The Last Movie Stars (2022) s01e03 Episode Script
Chapter Three: The Legend of Paul Leonard Newman
1
♪♪
♪♪
Ari: Now, don't expect me
to get hysterical
over the life
of one Jewish child,
and don't you get hysterical,
either.
Jewish flesh is cheap, lady.
It is cheaper than beef.
It is cheaper, even,
than herring.
Paul: The only thing
my mother ever liked
about me being a movie star
was how much it impressed
the Jewish half of my family.
I'll teach you
a Hebrew toast.
L'Chaim.
[Chuckles]
I know it.
To life.
Good for you.
She was always
intimidated by them.
I'm half Protestant,
half Jewish,
but I've always thought myself
as a Jew
because it's harder.
And half of them
are Communists anyway.
Yes, and the other half
pawnbrokers.
They look funny, too.
I can spot one
a mile away.
Would you mind
looking into my eye, sir?
Feels like a cinder.
Mm, certainly.
You know,
a lot of them
try to hide
under Gentile names
but one look at that face
and you just know.
With a little experience,
you can even smell them out.
To quote Theodore Roosevelt,
"On the one hand,
I would stomp it under foot.
But on the other hand,
not so fast."
Convey my respect
to the general.
That I will.
Bit of a Jew himself,
you know.
Not really?
Mm.
On the one hand, what a plague
my appearance has been.
On the other hand,
where the hell would I have been
if I looked like Golda Meir?
I need 50 eggs.
Nobody can eat
50 eggs.
You just said
he could eat anything.
You ever eat 50 eggs?
Nobody ever ate 50 eggs.
Babalugats,
we got a bet here!
My boy says he can eat 50 eggs,
he can eat 50 eggs.
Go!
One
two
three.
He's gonna lose a finger,
eating eggs like that.
♪♪
He's eating them,
Alibi.
Ah, he's chewing them.
Just little old eggs.
They're pigeon eggs, that's all.
Fish eggs, practically.
Society Red:
Fivefour
threetwo
onezero!
[Indistinct shouting]
Hold it!
He didn't swallow the last.
Oh, you think so,
huh?
Well,
let's take a look here.
Open that mouth.
[Cheering]
Rosenberg:
For me, I looked at Luke
as what legends
are really about.
How does a legend develop?
Did Luke really eat 50 eggs,
or is that what makes a legend?
♪♪
Announcer:
From the Wild West,
the princess traveled
back to the present
to meet Alfred Hitchcock
and the stars
of a new thriller in the making,
Julie Andrews and Paul Newman.
Then they watched
the cameras roll for a scene
in this new Hitchcock film,
"The Torn Curtain."
Announcer #2:
On the shoulders of Paul Newman
as he pursues his
hazardous hobby, go-cart racing.
♪♪
[Man speaking
foreign language]
[Woman speaking French]
[Cheers and applause]
[Camera shutters clicking]
[Camera shutters clicking]
[Woman speaking French]
Announcer #3:
A popular choice with the crowd
as world's favorite actor
and actress,
Paul Newman and Natalie Wood.
It's quite a feat to be
as popular in Great Britain
as you are in Southeast Asia.
It must be the greatest feeling
in the wide, wide world.
[Camera shutter clicking]
I want the "Cool Hand Luke"
section to be great.
Well, yeah.
What we've got here is
a failure to communicate.
That's the quintessential
Paul Newman performance,
is "Cool Hand Luke."
I mean, that's just like
Nicholson in "Cuckoo's Nest."
Like,
that is the
Denzel, "Malcolm X,"
you know,
De Niro, "Raging Bull,"
Paul Newman,
"Cool Hand Luke."
That's what it is
in my mind, right?
Nobody can eat 50 eggs.
Like,
you have a signature,
and he directed them
in his signature.
And then he spent his life
really struggling
to achieve that grace
ever again, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a guy who's thinking back
on 20 years ago
when he won
the World Series, you know.
Picture Stuart
with his cigar and a whiskey,
and he's saying,
"I went to see"
What was her name?
Come on.
Alicia Alonso,
right?
Rosenberg: Years ago,
when I lived in New York,
I went to the ballet
with my wife,
and we saw Alicia Alonso,
who had just come out
of an enforced retirement
because she lost her eyesight
and performed a pied.
She just went
across the stage twirling
and never touched the ground.
And I started crying.
Man:
21, 22, 23
Rosenberg: I don't know anything
about the ballet,
but I couldn't stop weeping.
Man:
30, 31, 32, 33.
Rosenberg: It's just remarkable
to see someone do so well
Get out of my eyeballing seats,
you Newmeat dummy.
Rosenberg: In those years,
you know, 1967,
there were two stars
in the world, really,
two superstar sex symbols.
That's Paul Newman
and Steve McQueen.
Paul was a giant. He was it.
It wasn't any Redford
at this point.
He read the script.
He read the book.
And after all,
I was a TV director.
I had no track record
as a as a film director,
and he committed to the project
because he liked the character
and he wanted to do it.
♪♪
And Paul,
he didn't play the superstar.
I mean,
he was part of a company,
and he was a guy
in the trenches working.
♪♪
He comes into the situation,
he looks at it, and he says,
"This is the toughest test
these men have to do,
and you
you can do two things.
You can rebel against the system
by objecting to it,
or you can rebel against
the system by defeating it.
♪♪
You know, that Sisyphus
is a figure of literature
through the century
that is always
the perfect symbol
of frustration.
He's the guy who has to push
the rock up the hill every day,
and every day,
it rolls back down.
♪♪
Camus comes along and made
this startling observation,
which changed my life.
Camus says, "Huh.
Uh-huh. You're all wrong.
Sisyphus was a happy man because
he knew what his job was."
That's it.
That's the end of it.
What do we do now?
Nothing.
Rosenberg: I mean,
that's a remarkable observation
that Camus made,
that Sisyphus was happy
and there must have been a smile
on his face in accomplishing it.
There is a tremendous sense
of accomplishment.
[Laughter]
The best thing I can say about
Paul is that working with him,
you feel that it's possible
to achieve that grace.
He always made me feel
that I could get
that one moment of glory.
You know, the one
that Thomas Wolfe talks about
that maybe I could get
that one moment this time,
those golden moments.
[Projector whirring]
Melissa:
My dad always described himself
as an emotional Republican,
and I think that's what
he struggled with as an actor,
was trying not to paste emotion
on the outside,
trying to dig in.
