Paul Newman gives one of the defining performances of his career; and cemented his place as a beautiful-rebel screen icon playing the stubbornly tough and independent title character in Cool Hand Luke. And before he became familiar as a sidekick in 1970s disaster movies (Earthquake and the Airport movies); George Kennedy won an Oscar for playing Dragline; the brutal chain-gang boss who tries to beat loner Luke's cool out of him. It's a classic rebel-against-the-repressive-institution story in the line of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shawshank Redemption. Certain moments have become classics--particularly the hardboiled egg-eating contest; and the immortal line (drooled by Strother Martin; as a sadistic redneck prison officer); "What we have here is a failure to communicate." And don't forget; Luke is also the source of the oft-quoted driving ditty; "I don't care if it rains or freezes; long as I have my plastic Jesus; right here on the dashboard of my car..." He is cool; all right. --Jim Emerson