The Last Movie Stars (2022) s01e02 Episode Script

1
♪♪
♪♪
Film reel narrator:
You are in Hollywood,
motion picture capital
of the world.
These are some of
the thousands of girls
who have come to Hollywood
every year,
girls who share the same dream.
Woman: I don't want to be just
anyone walking down the street.
I want to be somebody special.
It's like having a disease.
I wish I could get rid of it,
but I really can't.
And maybe I really
don't want to.
♪♪
Film reel narrator: This is
the Studio Club in Hollywood.
These are a few of the 94 girls
who room and board here,
94 of the thousands of girls
who come to Hollywood each year
from every state of the union.
My folks thought I was crazy
to come out here.
A lot of people close to me
think acting is a sin,
but I feel it's like
being a missionary.
Woman #2: My big opportunity
hasn't come yet, but it will.
Of course, I'm a realist.
I know I'm expendable.
Woman #3: I don't think
I'm gonna be a real big star
for a while yet,
but I don't mind waiting.
I've had the training
and the experience that I need.
I'm ready.
Film reel narrator:
Every girl is different,
and yet every girl is the same.
What brings them here
is the dream of becoming a star.
♪♪
Well, Joanne, a little while ago
we talked to
some of the thousands of girls
who would do anything to be you.
Could you tell us
why it happened to you
and how it happened to you?
♪♪
Do you think if people
adopt a baby,
they can love him just as much
as if he was theirs?
Of course.
Come on, Mike.
I mean
I don't mean if he's an orphan.
I mean
Jackson: If this
theatrical thing finds you,
and it really is in you,
there's nothing that anyone
or anything can do to kill it.
Mr. Quick,
I am a human being.
Do you know
what that means?
It means I set
a price on myself.
A high, high price.
You may be surprised
to know it,
but I've got quite a lot
to give.
I've got things I have been
saving up my whole life,
things like love
and understanding and
I can look at her work
and say, "Damn.
How the hell
did she do that?"
I never see her
directing herself
or telling herself
to pick up the cut,
pick up the cut this way.
She just did it.
I'm a grown woman, Jason,
and I need
what any grown woman needs.
And that's respect
and affection,
in case you don't know.
You know that when
you're acting,
the best part of it
is when you can release it,
just be that, and do it.
She just was
seemed like she just m
Ooh, I love watching her.
♪♪
♪♪
Sherman:
"From the very beginning,
I understood
the private nature of Paul,
the unwillingness to commit,
which would then make
the commitment extraordinary.
You know,
emotions cannot be willed.
You cannot say,
'I want to feel this way.
I want to fall in love
with this woman,' whatever.
It It has to
The whole trick of acting
is that the object has to be
so real to you
that it opens everything up.
If the object is real,
it will open everything up."
♪♪
♪♪
Morning, ladies.
Fine, warm day, isn't it?
Isn't he as pretty
as a picture?
My, now, you all look like
two butterflies
lit out on the grass.
Hello again, Miss Clara.
If it's work
you're looking for,
you can see the foreman
at the gym.
If it's food, they'll take care
of you around the back door.
Well, now, you hadn't
hit on it yet, lady. What
Sherman:
"I met Paul through Joanne.
Joanne and I were friends.
We'd done a film called
'No Down Payment' together,
which fell on its ass,
but she wanted me
to do everything she was doing.
She was becoming
a big star then.
And then we were casting
'The Long, Hot Summer,'
and she introduced me to Paul.
It was a very shrewd choice.
The part was written to exploit
that cool,
almost negative sexuality."
Where did you find him?
"I just felt
the very withholding
was gonna to make him
a movie star."
You're not much of a prospect,
Miss Clara.
You don't need my money,
Mr. Quick.
You got everybody else's.
Yeah, but it's the hold-out
that challenges me.
Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Quick,
the last time I parted
with that money to a pitchman,
I was 12 years old.
And nobody's ever
taken you since?
Nope.
Nobody ever will.
Woodward: All during
the picture, that's all we do
We laugh at each other.
We're at each other's throats
in every scene.
Of course, there's something
nice, I think,
about being able to fight
with your husband
and get paid for it.
Wouldn't you say?
Well, like Stanislavski said,
art is never accidental.
Oh, thank you.
Interviewer: Thank you,
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Newman,
in person and on film
in a scene from
"Long, Hot Summer."
Never say never.
I don't know
what arrangement
you think you have
with my father,
but you'll find you have
no bargain with me.
Now, we gonna be married,
Miss Clara, haven't you heard?
You have been hoodwinked,
Mr. Quick.
For once in your crafty life,
you have been had.
Oh, you mean
you're turning me down?
Refusing my hand
and my heart?
You're too much like my father
to suit me,
and I'm an authority
on him.
He's a wonderful old man.
One wolf recognizes
another.
Tame us. Make pets out of us.
You could.
I'm not interested.
I gave up on him
when I was 9 years old.
And I gave up on you
the first time I ever
looked into those
cold, blue eyes.
You got the color right.
I've got everything right.
Clooney: "It was just wonderful
to be able to go out
and do with Joanne in public
what we'd longed
to do in public for years,
to put on the screen
what had already been discovered
privately between us."
You're mighty pretty with them
reading glasses on.
You look pretty
with them off.
