In a career that has spanned over fifty years Paul Newman was one of the greatest stars to ever grace the big screen. When he passed away in September 2008 cinema really did loose a talented actor who has thrilled fans for generations.
In his career you couldn't never accuse him of doing too many of the same roles as he moved from western to gangster and drama to blockbuster. So here at FemaleFirst we take a look at some of the essential Newman movies that you must see.
The Hustler
Released in 1961 Fast Eddie Felson was one of Newman's early iconic characters. Eddie is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon.
Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game.
It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend.
Twenty five years later he reprised the role in The Colour of Money and won his one and only Oscar.
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke is a classic set in a Southern prison drama where social misfit Lucas "Luke" Jackson (Paul Newman) is incarcerated for a petty crime and sentenced to a chain gang.
Luke is a sullen and laconic young man whose cool defiance of the sadistic warden and bullying inmates earns him the title "Cool Hand Luke."
But as the prisoners' respect for Luke grows into hero worship, he finds that he must risk everything in order to live up to their expectations.
For his performance Newman was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, directed by George Hill encapsulated the very meaning of the Western dramatic chase scenes on horseback to daring robberies of banks and trains all based around a friendship where either would die for the other.
The film went on to gross $102.3 million in the U.S. alone, the film now ranks amongst the top hundred grossing movies of all time.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It went on to win four: Best Cinematography, Best Music - Original Score, Best Music - Song and Best Screenplay.
The Sting
Newman and Robert Redford teamed up for the second time four years after Butch Cassidy in caper film The Sting and hoping that box office success would strike a second time the pair teamed up with Butch Cassidy's director George Roy Hill.
Newman and Redford star as con men Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker in The Sting. In the Chicago of the 1930s, Johnny's partner, Luther, is fatally wounded by a victim of one of their scams who turns out to be powerful syndicate boss Doyle Lonnegan.
Eager for revenge, Johnny takes a tip from his dying partner and seeks out mutual friend Gondorff, a consummate master of the long con.
Gondorff rouses himself from his alcoholic inertia and agrees to help Johnny take down the despicable Lonnegan, conscripting an army of grifters ready to avenge their friend's death.
The labyrinthine plot, which is stuffed with false leads, red herrings, and a double-cross-a-minute, involves a fake bookie joint, a very persistent FBI agent, a bunch of corrupt cops, and one shifty dame.
Box-office success did strike a second time as it went on gross $160 million as well as being a big critical hit. It was nominated for ten Oscars, winning seven including Best Picture and Best Director for George Roy Hill.
Road to Perdition
Starring alongside Tom Hanks Road to Perdition was his last big acting role back in 2002, a film which still remains one of the best gangster movies in the genre.
Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan, a quiet hit man who is duty bound to Mafia boss John Rooney (Newman). The mobster's close bond with Sullivan, however, leads Rooney's jealous blood son, Connor (Daniel Craig), to orchestrate a tragic series of events that results in Sullivan on the run with his 12-year-old son, Michael Jr.
Soon an unscrupulous crime photographer/assassin named Maguire (Jude Law) is sent after Sullivan and his son, and Sullivan must decide on a course of action as young Michael comes to terms with his father's violent way of life.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw