668 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: uncredited role in this movie as the sheriff. I did not. Yeah, 669 00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,840 Speaker 1: he's in there too. Yeah, so we've got us. Actually, 670 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,320 Speaker 1: so I have to say about that. Dennis Hopper invited 671 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,480 Speaker 1: a buddy, this San Francisco avant garde filmmaker Bruce Conner 672 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,960 Speaker 1: to the set one day, who shot footage of the 673 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: actors clearing brush on the roadside and turned it into 674 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:33,840 Speaker 1: a slow motion, seventeen minute short film called Luke. Because 675 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: this was back in the day when you could be 676 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,839 Speaker 1: an experimental filmmaker, just coasting on that kind of half 677 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: past garbage because everyone was super stoned and on lst. Yeah, 678 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,799 Speaker 1: this is the arrow in any whirlhol made Empire, which 679 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: was just he turned the camera on and pointed it 680 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,120 Speaker 1: at the Empire State Building for eight hours and five minutes. 681 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 1: Wasn't Hopper involved in the Monkeys the Monkeys thing? Was 682 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:59,200 Speaker 1: he in head? I know that Nicholson was? What did 683 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:02,000 Speaker 1: Hopper do? And for the Monkeys movie he's in a 684 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: non speaking part? WHOA I forgot about that? Wow? Yeah, 685 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,080 Speaker 1: because I know Nicholson, I think didn't he co write it? 686 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: Jack Nicholson did, And then he went on to be 687 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,239 Speaker 1: an easy rider because he was involved with Hopper and 688 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:19,000 Speaker 1: that whole crowd. Yeah, they they just all the monkeys 689 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:23,399 Speaker 1: and Jack Nicholson brainstormed into a tape recorder to hear 690 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 1: that tape. God, things were just so much easier back then. 691 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,440 Speaker 1: Betty Davis turned down the roll of Luke's mom, which 692 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,279 Speaker 1: went to Joe van Fleet. It's only ten or eleven 693 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: years older than Newman when this was filmed. Uh, they 694 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: only had a day to shoot that scene together, which 695 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:43,759 Speaker 1: was eight pages long in the script, which, uh, that's ambitious. Supposedly, 696 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: I think this is in George Kennedy's autobiography. Van Fleet 697 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: arrived and she sat on a tree stump two yards 698 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,799 Speaker 1: from everyone else, pouring over the script and going up 699 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: for her lines. And then she asked Harry Dean Stanton 700 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: to sing to her before her take, which moved her 701 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,239 Speaker 1: to tears. Harry Dean stand does his own playing and 702 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,400 Speaker 1: singing in that movie, and he got to keep the 703 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,919 Speaker 1: guitar that he played in the film, which I love. 704 00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,280 Speaker 1: On set, legend has it that Morgan Woodward, the Western 705 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: star who plays the man with no eyes, the guy 706 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: in the aviator shades, kept the sunglasses on whenever he 707 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 1: was on set and didn't speak to anyone. Just I've 708 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 1: always wondered, is the in um oh, brother ro Art 709 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,279 Speaker 1: thou the guy that Daniel von Vargin plays the guy 710 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 1: in the sunglasses? He supposed to be a man with 711 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: no eyes. Okay, now we must arrive at the car 712 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,800 Speaker 1: the class. Let's call it a classic, the car washing scene, 713 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 1: in which a statuesque woman played by Joy Harmon uh 714 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:52,560 Speaker 1: suggestively washes a Soto within view of the inmates. Harmony 715 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:54,720 Speaker 1: was twenty seven when her manager got her an audition 716 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: with Rosenberg and Newman, for which she didn't speak a 717 00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:01,440 Speaker 1: line and just stood in front of them in a bikini. Uh. 718 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,399 Speaker 1: Supposedly during this audition, Newman marveled at how blue her 719 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,279 Speaker 1: eyes were, to which I say, smooth of you, Paul. 720 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:12,439 Speaker 1: What a charmer. She later ran a bakery called aunt 721 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,440 Speaker 1: Joy's Cakes in Burbank, California, which I think is adorable. 722 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,239 Speaker 1: There's a documentary on her life because she had been 723 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,879 Speaker 1: in like these other exploitation films. There's a movie about 724 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: her life called or a short about her life called 725 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,680 Speaker 1: From Cheesecake to Cheesecakes. That's so good. I guess. In 726 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:29,719 Speaker 1: the early sixties, she was on a show with grouchaw 727 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 1: Marks and she got into this habit of baking things 728 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,960 Speaker 1: the night before and bringing it onto the set and 729 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,880 Speaker 1: Groucha loved it. She just make these desserts for the 730 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:41,319 Speaker 1: cast and crew, and that's how she developed her her 731 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:43,719 Speaker 1: baking abilities. I love that. It's like it's like the 732 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: porn star read the bit part in Cruel Intentions. She 733 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,839 Speaker 1: came in with copies of her DVDs to give out 734 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:51,759 Speaker 1: to the grips and stuff. I just think that's great. Yeah. 735 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,839 Speaker 1: She told Entertainment Weekly that she uh didn't get it. 736 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,520 Speaker 1: She said, I was just washing a car to my 737 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 1: best ability and having fun with it with the sponge 738 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,160 Speaker 1: in everything. I was not aware that there were two 739 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,320 Speaker 1: meanings to things that I was doing, and I'm still 740 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:10,799 Speaker 1: not really that much aware of what they all were, 741 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 1: to which I say, boffo, I guess, I guess I 742 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,439 Speaker 1: don't even know how to use that word. No, that's 743 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: not true. I mean Rosenberg, like he actually choreographed. She 744 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,160 Speaker 1: might not been aware, but but Rosenberg choreographed that scene. 