You look mighty young there,
Miss Clara,
all curled up in your bed,
like you just washed your hands
and brushed your teeth
and said your prayers
like a little girl.
"People may see me
as a sexual object
when I'm up there
on the screen,
but if they meet me while
they're excited at the prospect,
their level of sexual interest
declines with each
passing moment.
Newman as a sexual object
was simply invented.
It was never organic
to the person."
Cla-a-a-ra ♪
"The sexuality
was never there.
How did I invent it
from film to film?
I didn't."
You've got a thin skin,
is what you got.
But the world belongs to
the meat eaters, Miss Clara,
and if you have to take it raw,
take it raw.
"There should be a parade
in Joanne's honor
as the creator
of the symbol."
Quick: Put them things down,
Miss Clara,
'cause I'm gonna
kiss you.
"I came back
from work one day
and found a large
collection of junk
piled up in the driveway
by the garage
old bicycle pumps,
the outdoor brooms.
She was wearing a bandana
and a paint-covered smock.
And I said,
'What are you doing?'
'Painting,' she said.
She'd picked up a double bed
from some thrift shop somewhere
and a new Sealy mattress.
And the room was painted
some incredibly raucous color.
She giggled shyly and said,
[whispering]
'It's called the fuck hut.'
[Normal voice]
And that's where we'd go."
♪♪
Announcer: The world premiere
at Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
of "The Long, Hot Summer,"
William Faulkner's violent study
of Southern love and hate,
is attended by Joanne Woodward,
a bouquet for the young lady
being hailed
as the greatest dramatic actress
on the American screen today.
TV host: The way the returns
have been coming in,
20 million people will see
this film in the country.
Sherman: "The picture did
big, big business.
As I said,
it was very entertaining.
The picture went to Cannes.
Paul won Best Actor.
And, of course,
that was the same year
as 'Three Faces of Eve.'
I mean, that was a big year
for Joanne."
Linney: "Dearest Mother,
I'm writing you in the midst
of being photographed
for a magazine story.
In fact, they're taking
a picture of me right now.
It's been going on
for a couple of days now.
I don't know how much longer
it's gonna take,
but I hope they hurry up."
Linney: "Paul has a saying
I don't think it's his own
'Luck is an art.'
And I lucked out."
Woman #4: "Did you always think
that you would be lucky?"
"I had infinite belief
that it would all happen.
I didn't "
"What would happen?"
"That I would grow up
and become a movie star"
"You did!"
"and marry a wonderful,
handsome man."
"You imagined all that?"
♪♪
Film reel narrator #2:
On the southernmost border
of the state of Georgia
rests one of the South's
most beautiful
and gracious communities
Thomasville.
Linney:
"When I was a little girl,
the thing that I did most
and loved most
and was more influenced by
than anything else
was the movies.
My mother used to put us
in the movie theater and say,
'Now, I'm depositing
Wadie and Joanne here,
and I'll be back to pick them up
in a couple hours
'cause I'm going out
to play bridge.'"
[Up-tempo song playing,
radio tuning]
♪♪
Man: "Tell me
Tell me about Elinor,
Joanne's mother."
Jackson: "She was a kinda
fun-loving person,
and she liked to
socialize a lot.
Elinor kind of got involved
with someone,
a nice-looking man.
who had a wife in Greenville.
And he was working
at Bill [indistinct],
and Elinor rented him
a room"
Hawke: Her mom she liked
partying, she liked dating.
And her father
was a hard worker,
and he was often traveling.
And so she had an affair
with a guy in town
and let him rent a room
in their house.
[Laughter]
You know, and so they have
a terrible divorce.
Linney:
"We left Georgia.
My mother felt
she could not live there
as an unmarried woman
in those days.
It was shocking.
So we moved to Greenville,
South Carolina."
[Indistinct singing]
[Birds chirping]
This here's
the end of the line, lady.
♪♪
Linney: "I was 16 and decided
to invite, like a silly girl,
the biggest football star
in the school to the big dance.
And he said yes.
To help things along,
my mother agreed
to make my gown.
Now, this was just about
the time strapless evening gowns
had become stylish, and nothing
would do for me except that.
Mom agreed again.
She made the dress
well, because we didn't have
much money,
and really it was
a gorgeous gown.
It was very loose in the bodice.
Somehow, neither Mom nor I
gave this particular defect
the attention it deserved.
The orchestra started the music,
and in complete, absolute
girl-gushing pride,
I stepped out onto the floor
with my king-sized hero.
I put my arms up to reach
around those shoulders,
and, yes, it happened.
I walked to the corner
of the dance floor
and sat quietly,
hoping I would die very soon."
[Mid-tempo music plays]
"Yet, this was the night
I learned that men
are still the most wonderful
people in the world."
I once knew a man who told me
a tale of the greatest ♪
Linney: "An older boy came over
and asked me to dance.
He danced with me the rest of
the night and the dress behaved.
He didn't know it, but he made
the most wonderful rescue
since St. George
slew the Dragon."
♪♪
"And what happened
when you danced with her?
Do you remember?"
"We started going what
what you call going steady"
Hawke: I read this interview,
and I was really moved by it
because you actually learn a lot
about Joanne's childhood
by talking to
her high school sweetheart.
