Paul Newman

[topaz]

I lost a friend last year.

In 1986, my father and I went to the movies.  We went to see the new Scorcese movie that had just opened.  It was called The Color of Money.  It was a damp fall day and I'd just turned sixteen.  I remember watching the famous long tracking shot of Tom Cruise dancing around a pool table, pulling off one trick shot after another.  I remember "Werewolves of London."  I remember being faintly embarrassed at Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's nudity.

And I remember Paul Newman.

Of course I knew who Newman was before I saw this. I'd already seen The Sting at least twice, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once.  But it was at The Color of Money that I first really noticed Newman -- the first time I started to see what he brought to the party.  I love this movie above all others because it introduced me to Paul Newman.

Newman was not a virtuoso.  He didn't tend to show off his vast dramatic range.  In fact, a lot of his roles were cut from the same cloth: the small-time crook, the second-string kingpin, the washed-up hack.  The little guy, the loser, the joe.  No matter.  We didn't go watch him to see how he would stretch himself.  We went to see him because he had a way of demonstrating the basic humanity and fragility in everyone: the fundamental dignity of the everyman.  He had one of the most recognizable faces -- and voices! -- in the movies, and yet when you saw him on screen you rarely found yourself saying, "That's Paul Newman up there."  He made you want to forget it was him.

The day Paul Newman died, I broke the news to my father.  My father was stunned, grasped for words for a moment, and then said only, "He was like a friend."

Yeah.  That's what he was.  He was like a friend.

So, if you see me looking kinda down, be gentle, okay?  Because I lost a friend last year.

Comments

[agaran.livejournal.com]

Well said.

What was it that made you post this now?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I've had some of it kicking around in my head since he died. On Friday we had dinner with some friends in Brookline, and one of our dinner companions talked a bit about how Newman had been her favorite actor too, so it got me thinking about how to frame this.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I loved his work in Nobody's Fool.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Nobody's Fool was really neat. I thought it was a great example of a movie that he helped to elevate with his presence.

Somewhere I saved this quote from one of the endless obits that came around last year:

"The most Paul moment [in Nobody's Fool]," Stern said, "is when he sees the crazy lady down the street and offers his arm and walks her back home as if she were a queen. That's how I'll always remember Paul: dignifying other people." (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-newman28-2008sep28,0,7543479.story)

[rintrahroars.livejournal.com]

Paul Newman has been one of my favorite actors for as far back as I remember watching movies and remembering faces. I love the cool, suave character he played in Cool Hand Luke, and the embittered but still good Sully Sullivan from Nobody's Fool. His character in the Hudsucker Proxy showed his range. And of course, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was one of my favorite movies as a kid.

Some of my favorite movies throughout my life starred Paul Newman. When he died, I was terribly sad. So, I feel your pain. I lost a friend, too.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

There are some movies and scenes I will watch over and over again just to see how he handles them. There's a scene in The Color of Money when you know he's just reeled in the guy he's been hustling, and as the camera pans quickly across his face you can see his expression change almost imperceptibly to show his satisfaction -- and also maybe a little sadness. And he made it look so goddamn easy.

I don't much hold with "best of" lists in film, but as far as I am concerned, he was the one. He was the finest film actor we have ever had.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

I remember my mom always used to talk about how amazing he was (and how hot!) and I scoffed until one time she made me watch _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_.

I had to apologize. Now he's one of my very favorites too.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I hope it was his range you were doubting, not his hotness.

[blk]

Sometimes? You have really awesome writing. :)