745 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,360 Speaker 1: He's talked about being like okay, like drink from the hose, 746 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,239 Speaker 1: and now we're gonna do this. Now we're gonna do that. 747 00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,000 Speaker 1: So I mean God lover her. She was nervous when 748 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: she arrived in Stockton to shoot the scene, and, as 749 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: was the fashion at the time, producers suggested that she 750 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,719 Speaker 1: smoked some pot to calm down. She said, as to 751 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: Entertainment Weekly, I was so upset. I called my dad 752 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:47,920 Speaker 1: and he said, you just come on home, don't do 753 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 1: the movie. I told Mr Rosenberg I was going home, 754 00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:52,600 Speaker 1: and then they came to the room and he brought 755 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: me flowers and chocolate. He said, don't worry about it. 756 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: We're not doing marijuana. You don't need it. And it 757 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: worked out fine. We're not doing marijuana. There's another co 758 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:05,560 Speaker 1: from her that makes me a little sad, though. She says, 759 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:08,400 Speaker 1: I just figured I was washing the car. I've always 760 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,200 Speaker 1: been naive and innocent. I was acting and not trying 761 00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:14,480 Speaker 1: to be sexy. Maybe that's why the scene played so well. 762 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,680 Speaker 1: After seeing it at the premiere, I was a bit embarrassed. 763 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:21,880 Speaker 1: Oh I like that. Um. I'd also very much like 764 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,240 Speaker 1: to add, speaking of The Monkeys, that she was also 765 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: in two episodes of The Monkeys that same year. She 766 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: made Cool Hand Luke in nine seven. Oh h. We 767 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,759 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier the Rosenberry could barred the cast wives and 768 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 1: girlfriends from the set to get them in the proper mindset, 769 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:37,799 Speaker 1: and Harmon was actually staying in a different hotel and 770 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:39,719 Speaker 1: her name was even kept off the call sheet for 771 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:42,359 Speaker 1: the day, so they were really like appropriately bowled over 772 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:46,880 Speaker 1: by her presence. Um. There is a really funny interview 773 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:52,319 Speaker 1: with George Kennedy where he describes her as round the 774 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,239 Speaker 1: roundest girl. I think I've goil. I can't do his 775 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,239 Speaker 1: full day. Round the Roundest girl I think I've ever 776 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:02,160 Speaker 1: seen in my life. He says, somewhere in Warner Brothers 777 00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:04,520 Speaker 1: is about forty million feet of film of a girl 778 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:08,759 Speaker 1: washing a car that never appeared anywhere. But despite them 779 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,480 Speaker 1: being bowled over by her, they are not actually reacting 780 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:13,440 Speaker 1: those shots, and the films are not actually reacting to 781 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:16,239 Speaker 1: that happen in real time. They filmed her part not 782 00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,239 Speaker 1: on a closed set, but apart from them, and then 783 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: for the reverse shots, Um, they were tasked with reacting to. Uh. 784 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: I guess Rosenberg brought on like a teenage cheerleader. But 785 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,399 Speaker 1: it was freezing the day that they shot all those 786 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 1: reverse shots, so she was in a full length overcoat. 787 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,480 Speaker 1: So all the guys who are like falling over themselves 788 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 1: with lust reacting to that scene are looking at a 789 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:47,479 Speaker 1: teenager in a full overcoat off in the distance. Um. Yeah, 790 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 1: George Kennedy said, it took a lot of imagination. I 791 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: love him so much. I love Naked Gun. He's great 792 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,440 Speaker 1: Naked Gun. I also love His last film role is 793 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:59,360 Speaker 1: in the um for Completest Horror Dorks among You. I 794 00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: believe he's in Creep Show too. Uh. In his autobiography, 795 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,440 Speaker 1: he reveals that the actor Aldo Ray was also up 796 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:07,239 Speaker 1: for the role of drag Line. No idea who that is. 797 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: After Kennedy audition with Rosenberg, he muttered something about wishing 798 00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:15,479 Speaker 1: that he had more time to prepare, uh, to which 799 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:17,480 Speaker 1: the director said, You're gonna have all the time you 800 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:22,440 Speaker 1: need because he got the role. Adorable. Yeah, And the director, 801 00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:24,759 Speaker 1: Stuart Rosenberg said, but I was looking for was a 802 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,480 Speaker 1: big lovable bear because he had to be big enough 803 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,520 Speaker 1: to boss the likes of Newman. Well, no one seems 804 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:32,640 Speaker 1: like kind of a small guy though he's built like 805 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:36,520 Speaker 1: a pretty much. How did that dude drink a case 806 00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:39,279 Speaker 1: of beard dinner and to have those abs? Uh. They 807 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,879 Speaker 1: took three days to film that fight scene, partially because 808 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 1: it was filmed in the blinding, scorching sun and I 809 00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:46,479 Speaker 1: don't think they could really tell what they were doing, 810 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,440 Speaker 1: and partially because Newman needed that much time to recover 811 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:53,839 Speaker 1: from constantly flinging himself onto the ground. This Chevy Chase 812 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,000 Speaker 1: would learn doing all those praft falls on SNL, he 813 00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:59,640 Speaker 1: screwed up his back. That's something cool about the cinematography 814 00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:03,920 