Zahn: "We dated all the way
through high school.
Man: "What kind of things
did you used to do,
you and Joanne?"
"Well, I'm sure we went to
a lot of movies, for one thing.
We had our share of parking.
We had our share of things you
would do back in those days."
"I don't know
what they were."
"Well, I'm gonna let her
discuss whatever she wants to,
you know, in regards to
our relationship.
But, uh
there is one thing going on
in my mind right now
that
that I'm thinking about.
And I can remember
for one of the dances,
she had tried
to save up money
and got her mother talked into
buying her dress for the dance.
Real important.
And it was doeskin.
And it was something
she really wanted.
And she couldn't
wear pants under.
I guess it was so tight,
and when she got dressed,
she she couldn't wear them.
It showed too much.
And she went with nothing
underneath that dress
to that dance.
[Chuckles]
That's, you know that's
what popped into my mind."
"Did you ever watch
rehearsals?"
"Oh, I'm sure I did."
"But you don't remember
about that?"
"Yeah, I wasn't
into drama.
You know, that was
out of my realm.
You might say I was
watching Joanne,
waiting for her
after rehearsals,
that kind of stuff."
Jackson: "She always said that
she was gonna be a movie star.
Always.
Not an actress. A movie star."
Linney: "I developed
a young and ambitious
ruthlessness of purpose
which isolated me
from many of the activities
that most girls enjoy."
"You know, she knew
what she wanted to do,
and she did."
She wanted the acting career,
the singing.
There's no doubt
about that.
But to go back to
the sewing,
she learned that
because she had to.
It was tough times
for her and her mother.
Tough times."
Hawke: They were poor.
She was just a single mom.
You know, the mom made
all of Joanne's clothes,
and they slept in the same bed
all through high school.
Oh!
Linney: "My mother never had
any financial sense.
The lights were always
being turned off
because Mother
wouldn't pay the bill.
Finally,
I would just do it."
I'm all right now?
You look fine.
"She was a wonderful mother
for a baby.
Wonderful for things
like teaching me how to sew.
She was a wonderful companion
for a little girl
because she was
a little girl."
Good night, Mom.
"But there comes,
inevitably, a time
when you need more
than that,
and she wasn't capable."
♪♪
Zahn:
"And I'm sure that [sighs]
she didn't like that situation
so much with her daddy,
you know, being out there.
That situation
was kind of tough with her,
there with her mother all alone,
you know,
and I think that hurt her
a lot, that divorce."
Man: "Was there ever
any time where
Joanne confessed her pain
about the separation?"
"Well, we cried through
sometimes."
Here's a nice little tray.
Linney:
"When my parents got divorced,
I wanted to kill myself,
but I couldn't figure out how.
I remember thinking if I could
jump out the window
And it's funny that
I would be concerned about it
because the last few years
of their marriage
was just sheer horror."
Man: "Do you remember
saying goodbye to her?
Do you remember
her leaving?"
Zahn: "Eh.
I'm sure it was a situation,
but I don't remember it."
"What was it like
for you after
after she made that move?"
"We felt that there were
no other two people
in the world and
Now, maybe we were too young,
puppy love,
whatever you want to call it,
but I never had anything
Really, we were
very much in love,
as anybody could have been
at that time.
And I know that
I felt that way.
And I know that
she felt that way, too."
♪♪
Announcer:
Hollywood's Academy Award night,
sent to 50 million viewers
by the film industry,
is a bonanza of
Linney:
"It was the most ex
You know what
was the best thing about it?"
Man #2: "What?"
"Is that it was
on television,
and I had made my dress."
While Joanne Woodward attends
with Paul Newman, her husband.
"All I remember doing
was sewing industriously
on that damn dress,
and that's all
I could think about.
I had to finish the dress."
The nominations for the
Best Performance by an Actress
are Deborah Kerr in
"Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison,"
Anna Magnani
in "Wild is the Wind,"
Elizabeth Taylor
in "Raintree County,"
Lana Turner, "Peyton Place,"
and Joanne Woodward
in "Three Faces of Eve."
The winner is
Joanne Woodward
[Cheers and applause]
"Three Faces of Eve."
"When I realized
that I had won,
what I did was
fling off my coat."
[Laughter]
"But it was
a strapless dress.
And as I began to run,
and I had those things
staves that went up
to hold it up,
but I kept thinking,
'My dress is gonna fall down.'"
[Laughter]
"But I wanted my mother
to see my dress.
Oh. Funny what goes on
in your head, huh?"
[Applause]
I can only say I
I've been daydreaming about this
since I was 9 years old.
Hawke: It was that movie was
bigger than "The King and I."
I mean, it was a huge movie.
She won
She didn't just win the Oscar.
She won every award.
She was heralded at that moment
as this country's
greatest rising star.
Dave: Joanne,
in the history of movies,
only 30 actresses have won
the Best Actress Academy Award.
What does it feel like
to be one of them?
I don't think I really know,
Dave.
You know, sometimes you want
something so desperately
that you think
you're just gonna die
if you don't get it.
And I remember
when I was a kid
in Greenville High School
in Greenville, South Carolina,
the thing I wanted most was to
be elected school sweetheart.
I thought my whole life
was gonna be different,
that everything
would change.