♪♪
I wonder if he ever
accessed that emotion
from experiences
he had as a child.
♪♪
I'm leaving the place
to John.
I just
I just never
give John the
the kind of, you know,
feeling that I give you,
so I'm I'm
I'm gonna
pay him back now.
Sometimes,
you just
just have
a feeling for a child.
else you don't.
With John,
I just didn't.
[Whistles]
I got to go,
Arletta.
Yeah, well
laugh it up,
kid.
You'll
You'll make out.
Rosenberg: I felt that something
had to be done to pay tribute
to the memory
of this crusty old dame
who came out to visit Luke,
and I felt the audience
would feel cheated
if he didn't pay
some sort of tribute to her.
♪♪
This is an inarticulate
guy here.
This is an uneducated guy
that Paul was playing.
I mean, he can't make a speech
about his mother.
One day, I found an old jingle
that was used
by a Southern firm, actually,
that made religious objects.
You know,
get yourself a plastic Jesus.
His mother's dead.
And I told Paul, and God
bless him, it's fantastic.
He said, "Let's do it."
Problem is,
Paul's not a musician.
He had to learn
the chords on the banjo.
I didn't want to do it with him
in cuts, you know?
I wanted to just
slowly come in and
The point that I'm making here
is I went to the dressing room
at the lunch break,
and he showed me
what he was doing.
And I came out,
and I said to myself,
"It's too, uh
I mean, he's done it too well."
I hope I don't think he knows
this story to this day.
What I had to do with Paul
was disturb him a little.
I said, "Paul, shit,
we got a copyright problem.
You have to reverse
the first line
and the second line."
He said,
"Oh, for Christ's sakes,
all that after all
that fucking God damn it."
So we roll the camera,
get the sticks, and he starts.
I don't care
if it rains or freezes ♪
Rosenberg:
And it's fucking brilliant.
Long as I got
my plastic Jesus ♪
Sitting on the dashboard
of my car ♪
Comes in colors
pink and pleasant ♪
Glows in the dark
'cause it's iridescent ♪
Take him with you ♪
When you travel far ♪
Melissa:
One scene comes to mind,
and it always makes me cry
and it seems so genuine.
It's in "Cool Hand Luke"
when he's singing
when he's playing the ukulele
and singing "Plastic Jesus."
I'm not sure what aspects
of his childhood
or his or his youth
he was drawing on
but he seemed to have
tapped into something
in that moment.
Gets me every time.
'Cause I got the Virgin Mary ♪
Assuring me that I won't go
to Hell ♪
Stern: Did you ever
see Paul cry?
McDonald: No.
Get yourself a sweet Madonna ♪
Never?
Did you ever feel
that he needed comfort?
Did you ever feel called on
to comfort him?
[Sighs]
I don't think he left himself
open for that.
Assuring me that I won't go
to Hell ♪
[Train whistle blows]
♪♪
Rosenberg:
Paul was born in Cleveland.
At 18, he enlisted in the Navy.
He was a radio gunman,
third class on torpedo planes
in the Pacific in
the Second World War in Hawaii,
Guam, and Saipan.
He was discharged in 1946,
and he attended Kenyon College,
where he was an economics major
until he switched
to English and speech.
And he spent his summers
in Stockton,
because by then, he had decided
he ought to be an actor.
♪♪
Well, tell me about
the stock company,
where you first
met Paul.
How did
all that happen?
Well
♪♪
must have read
in the paper
or heard
somehow or another
that the Belfry Players
were having auditions,
and I went
and read for them.
I can't remember the plot,
if there was any,
to "John Loves Mary."
I think John
had a funny sidekick
and something like that,
and that was Paul.
♪♪
Well, what can you tell me about
your first times with Paul?
Do you believe in
love at first sight?
No.
Neither do I.
I believe in confusion.
McDonald: We'd spend
a lot of time together.
We were both there
for the entire summer
and probably through,
you know,
hidden needs of our own
to escape
from whatever
was holding each of us.
We must have decided
we were each other's salvation.
♪♪
Stern: What about
the wedding itself?
I remember
it being very lovely,
lots of snow.
My bridesmaids
wore deep wine
and I think
a deep green velvet.
♪♪
How was Paul?
[Chuckles]
I don't know.
I guess he was okay.
It's funny, I don't remember.
I really don't remember.
♪♪
We went from the wedding
to Woodstock.
We were in
a Stockholm theater,
and, you know,
that's when his father died.
♪♪
They
right as they get married,
Paul's father dies,
so he has to take over
the sporting-goods store
for his father.
And now he's running
a sporting-goods store.
He's like 22,
right?
Stern:
Did you go to the funeral?
McDonald:
Yes. I must have.
Do you remember
that trip?
I remember
I was impressed.
[Chuckles]
It seemed to me to be
a very affluent neighborhood.
I remember that I ate
my first lobster.
I remember I had a
that I had a new dress
and that it was, what,
little knife pleats of taffetta,
and his mother, Theresa,
I'm sure accidentally,
spilled something,
lobster butter,
all over the pleats.
And they were never
the same.
That I remember.
And what about
Paul's reaction?
He was terribly upset.
But I can't really,
in my mind,
separate the upsetment
over the actual death
from the upsetment of having
to fit into the mold
of the Newman-Stern
sporting-goods company.
Why do you think
he was doing it?
Guilt, probably.
I think that his mother
just about fell apart,
that she felt
truly felt somehow
to keep her going
that she had to some kind of
control over her two sons.
It was very important to her
that they both stay
with the
Newman-Stern Company.
♪♪
I mean, I think his mother
was totally unconscious
of how oppressive
she was.
I remember
where someone
even someone
as young and naive as me,
thought,
"No, come on."
♪♪
The relatives came to the house
after the funeral.
It was somewhere
around that time.
She was sitting there with Paul
and his brother, Arthur.
She's telling
the story about
how popular
Paulie always was
and how the girls used to
call here all the time
and on and on and on
about how popular Paulie was,
da da da da da.
And then,
I'll never forget it.
She looked over
at Arthur and said,
"And they never called you,
did they, honey?"
Don't be hard
on yourself.
♪♪
I thought, "Gee, what kind of
monster is this woman?"
my mother.
What do you know?
Hawke: Paul starts
drinking up a storm
because he doesn't
want to be
running this
sporting-goods store,
and he finally gets up the guts
to leave his mom.
And he takes them and he goes
to Yale to study acting,
and it was very upsetting
to the family.
