RIP Paul Newman, 1925-2008

Whenever a major star ascends to the heavens their careers are invariably reduced to a few key roles.  Michael Caine used to make this point repeatedly when attempting to defend the amount of crap he made in the 1980s: that in the long run no one will remember the rubbish.

With Paul Newman, thankfully, there isn’t too much substandard work to overlook.  As a young lad I do remember seeing what is probably his worst film, one of the very last of the 1970s disaster movies called “When Time Ran Out”.  Newman pretty much phoned in his performance, mugging against bad blue screen special effects whilst all the time thinking of the paycheck.

A few years earlier he had co-starred with long term rival Steve McQueen in the hit which had helped initiate the whole cycle: “The Towering Inferno”.  It really wasn’t very good either, but it was fun.  Newman the star could entertain with the best of them. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, “The Sting” and “Slap Shot” coast on the Newman charm, his effortless charisma turning minor material into popular classics. 

Newman the actor is another matter.   When miscast he could often be downright dull.  Two unhappy collaborations with important directors were particular disappointments: “Torn Curtain”, Alfred Hitchcock’s fiftieth feature, is a cold war thriller devoid of thrills; “Quintet”, Robert Altman’s pretentious attempt at science fiction, is just a mess.

On the other hand when Newman was well cast there was no one better.  Three key 1960s leads are his lasting contribution to the cinema: the moody pool shark ‘Fast Eddie’ Felson in “The Hustler”, and the title roles in “Hud” and “Cool Hand Luke”.  None of these parts is entirely sympathetic, indicating perhaps that Newman worked best when playing against his astonishing good looks.  Hud, in particular, is a monster, an alcoholic womaniser who seems to take perverse pleasure in destroying his father’s legacy.

That Newman was denied an Academy Award when at his height is a sad reflection on how Hollywood treats its artists.  Ironically awarded an Oscar for his solid performance in “The Color of Money”, Martin Scorsese’s sequel to “The Hustler”, Newman maintained his high standards in the last half of his career, finding dignified, age appropriate parts of interest.  He could still astonish at times, whether underplaying for Merchant Ivory in “Mr and Mrs Bridge” or side-stepping easy sentiment in Robert Benton’s character study “Nobody’s Fool” or cast against type as a mafia don in “Road to Perdition”.