Speaker 1: of this moment, especially about the boxing scene. Specifically, A cinematographer, 815 00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:08,080 Speaker 1: Conrad Hall would frequently shoot straight into the sun in 816 00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,719 Speaker 1: order to show the heat taking its toll on the 817 00:46:10,719 --> 00:46:14,680 Speaker 1: sand gang by getting the sun flares that pan of vision. Baby. 818 00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:16,919 Speaker 1: I love the look of all of this stuff, man, 819 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,640 Speaker 1: I mean just that it's like my favorite I love 820 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: this and like the spaghetti western stuff, but just those 821 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,719 Speaker 1: big wide shot things. Man. Uh, let me get your 822 00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 1: read on the famous climax the film What do you 823 00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:31,080 Speaker 1: what do you? What do you well? No, let me 824 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:33,200 Speaker 1: let me alright, shut the cup for a second, Jordan, 825 00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:36,600 Speaker 1: you've been talking to you that much. There's a famous 826 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:39,440 Speaker 1: scene in the Church, the film's climax in which spoilers 827 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:42,520 Speaker 1: drag Line comes to an escaped Luke in the church, 828 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,560 Speaker 1: which I've never really understood the timeline of that, because 829 00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,399 Speaker 1: he's like, okay, Luke, let's split up, and then five 830 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:51,239 Speaker 1: minutes later he runs into the church, but I guess 831 00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:55,000 Speaker 1: he was caught. Immediately afterwards, he tries to convince Luke 832 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,640 Speaker 1: to give himself up back to the prison guards, saying 833 00:46:57,680 --> 00:46:59,880 Speaker 1: that you know they'll take it easy on us, and 834 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:05,560 Speaker 1: considering this film is remarkably unsubtle about the Luke being Jesus. 835 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,719 Speaker 1: Thing that would make drag Line in this moment Judas, 836 00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:14,560 Speaker 1: although Kennedy and Newman apparently disagreed about that. Talking to 837 00:47:14,719 --> 00:47:18,160 Speaker 1: Roger Ebert nine, George Kennedy said, on one hand, you 838 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:21,160 Speaker 1: get the Judas theory, which is Paul Newman's theory. On 839 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:23,959 Speaker 1: the other hand, you get the stupid idiot theory, which 840 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:28,520 Speaker 1: is mine. God love him. According to Paul, drag Line 841 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:30,560 Speaker 1: figured the end was in sight and maybe it would 842 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:33,080 Speaker 1: help if he betrayed Luke. I don't agree with that. 843 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:36,480 Speaker 1: I think drag Line was sincere but stupid. He thought 844 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,080 Speaker 1: he was helping Luke. He was an unwitting Judas. I 845 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:41,960 Speaker 1: guess anyway, Luke really had no place to escape too. 846 00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,840 Speaker 1: It was all over anyway. I go with George Kennedy's 847 00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: explanation that he really thought that they were going to 848 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:51,520 Speaker 1: go easy on him. Yeah, just a big so God's 849 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:57,120 Speaker 1: perfect idiot. Should we to sum up for the folks 850 00:47:57,120 --> 00:47:58,840 Speaker 1: that maybe even seen this movie in a while? Like 851 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,200 Speaker 1: how we got to this point? Luke makes a break 852 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:05,120 Speaker 1: for it with drag Line. Basically, this is what I 853 00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:09,160 Speaker 1: love about this performance. Man. It's like the second time 854 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: he's escaped. The last time Luke escapes, he does so 855 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: by commentary a truck. He just hops in the He's 856 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:17,200 Speaker 1: he plays this whole thing where he's been extremely like 857 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:19,480 Speaker 1: beaten down and his spirit has been broken. And then 858 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:21,919 Speaker 1: he drives off one of the trucks and drag line 859 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,040 Speaker 1: jumps in the passenger seat, and he later says like 860 00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,200 Speaker 1: I just got so carried away seeing you escaped, Like 861 00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:29,880 Speaker 1: I only had a couple of years left on my 862 00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:33,880 Speaker 1: sentence and now I'm going to be, you know, boned, basically, 863 00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:36,759 Speaker 1: And he plays that regret so well that it's like 864 00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:40,719 Speaker 1: dawning on him, like I really shouldn't have I've made 865 00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:45,959 Speaker 1: a huge mistake, you know. Yeah, great performance, Like I said, 866 00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:48,239 Speaker 1: he one best supporting actor for it. He was so 867 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,000 Speaker 1: worried about the stiff competition he was facing that year 868 00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:54,319 Speaker 1: from John Cassavetti's and Dirty Dozen, Gene Hackman in Body 869 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,919 Speaker 1: and Clyde someone named Cecil Kellaway for guests Who's coming 870 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:01,680 Speaker 1: to Dinner and Michael J. Paul Aard also And so 871 00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 1: George Kennedy spent five grand on ads in the trades 872 00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,040 Speaker 1: to tout his performance, and he won and it worked. 873 00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:11,480 Speaker 1: Bet on yourself, he said. His salary. He said it 874 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,040 Speaker 1: was worth it because his salary multiplied by a factor 875 00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:16,920 Speaker 1: of ten after he won the ads Great. It's a 876 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,080 Speaker 1: still from the movie with drag Line carrying Luke over 877 00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:22,840 Speaker 1: his shoulder. I think after the boxing scene and just 878 00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:29,239 Speaker 1: the copy on it was George Kennedy supporting that right. Man, 879 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:32,640 Speaker 1: he was the oldest living winner of the Best Supporting 880 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:36,640 Speaker 1: Actor OSCAR at the time a hundred and sixty four. 881 00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:39,600 Speaker 1: Now he's one of those dudes who just like he 882 00:49:39,680 --> 00:49:45,400 Speaker 1: was six and then he was forty. He looks like 883 00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: fifty three, I'd say, And but he's he's weathered, you know. Yeah, Man, 884 00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:52,719 Speaker 1: I just love him so much. He's he's he's if 885 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,160 Speaker 1: you just look at those interviews, he's he's all like, 886 00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:57,960 