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September 27, 2008
RIP PAUL NEWMAN
Sorry to break up the normal routine, but Paul Newman, perhaps my all-time favorite actor, died today. For years, Newman aged gracefully on the screen, from the unusually handsome blue-eyed method actor to the silver-haired old coot who would steal a much younger girlfriend from you. In the last year, he apparently deteriorated rapidly. Recent pictures showed him looking gaunt and withered - his rambunctious and easy grin, immortalized in the closing scenes of COOL HAND LUKE, corrupted painfully.
More than any other actor, Newman looked he has having fun on screen. His BUTCH CASSIDY persona is the one that fit him best - a guy who couldn't believe he was getting away with the life he was living and would rather die than have a normal job. As such, any Newman performance of too much gravity suffered. He liked to wink at the camera, to crack open a beer, or to tell someone they were full of shit and always would be. Marlon Brando never left his moody method days - it's inconceivable to consider him playing the laconic roles that Newman mastered, just as its impossible to picture Newman doing LAST TANGO IN PARIS or Superman's father. Though it would be easy to picture a young Newman playing the pretty-boy tough in THE WILD ONES, or Brando doing Fast Eddie in THE HUSTLER, the paths they took after the youth left them are remarkably divergent. Newman was perfectly happy popping his own popcorn or grinning on the front of a jar of his charitable salad dressing while lending an ordinary guy charm to movies like ABSENCE OF MALICE or THE VERDICT.
THE COLOR OF MONEY is the last great movie Newman made. It won him an Oscar, but I think it's somewhat underrated. The scene where Fast Eddie is manhandled by a young Forrest Whitaker is one of my favorite movie moments of the 80s. Next to Tom Cruise, another fast-rising pretty boy movie star, Newman is a smooth as the kid is cocky: both have swagger, but this time Cruise gets to brood while Newman gets to scoff (a role previously given to George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason). It's an amazing role, and Martin Scorsese won't leave Newman alone. He lingers in the background of scenes he probably shouldn't be in, giving Richard Price's staccato dialogue the unforced rhythm and confused confidence it deserves. "It ain't about pool, sex, love. It's about money. The best is the guy with the most . . . in all walks of life."
What followed was Newman occasionally goofing wonderfully, as Richard Russo's childish geriatrics in NOBODY'S FOOL and EMPIRE FALLS, as the scheming Sid Mussburger in THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, and as an old-codger bank robber in the otherwise horrible WHERE THE MONEY IS. But he also tried to do the grand old man thing, and it never really worked, other than his perfect voicing in CARS (which turned out to be a nice and understated, if not particularly inspiring, swan song).
Some occasionally lament that Newman and Robert Redford never teamed up for another buddy picture. There were always rumors, and it is rare to see two guys with as much chemistry as these two dudes who brought out the best in each other. Newman always let the less charismatic Redford steal scenes from him. But the franchise that never was was Newman's HARPER films. There were only two: HARPER and THE DROWNING POOL, but they're among my favorite detective movies. In some ridiculously convoluted plots involving maniacs and regional weirdoes who want to kill him, Harper breaks in houses, gets the crap kicked out of him, flirts aimlessly, finds out his friends are actually creeps, and mutters terrific one-liners. Few roles suited him as well as Harper.
There's more that I can write, but I would be kind of stupid. So I'll close out with the kind of inane blog stuff you've come to expect:
ANDYTOWN'S TOP FIVE FAVORITE PAUL NEWMAN ROLES
1) Reg Dunlop - SLAP SHOT
2) Fast Eddie Felson - THE HUSTLER and THE COLOR OF MONEY
3) Lew Harper - HARPER and THE DROWNING POOL
4) Luke - COOL HAND LUKE
5) Rocky Graziano - SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME
ANDYTOWN'S TOP FIVE FAVORITE PAUL NEWMAN MOMENTS
1) His final scene in THE HUSTLER
2) When Newman says "They brought their ****ing toys" in SLAP SHOT
3) The nutkick in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
4) Playing the guitar after his mother's death in COOL HAND LUKE
5) Beating Doyle Lonnegan in poker in THE STING
And here's one of my all-time favorite Newman moments: I can't embed it so you'll have to click here.
| By Andytown | 11:34 AM
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Comments
I am with you on the Color of Money. It is my #3 all time favorite movie. I also think that scene is entrancing. I think Whitaker plays perfectly next to Newman and allows Newman to excel in a scene that Whitaker easily could have stolen. Maybe you aren't totally insane in your movie tastes.
Posted by: harvey at September 27, 2008 2:13 PM