Do you still like me
a little?
I love you,
Mother.
Even when
I'm like this?
McDonald:
I mean, this woman
she told me that
when Paul was young,
and I don't know
how young anymore,
that he did
this peculiar thing.
He stood on his bed,
rocking back and forth,
hurting himself
or doing something,
something or other,
and she went
to the doctor.
And I doubt it was the child
psychologist at that time,
and this doctor's solution
for this problem
was to get a harness
and put it on Paul
at night
that evidently would fasten
to both sides of the bed.
And I don't know whether Paul
remembers that at the time,
but I remember thinking,
"God, that's awful."
♪♪
Stern: He remembers
being tied down.
Both boys remember
banging their heads.
Ah, that was it,
banging the heads.
[Chuckles]
Oh, yes. Wonderful.
The banging
of the heads.
She told me
She told me
that the doctor told her
that's something
only Jewish kids do.
♪♪
Only Jewish kids?
Mm-hmm.
"Only Jewish kids
do that."
That's fascinating.
I wonder what it was
that drove them to do that,
to just go in there
and bang their heads to the wall
on a fairly regular basis.
I don't know.
♪♪
♪♪
Paul: My mother and I
just didn't get along.
The second year, Joanne and I
were living in New York
in the apartment on 11th Street.
Joanne said, "Why don't you
invite your mother up
for Christmas?"
I said, "Fine."
She came in and said,
"What a beautiful place
you have here, Paul,
all these lovely things,
but you take it all
out of that business,
that terrible business
that's filled with nothing
but bile and pornography.
Oh, what you could have done
if you'd only tried."
♪♪
One day, I was driving
or somewhere in the city.
Suddenly, my mother said,
"I know why your wife hates me.
Because I know she's having
an affair with Gore Vidal."
[Scoffs] I couldn't talk.
♪♪
Luke
What you doing?
I jammed on the brakes,
opened the door, and said,
"Get the fuck out of this car."
Pushed her out on the corner
of 18th Street and Fifth Avenue
and left her there.
We didn't speak again
for 15 years.
What we got here
is a failure to communicate.
[Gunshot]
Luke! Luke!
Rosenberg: After the first
screening we had at Westwood,
the lights went on,
and the audience
was absolutely still.
And they came running to me,
you know, the studio,
"They don't like it."
And I said, "Wait a second,
what do you
what do you want them to do,
applaud?
The hero's just been killed,
you know?
They're gonna go out there
and they're gonna think about it
and they're gonna talk
about it."
Go get him.
Vidal: I think he will be
remembered for something that
in a curious way is very like
Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper.
They are so good,
no one knows they're any good.
And you can achieve a kind of
perfection as a film actor
that the people who
overexcited types
who believe in the auteur theory
don't notice.
♪♪
♪♪
Ritt: Faith is one of the most
important items in the equipment
of the actor, writer, director.
I have faith in the material
and the people I'm working with,
and that faith is
that purity,
because that's what faith is
it's impossible to fake.
And when you have it,
it's a thing of beauty.
You got two ways to go
put it down or use it.
♪♪
Even if you tie me,
you're gonna be dead.
♪♪
You persuaded me.
♪♪
Vidal: Newman oh, yeah,
he was good. He was good.
Cooper yeah, he was good.
He was good.
Fonda Oh, yeah.
He was always very good.
He wasn't acting, though.
[Chuckles]
♪♪
♪♪
Woman: If any of you listening
or live in or around Westport,
they have really,
truly one of
the most enchanting homes
I've ever seen.
It's right on
a lovely pastoral stream.
Just trying to get rid
of my chewing gum.
Well, don't
please don't put your
chewing gum in my ear, Paul.
[Chuckles]
Tell us a bit
Tell us about your children.
Well, there's six of them,
and they're marvelous children.
What else can I say?
♪♪
I think people
should think so carefully
before they have children
because people are very often
so cavalier about it.
They think of this lovely
little bundle, you know,
without thinking it's going to
grow up to be a gawky teenager
with a lot
of long hair.
And we may still need to be
loved and hugged and kissed,
even if he is
tall and gawky.
♪♪
Man:
How different is it
for a woman to bring up a child
she has not borne
compared to the one
she has?
I mean, I have three
who aren't mine
I don't have them,
but I have been blessed
with them for many, many years,
and I have three that are
that I bore.
I could not
in any way say
that I love one
more than the other.
I mean, they're
As much as any other person
can be yours,
they're mine.
♪♪
Hawke: I guess
I wanted to ask you,
when did you get
that tattoo?
Stephanie: Oh, I got that
aboutfive years ago.
I got it facing me
on my forearm
because I wanted
to be able
to read it
all the time.
And just as
a reminder,
even though
I don't really need one,
but she
uh
Joanne was
one of the best things
that ever happened
to me.
And she gave me
my sisters,
because she
could have been
a different
kind of stepmother
that was
totally uninterested
in keeping up
with Pop's other children.
She embroidered me
pillows.
I have postcards
and letters from her
from all over
the world.
Melissa:
She worked really hard
to make sure
that we were a family,
and I don't think it necessarily
would have happened
the way it did
if it had just been my father.
She advocated to make
to make us a family,
and it was a complicated
an obviously complicated family.
Woman: I know two two of them
take dancing lessons now,
And I believe they had their
first dancing lessons this week.
And then, of course,
you have the baby.
The dancing lessons,
incidentally,
are really
quite marvelous.
The eldest one
of the second batch is 7,
and she thinks
she's a horse.
She gets in her dance class,
really.
[Laughs]
Very good!
Yes, I thought it was
a rather good horse.
♪♪
Ritt: Paul is
very demanding.
I mean, he has to be.
I mean, I made I made
a couple of pictures with him
that were flawed.
♪♪
You You know me,
do ya?
I don't think he work
wants to work with me again,
and I don't
I don't blame him for that.
From his point of view,
"Paris Blues" was flawed.
I don't think he really liked
any picture we did together,
except for "Hud."
He thought "The Long,
Hot Summer" was flawed.
He thought "Hombre" was flawed.
Woman:
plays an Apache Indian.
[Chuckles]
Get a good look at this hairdo.
Everyone was constantly ribbing
him about looking like a Beatle.
I hope this movie doesn't
make the trend any worse.
Please! Please, help me!
Paul: The theme of "Hombre"
was that ultimately,
the competent people
pick up the tab
for all the incompetent people.