Speaker 1: he's just yeah, he's so sweet, he said. He they 887 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:02,040 Speaker 1: talked about an interview that he talks about that night, 888 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:04,200 Speaker 1: and he says, uh, he said it felt like he 889 00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:06,799 Speaker 1: was punched in the stomach because he arrived at the 890 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:11,160 Speaker 1: Oscars just prepared to applaud somebody else or just exist 891 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:16,880 Speaker 1: through the evening. Yeah, he apparently didn't even prepare a speech, 892 00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:19,520 Speaker 1: which you know, they all say that. I believe it 893 00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:23,439 Speaker 1: with him. Yeah, when he w tracked George Kennedy down 894 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:25,800 Speaker 1: for an interview after Paul Newman died in two thousand 895 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:29,719 Speaker 1: and eight. They found him quote living a quieter existence 896 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:33,320 Speaker 1: with no reps and no listed phone number, apparently in 897 00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:39,680 Speaker 1: the outskirts of Boise, Idaho. I love that as you 898 00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:42,200 Speaker 1: meditate on that, we'll be right back with more too 899 00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:55,040 Speaker 1: much information. After these messages, we have arrived at the 900 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,839 Speaker 1: Paul Newman Rules portion of the program. George Kennedy has 901 00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:01,360 Speaker 1: nothing but good things to say about him. In his autobiography, 902 00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:05,160 Speaker 1: he wrote that Newman pulled no star power strings, calling 903 00:51:05,239 --> 00:51:08,440 Speaker 1: him a worker b You can't even imagine him being unprepared. 904 00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:11,760 Speaker 1: He said, Newman was no sissy, explaining that the only 905 00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:14,640 Speaker 1: complaint he ever heard him utter while shooting this was 906 00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:17,160 Speaker 1: after a long day of shooting in the box, after 907 00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:19,520 Speaker 1: which he said, I don't know how a man could 908 00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:23,600 Speaker 1: live a whole day in that thing. Understandable torture. It 909 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,440 Speaker 1: was torture. Uh. He would fly back to Hollywood on 910 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,200 Speaker 1: weekends occasionally, but he enjoyed shooting in Stockton and would 911 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:32,360 Speaker 1: tool around in his car or his motorcycle. Uh. And 912 00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:35,319 Speaker 1: despite being a big star, a huge star at the time. 913 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:38,160 Speaker 1: Actor Ralph Waite, who played Alibi, said in the two 914 00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:41,280 Speaker 1: thousand eight interview that uh Newman keptler with cold beers 915 00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:43,640 Speaker 1: in the trunk of his car would just pop it 916 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,040 Speaker 1: open and hand out beers to all the crews. Um 917 00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:49,759 Speaker 1: I was not able to find this initial interview. I 918 00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:52,440 Speaker 1: would have to buy it on eBay. I am so upset. 919 00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:57,480 Speaker 1: But apparently in Night he gave an interview to Playboy 920 00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:01,040 Speaker 1: in which he said he perfected his salad on set, 921 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:04,279 Speaker 1: chopped up hearts of celery, a little olive oil, a 922 00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:07,160 Speaker 1: little cold water, some wine, vinegar, and a lot of 923 00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:13,240 Speaker 1: salt and pepper. It's justifiably famous. Speaking of justifiably famous 924 00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:17,279 Speaker 1: food things, the film's arguably most famous scene is the 925 00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:19,840 Speaker 1: one in which Luke triumphs in a wager as to 926 00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,040 Speaker 1: whether or not he can eat fifty eggs in an 927 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:26,560 Speaker 1: hour without puking. Consequently, Kennedy and Newman were constantly asked 928 00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,400 Speaker 1: about it. At one point, Paul Newman told an interviewer, 929 00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,239 Speaker 1: I never swallowed an egg, and when the interviewer responded, 930 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,280 Speaker 1: isn't method acting about doing the real thing? He equipped 931 00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:38,400 Speaker 1: not if you have to swallow eggs. Asked about this 932 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:42,400 Speaker 1: scene in another interview, Newman, unprompted, brought up Henry Fonda 933 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,760 Speaker 1: he said, Now, Henry Fonda, he was the best film 934 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:48,319 Speaker 1: eater of all time. He would have a garbage can 935 00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:50,759 Speaker 1: next to the table during an eating scene. Then he'd 936 00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:54,040 Speaker 1: pack his cheeks just like a squirrel, never swallowing a bite, 937 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:57,719 Speaker 1: and used the same food for eight, ten, twenty shots. 938 00:52:57,760 --> 00:52:59,799 Speaker 1: So there you have it, folks. Yeah, it was any 939 00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:02,200 Speaker 1: of the rapes of wrath and a depression era, just 940 00:53:02,239 --> 00:53:06,200 Speaker 1: to say, to waste a mouthful of food, spit it out, 941 00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,200 Speaker 1: in it again and again. Take you take that, you 942 00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:19,400 Speaker 1: take that bone home. Yes. George Kennedy has repeatedly provided 943 00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:22,120 Speaker 1: the most detailed summary of the fifty eggs scene. He 944 00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:25,160 Speaker 1: said there were garbage cans just out of camera range. 945 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,960 Speaker 1: He wrote in his autobiography Trust Me, My guess is 946 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,840 Speaker 1: that Paul Newman consumed no more than eight or so eggs, 947 00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:33,279 Speaker 1: because as soon as the director yelled cut, he would 948 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:37,239 Speaker 1: relieve his mouth and throat of everything he could. And 949 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:41,200 Speaker 1: Kennedy added that Newman quote had the mustle control to 950 00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:44,480 Speaker 1: pop up his belly on command, depending on what stage 951 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:46,320 Speaker 1: of the egg count he was at. He blow it 952 00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:49,680 Speaker 1: up accordingly. Near the end of the fifty eggs you'd 953 00:53:49,719 --> 00:53:52,399 Speaker 1: have sworn that he had a musk melon in there. 954 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:56,200 Speaker 1: That's a great, great sort of phrase. You'd have sworn 955 00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:59,360 Speaker 1: he had a musk melon in there. Nope, but still 956 00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:01,719 Speaker 1: you didn't want to be near him when he belched. 