Metrograph

The story of Luke Jackson (Paul Newman), an inmate at a tough-as-nails Southern jail who gains the respect of his fellows on the chain gang thanks to his unflappable demeanor and refusal to bow to the authority of warden Strother Martin, struck a chord with the anti-establishment counterculture of the late ’60s, and made Rosenberg’s hard-hitting prison picture a palpable hit. Van Fleet, playing Luke’s ailing mother—and his motive for attempting to escape the pen—brings a marvelous poignancy to her part, one of many invaluable contributions from a peerless supporting cast that includes George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, and Dennis Hopper.