The plot
has all these incompetents
screwing it up until finally,
my character arrives
to save their asses
and gets killed.
It was a good idea.
Lady, up there
in those mountains,
there's a whole people
who've lost everything.
They don't have a place left
to spread their blankets.
They've been insulted,
diseased,
made drunk and foolish.
Now, you call the men
who did that Christians,
and you trust them.
I know them as white men,
and I don't.
Ritt:
He was extremely good in it.
I mean,
it was one of the best things
he's ever done in his life.
I mean, but I think
he thought it was flawed.
Paul: When I see the image
on the screen
of that goddamn
self-conscious movie star
with blue eyes
playing an Indian
What's that?
How are you gonna
get down that hill?
[Scoffs] it doesn't
come together for me.
Now, you hold on.
I'm going down this hill
the same way I come up it.
You hear me?
Now, you just hold on.
Just you hold on there.
Ritt: But But they were not
like "Towering Inferno."
I mean, [Chuckles] they were not
overt exploitations.
That's what that film was.
Put your arms
around me,
and you tell me
what to do, okay?
I mean, I know he's had
a lot of money pressures.
You know, I get it. I get it.
He's always had enormous hits
with that George Roy Hill.
I mean,
I saw the "Sundance" Film.
It's a very entertaining film.
♪♪
♪♪
Hawke: You probably
have a martini.
You're nervous about
Paul writing a memoir
because you don't think
it's a good idea.
But you know
that your job here
is to be
as honest as possible
and still be
a great best friend.
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
♪♪
Hill:
When Paul came on set,
I noticed he had a large jar
of underarm deodorant,
the dryness stuff
that he puts under his arms,
and he had
three changes of shirts.
And I didn't ask him about it,
but it kind of made me curious.
And then I realized
that he was so nervous,
he had to change T-shirts
all the time.
This gave me great hope
because I don't trust an actor
who's not nervous.
♪♪
That sultry, hip-swinging,
brooding American male
that was his persona,
but it wasn't Paul.
When Paul had a chance
to shed that,
he found such joy in it.
Butch: Boy, you know, every time
I see Hole-in-the-Wall again,
it's like seeing it fresh
for the first time,
and every time
that happens
He was able to play himself
in Butch,
to finally learn to relax.
He didn't have to push,
and I think that role
may have helped him
into what he later became.
What's your idea
this time?
Bolivia.
What's Bolivia?
Bolivia.
That's a country, stupid.
Man: Was it you who, in effect,
gave Redford's career
that nudge upwards,
as it were?
Paul:
That was Joanne's idea.
Ah.
Tell me about it.
I think she read the script
and she said, "It's marvelous,
and the only guy that can
play it is Bob Redford."
Redford: The studio
didn't want me for the film.
They wanted somebody
as well-known as Paul,
and he stood up for me.
I don't know how many people
would have done that
and they would listen to their
agents or the studio powers.
Hill: Actors can sometimes
be a terrible pain in the ass
with their jealousy
of each other,
but on this one, even though
they didn't know each other
before they started,
Bob and Paul
consciously established
a relationship
that was excellent
that included Redford's
having to laugh
at all of Newman's
god-awful jokes.
And Newman had to put up
with Redford showing up
anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes
late all the time.
And he kept telling Paul
to not try to be funny.
"You have to trust
that you are funny."
You're one of the funniest guys
I have ever hung out with,
but never because never when
you're trying to be funny.
Hamilton:
Right, right, right.
Bet on Logan.
I would,
but who'd bet on you?
Sundance
when we're done, if he's dead,
you're welcome to stay.
[Clears throat]
Listen, I don't mean
to be a sore loser,
but when it's done,
if I'm dead
kill him.
Love to.
Redford: Both of us were
fundamentally American actors
with the qualities and virtues
that characterize
American actors irreverence.
No, no, not yet.
Not until me and Harvey get
the rules straightened out.
Rules?
In a knife fight?
No rules.
Well, if there ain't
gonna be any rules,
let's get the fight started.
Someone count
one, two, three, go.
One, two, three, go.
I was really rooting
for you, Butch.
[Chuckles] Well, thank you,
Flat Nose.
That's what sustained me
in my time of trouble.
Redford: We played on
each other's flaws for fun.
One-upsmanship, but always
with an underlying affection.
I figure we can either fight
or give.
If we give,
we go to jail.
No, we'll jump.
I'll jump first.
No.
Then you jump first.
No, I said.
What's the matter
with you?
I can't swim!
[Laughs]
Why,
are you crazy?
The fall
will probably kill you.
Oh!
♪♪
♪♪
Hill: The final scene between
Paul and Bob
was a tremendous
acting challenge.
In the dialog itself,
there is no reference
to the fact that
they had been terribly wounded.
Now, Paul and Bob's
playing of that scene
and finding the right balance
of pain and humor
and and hope is, I think,
one of the best
acting achievements
I've ever seen in my experience.
Butch: Australia.
That's your great idea?
Oh, it's the latest
in a long line.
Australia is no better
than here.
Oh,
that's all you know.
Name me one thing.
Name me one thing.
They speak English
in Australia.
They do?
That's right,
smart guy,
so we wouldn't
be foreigners.
Got horses
in Australia.
They got thousands of miles
we can hide out in.
Good climate,
nice beaches.
You can learn
to swim.
No, swimming
isn't important.
What about the banks?
They're easy.
Easy, ripe,
and luscious.
[Chuckles]
The banks or the women?
Well, once you got one,
you got the other.
It's a long way, though,
isn't it?
Ah, everything's got to be
perfect with you.
I just don't want to get there
and find out who stinks.
That's all.
At least
think about it.
Alright.
I'll think about it.
Hey
if we get outside
and we get to the horses,
just remember
one thing.
Hey,
wait a minute.
What?
You didn't see Lefors
out there, did you?
Lefors?
No.
Oh, good.
For a moment there,
I thought we were in trouble.
Oh, the streets of Rome ♪
Are filled with rubble ♪
Ancient footprints ♪
Are everywhere ♪
♪♪
She promised
she'd be there with me ♪
When I paint my masterpiece ♪
♪♪
Redford: I love Paul,
and I think he's a rare,
rare human being.
Oh, the hours we'd spent ♪
And when you come across
someone like that,
you don't let go.
Inside the Coliseum ♪
He would never do anything
to hurt you.
He would never do anything that
would in any way denigrate you.
If you are a friend of Paul's,
you are safe.