957 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: George Kennedy muskmelon, Yeah, I gotta Jordan pull out Jamielon. 958 00:54:11,719 --> 00:54:17,839 Speaker 1: Oh all right, that's fine. Moving on. That scene took 959 00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:20,960 Speaker 1: three days to shoot. Can you imagine how disgusting that 960 00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:24,840 Speaker 1: must have been, a bunch of greasy, sweaty men stuffed 961 00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:31,760 Speaker 1: full of eggs. On the first day, George Kennedy wrote, 962 00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:33,919 Speaker 1: we ate as many of the eggs as we could 963 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:36,759 Speaker 1: get our hands on. The property department had to hard 964 00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:39,239 Speaker 1: boil two hundred or so more that night. On the 965 00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:42,520 Speaker 1: sound stage on day two, the smell of day old 966 00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:46,719 Speaker 1: hard boiled eggs permeated everything. Between shots, we all ran 967 00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:49,600 Speaker 1: for the exits and didn't come back inside until we'd 968 00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:53,839 Speaker 1: stuffed tissues up our nostrils. This is hilarious because New 969 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:56,640 Speaker 1: One once told a guest on the set one day 970 00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,400 Speaker 1: early in the production that was a good smell about this. 971 00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:03,680 Speaker 1: We're gonna have a good picture. Oh God, The words 972 00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:07,040 Speaker 1: would come back to haunt him. Uh. Incidentally, our boys 973 00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:09,319 Speaker 1: and Jackass attempted to do their own version of this 974 00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:13,840 Speaker 1: and their inaugural season. The contestants were Preston Lacy, Chris Narratko, 975 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:17,920 Speaker 1: and Stephanie Hodge. Stephanie tapped out of it after nine eggs, 976 00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:21,400 Speaker 1: having thrown up after eating just three, just three. She 977 00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:27,000 Speaker 1: hates eggs. I guess, uh, spoilers, I did not watch this, 978 00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:29,799 Speaker 1: but they all throw up a lot. Chris throws up 979 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:32,920 Speaker 1: after eating eight eggs just ten minutes into the contest. 980 00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:35,680 Speaker 1: Preston makes it to sixteen eggs, but he eventually throws 981 00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:39,280 Speaker 1: up after one. Uh. He taps out at thirty eggs, 982 00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,480 Speaker 1: which is really impressive. Johnny Knoxville, who is the referee 983 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:47,880 Speaker 1: at this point, force feeds Chris up to thirty nine 984 00:55:47,960 --> 00:55:51,560 Speaker 1: eggs and making him win. Supposedly, after the popularity of 985 00:55:51,600 --> 00:55:54,719 Speaker 1: cool Hand Luke, similar egg eating contests popped up on 986 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:59,000 Speaker 1: college campuses and among troops stationed in Vietnam, where people 987 00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:00,480 Speaker 1: trying to get out of the draft have to eat 988 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:07,520 Speaker 1: fifty eggs before their physical That's so many damn eggs. Well, 989 00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:11,719 Speaker 1: why it seems like a nice round number. I mean, 990 00:56:11,719 --> 00:56:13,680 Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess I never really thought about it. 991 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,799 Speaker 1: But I just don't think about eggs as being that 992 00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:20,719 Speaker 1: tough on a person to consume. I mean, I'm thinking 993 00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:24,520 Speaker 1: of Joey chest Not eating sixty three hot dogs buns 994 00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:28,560 Speaker 1: in ten minutes for the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. 995 00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:30,560 Speaker 1: I think that's the record. So I don't know, eggs 996 00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:34,640 Speaker 1: don't seem like that big a deal. But it's because 997 00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 1: the yolk is all dry and powdery. Maybe it makes it. 998 00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,200 Speaker 1: They're dance and they're dance and if you're not like 999 00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:42,319 Speaker 1: salting it or anything, that's just like a lot of 1000 00:56:42,560 --> 00:56:47,040 Speaker 1: protein to choke down. Can you imagine the dump Paul 1001 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:55,400 Speaker 1: Human took. Just moving on, Another tremendous scene in the 1002 00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:59,280 Speaker 1: film is after the death of his mother. The whole 1003 00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:04,239 Speaker 1: spectrum of human emotion in this film, from the triumph 1004 00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:08,279 Speaker 1: to the agony, the agony in the ecstasy of boy 1005 00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:12,640 Speaker 1: Luke oh Man. Yeah, he sits on the bunk and 1006 00:57:12,719 --> 00:57:16,480 Speaker 1: plays the banjo that she gave him and sings Plastic Jesus. 1007 00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:19,040 Speaker 1: The shooting script we'll getting this music from this a 1008 00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,400 Speaker 1: little bit later on. This shooting script didn't specify that 1009 00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:24,080 Speaker 1: this was the song. Um, they only there's and there's 1010 00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:26,880 Speaker 1: a long band apparently a very long description of Luke 1011 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:30,800 Speaker 1: playing and singing banjo in the book, but it doesn't 1012 00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,240 Speaker 1: say that it's like a mournful song or anything. Um. 1013 00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,240 Speaker 1: In the shooting script, it says that he would sing 1014 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:40,680 Speaker 1: an unspecified slow him. Rosenberg heard somebody on the set 1015 00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:43,000 Speaker 1: singing Plastic Jesus, and he's like, I like that song, 1016 00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:44,960 Speaker 1: and it gave Warner brow was a huge headache. Talk 1017 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,720 Speaker 1: about that in a second. Unlike Harry Dean Stanton, who 1018 00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:50,960 Speaker 1: has a delightful singing voice, Uh, you should really google 1019 00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:53,640 Speaker 1: his performance of some of these Mexican border ballads that 1020 00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:56,280 Speaker 1: he can sing. They're really amazing, just like Harry Dean 1021 00:57:56,360 --> 00:58:00,520 Speaker 1: Stands singing in Spanish about being a own and far 1022 00:58:00,560 --> 00:58:04,680 Speaker 1: from home made me cry once. Um. George Kennedy told 1023 00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:07,000 Speaker 1: Entertainment Weekly that Paul knew as much about playing a 1024 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:09,880 Speaker 1: banjo as I know about making cakes, which means very 1025 00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:13,600 Speaker 1: very little, but he still insisted on playing it himself 1026 00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:16,120 Speaker 1: in the scene, and he took lessons