Paul Newman looked goofy wrapped in a toga for the majority of his first film, The Silver Chalice. He did the movie in 1954 and never acted in another true period piece for the rest of his career. He was so ashamed of the movie that he took out a full-page ad in a newspaper apologizing for his acting. This is a stark contrast to the acclaim he got for his next movie, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and his string of hits including The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Verdict.

When Paul Newman starred in Cool Hand Luke in 1967, he was already 42 years old. But his performance has a youthful quality no other actor could’ve achieved so well — as if life is just one big game and Luke decides to play it however he wants.

Cool Hand Luke is about Luke Jackson, a guy who gets sentenced to two years on a chain gang in the South. He refuses to follow the rules or conform, and as he escapes time and time again, the authorities go farther and farther to try and beat the spirit out of him.

“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” That’s the famous line from Cool Hand Luke, spoken by the prison warden to Newman after he talks back to him. The irony of the line is the way that Newman’s performance communicates so closely and personally with us, the audience. The simplicity of his character’s motives is what makes him so endearing: he simply refuses to conform to the system. The problem is that in the battle against authority that he refuses to lose, he has no way of winning.

Many of Paul Newman’s other characters were similar to Luke. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he played the outlaw Butch, a train robber who goes on the run with his partner the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford). He’s the most carefree thief you’ll ever see, going about his robberies like he’s just out for a walk, making his lunch or whittling a stick. Much like Luke, we connect with Butch because he’s so straightforward and honest. He just wants to have fun, get cash and live his life — which means not getting caught.

Maybe the reason Paul Newman hated his performance so much in The Silver Chalice was because he didn’t feel truthful wearing a toga. He didn’t feel like a real character that was anywhere close to the audience. But when playing these unpretentious characters, Newman fits them perfectly. It’s because he seems so at ease, so natural when he’s playing men like Luke or Butch. He’s comfortable and enjoys acting in the film, which makes us feel relaxed and enjoy watching it.

Everybody talks about Paul Newman’s eyes. His piercing baby-blues are legendary in the world of film. But what I noticed most in Cool Hand Luke was his smile. They comment about “that Luke smile” at the end of the film, and you can’t help but notice how genuine it is. It’s not humble, small or innocent; it’s honest. Every time he smiles in the film, it feels true. This shows how great of an actor he was. If what an actor is doing feels true, if we believe it, then the actor is doing their job. Truly communicating with the audience and making them believe your performance is an actor’s goal, and Paul Newman could always achieve that.

One of the prisoners in the movie says that Luke has “got more guts than brains.” You could say he’s right. But I think Luke doesn’t lack brains — that’s just not where his decisions come from. Something in Luke’s heart tells him to make his impulsive decisions. Newman shows that heart and makes you root for Luke and feel like you know him. But, like the characters in the movie, you wish you had had more time with Luke at the end and had gotten to know him even better. Judging by his films, I wish I had known Paul Newman better, too.