You could go out and rob a bank
and Paul would disapprove,
but it would not affect
his friendship.
When Paul commits,
he is committed for life.
I hope you say that
about me someday.
You know,
I was thinking about you.
[Laughs]
That's okay.
Yeah.
The back of my memory ♪
When I ran on the hilltop ♪
Man: Does it seem funny
the man you know at home
as just
an ordinary human being
that other people
become giddy over him?
Woodward: To see someone that
you've known as that nice boy
from
Shaker Heights, Ohio,
who happened to be in the same
play with you, you know,
and you thought, "Well,
he isn't really very talented,
but he's got a pretty face,
so maybe he'll make it."
But then to some,
they see him, you know, emerge,
I think,
by the roles that he plays,
because when I go
and see him in films,
I mean, I get a whole thing
about him, too.
I mean, not that I
[Laughter]
I don't mean to say
I don't anyway, but, you know
Stephanie:
It was very weird.
I remember being at a very nice
hotel with Nelly
and having some women
come up to us,
and one of them said,
"Can you get anything
from his room that's his?
I'll take a bristle
from his toothbrush."
Masterpiece ♪
♪♪
♪♪
Rachel: Hello?
Are you there?
Anybody home?
Yeah, I'm here.
Well,
what are you doing?
When? Now?
Yeah, now.
Just sitting
in my room.
And?
Just sitting.
I can't think
of anything to say.
Well,
maybe I can help you.
I'm just sitting here
stark naked
as the day I was born.
[Chuckles]
That open any interesting
lines of conversation?
Well
[Telephone rings]
♪♪
Are you, uh
really naked?
I thought
you'd never ask.
I want you here,
but it just doesn't
Clea: He He needed her in
a way that she didn't need him.
I mean, she was constantly
learning new things
and pushing herself
and doing things
that she was afraid of.
Melissa: She really was
kind of the
truly herself, free flowing,
and I think he wanted
he wanted some of that.
And so he married it.
I'm gonna see if I can
get some sleep, okay?
Linney: There was always a sense
that there was a lot going on.
You know, she was a big knitter.
She knit.
What are you doing?
Can I see what you're making?
Oh, yes, this.
Well, actually,
I'm really doing this,
and I'm doing it
for a birthday present.
What's gonna be
in the squares?
A picture of one daughter
and a picture of the other.
Allen: I love the fact
people used to make fun of her,
but she would go on
to talk shows,
bring her knitting.
She'd be sitting there knitting
while she was talking to them,
and she didn't really care,
like, what anybody thought
about it or not.
She was just kind of very
uniquely her own self, you know?
Linney: But there's something
about knitting in that
each little stitch, like,
leads up to something else,
and then you have
a beautiful sweater.
Man:
When was it dissolved?
Woodward: I don't think
there's a moment when, do you?
I think it's
a gradual progression of things.
I think they say that
one changes every seven years,
every cell
in your body.
Maybe when I was 35
and decided
to take up ballet,
thereby making myself
the oldest
oldest beginning ballerina
in the world.
36, I went on pointe,
you know.
How to let a work evolve,
how to let your family evolve,
how to let your marriage evolve.
Like, how do you keep evolving?
I think that's why "Rachel,
Rachel" meant so much to me
because it
you should do things.
You shouldn't say,
"No, it's too late for that."
It's never too late.
♪♪
[Clock ticking]
Every time we've ever gone
for an ice-cream cone,
you've ordered vanilla.
That's not
the only kind, Rachel.
There are
30 other flavors,
plus
a flavor of the month,
and there are more people
on this earth
than just you.
Parsons: "Rachel, Rachel"
had just been
a very important experience
in my life progression
as an artist.
I mean, it's an experience
that's so much more refined
and artistic than most.
I mean, it's no good
to break the mold
if you haven't got
anything worth doing.
Woodward:
I had sort of been semi-retired
for a few years
raising children,
and I said, "There's no way
you're gonna get anybody to,
you know, they're not gonna
put this film together for me."
And Paul said,
"No, you really ought to do it.
Let's Let's figure out
how to do it."
Reporter:
In 1968, Paul Newman,
famous in front
of the motion-picture cameras,
undertook his first assignment
behind them as director.
Joanne Woodward,
Mrs. Newman in private life,
agreed to star for it.
Paul Newman tells it.
Paul:
She's sitting on a set,
and she appears to do
absolutely nothing.
But there's some
strange motor going on.
♪♪
Parsons: I went to see Paul at
some apartment on the east side.
I'd never met him before, and I
remember thinking, "Oh, my."
[Chuckles]
I mean, he was like a Greek god.
Paul: As it became more and more
difficult for me to find parts
that I wanted to do as an actor,
if I read a good script,
I should like to be connected
with it in one form or another.
That's why I directed
the first film.
I'm exactly
in the middle of my life.
This is my last
♪♪
ascending summer.
The same year
that he's Butch Cassidy
and, like,
America's Marlboro Man,
they spend their own money
and their own time
on a movie about
a 35-year-old woman
having a midlife crisis.
You know, Joanne
both Joanne and Paul,
they absolutely loved
this craft
of storytelling.
♪♪
Man: Did you have any
misgivings at all about being
to be directed
by your husband,
somebody you're
so very close to?
Did you have
any misgivings at all?
Woodward: I didn't have
any misgivings about it
because
I've never understood
why people always think
that that's so strange.
I mean,
who could direct you better?
I made
a fool of myself!
We're all fools.
You can't be part
of the human race and not be
Parsons: I don't know where
that kissing scene came from.
I just I found it
I found it very easy to do,
and I remember just before
we shot,
I had an idea that was
very effective, and I
I just kissed her all over,
and then I kind of
found her mouth and
♪♪
Oh, Rachel!
Oh!
Oh, I didn't
I didn't mean that.
I'm sorry!
Oh, please,
now I'm a fool!
Scorsese:
It was a big risk
to make a picture
like "Rachel, Rachel."
People were not the
independent films were not as
you had to really
put yourself on the line,
and in a way,
I think he took this journey.
And it's a long trip to
"Rachel, Rachel,"
and it must be because of her.
She kept Paul on that tightrope
walking and growing
and growing and growing.
Maybe if they hadn't
been together,
maybe if it was a different
kind of situation,
he would not have taken
those those risks.
You're a loving person,
Nick Kazlik.
Babe, we've only had two dates.
You don't know me at all.
I know enough.
I know enough
to say that
I love you.
I want a child.