from a guy 1027 00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:19,240 Speaker 1: named Dave Sear, who was a regular at Washington Square 1028 00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:21,440 Speaker 1: Park hooting Nanny's in New York at the time, But 1029 00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:24,520 Speaker 1: that pushed the shooting of the scene back for weeks 1030 00:58:24,560 --> 00:58:27,800 Speaker 1: while Newman practiced in the scene that you see in 1031 00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:29,640 Speaker 1: the film, and then this in the film finals cut, 1032 00:58:29,680 --> 00:58:33,400 Speaker 1: Paul makes an air. George Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly he 1033 00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:35,320 Speaker 1: wasn't doing it the way he wanted. He became madder 1034 00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:37,920 Speaker 1: and madder, although you can only tell by the increase 1035 00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:40,600 Speaker 1: of the pace and his picking the banjo. When it 1036 00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:45,480 Speaker 1: was over, it was magnificent, Rosenberg said print Paul said 1037 00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,920 Speaker 1: I could do it better, and Rosenberg said, nobody can 1038 00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:52,200 Speaker 1: do it better. Yeah. I always thought that he was 1039 00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:54,720 Speaker 1: speeding it up because his emotion was rising and he 1040 00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:57,800 Speaker 1: was just trying to stuff it down by playing the song. 1041 00:58:57,960 --> 00:59:01,600 Speaker 1: I thought it was a great way the forms came off. God, 1042 00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:04,120 Speaker 1: I love that scene. I mean, it's it's so and 1043 00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:06,320 Speaker 1: they just again they made the right choice. Man. I like, 1044 00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:08,160 Speaker 1: if they've been playing some him, it would have been 1045 00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,240 Speaker 1: so on the nose. And just in fact, he's playing 1046 00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:14,040 Speaker 1: this little irreverend song and yeah, so perfect. I mean 1047 00:59:14,080 --> 00:59:17,120 Speaker 1: it's like it's either right before or right after I 1048 00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:19,280 Speaker 1: forget which I think it's right before. He does the 1049 00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:21,040 Speaker 1: whole scene where he goes out in the rain and 1050 00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:24,400 Speaker 1: kind of taunts God to strike him. Down if he's 1051 00:59:24,440 --> 00:59:27,240 Speaker 1: really up there, you know, love me, hate me, kill me, 1052 00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:31,120 Speaker 1: just give me some stem answer, so it keeps with 1053 00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:35,520 Speaker 1: his whole irreverent personality. Yeah. Um, they had tried to 1054 00:59:35,560 --> 00:59:39,320 Speaker 1: shoot this twice before, took hours, and this was ultimately 1055 00:59:39,320 --> 00:59:41,760 Speaker 1: shot on the second to last day of shooting at 1056 00:59:41,760 --> 00:59:44,920 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. The banjo scene, Yeah, the banjo scene, and 1057 00:59:44,960 --> 00:59:48,080 Speaker 1: George Kennedy said that Newman and Rosenberry had gotten into 1058 00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:51,840 Speaker 1: a shouting match on set over this whole Paul wanting 1059 00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:54,320 Speaker 1: to play the banjo for real in the scene. That 1060 00:59:54,440 --> 00:59:57,760 Speaker 1: was just just before they filmed that take, So they 1061 00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:00,280 Speaker 1: were literally screaming at each other before they got the 1062 01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:02,160 Speaker 1: final take for that. But there were no hard feelings 1063 01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:07,320 Speaker 1: because Newman starting four more of Rosenberg's movies nineteen seventies Wusa, Nino, 1064 01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:11,120 Speaker 1: Pocket Money, and The Drowning Pool in a movie I 1065 01:00:11,160 --> 01:00:13,600 Speaker 1: know nothing about. As I mentioned earlier, the film is 1066 01:00:13,600 --> 01:00:17,040 Speaker 1: emphatically not subtle about its religious themes. Luke collapses in 1067 01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:20,560 Speaker 1: the exact posture of the crucifixion down to the crossed 1068 01:00:20,560 --> 01:00:24,400 Speaker 1: feet after he wins the egg contests. The film ends 1069 01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:28,080 Speaker 1: with the crossroads shape of the cross superimposed over the photo, 1070 01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:32,160 Speaker 1: which has itself been torn in the shape of a cross. Um. 1071 01:00:32,200 --> 01:00:34,240 Speaker 1: But this is a little more subtle, little not here. 1072 01:00:34,320 --> 01:00:36,959 Speaker 1: Luke's prison number is thirty seven. And if you happen 1073 01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:39,800 Speaker 1: to look up the Gospel of Luke in the Bible, 1074 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:43,600 Speaker 1: chapter one, verse thirty seven says for with God nothing 1075 01:00:43,640 --> 01:00:48,960 Speaker 1: shall be impossible. So that's cute, ironically, given that Pearson 1076 01:00:49,080 --> 01:00:52,160 Speaker 1: did all this hard on the nose religious stuff in 1077 01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:55,160 Speaker 1: the screenplay. In the book, Luke's father is mentioned to 1078 01:00:55,200 --> 01:01:00,200 Speaker 1: be a crooked evangelical preacher. Uh. The music in a 1079 01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:03,919 Speaker 1: header I like to call shiffering into high gear kind 1080 01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:06,200 Speaker 1: of Composer Lelo Schiffren turned in the score to cool 1081 01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:08,040 Speaker 1: Hand Luke, and one of the most famous bits about 1082 01:01:08,040 --> 01:01:09,760 Speaker 1: it is that the musical cue from when They're Tring 1083 01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:15,320 Speaker 1: the Road was used for news cueues like intro to 1084 01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:21,600 Speaker 1: news programs for years afterwards. It's in six four for 1085 01:01:21,640 --> 01:01:26,160 Speaker 1: all of you dorks out there, Uh, most notably on 1086 01:01:26,280 --> 01:01:28,480 Speaker 1: a B c S owned and operated stations because it 1087 01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:31,520 Speaker 1: sounded like a telegraph essentially. I'm getting much of this 1088 01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:34,480 Speaker 1: from a tremendous piece by guy named James m. During 1089 01:01:34,880 --> 01:01:38,840 Speaker 1: from the August issue of the Journal of the Society 1090 01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:41,320 Speaker 1: of American Music. Cool Hand Luke was in production at 1091 01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:44,360 Speaker 1: the same time as the Graduate. Right and Productions initial 1092 01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:47,040 Speaker 1: plan was to do what the Graduate had done with 1093 01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:50,320 Speaker 1: Simon and garf Uncle and enlist a contemporary folk artist 1094 01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:53,120 Speaker 1: who record an original song for Cool Hand Luke that 1095 01:01:53,160 --> 01:01:56,880 Speaker 1: they hope would sweep the nation. They arrived at Gordon Lightfoot. 