In Memoriam

We here at The Three Movie Weekend (we meaning me) would like to take a moment to mourn the passing of a cinematic legend. This weekend Paul Newman died due to lung cancer.

When following the progression of cinema, one of the ways to demarcate (and there are many) different eras in cinema history is by the style of the major actors of the time. There was a period where Chaplin was the main draw, and his was the style of the day. There there was the Golden Age of Hollywood where we had the likes of Bogart, Cagney, Stewart, Grant, Gable, etc. Legends and incredible actors, but their style was very stilted, very much derived from the stage and not realistic. Then that style was changed towards much more realistic characterizations with the coming of Marlon Brando. He revolutionized the way actors acted. Yet his revolution may have been short lived were it not for a second generation of realistic actors that firmly entrenched the style. Actors like Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Mcqueen and, yes, Paul Newman. Of that generation, Paul Newman was the giant. He was larger than life and as big a draw as any of the actors already mentioned. His popularity at it's height cannot be underestimated. But in the case, his popularity was just a small reflection of his actual talent. Some actors you can tell just dig into their roles. They find out every little thing about the characters and truly absorb them as people. Newman didn't do that, or at least didn't seem to do that. His acting was natural, almost effortless. He didn't have to work for it, or at least didn't seem to. His roles looked as natural on him as feathers on a duck. As Kevin Spacey recently remarked:

"An era just ended. Paul Newman was a great humble giant. He said it was all down to luck, but the rest of us know it was his talent, wit and generous heart that made him the star he was."He should be an example to the acting profession because he seemed to have had his ego surgically removed."

Do you doubt Newman's impact or his cinematic legacy? Let us look down his filmography shall we? One of his first major roles, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. Even censored as this film was from the original play, the emotional impact of the film is intense. And just by using subtlety and craft Newman was able to maintain the homosexual undertones of his character in a time (1958) when that subject would NEVER be allowed to be mentioned in a major motion picture. I wondered about that aspect of his character as I watched the film, and it wasn't until later when I read that theme was much more blatant in the original play did I realize how artfully Newman kept that portion of the character in.

His amazing turn as Eddie Felson in The Hustler where he stood his ground against the amazing screen presence of George C. Scott (though really it's the few scenes with Jackie Gleason that steal the show). And there is one of the best films all time. Hud. I had the privilege of watching Hud on the big screen at the Classic City Film Festival. I had seen and loved the film before, but seeing it again on the big screen was just something special. You want acting? Go watch the scenes between Newman and tragically underrated actress Patricia Neal. Two thirds of the communication between them is not spoken.

I also want to mention an incredibly strange film Newman did called The Outrage. It was a Western remake of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in which Paul Newman plays a mexican bandito. Remakes of Kurosawa as westerns are almost standard (The Magnificent Seven/The Seven Samurai, A Fistful of Dollars/Yojimbo), but this one is just weird. Unless someone points out the fact that the bandito is Paul Newman you would never recognize him.

Then Newman hit his own personal golden age in the late 60's and early 70's. He made three huge films, the first two of which have had immense impacts on the popular culture of America. I'm speaking of Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. Of those three, the most brilliant film in terms of acting and impact is, far and away, Cool Hand Luke. If you watch only one Paul Newman picture, watch Cool Hand Luke. It's gritty, realistic, lighthearted, depressing, and all points in between. Portions have entered into popular culture. "What we've got here, is...failure...to communicate." "Shaking the bush, boss." "Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand." "Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for?" "Oh they broke me, but I didn't stay broke." This picture is, in a world, brilliant.

Newman continued to work steadily throughout his entire life. There was perhaps the first loser comedy, Slapshot. There was his reprise of Eddie Felsom in The Color of Money for which he won his best actor academy award (though likely it was more for his career instead of this particular role). There was The Verdict, which is in my Netflix list. There's The Hudsucker Proxy, The Road to Perdition, Message in a Bottle, and even doing a voice in the Pixar movie Cars just two years ago. He only officially retired in 2007 to fight against the cancer.

On then there are his charitable works, of which I am only just learning about now. For example, the food company Newmans Own, which is nationally stocked in grocery stores, uses all it's profits for charity. Think about that. Think about it. That's like asking Kraft to donate all it's profits to charity. That's an insane amount of money. He also set up a charitable foundation to fight drug abuse when his only son died of an accidental drug overdose.

I want to emphasize a word I've used several times in this entry. Giant. That's what Paul Newman was. He was a giant. Not only in the movie industry, but in the world. He used his talent not to gain fame but to create beautiful and tragic things. Fame came from that. And he used that fame for a greater good. Most of us live small lives. A few of us live lives that are larger than we are, and become dwarfed by them. A scant few of us live the lives of giants and walk among smaller men as weeds. And then there was Paul Newman. Rest in peace, Mr. Newman. Our lives are better for having been in contact with yours.