I
Woodward: Sandy Meisner,
whom I quote ad infinitum,
said that for an actor,
it takes it takes 20 years
to, like a violinist,
not wonder where you have to
put your fingers on the strings,
and Rachel was
a real breakthrough for me
in that respect.
Hold on to me.
♪♪
I think you want to.
Be willing, please.
Please allow
what you're feeling.
♪♪
D'Onofrio: Every day
when you're young,
you have to
keep reminding yourself,
"I'm an artist,
I'm an artist, I'm an artist,"
and then 20 years later,
you're a fucking artist.
If you've applied yourself
all that long,
you're a fucking artist,
man.
♪♪
Melissa:
She knew that her husband,
who was really famous,
deeply believed that she was
a way better actor than he was,
and he did a lot to prove it.
I mean, he worshiped her
as an artist.
Parsons: I do think the film
was terribly taxing for Paul.
He was in a state of shock
the whole time.
But it wasn't hard for me
because I was working
with Joanne Woodward!
Woman: The winner of this year's
Golden Globe goes to
Joanne Woodward
for "Rachel, Rachel."
Announcer: Joanne received her
second Academy Award nomination
for her portrayal of the title
role in the movie.
Paul:
One thing that I admire,
the thing that I recognize,
is excellence.
Woman: By any reckoning,
it is her best performance.
Paul: I recognize it
in almost anything
plumbers, museum guides,
limousine drivers, concierges,
waitresses, bank tellers.
I delight in seeing excellence.
"Rachel, Rachel,"
Estelle Parsons.
Stewart Stern for
"Rachel, Rachel."
Woman: Joanne Woodward
for "Rachel, Rachel."
Paul: And unless I have it
for myself,
I'm not gonna be satisfied.
Man:
was moving up in the field.
♪♪
Acting, that whole real feeling,
eh, I have my moments.
Single scenes, maybe.
I've had maybe a dozen inspired
races in 16 years of racing.
I've won a lot that weren't
necessarily inspired.
It's kind of the way I feel
about my acting.
[Indistinct announcement]
Acting, racing,
you're constantly aware
of your own inadequacies,
and I just try to get out there
and do the best I can.
Anything can happen.
But as in all things, you can do
anything you want to
if you're willing
to pay the price.
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
[Singing indistinctly]
Don't forgive me anymore ♪
Find me sleeping ♪
[Singing indistinctly]
♪♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
Don't trust the moonbeams ♪
Moonbeams are off the record ♪
Don't count your heartbeats ♪
You heart won't beat forever ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Ari: Now, don't expect me
to get hysterical
over the life
of one Jewish child,
and don't you get hysterical,
either.
Jewish flesh is cheap, lady.
It is cheaper than beef.
It is cheaper, even,
than herring.
Paul: The only thing
my mother ever liked
about me being a movie star
was how much it impressed
the Jewish half of my family.
I'll teach you
a Hebrew toast.
L'Chaim.
[Chuckles]
I know it.
To life.
Good for you.
She was always
intimidated by them.
I'm half Protestant,
half Jewish,
but I've always thought myself
as a Jew
because it's harder.
And half of them
are Communists anyway.
Yes, and the other half
pawnbrokers.
They look funny, too.
I can spot one
a mile away.
Would you mind
looking into my eye, sir?
Feels like a cinder.
Mm, certainly.
You know,
a lot of them
try to hide
under Gentile names
but one look at that face
and you just know.
With a little experience,
you can even smell them out.
To quote Theodore Roosevelt,
"On the one hand,
I would stomp it under foot.
But on the other hand,
not so fast."
Convey my respect
to the general.
That I will.
Bit of a Jew himself,
you know.
Not really?
Mm.
On the one hand, what a plague
my appearance has been.
On the other hand,
where the hell would I have been
if I looked like Golda Meir?
I need 50 eggs.
Nobody can eat
50 eggs.
You just said
he could eat anything.
You ever eat 50 eggs?
Nobody ever ate 50 eggs.
Babalugats,
we got a bet here!
My boy says he can eat 50 eggs,
he can eat 50 eggs.
Go!
One
two
three.
He's gonna lose a finger,
eating eggs like that.
♪♪
He's eating them,
Alibi.
Ah, he's chewing them.
Just little old eggs.
They're pigeon eggs, that's all.
Fish eggs, practically.
Society Red:
Fivefour
threetwo
onezero!
[Indistinct shouting]
Hold it!
He didn't swallow the last.
Oh, you think so,
huh?
Well,
let's take a look here.
Open that mouth.
[Cheering]
Rosenberg:
For me, I looked at Luke
as what legends
are really about.
How does a legend develop?
Did Luke really eat 50 eggs,
or is that what makes a legend?
♪♪
Announcer:
From the Wild West,
the princess traveled
back to the present
to meet Alfred Hitchcock
and the stars
of a new thriller in the making,
Julie Andrews and Paul Newman.
Then they watched
the cameras roll for a scene
in this new Hitchcock film,
"The Torn Curtain."
Announcer #2:
On the shoulders of Paul Newman
as he pursues his
hazardous hobby, go-cart racing.
♪♪
[Man speaking
foreign language]
[Woman speaking French]
[Cheers and applause]
[Camera shutters clicking]
[Camera shutters clicking]
[Woman speaking French]
Announcer #3:
A popular choice with the crowd
as world's favorite actor
and actress,
Paul Newman and Natalie Wood.
It's quite a feat to be
as popular in Great Britain
as you are in Southeast Asia.
It must be the greatest feeling
in the wide, wide world.
[Camera shutter clicking]
I want the "Cool Hand Luke"
section to be great.
Well, yeah.
What we've got here is
a failure to communicate.
That's the quintessential
Paul Newman performance,
is "Cool Hand Luke."
I mean, that's just like
Nicholson in "Cuckoo's Nest."
Like,
that is the
Denzel, "Malcolm X,"
you know,
De Niro, "Raging Bull,"
Paul Newman,
"Cool Hand Luke."
That's what it is
in my mind, right?
Nobody can eat 50 eggs.
Like,
you have a signature,
and he directed them
in his signature.
And then he spent his life
really struggling
to achieve that grace
ever again, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a guy who's thinking back
on 20 years ago
when he won
the World Series, you know.
Picture Stuart
with his cigar and a whiskey,
and he's saying,
"I went to see"
What was her name?
Come on.
Alicia Alonso,
right?