1096 01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:05,640 Speaker 1: Gordon Lightfoot, Ladies and gentlemen. Um, did you have any 1097 01:02:05,680 --> 01:02:08,280 Speaker 1: big songs in that era? I know, I don't know. 1098 01:02:10,280 --> 01:02:13,880 Speaker 1: Seven I guess he apparently had something of a live 1099 01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:16,920 Speaker 1: His biggest hit was just his cover of Dylan in 1100 01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:19,680 Speaker 1: sixty five, just like Tom thomas Blues biggest hits to 1101 01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:23,200 Speaker 1: date or biggest hit period. When this was made. There's 1102 01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:28,600 Speaker 1: a fun another fun Jesus unnecessary tangent about Golden Lightfold 1103 01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:33,760 Speaker 1: here Boss. To kick off Canada's centennial year, the CBC 1104 01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:39,120 Speaker 1: commissioned Gordon Lightfoot to write the Canadian Railroad Trilogy for 1105 01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:45,680 Speaker 1: a broadcast in sixties seven. Sure whatever anyway, so did 1106 01:02:45,680 --> 01:02:48,920 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. They got Gordon Lightfoot, who delivered this song 1107 01:02:48,960 --> 01:02:51,760 Speaker 1: called too Much to Lose in fall of sixty six. 1108 01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:54,080 Speaker 1: You can hear this out there. It's not people not 1109 01:02:54,160 --> 01:02:56,680 Speaker 1: a lot of people know this, uh that he wrote 1110 01:02:56,720 --> 01:02:59,360 Speaker 1: this song, because it's not really mentioned that much, but 1111 01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:01,720 Speaker 1: his demo for it is out here on YouTube, not 1112 01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:05,520 Speaker 1: very good. And uh, Warner Brothers agreed because soon after 1113 01:03:05,520 --> 01:03:08,240 Speaker 1: shooting began in the nineteen sixty six they decided they 1114 01:03:08,280 --> 01:03:11,920 Speaker 1: weren't going to use that anymore. And then always the bridesmaid, 1115 01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:14,840 Speaker 1: never a bride, Poor Gordon. The same thing happened again 1116 01:03:14,840 --> 01:03:17,080 Speaker 1: with a song called don Quixote he wrote for a 1117 01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:20,560 Speaker 1: Michael Douglas movie called Hale Hero. Also wrote a spec 1118 01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:23,560 Speaker 1: song for that also did not get picked up. So 1119 01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:26,800 Speaker 1: Lelo Schiffrin talks to Stuart Rosenberg. He says, you have 1120 01:03:26,840 --> 01:03:29,240 Speaker 1: three choices with the movie here. One as you hire 1121 01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:32,040 Speaker 1: a folk musician or somebody who can play bluegrass. Two 1122 01:03:32,080 --> 01:03:35,400 Speaker 1: as you can go to this big Americana Aaron Copeland, 1123 01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:40,640 Speaker 1: Appalachian Fanfare, common Man, etcetera. But I propose a third possibility, 1124 01:03:40,840 --> 01:03:43,840 Speaker 1: which is a combination of both. And so what Rosenberg 1125 01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:45,520 Speaker 1: did is he picked out a bunch of these traditional 1126 01:03:45,560 --> 01:03:47,520 Speaker 1: songs that he wanted, and they do use some of them. 1127 01:03:47,520 --> 01:03:50,080 Speaker 1: They use just a closer walk with the There's another 1128 01:03:50,080 --> 01:03:52,160 Speaker 1: one that Harry Dean Stanton sings that I can't remember, 1129 01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:56,600 Speaker 1: but um basically, Warner Brothers went to start clearing these 1130 01:03:56,640 --> 01:03:58,800 Speaker 1: songs and they told him that it was going to 1131 01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:01,920 Speaker 1: be almost impossible because this is at the height of 1132 01:04:01,920 --> 01:04:05,000 Speaker 1: the folk boom. So there's just dozens of versions of 1133 01:04:05,040 --> 01:04:09,160 Speaker 1: these songs circulating and unless you found the first version 1134 01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:11,680 Speaker 1: that was in the public domain, if you license somebody's 1135 01:04:11,760 --> 01:04:14,360 Speaker 1: version that had their lyrics in it, that counted as 1136 01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:16,320 Speaker 1: an original arrangement, you had to pay the more money. 1137 01:04:16,480 --> 01:04:19,760 Speaker 1: So Rosenberg settled on Plastic Jesus. As I mentioned again, 1138 01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:22,400 Speaker 1: it took months for Warner Brothers to find this who 1139 01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:24,959 Speaker 1: actually did that song, because there were three different versions 1140 01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:27,560 Speaker 1: of it out there and Jordan's do you know this man? 1141 01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:30,480 Speaker 1: Do you know the Gold Coast Singers? You know, I don't. 1142 01:04:30,760 --> 01:04:34,880 Speaker 1: Plastic Jesus originally appeared on the nine two comedy album 1143 01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:37,960 Speaker 1: Here They Are by the Gold Coast Singers, where it 1144 01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:39,720 Speaker 1: appeared as part of a skit that they had about 1145 01:04:39,720 --> 01:04:43,720 Speaker 1: a radio evangelist. Laylo Shift was from Argentina and he 1146 01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:46,800 Speaker 1: had worked extensively in jazz. He worked with Dizzy Gillespie. 1147 01:04:47,080 --> 01:04:50,040 Speaker 1: He studied with a gamed composer, Oliver Messillon at the 1148 01:04:50,080 --> 01:04:54,440 Speaker 1: Paris Conservatory, but this pedigree did not make him particularly 1149 01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:58,200 Speaker 1: well suited to incorporating American folk and blues idioms into 1150 01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:00,800 Speaker 1: the film. But he did visit this the set and 1151 01:05:00,840 --> 01:05:03,800 Speaker 1: he put in some research to try and find suitable 1152 01:05:03,840 --> 01:05:07,320 Speaker 1: banjoists for the soundtrack, and he wanted Earl Scruggs for 1153 01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:10,200 Speaker 1: the job, which is kind of like being I want 1154 01:05:10,280 --> 01:05:13,480 Speaker 1: somebody to play basketball in my movie? Is Michael Jordan's 1155 01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:18,720 Speaker 1: busy Uh. Scruggs invented a style of banjo picking that 1156 01:05:18,880 --> 01:05:21,840 Speaker 1: is one of the two that people play. You either 1157 01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:24,760 Speaker 1: play claw hammer or you play scrugs style. Probably the 1158 01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:26,560 Speaker 1: most famous banjo player in the world at the time, 1159 01:05:26,800 --> 01:05:29,520 Speaker 1: so did not do the film, needless to say so, 1160 01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:33,160 Speaker 1: they went with another Washington Square part folky guy named 1161 01:05:33,240 --> 01:05:36,560 Speaker 1: Art Rosenbaum, who would not meet Layla Shiffern until a 1162 01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:38,920 Speaker 1: week before they were supposed to record all this in 1163 01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:43,360 Speaker 1: six But funnily enough, there's an instrumental version of Plastic 1164 01:05:43,440 --> 01:05:46,440 Speaker 1: Jesus that plays during Luke the first time he's in 1165 01:05:46,440 --> 01:05:49,480 Speaker 1: the box, and that's not played by Rosenbaum. That's played 1166 01:05:49,480 --> 01:05:52,040 Speaker 1: by a wrecking crew guy, and they don't know who 1167 01:05:52,040 --> 01:05:55,160 Speaker 1: it is. It's either Tommy Tedesco or Howard Roberts. Um. 1168 01:05:55,200 --> 01:05:57,440 Speaker 1: Who are these, you know, members of the l A 1169 01:05:57,520 --> 01:06:00,240 Speaker 1: session crew, the wrecking crew um. And that was because 1170 01:06:00,320 --> 01:06:03,800 Speaker 1: Rosenbaum couldn't read sheet music, which might have been a 1171 01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:07,240 Speaker 1: bit of a stumbling block to be on the soundtrack 1172 01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:09,960 Speaker 1: of a major motion picture. But when they got to 1173 01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:12,920 Speaker 1: the actual sessions, Schiffrin just said, don't worry. When I 1174 01:06:12,960 --> 01:06:15,600 Speaker 1: tell you to start playing, you start playing. And when 1175 01:06:15,600 --> 01:06:18,240 Speaker 1: I tell you to stop, you stop. Because this guy 1176 01:06:18,320 --> 01:06:20,200 Speaker 1: was a self taught banjo player. He learned off like 1177 01:06:20,320 --> 01:06:22,400 Speaker 1: recordings and stuff, so they just kind of had him, 1178 01:06:22,440 --> 01:06:27,640 Speaker 1: you know, free banjo. Um. And this is uh. Rosenberg 1179 01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:30,200 Speaker 1: and Schiffren would continue to work together, including on that 1180 01:06:30,440 --> 01:06:33,480 Speaker 1: w USA film that I Know Nothing About, Voyage of 1181 01:06:33,480 --> 01:06:35,920 Speaker 1: the Damn and seventy six, the Amityville Horror and Sin 1182 01:06:36,080 --> 01:06:41,880 Speaker 1: and another prison film brew Baker, all right, let's take 1183 01:06:41,960 --> 01:06:45,360 Speaker 1: this home. It's kind of where did the road go? 1184 01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:47,760 Speaker 1: We got one more mile, a tarred road to get 1185 01:06:47,760 --> 01:06:51,040 Speaker 1: to Cool and Luke open on Halloween nineteen sixty seven 1186 01:06:51,080 --> 01:06:55,160 Speaker 1: at low State Theater, a premier whose proceeds went to charities. 