What We've Got Here Is A Failure To Communicate!

The world has had some great actors over the years. These actors have made great films and become huge superstars. Occasionally an actor comes along who surpasses all that and becomes like a favourite uncle you only ever see once or twice a year. To me, Paul Newman was such a person.

I never met him except in films like; Butch Cassidy, Cool Hand Luke and who can forget his portrayal of Fast Eddie Felson. He was, in a similar way to people like James Dean, an anti-hero. He brought a wry impertinence to the roles he played and people liked his anti-authoritarian spirit.

Despite typical movie-matinee idol looks he wanted more challenging roles, anti-hero roles that ensured his career spanned the generations it did. While most stars played the clean-cut he played convicts, outlaws, con-men and pool hall hustlers. He played them all with the charm and wit that made him a huge hit all over the world.

Like many great actors before him, he found it hard to win an Oscar. Despite roles that went down in history like; The Hustler, for example, where he upstaged the likes of Jackie Gleason and George C Scott. It was many years later while reprising the role in The Color of Money that he did finally win that much sort after award.

As is typical, however, he had made much better films around that time like; Absence of Malice and The Verdict. In the latter, he played an alcoholic lawyer (another anti-hero) who tries a case of medical malpractice despite being offered the chance to settle out of court against a giant law firm.

Paul Newman alone, the underdog, fighting the fight against all odds. This was a role he returned to many times. Even if ultimately he lost the fight, as with Cool Hand Luke, his total refusal to back down even slightly ensured he was always the winner with the audience.

I shall always remember him in the role of Luke in the 1967 classic. When finally caught by the prison warden he mocks him by shouting; "What we've got here is a failure to communicate!" That, of course, was something my favourite uncle could never be accused of. In film roles and in real life his style and charisma always shone through.

He will be sorely missed!