So I got elected,
and nothing was different
and nothing changed.
♪♪
[Slide projector clicking]
♪♪
♪♪
Now, John, you ought to ask them
about their baby. [Laughs]
She ate a cigarette
yesterday.
[Laughter]
John: I trust the baby's
all right?
Oh, she's fine,
just fine, yeah.
[Applause]
Clooney: "I can't remember
ever crying about anything.
The first time I remember crying
for another person
was when I saw Joanne in the
hospital giving birth to Nell.
Just remember her
lying on the gurney,
ashen, dry mouth."
[Film reel clicking]
"And as she went down
the elevator,
I just stood by the shaft
and wept.
That's the first time I can
remember ever weeping,
including my father's death."
[Applause]
Linney: "Mother, I'm kind of
glad you all decided
not to move into the big house.
It didn't sound like
a wise move to me,
but I didn't feel like
I should say so.
And for heaven's sake,
what do you mean,
'doing me proud'?"
Nell: Being the first born
of the second litter,
I don't think
she was a natural mom.
She had
a very inattentive mother.
So she she was trying
her best.
Linney: "big house,
little house,
or no house at all.
And I promise you,
if it is at all possible,
I will be down for at least
a couple of days
when I finish this picture."
Nell: So I just don't think it
was something that came to her.
She didn't have
a great role model.
[Up-tempo music playing]
♪♪
[Cheers and applause]
♪♪
Hawke: Paul was really close
with Sidney Poitier.
Poitier and he did a movie
called "Paris Blues" together.
Do you ever see "Paris Blues"?
-No.
-Fucking hell, man.
This movie has
Louis Armstrong in it.
You know, Duke Ellington
does the score.
It has Paul Newman
and Sidney Poitier
jamming with Louis Armstrong.
I mean, it's a 15-minute scene,
and it's fucking amazing.
♪♪
So I have this great interview
where Poitier is
talking about
like, he's equating method
acting with great jazz musician.
It's immense practice
and immense dedication,
a commitment to the lines,
and then you let go.
[Trombone playing]
♪♪
Right.
So which do you think Paul was?
♪♪
Hawke: If I had to guess,
I think that if Poitier thought
that Paul had that power
of hypnosis,
he would have said so.
What do you think?
You know I'm gonna score
this part for oboe
and play it against
your horn.
Well, how 'bout it?
Gonna lighten up the melody
and give it a nice
Hey, now,
what do you think?
It's good, man.
Just good, huh?
That's better than bad.
Clooney: "I'd had a struggle
with confidence all my life.
People I knew, you know, they'd
shake their heads and say,
'But couldn't you tell
that people thought
you were really something?'
And I'd say,
'No, but if you want me
to invent that, I will.'
I cannot convince anybody."
[Crowd clamoring]
Sherman: "This feeling of being
second banana, I mean,
well, look, we had
both Sidney and Joanne,
and he really felt like,
you know, the third banana."
Eddie: Somebody comes along,
scoops him up,
and pours him out
at his house.
Such a crazy life.
Yeah, well, that's because
you're one of the day people.
We are the night people,
and it's
a whole different world.
You don't think
they can mix?
Well, I don't mind them
going to public places together,
but I certainly wouldn't want
one of them to marry my sister.
[Both laugh]
Sherman: "You know,
and I certainly understood that.
I understood
that that's the way he felt.
I mean, he said it to me
about Joanne all the time."
And I'm a day person.
Mm-hmm.
But you know something?
I think you are.
No.
Well, you're not
like him.
Well, I'm taller than him.
[Chuckles] No.
"Talent.
Talent is a genetic accident.
You're lucky if you're talented,
that's all.
And one of the reasons
I respect Paul so much
is because of what I think
he's done with his equipment.
I mean, his equipment
emotionally,
it was average,
or less than average.
Whoever it is that bequeaths
these gifts upon people,
whether it's God
or, as I suspect,
a certain specific
of matter
I don't know what it is.
[Chuckling]
I don't know what matter is.
But what I do know is that when
something emotional comes out,
that it's specific of matter."
You want me
to get you a cab?
No, I'd rather walk.
I don't know what to say.
Well, you know, you just picked
the wrong guy for what you want.
Did I?
Yeah.
I'm not on the market.
I wasn't shopping.
♪♪
-Say something in here?
-Yeah.
They just want to make sure
that the recorder is on.
I think it is.
-This is such a find.
Melissa:
There was a lot of passion.
First of all, I always wondered
why they had two doors
closing their bedroom.
So there was an inner door
and then a big outer door.
And I used to think, why
why would anyone need
two doors on their bedroom?
And there's was, like,
a bolt [laughs] on one of them.
Stephanie: They were so hot
for each other and I was little,
and I would, like,
come into a room,
and they'd be making out
behind the door.
♪♪
Clea: This is Nellie's
birthday party,
something which she really
didn't like,
hated the whole idea.
And Susan
Susan doing The Twist.
Stephanie: There's Marty
Marty Ritt in a funny hat.
Melissa: Stewart.
Clea: And Lissy did not like
to wear clothes.
And I thought it was a very
I was very freethinking.
So I thought this was
a wonderful idea.
Stephanie: My stepchildren
weren't like that.
I used to say, "Go ahead.
Take Take everything off."