Rosenberg: Years ago,
when I lived in New York,
I went to the ballet
with my wife,
and we saw Alicia Alonso,
who had just come out
of an enforced retirement
because she lost her eyesight
and performed a pied.
She just went
across the stage twirling
and never touched the ground.
And I started crying.
Man:
21, 22, 23
Rosenberg: I don't know anything
about the ballet,
but I couldn't stop weeping.
Man:
30, 31, 32, 33.
Rosenberg: It's just remarkable
to see someone do so well
Get out of my eyeballing seats,
you Newmeat dummy.
Rosenberg: In those years,
you know, 1967,
there were two stars
in the world, really,
two superstar sex symbols.
That's Paul Newman
and Steve McQueen.
Paul was a giant. He was it.
It wasn't any Redford
at this point.
He read the script.
He read the book.
And after all,
I was a TV director.
I had no track record
as a as a film director,
and he committed to the project
because he liked the character
and he wanted to do it.
♪♪
And Paul,
he didn't play the superstar.
I mean,
he was part of a company,
and he was a guy
in the trenches working.
♪♪
He comes into the situation,
he looks at it, and he says,
"This is the toughest test
these men have to do,
and you
you can do two things.
You can rebel against the system
by objecting to it,
or you can rebel against
the system by defeating it.
♪♪
You know, that Sisyphus
is a figure of literature
through the century
that is always
the perfect symbol
of frustration.
He's the guy who has to push
the rock up the hill every day,
and every day,
it rolls back down.
♪♪
Camus comes along and made
this startling observation,
which changed my life.
Camus says, "Huh.
Uh-huh. You're all wrong.
Sisyphus was a happy man because
he knew what his job was."
That's it.
That's the end of it.
What do we do now?
Nothing.
Rosenberg: I mean,
that's a remarkable observation
that Camus made,
that Sisyphus was happy
and there must have been a smile
on his face in accomplishing it.
There is a tremendous sense
of accomplishment.
[Laughter]
The best thing I can say about
Paul is that working with him,
you feel that it's possible
to achieve that grace.
He always made me feel
that I could get
that one moment of glory.
You know, the one
that Thomas Wolfe talks about
that maybe I could get
that one moment this time,
those golden moments.
[Projector whirring]
Melissa:
My dad always described himself
as an emotional Republican,
and I think that's what
he struggled with as an actor,
was trying not to paste emotion
on the outside,
trying to dig in.
♪♪
I wonder if he ever
accessed that emotion
from experiences
he had as a child.
♪♪
I'm leaving the place
to John.
I just
I just never
give John the
the kind of, you know,
feeling that I give you,
so I'm I'm
I'm gonna
pay him back now.
Sometimes,
you just
just have
a feeling for a child.
else you don't.
With John,
I just didn't.
[Whistles]
I got to go,
Arletta.
Yeah, well
laugh it up,
kid.
You'll
You'll make out.
Rosenberg: I felt that something
had to be done to pay tribute
to the memory
of this crusty old dame
who came out to visit Luke,
and I felt the audience
would feel cheated
if he didn't pay
some sort of tribute to her.
♪♪
This is an inarticulate
guy here.
This is an uneducated guy
that Paul was playing.
I mean, he can't make a speech
about his mother.
One day, I found an old jingle
that was used
by a Southern firm, actually,
that made religious objects.
You know,
get yourself a plastic Jesus.
His mother's dead.
And I told Paul, and God
bless him, it's fantastic.
He said, "Let's do it."
Problem is,
Paul's not a musician.
He had to learn
the chords on the banjo.
I didn't want to do it with him
in cuts, you know?
I wanted to just
slowly come in and
The point that I'm making here
is I went to the dressing room
at the lunch break,
and he showed me
what he was doing.
And I came out,
and I said to myself,
"It's too, uh
I mean, he's done it too well."
I hope I don't think he knows
this story to this day.
What I had to do with Paul
was disturb him a little.
I said, "Paul, shit,
we got a copyright problem.
You have to reverse
the first line
and the second line."
He said,
"Oh, for Christ's sakes,
all that after all
that fucking God damn it."
So we roll the camera,
get the sticks, and he starts.
I don't care
if it rains or freezes ♪
Rosenberg:
And it's fucking brilliant.
Long as I got
my plastic Jesus ♪
Sitting on the dashboard
of my car ♪
Comes in colors
pink and pleasant ♪
Glows in the dark
'cause it's iridescent ♪
Take him with you ♪
When you travel far ♪
Melissa:
One scene comes to mind,
and it always makes me cry
and it seems so genuine.
It's in "Cool Hand Luke"
when he's singing
when he's playing the ukulele
and singing "Plastic Jesus."
I'm not sure what aspects
of his childhood
or his or his youth
he was drawing on
but he seemed to have
tapped into something
in that moment.
Gets me every time.
'Cause I got the Virgin Mary ♪
Assuring me that I won't go
to Hell ♪
Stern: Did you ever
see Paul cry?
McDonald: No.
Get yourself a sweet Madonna ♪
Never?
Did you ever feel
that he needed comfort?
Did you ever feel called on
to comfort him?
[Sighs]
I don't think he left himself
open for that.
Assuring me that I won't go
to Hell ♪
[Train whistle blows]
♪♪
Rosenberg:
Paul was born in Cleveland.
At 18, he enlisted in the Navy.
He was a radio gunman,
third class on torpedo planes
in the Pacific in
the Second World War in Hawaii,
Guam, and Saipan.
He was discharged in 1946,
and he attended Kenyon College,
where he was an economics major
until he switched
to English and speech.
And he spent his summers
in Stockton,
because by then, he had decided
he ought to be an actor.
♪♪
Well, tell me about
the stock company,
where you first
met Paul.
How did
all that happen?
Well
♪♪
must have read
in the paper
or heard
somehow or another
that the Belfry Players
were having auditions,
and I went
and read for them.
I can't remember the plot,
if there was any,
to "John Loves Mary."
I think John
had a funny sidekick
and something like that,
and that was Paul.
♪♪
Well, what can you tell me about
your first times with Paul?
Do you believe in
love at first sight?
No.
Neither do I.
I believe in confusion.
McDonald: We'd spend
a lot of time together.
We were both there
for the entire summer
and probably through,
you know,
hidden needs of our own
to escape
from whatever
was holding each of us.
We must have decided
we were each other's salvation.
♪♪
Stern: What about
the wedding itself?
I remember
it being very lovely,
lots of snow.
My bridesmaids
wore deep wine
and I think
a deep green velvet.
