November 1 1967 

COOL HAND LUKE premieres in New York. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Written by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson from Pearce’s 1965 novel. A pre Butch Paul Newman taps into the counterculture zeitgeist as a former war veteran who, after a drunken spree, winds up on a Florida chain-gang where his determined recalcitrance, frequent escapes and general “failure to communicate”put him on a fatal collision course with the prison’s authoritarian warden and his implacable head guard. Celebrated 60s classic co-starring Strother Martin, Morgan Woodward, and George Kennedy, who wins Academy Award for best supporting actor.

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