Oh, they wouldn't do it.
Melissa: She I think she felt
really guilty.
And I think she loved
all of her children
the ones she shared
and the ones, you know,
that she had with my dad.
Nell: And Mom really did.
She did everything to
to heal the divide.
Hawke: A lot of kids would be
very angry
at their father and stepmother.
But you don't seem to be furious
with them about that.
And how do you how do you
think that came to be?
Um, I think I could
You know, my dad and stepmom
did not do this
as an intentional hurt
to my mother.
That's, you know,
obviously a given.
And I can be disgusted
with my dad, um,
when I think of my mom,
you know.
That is that's a true
feeling for me.
It isn't the only feeling.
I didn't grow up
with a sense of anger, myself.
Did your
did your older siblings?
Man #3: "Are you willing to
talk about Scott?"
Kazan: "Sure."
"Love to know what
your experience was of him
as a baby,
as a little boy."
"Well
I think that Scott
was an incredibly
sensitive child.
Incredibly sensitive.
And I think
he was very upset
by his father
leaving the household.
I think that I was certainly
not equipped
to deal with that
or handle that.
We didn't have the faintest idea
in the world
about how to deal
with those things.
So I suppose
the answer to that
is that you don't
really deal with them.
I was concerned about Scott's
relationship with his sisters,
because if ever
if I ever went out for an hour
and left him there,
I'd come home.
They would say that
they hated him
and they never wanted him
to stay with them again."
"What had he been doing?"
"Oh, [chuckles]
beating them up."
"Physically?"
"Yeah."
"And what would happen
when you reported
these things to Paul?"
"Well, we all know that
Paul's not very good
at handling
that kind of stuff."
♪♪
Stephanie:
Pop was a complicated guy.
And I'm not sure
I ever met anybody
that comes close to
his personality.
And I don't know
even how I can define that.
He was very preoccupied,
especially when he was working.
[Brakes squeak]
[Man speaks indistinctly]
Clooney: "I was shooting
a film in France,
and Rob Rossen
sent me the script."
Yes, sir.
I think I got a little grease
in this lining here.
Oh, yeah? Well, it'll take
about 30 minutes to check it.
You want me
to fill her up, too?
Yeah.
You better
check the oil, too.
"So I start reading this thing
and I was halfway through it,
and I called my agent
and I said,
'Look, I'm halfway through,
but it doesn't make
any difference.
Make it happen.'"
♪♪
♪♪
I have to say, "The Hustler"
is one of my favorites.
Oh, my God.
Nivola: That movie plays
to his strengths so well.
It allows him to be, like,
relentlessly charming
Two ball, side pocket.
and for there to be,
like, a cross current
while he's doing it.
Very good shot.
You know,
I got a hunch, fat man.
I got a hunch
it's me from here on in.
One ball, corner pocket.
I mean, that ever
happen to you?
All of a sudden,
you feel like you can't miss?
I dreamed about this game,
fat man.
I dreamed about this game
every night on the road.
Five ball.
Clooney: "It was the best thing
I'd ever had in front of me."
You know, this is my table, man.
I own this.
"Eddie Felson was a guy
trying to find himself,
to express himself,
to burst into the world
and to be something,
to realize his true self.
I spent the first
30 years of my life
looking for a way to explode.
For Eddie, it was pool."
Eddie: I'm I'm the best
you ever seen, Fats.
I'm the best there is.
Now, even if you beat me,
I'm still the best.
Clooney:
"For me, acting was the way."
Stay with this kid.
He's a loser.
Hawke:
It's almost every scene
he's playing two different
things.
He's hustling people and he
wants to be liked, you know?
And it's, like, so
so I always think
that's what makes
a great performance,
you know, when there's
just two electric
Scorsese: Yep.
There is something about him
that you like,
because he wants to be
liked, you know?
We got no use for pool sharks
around here.
But he is in a
he's in a miserable
form of life, the way
he's working, what he does.
This guy is
his own worst enemy.
[Eddie screams]
And it happens,
and you watch it happen to him.
And he hurts
the people around him.
Sarah, you think
I'm a loser?
A loser?
Yeah.
I met this guy, Gordon
Bert Gordon.
He said I was,
a born loser.
When he says,
"You think I'm a loser?"
it's something
that's so haunting.
Because what's a loser,
you know?
So there are people.
who, uh who want to lose,
who are always looking for
an excuse to lose.
Is he a winner?
Well, he owns things.
Is that what makes
a winner?
Well, what else does?
Does it bother you,
what he said?
Yeah.
Yeah, it bothers me a lot,
'cause, you see, twice
Clooney: "I told Rossen,
'You got to somehow liken
what Eddie does
to anyone performing something
sensational, you know?
I mean, a ballplayer,
some guy who lays
477 bricks a day, anything.'"
That guy I could have
beat him cold.
He never
would have known.
But I just had to
show him.
Just had a show those creeps
and those punks
what the game is like
when it's great,
when it's really great.
Anything can be great.
Anything can be great.
I don't care. Bricklaying can be
great if a guy knows.
Where I'm going,
where I'm really going,
I feel like a
like a jockey must feel
when he's
sitting on his horse,
he's got all that speed
and that power underneath him.
He's coming into this stretch,
the pressure's on him,
and he knows.
