Rosenberg’s directorial success for the film truly marked his place in the film industry and brought him countless amounts of opportunities along the way. With such a launch in their career, he attributed much of his recognition to the actor who made a name for the film, Paul Newman.
The two were so fond of working and collaborating with each other that Rosenberg trusted him with four very diverse roles, casting him as the lead role for those feature films. These works included “Pocket Money”, “WUSA”, and “The Drowning Pool.” They’ve truly made some masterpieces together and it all started with Cool Hand Luke.
Condemned
The set was so alarmingly realistic that it even was brought to the attention of an actual San Joaquin County building inspector! Just going on with his duties, he decided to scan and investigate the area he thought was an actual facility for migrant workers.
From his inspections and well, unawareness, he ended up posting a number of notices on the buildings that had "condemned" written all over. Later on, of course, they were notified that the area was just a temporary movie set.
Strict Schedule
If you've never had any experience shooting a film or anything, one might think that a single scene wouldn't really take much effort and time to finish. But when you're working with eight pages worth of dialogue, wrapping up a shoot in one day might seem a bit impossible. This was the case, at least, for the scene where Luke's mother makes a visit to the prison.
With the tight schedule, Jo Van Fleet and Paul Newman had a lot of pressure to deal with. Not surprisingly, the talented pair pulled it off all within just a single day of filming. That's what you get when you cast phenomenal actors!
The One Scene In Florida
Though most scenes were filmed in California, one particular scene was actually filmed on location at the Callahan Road Prison located in Jacksonville, Florida. This simple scene showed Luke being chased by a gang of dogs. Though you may not have noticed, it wasn't actually Paul Newman playing Luke in that take!
It can surely be dangerous to work with dogs, especially for a scene meant to show their aggression. As such, the job was given to a Newman-look-a-like stuntman in getting chased by real bloodhounds.
Family Appearance
Father of director Ron Howard, Rance Howard was actually one of the great but uncredited actors that were featured in the film. Though he did not get as much recognition, Howard still played an excellent role as "the Sheriff."
Rance Howard, both an actor and director, made appearances in hundreds of films and television shows, making him an expert in the field. He also made his film debut together with Ron in the 1956 film, “Frontier Woman.” He truly made most of his career before he passed away in 2017.