1187 01:06:55,440 --> 01:06:58,440 Speaker 1: I love that he was an immediate commercial and critical success. 1188 01:06:58,520 --> 01:07:02,040 Speaker 1: As I mentioned earlier, it still has a rating at 1189 01:07:02,080 --> 01:07:06,160 Speaker 1: Rotten Tomatoes, which is bananas perfect film no notes. Oddly enough, 1190 01:07:06,520 --> 01:07:11,200 Speaker 1: dissenting voices on the film include Newman's biographer, Lawrence J. Quirk, 1191 01:07:12,000 --> 01:07:16,560 Speaker 1: stupid name, bad, cool Hand Luke taste thank you? Lawrence J. 1192 01:07:16,720 --> 01:07:22,040 Speaker 1: Quirk writes. For once, even Newman's famed charisma fails him 1193 01:07:22,320 --> 01:07:25,160 Speaker 1: for in Cool Hand Luke, he completely lacks the charm 1194 01:07:25,280 --> 01:07:30,120 Speaker 1: that say al Pacino in Scarecrow effortlessly exhibits. I put 1195 01:07:30,120 --> 01:07:33,760 Speaker 1: the question mark in there because nobody remembers that film 1196 01:07:33,840 --> 01:07:37,240 Speaker 1: al Pacino and Gene Hackman. Nobody. I gave. Find me 1197 01:07:37,280 --> 01:07:43,480 Speaker 1: one person who remember Scarecrow. Lawrence J. Quirk, idiot, dullard fool. 1198 01:07:44,280 --> 01:07:47,480 Speaker 1: There was contemporary there. This is a funny, though. There 1199 01:07:47,520 --> 01:07:49,640 Speaker 1: was a contemporary review of the film and Life magazine 1200 01:07:49,640 --> 01:07:54,720 Speaker 1: that criticized it for its beautiful photography and suggested they 1201 01:07:54,760 --> 01:07:57,680 Speaker 1: turned the prison camp into a rest camp in which 1202 01:07:57,720 --> 01:08:00,680 Speaker 1: the men are getting plenty of sleep, food, and healthy 1203 01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:04,400 Speaker 1: outdoor exercise, which they claim showed that there were worse 1204 01:08:04,480 --> 01:08:10,000 Speaker 1: ways to pay one's debt to society, which sure k 1205 01:08:10,360 --> 01:08:13,520 Speaker 1: Luke was nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best 1206 01:08:13,520 --> 01:08:16,919 Speaker 1: a Depted Screenplay, and Best Original Score at the Academy Awards, 1207 01:08:17,000 --> 01:08:20,599 Speaker 1: but as we mentioned, only George Kennedy one, a ten 1208 01:08:20,840 --> 01:08:24,720 Speaker 1: time nominee. Good Lord Paul Newman would finally win a 1209 01:08:24,760 --> 01:08:27,439 Speaker 1: statue in nineteen eight six for the Collar of Money. 1210 01:08:28,120 --> 01:08:31,920 Speaker 1: The American Film Institute like everyone loves Cool Hand Luke. 1211 01:08:32,040 --> 01:08:35,160 Speaker 1: They rated Luke the thirtieth greatest hero in American cinema, 1212 01:08:35,560 --> 01:08:37,840 Speaker 1: rated the failure to Communicate line as one of the 1213 01:08:37,880 --> 01:08:40,880 Speaker 1: eleventh best lines in the history of movies, and put 1214 01:08:40,880 --> 01:08:45,280 Speaker 1: the movie at number seventy one on their most Inspiring list. 1215 01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:50,719 Speaker 1: It's gotta be there on Oh, It's a wonderful life, 1216 01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:54,200 Speaker 1: and I will tell us what happened. In two thousand five, 1217 01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:57,720 Speaker 1: it was added to the National Film Registry at the 1218 01:08:57,760 --> 01:09:01,519 Speaker 1: Library of Congress. Yes, get a National Film Registry at 1219 01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:06,120 Speaker 1: the Library of Conference Reference here Boss. Outside of awards, 1220 01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:08,920 Speaker 1: the film cast an incredibly long shadow on the list 1221 01:09:08,960 --> 01:09:12,040 Speaker 1: of TV shows and movies that reference or parody cool 1222 01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:15,920 Speaker 1: Hand Luke has a run on Sorry, Oh wait a minute, 1223 01:09:17,439 --> 01:09:26,320 Speaker 1: that's the run on Police. I heart sending a comptroller 1224 01:09:26,600 --> 01:09:31,839 Speaker 1: like You've always got to tighten the show up. Outside 1225 01:09:31,840 --> 01:09:34,840 Speaker 1: of Awards. The film cast an incredibly long shadow. The 1226 01:09:34,960 --> 01:09:37,559 Speaker 1: list of TV shows and movies that reference are parody 1227 01:09:37,560 --> 01:09:42,320 Speaker 1: cool Hand Luke on IMDb numbers nearly three hundred and 1228 01:09:42,479 --> 01:09:46,840 Speaker 1: just as one example, as early one, sportswriters adopted the 1229 01:09:46,880 --> 01:09:51,040 Speaker 1: phrase cool hand Luke to describe a particularly gutsy performance 1230 01:09:51,040 --> 01:09:53,599 Speaker 1: by an underdog athlete. I did not know that, Yeah, 1231 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:57,320 Speaker 1: I didn't you. Yeah, all right, wrapping this up. It's 1232 01:09:57,360 --> 01:10:00,599 Speaker 1: eleven thirty at night, Jordan's time. We just did twenty 1233 01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:04,200 Speaker 1: three pages on freaks and geeks. In an interview shortly 1234 01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:06,800 Speaker 1: before Cool Hand Luke went into production, Paul Newman told 1235 01:10:06,800 --> 01:10:09,240 Speaker 1: The New York Times that he was about to play quote, 1236 01:10:09,560 --> 01:10:13,320 Speaker 1: the ultimate nonconformist and rebel. He's the guy who beats 1237 01:10:13,320 --> 01:10:16,559 Speaker 1: the system. And while the ending of cool Hand Luke 1238 01:10:16,640 --> 01:10:20,680 Speaker 1: might possibly undercut the latter half of that statement, I 1239 01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:23,479 Speaker 1: don't think he was wrong, or at the very least, 1240 01:10:23,520 --> 01:10:26,880 Speaker 1: I think he was offering a different interpretation of beating 1241 01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:31,639 Speaker 1: the system, and maybe a more realistic and pragmatic one, 1242 01:10:32,479 --> 01:10:34,360 Speaker 1: And that is to live your life in such a 1243 01:10:34,360 --> 01:10:38,240 Speaker 1: way as to outlast and outlive every garbage thing that 1244 01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:40,880 Speaker 1: the world throws at you, even if it's just in 1245 01:10:40,920 --> 01:10:43,400 Speaker 1: the hearts and minds of the people slogging through that 1246 01:10:43,479 --> 01:10:46,559 Speaker 1: mud with you. We might not all be natural born 1247 01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:50,280 Speaker 1: world shakers, but we can at the very least occasionally 1248 01:10:50,280 --> 01:10:54,000 Speaker 1: play a real cool hand. Thank you for listening, folks, 1249 01:10:54,280 --> 01:10:57,160 Speaker 1: This has been too much information. I'm Alex Hegel and 1250 01:10:57,200 --> 01:10:59,679 Speaker 1: I have Jordan run to We'll catch you next time. 1251 01:11:04,880 --> 01:11:07,400 Speaker 1: Too Much Information was a production of I Heart Radio. 1252 01:11:07,600 --> 01:11:10,839 Speaker 1: The show's executive producers are Noel Brown and Jordan Runtalk. 1253 01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:14,200 Speaker 1: The supervising producer is Mike John's. The show was researched, 1254 01:11:14,320 --> 01:11:17,040 Speaker 1: written and hosted by Jordan runt Talk and Alex Hegel, 1255 01:11:17,360 --> 01:11:20,479 Speaker 1: with original music by Seth Applebaum and the Ghost Funk Orchestra. 1256 01:11:20,960 --> 01:11:23,000 Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave 1257 01:11:23,040 --> 01:11:25,599 Speaker 1: us a review. For more podcasts and I heart Radio, 1258 01:11:25,760 --> 01:11:28,759 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever 1259 01:11:28,800 --> 01:11:30,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.