Just feels when to let it go
and how much.
Hope: Well, there have been some
great pictures this year.
There was "The Hustler."
That's about Bing's
obstetrician.
[Laughter]
Jackie Gleason in "The Hustler."
"The Hustler"
Because he's got
everything working for him
timing, touch.
in "The Hustler."
It's a great feeling
for "The Hustler."
real great feeling
when you're right
and you know you're right.
It's like all of a sudden,
I got oil in my arm.
Woman:
Paul Newman in "The Hustler."
Sidney Carroll
and Robert Rossen,
"The Hustler."
Stephanie: Pop used to get
10 scripts a day.
We had stacks of scripts
waiting for him to read.
He would sit up after dinner
till 1:00, 2:00 in the morning,
making notes with a pencil.
Every person on the planet
recognized his name
and recognized him.
That's how it was.
Sherman:
"Any fat man who is graceful
is immediately
a theatrical entity
because of the unity
of opposites,
which was really why Paul
was so right for 'Hud.'"
Hud: You don't find me
in control of myself?
Hate to see you
walk a straight line.
That's easy.
"Hud is a man
so committed to his appetite
at the expense
of everything else in his life."
I don't like
setting passes.
We'll ease into it, then.
There's another one
coming up on your right.
Don't you ever ask?
Well, the only question
I ever ask any woman is,
"What time is your husband
coming home?"
"He doesn't give a shit.
He wants to win.
He wants to get
what he wants."
Let's get our shoelaces untied,
what do you say?
I'd say I've been asked
with a little more finesse
in my time.
"I had to get an actor
who was so attractive
that I could hook
the audience into it."
I've done my time with one
cold-blooded bastard.
I'm not looking
for another.
It's too late, honey.
You already found him.
Hawke: Did you ever
work with him?
No, I-I had dinner
with him
with Marty and Tom Cruise
were working
and I was working in Chicago
at the same time.
And I think Newman
gives probably
the most important
performance
in the history of cinema.
I think "Hud" is a landmark.
It's the first time
that American bad guy
had been presented
without excuse or remorse,
and no attempt was ever made
to make him likeable.
What are you pulling
on Granddad now?
Something pretty raw, kid.
And he does have
no apology
or change of heart
at the end.
What'd you do to make him
take to the hills?
You wear your curlers to bed
or something?
And you can't take
your eyes off him.
You think he's the coolest
thing you've ever, ever seen.
♪♪
Scorsese: There was somebody had
control of the frame
and he wasn't afraid
of anything.
You don't care
about people, Hud.
You don't give
a damn about them.
Granddad.
Oh, you got all that charm
going for you,
and that makes the youngsters
want to be like you.
That's the shame of it,
'cause you don't value nothing.
You don't respect nothing.
You keep no check
on your appetites at all.
You live just for yourself.
And that makes you not fit
to live with.
My mama loved me,
but she died.
Hawke: I don't think you get
"Raging Bull"
or a lot of our favorite
modern performances
without "Hud."
I mean, he's just
a malevolent soul,
and you identify
with him completely.
Interviewer #2: You know, you
seem to have been going along
in these type of roles
recently.
"Sweet Bird of Youth"
caused a great deal
of comment and controversy.
And of course,
it was a tremendous hit.
But you like these
sort of roles, don't you?
Newman: Well, I'm much more
interested in the examination
of corruption than I am
those parts attract me.
That's quite a phrase
examination of corruption.
Well, this is the first
totally corrupt person
I've ever played.
I mean, there was
a shred of decency
in "Sweet Bird of Youth"
and in "The Hustler."
There was always still
that feeling that
there could be some kind of
redemption for the person.
But this guy is
[laughs]
you know, without any kind
of moral sense at all.
♪♪
[Door slams]
♪♪
[Frogs croaking,
insects chirping]
And he took it down to the end.
There was no redemption.
No, just took it down
to the end.
Schrader: And they said
afterward, "If we had known
he would be so loved
and likable and identifiable,
we would have
written him differently.
We thought
we were criticizing him."
♪♪
Sherman: "I'm a very
political animal.
And when I got all the letters
saying, 'Hud was a great man,
the old man was an old fart
and the kid was gay,'
I mean, [scoffs] now
I understand what was going on
with the youth in America
in that day,
like I understand what's going
on with the youth in America
in this day,
which is why Reagan
got elected."
What is past is prologue
because the past serves
to set some scenes,
to establish the mood
and the pace
of whatever follows.
Consider the newspaper
of 10 years ago
precisely 10 years ago tonight,
October 7th, 1959.
Troubles with the Russians
in Berlin.
Southeast Asia was described
as a place
of "important new problems
for the United States."
But there was more talk
about Laos and about Vietnam.
A new Doris Day movie opened.
And down at the bottom,
at the very bottom
of the entertainment page,
there was this.
It reported
a world of troubles and pain,
slightly more innocent,
a little slower-moving,
but surely a past
that is a prologue.
♪♪
♪♪
Man #4: "Paul, you often talk
about being lucky.
What does it mean
when you talk about
Newman's luck?"
Clooney: "Well, Newman's luck
first starts
being born white
in America in 1925.
That's the beginning
of the luck.
The appearance
that's the second luck."
