Luke Jackson is a cool gutsy prisoner in a Southern chain gang who while refusing to buckle under to authority keeps escaping and being recaptured. The prisoners admire Luke because as Dragline explains it Youre an original thats what you are! Nevertheless the camp staff actively works to crush Luke until he finally breaks.
Review
Perhaps one of the last of the chaingang movies (until it was briefly shown in the beginning of 2000's "O Brother Where Art Thou) this has always been (1) an interesting film (2) a wonderfully photographed movie.
You hear more about the story and about Paul Newman than you usually hear about the cinematography but it's good and this movie should be seen in widescreen. It was offered as such even on VHS.
When I looked at this film sometime in the ྖs I was surprised that the famous line from it "What we have here is a failure to communicate" was only used twice and the second time being the last sentence uttered by Newman. I had thought that Strother Martin had said it several times. Boy Martin was one of the more effective villains in some 1960s film a meantalking sadistic guy.
This movie was another of the pioneers in promoting a new thing on screen the "antihero" so it was popular in the protest decade of the ླྀs. Newman's character fit right into the period where the rebel is the hero and the authority figure is the bad guy. You've seen this repeatedly ever since although filmmakers have always loved rebels.
George Kennedy gives Newman memorable support as "Dragline" and was aptly awarded for his performance. Someone who I always remembered was the prison guard who said nothing just stared through his sunglasses. I can always picture that guy and those reflective glasses. That and eating 50 hard boiled eggs have stuck with me for over 40 years!