The success and greatness of the film have truly been engraved in film history, making it a touchstone of the era! In fact, AFI’s 100 Years 100 Heroes & Villains ranked Luke as the 30th greatest hero in American Cinema, solidifying Newman’s status as a box-office star. Additionally, the United States Library of Congress dubbed “Cool Hand Luke” as “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” and was eventually selected as an inductee of the 2005 National Film Registry.
Apart from inspiring other television series, there is even a Christian alternative rock band going by the film’s name. Furthermore, the book was even adapted into a West End play by Emma Reeves. Unfortunately, it didn’t see the success that the film saw and ended up closing after two months. Nevertheless, the legacy of the film lives on and will continue to live on for the years to come.
Too Much Prison for Them
Though the film was produced by Warner Bros., we're pretty sure such a movie pitch was being eyed by many other productions. One of the possible producers was actually Columbia Pictures, the production company, film distributor, and member of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.
Unfortunately, the production house had already made the film, “King Rat”, which had a premise that related to Cool Hand Luke and the whole prison-based story. Therefore, they decided to pass up the promising film to save their budget for more diverse production.
Time Travelling?
Though the film nailed many small details that contributed to the film's overall successful performance, there were still some pieces of information that the producers did not oversee. It seems that they forgot that the film was set in the 1940s as they cast Luke Jackson as a Korean War veteran. Newsflash, the Korean War didn't even commence during that period!
They also didn't realize that the song Plastic Jesus, one of the details that gave an identity to the film, was actually written in 1957. So close but not enough!
Studying the Accent
Newman heard about the project before it became public and asked for the part before he had even read the script. As a Cleveland native, Newman decided to spend a few days in Huntington, West Virginia, with businessman Andy Houvoura.
On the recommendation of their mutual friend, Houvoura drove Newman to various counties, where Newman could talk to residents and record them so he could study their accents.
Best Supporting Actor
George Kennedy was so eager to win an Academy Award that he took out $5000 in trade paper advertising to campaign for an Oscar. Apparently, George wasn't a modest guy. The campaign headline read "George Kennedy—Supporting" over a still from the movie. Somehow, it worked!
Kennedy wasn't really expecting his campaign to succeed but it did and the man took home the statue for Best Supporting Actor.