[Camera shutter clicking]
Reporter: Celebrities literally
dropped whatever they were doing
to be there in person
Sidney Poitier,
Burt Lancaster,
Sammy Davis Jr.,
Paul Newman,
James Garner,
Marlon Brando.
In what will go down
in history
as the greatest demonstration
for freedom
in the history of our nation.
[Crowd cheering]
Interviewer #3: At the same
time, you were home a lot,
and there's this guy
you're married to,
this bigger-than-life figure
out there
getting bigger and bigger
year by year,
movie by movie by movie.
Did you resent that?
[Laughs] Sure.
[Both laugh]
♪♪
Interviewer #4:
Have you ever thought of
going into politics yourself?
[Laughs] No, no.
Paul has.
He very seriously
has considered it.
He campaigned a lot last year,
didn't he?
Yes.
While you stayed at home
and looked after things,
you said.
Well, yeah. Well, we couldn't
have both gone.
I'm not I can't make speeches
and things.
And he's very good at that.
I've opened,
you know, booths
and had
my picture taken
Melissa: There's that one
picture of my parents
with Martin Luther King.
My dad looks like
he has a horrible hangover.
His face is all puffy.
And my mom looks like they just
had the biggest fucking fight.
And I'm so sad because I'm like,
"Oh, there's a picture of my
parents with Martin Luther King.
Wouldn't that be fun
to have on the wall?"
I can't even look
at that picture.
[Camera shutter clicking]
Linney: Paul's fame was
it was potent.
And he was
such a, you know, an icon.
And for women, particularly,
he was everyone's dream.
So she also
was dealing with that.
Love to me ♪
Linney: "And there is me
pregnant in my fur coat.
Ooh, my fur coat.
Can you believe that I would be
showing off a fur coat?
Somebody once asked me,
'What was it like to be home
and raising your children and
having a career and everything?'
And I said it was horror.
You were guilty
if you were on set
because you should be home
with the children.
If you were home
with the children,
you thought,
'Why am I not on the set?
Why is Shirley MacLaine
getting all those parts?'"
And you know, and she even
gave up some of her career
to take care of us.
Melissa: She put everything
on hold for him.
Her career would have been
really, really different.
I don't think there was ever
some Tuesday when she said,
"You know, I'm gonna give up
my career to raise the kids."
It's like she decides
to take the summer off,
but then in the fall,
her husband has getting offered
$3 million to do another movie,
and she's not offered a job
that makes that kind of money,
and she was
she was not Shirley MacLaine.
You know,
she spent a lot of her life
[chuckles]
feeling envious of her.
You American?
Nah, lady,
I'm a Russian spy for the CIA.
Announcer: If you've ever
wondered how to make a movie,
take one script,
one top director,
season well, with leading men
such as Paul Newman,
Robert Mitchum
Interviewer #5: You probably
have a choice of any role
that you want right now, right,
as one of the top stars?
Newman: Well, I get
an awful lot of scripts, yeah.
I would imagine so.
and heroine worthy
of their attention,
Shirley MacLaine.
Rather choice position to be in.
I can't complain.
described as
pure animal
You brought
a new kind of love ♪
You brought a new ♪
Lissy: For some reason, I love
"A New Kind of Love."
It's the cheesiest,
stupidest, Technicolor,
ridiculous movie.
And you will
make your wish
for a husband.
Hey, hey, hey!
Suppose a girl
doesn't want a husband?
Or a romance or anything?
This is a day of love,
mademoiselle.
It's where she goes
from being, like,
a boyish, independent woman
to, like, a simpering
with the beautiful hair
and the whole thing.
It's like ass-backwards
from where it was
from what it should be,
and it's stupid.
And it my dad he just plays,
like, a silly idiot
in the movie and whatever.
Trunk.
[Laughs]
He's cute.
I, um I'm really
awfully sorry.
Miss?
So my mother brought the script
to my dad and said,
"I really want to
do this script."
And my dad read it and said,
"This is a horrible,
horrible script.
And my mother evidently
just went off on him and said,
"I raised our children.
I helped to raise
your children.
I've taken care of you all,
done all these things for you.
And now you don't want
to do this movie
where I get to do
beautiful costume changes
and have beautiful hair
and makeup,
and you don't want to do it."
And my dad said,
"I take it back.
It's the best script
I've ever read,
and I can't wait to start."
♪♪
[Applause]
Steve:
To each his own.
♪♪
Linney: "In Hollywood,
everyone must be a type.
One director tells me,
'Put your hair up.'
When I do, he looks around
at the other people and says,
'See, she's a Grace Kelly type.'
Another director will say,
'Put your hair down.
Oh, you're a Jean Arthur type.'"
[Steve whistles]
[Laughter]
[Steve speaking indistinctly]
Linney: "What they don't seem
to realize
is that no one is a type.
Steve: Take us straight to jail.
It'll save time.
[Women laughing]
Interviewer #6: Shirley MacLaine
said you didn't have an image.
Woodward:
Well, Shirl
What did she mean?
I don't know.
We This was
In this
In this lifetime?
We were very, very young.
Yes.
I was the one who said,
"Oh, Shirley,
I don't know how you do it.
You just look, you know,
so wonderful and everything."
And she said, "Well, you just
have to have an image."
