Anyone who used to like this movie but has now changed their mind?

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Your friends didn't like it, so then you stopped liking it, and you came here to see if more people could influence you in how you 'like' it?

Luke would be disappointed in you.

It started out slow, but grew on me as the film progressed, especially because I could identify with Luke as an atheist. So there was nothing good about the end in my mind. A guy is practically beaten into admitting that god exists, and then gets shot in the neck, ultimately for breaking a few parking meters. Is a man's life really a fair trade for a few parking meters? He should have just been fined or something. The last 10 minutes or so were really disappointing (AFTER he steals the truck of course).
I think it's pretty clear that the purpose was that he was supposed to emulate Christ in a few ways. I like the idea of a man with an unbreakable spirit better, even though he didn't really have anything else to prove, like that he was innocent or something. If it had finally paid off somehow, if his refusal to submit was rewarded in the end, that would have made it a much better film to me. That's not what the film is about though, unfortunately.

We are dyslexic Borg: your ass will be laminated!

I think it would be pretty hard to explain why it is great if they only say the first 40 minutes of it. The movie really didn't start going anywhere until about half and hour into the movie.

I don't understand whats "great" about Cool Hand Luke. I think it is a "good" movie but, despite Newman's great performance, it doesn't really have anything about it that really stands out. In fact, in places it is dealt with quite heavy handedly and over does the whole Christian imagary thing. I'd give it 7/10, better than a lot of the dross out there but nothing really that amazing.

I know any film produced before 2002 seems old and therefore worthless to most adolescents. My own expiration date for films growing up was about 1989 – ‘82 if it starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. I moaned when a teacher would show black and white films in class, and even into adulthood dismissed the recommendations of “classic” films from my elders. Then I quit being an idiot. I started reading and viewing art from decades before I was born and realized just how good so much of it is. I wish someone could have convinced me of that when I was younger so I could have had more time to consume the wealth of great film we have created.

One of those films (particularly one with minimal controversial or questionable content and language) is Coolhand Luke (1967) starring the recently deceased Paul Newman who young people may only know as the voice of “Doc” from Cars or the ruggedly handsome guy smiling on the label of the salad dressing “Newman’s Own” that I ironically eat on my salad as I write this piece. Balsamic Vinaigrette for inquiring minds.

Coolhand Luke is the story of a non-conformist, Luke Jackson, played by Newman who is sentenced to two years in a Southern labor-prison camp for his socially-defiant act of cutting off the tops of parking meters with a hacksaw. The arbitration of the act is part of what makes Luke such a timeless and compelling character. Luke himself credits his actions to it being a “small town, not much to do in the evenin.” There’s no real reason he does it, no motive other than to defy societal restrictions, just to ruffle some feathers of “The Man”.

“The Man” is personified by another immortalized character in the prison’s warden, an arrogant, stereotypical Southern antagonist who abuses his power to validate his existence. It is the warden’s famous patronizing line, “what we have here is a failure to communicate,” voted the #11 movie quote of all time by the American Film Institute, that he uses to exert his omnipotence over Luke and the prisoners and justify his cruelty to men. This theme is continued in the film and highlighted in Luke’s response to one of the guard’s making him dig and fill in a large trench over and over for many days who disclaims that he’s just doing his job. “Calling it your job don’t make it right, Boss,” Luke tells him.

The story’s most appealing aspect is Luke’s effect on the other prisoners who are attracted to his independence and refusal to conform even though the guards relentlessly try to break him. Luke becomes a leader though he wants no part of it even admonishing them to “stop feeding off me!” as they begin to idolize him, vicariously experiencing the life of a truly free man through Luke’s antics and attempts to escape.

The story has multiple layers including some Biblical allegory, but it is, at its simplest, the story of a man refusing to be broken by outside forces while struggling with the possibility that those outside forces may be greater than himself and that he ultimately has no say in whether or not he can endure. Luke represents the wildness of human spirit, perhaps as we were meant to be, or perhaps what we are meant to defeat so we can be civilized. The audience, like the other prisoners, sways from contempt, to respect, to pity for Luke as we long to be like him in so many ways but lack the courage to endure the suffering it takes to be so.

If they gave up after only forty minutes then they thoroughly blew it. If they don't get it, they don't get it... trying to explain it would be pointless.

Saw it for the first time the other day, fantastic flick.

This movie Signifies that no matter where you are, you can be free. A prison can take away your physical freedom but if you are free in your mind nobody can take that away. People who belong to the consumer class of the society will never understand this. In a way media and the Government is taking away our true freedom by keeping us addicted to crap that we don't need. Maybe this is what you should tell your friends. Don't bother tryin, these people will never get it and you should not change your point of view because of them. Cool hand luke makes more sense in today's world than it did in the 60's.