And Shirley had such
a wonderful image
with her short haircut
and everything,
and she was so marvelous,
and I would go home
and look at myself
in the mirror and think,
what what does that mean?
I'm not sure.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Hawke: You know, when they
first married,
she'd just won the Oscar.
She's the star.
And then the trajectory
just changed, you know?
It really changed
with "The Hustler," "Hud."
I mean, after "Hud,"
it was over.
Sherman:
"He also had this image
of Joanne being
this great actress
and he being this unworthy
second banana
who'd become a star
while she was, you know
Well, that was not quite
happening with her."
I almost become
a part of the wheel.
I can feel myself going around
and around and around.
Everything else shuts out,
and it's just me
and the wheel.
Linney: "Paul and I were walking
down the street one day,
and we passed these two girls,
both of whom gave Paul
the usual response.
Then one looked at me and said,'
'Is that her?
I just felt like running down
the street shouting,
'Yes! It's me, it's me!
I don't know what my name is,
but it's me.'"
♪♪
Dave: Would you say, Dan, that
the discovery of Joanne Woodward
is representative
of what is going on
in Hollywood today?
Dan: Yes, Dave.
There will always be new stars.
There will always be
a Joanne Woodward.
Hawke: Have you ever seen
"The Stripper"?
It's an adaptation
of "A Loss of Roses."
I did, like, a
a deep Wikipedia
on Joanne Woodward,
[laughs] and I don't think
I've ever seen
a performance of hers.
At all.
I don't think that's uncommon,
you know?
Kazan: It's like,
it seems tragic,
but it is true.
♪♪
Driver: And now, in case
you didn't realize it,
we are approaching
the world-famous Sunset Strip.
Here you may see in the flesh
the great names of show business
that you've only watched
on the screen before.
Passenger: Look.
There's Jayne Mansfield.
No, it isn't.
It's Kim Novak.
No, it isn't, lady.
Then who is it?
It's nobody.
♪♪
Woodward: It was a sad story
because Frank was
it was Frank's first film,
and we had a lovely script.
And during the course
of the film,
our wonderful, wonderful
producer, Jerry Wald,
who had produced several films
that I'd made, died.
And Darryl Zanuck came in,
and he looked at the rough cut.
And he turned to the editor
and said,
"Where are the outtakes?"
♪♪
[Drum roll]
And Zanuck himself
recut the film,
cut out whole elements of the
film that made it make sense
and cut it into some kind of
sleazy, ridiculous thing
and then renamed it
"The Stripper."
[Screams]
So I always have
mixed feelings about it.
I loved the film and I did
I felt it was
some of my best work.
Oh, I haven't walked
through here since
the night before
I left for Hollywood.
Hmm. Just imagine.
Mother said that you won
some sort of
a Miss Look-Alike contest.
Oh, honey, I won three,
one of them right here.
Here I was Miss Look-Alike
Betty Grable.
And then in San Bernardino,
I was Miss Look-Alike
Rita Hayworth.
And in Pomona, I was
Joan Crawford's spitting image.
Hawke: Many of us lose
our dreams, but most of us
don't have a partner
who has the exact same dream,
and his comes true
over and over.
When they married,
she was the star.
Slowly, she began to find
herself changing diapers,
making baby food.
[Crowd whooping]
Not getting what
you want is hard,
but getting what you want
and then slowly watching it
be taken away from you
that's a different problem.
Something's gotta give,
something's gotta give ♪
Something's gotta give ♪
[Laughter]
Woodward:
And it just broke my heart.
And if I could have, you know,
shot Darryl Zanuck,
I probably would have.
[Laughs]
I hope he's not resting
peacefully.
♪♪
Listen, I I've been
thinking things over.
And maybe it wouldn't be
such a bad idea,
us getting married,
you know? We
Would you forget
you ever knew me?
No.
Why not?
You're a man, aren't you?
Men can forget anything.
It's a fact.
[Chuckles]
It's not pretty, but it's true,
like most facts are.
From now on,
I accept things as they come,
and I take things as they are,
which is hard and ugly.
So why don't you just
run along home?
You've got a long way to go,
and I gotta get ready
for the next round.
♪♪
♪♪
Linney: "When I was young,
I wanted to act.
And I'll admit it.
I didn't permit anything
to stand in my way,
until I had children.
I hope the children understand
that although they were each
and every one of them adored,
if I had it
to do all over again,
I might not have had children.
♪♪
Actors don't make good parents.
♪♪
♪♪
I was a fool ♪
I was blind ♪
I kept my eyes shut
half the time ♪
All the lights, one by one ♪
Here they come ♪
On a sparking subway train ♪
Breaking through a tunnel
underneath Broadway ♪
With one arm waving wild ♪
At some kids
on the other side ♪
And one arm on my shoulder ♪
Wrapped around my shoulder,
oh ♪
I was a fool ♪
I was blind ♪
I kept my eyes shut
half the time ♪
All the lights, one by one ♪
Here they come ♪
Take the hand that's
reaching towards you ♪
Where the shadow
stands before you ♪
Arm and arm with a uniform ♪
Gonna swing you
right through the front door ♪
I was a fool ♪
I was blind ♪
I kept my eyes shut
half the time ♪
All the lights, one by one ♪
Here they come ♪