♪♪
How was Paul?
[Chuckles]
I don't know.
I guess he was okay.
It's funny, I don't remember.
I really don't remember.
♪♪
We went from the wedding
to Woodstock.
We were in
a Stockholm theater,
and, you know,
that's when his father died.
♪♪
They
right as they get married,
Paul's father dies,
so he has to take over
the sporting-goods store
for his father.
And now he's running
a sporting-goods store.
He's like 22,
right?
Stern:
Did you go to the funeral?
McDonald:
Yes. I must have.
Do you remember
that trip?
I remember
I was impressed.
[Chuckles]
It seemed to me to be
a very affluent neighborhood.
I remember that I ate
my first lobster.
I remember I had a
that I had a new dress
and that it was, what,
little knife pleats of taffetta,
and his mother, Theresa,
I'm sure accidentally,
spilled something,
lobster butter,
all over the pleats.
And they were never
the same.
That I remember.
And what about
Paul's reaction?
He was terribly upset.
But I can't really,
in my mind,
separate the upsetment
over the actual death
from the upsetment of having
to fit into the mold
of the Newman-Stern
sporting-goods company.
Why do you think
he was doing it?
Guilt, probably.
I think that his mother
just about fell apart,
that she felt
truly felt somehow
to keep her going
that she had to some kind of
control over her two sons.
It was very important to her
that they both stay
with the
Newman-Stern Company.
♪♪
I mean, I think his mother
was totally unconscious
of how oppressive
she was.
I remember
where someone
even someone
as young and naive as me,
thought,
"No, come on."
♪♪
The relatives came to the house
after the funeral.
It was somewhere
around that time.
She was sitting there with Paul
and his brother, Arthur.
She's telling
the story about
how popular
Paulie always was
and how the girls used to
call here all the time
and on and on and on
about how popular Paulie was,
da da da da da.
And then,
I'll never forget it.
She looked over
at Arthur and said,
"And they never called you,
did they, honey?"
Don't be hard
on yourself.
♪♪
I thought, "Gee, what kind of
monster is this woman?"
my mother.
What do you know?
Hawke: Paul starts
drinking up a storm
because he doesn't
want to be
running this
sporting-goods store,
and he finally gets up the guts
to leave his mom.
And he takes them and he goes
to Yale to study acting,
and it was very upsetting
to the family.
Do you still like me
a little?
I love you,
Mother.
Even when
I'm like this?
McDonald:
I mean, this woman
she told me that
when Paul was young,
and I don't know
how young anymore,
that he did
this peculiar thing.
He stood on his bed,
rocking back and forth,
hurting himself
or doing something,
something or other,
and she went
to the doctor.
And I doubt it was the child
psychologist at that time,
and this doctor's solution
for this problem
was to get a harness
and put it on Paul
at night
that evidently would fasten
to both sides of the bed.
And I don't know whether Paul
remembers that at the time,
but I remember thinking,
"God, that's awful."
♪♪
Stern: He remembers
being tied down.
Both boys remember
banging their heads.
Ah, that was it,
banging the heads.
[Chuckles]
Oh, yes. Wonderful.
The banging
of the heads.
She told me
She told me
that the doctor told her
that's something
only Jewish kids do.
♪♪
Only Jewish kids?
Mm-hmm.
"Only Jewish kids
do that."
That's fascinating.
I wonder what it was
that drove them to do that,
to just go in there
and bang their heads to the wall
on a fairly regular basis.
I don't know.
♪♪
♪♪
Paul: My mother and I
just didn't get along.
The second year, Joanne and I
were living in New York
in the apartment on 11th Street.
Joanne said, "Why don't you
invite your mother up
for Christmas?"
I said, "Fine."
She came in and said,
"What a beautiful place
you have here, Paul,
all these lovely things,
but you take it all
out of that business,
that terrible business
that's filled with nothing
but bile and pornography.
Oh, what you could have done
if you'd only tried."
♪♪
One day, I was driving
or somewhere in the city.
Suddenly, my mother said,
"I know why your wife hates me.
Because I know she's having
an affair with Gore Vidal."
[Scoffs] I couldn't talk.
♪♪
Luke
What you doing?
I jammed on the brakes,
opened the door, and said,
"Get the fuck out of this car."
Pushed her out on the corner
of 18th Street and Fifth Avenue
and left her there.
We didn't speak again
for 15 years.
What we got here
is a failure to communicate.
[Gunshot]
Luke! Luke!
Rosenberg: After the first
screening we had at Westwood,
the lights went on,
and the audience
was absolutely still.
And they came running to me,
you know, the studio,
"They don't like it."
And I said, "Wait a second,
what do you
what do you want them to do,
applaud?
The hero's just been killed,
you know?
They're gonna go out there
and they're gonna think about it
and they're gonna talk
about it."
Go get him.
Vidal: I think he will be
remembered for something that
in a curious way is very like
Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper.
They are so good,
no one knows they're any good.
And you can achieve a kind of
perfection as a film actor
that the people who
overexcited types
who believe in the auteur theory
don't notice.
♪♪
♪♪
Ritt: Faith is one of the most
important items in the equipment
of the actor, writer, director.
I have faith in the material
and the people I'm working with,
and that faith is
that purity,
because that's what faith is
it's impossible to fake.
And when you have it,
it's a thing of beauty.
You got two ways to go
put it down or use it.
♪♪
Even if you tie me,
you're gonna be dead.
♪♪
You persuaded me.
♪♪
Vidal: Newman oh, yeah,
he was good. He was good.
Cooper yeah, he was good.
He was good.
Fonda Oh, yeah.
He was always very good.
He wasn't acting, though.
[Chuckles]
♪♪
♪♪
Woman: If any of you listening
or live in or around Westport,
they have really,
truly one of
the most enchanting homes
I've ever seen.
It's right on
a lovely pastoral stream.
Just trying to get rid
of my chewing gum.
Well, don't
please don't put your
chewing gum in my ear, Paul.
[Chuckles]
Tell us a bit
Tell us about your children.
Well, there's six of them,
and they're marvelous children.
What else can I say?
♪♪
I think people
should think so carefully
before they have children
because people are very often
so cavalier about it.
They think of this lovely
little bundle, you know,
without thinking it's going to
grow up to be a gawky teenager
with a lot
of long hair.
And we may still need to be
loved and hugged and kissed,
even if he is
tall and gawky.
♪♪
Man:
How different is it
for a woman to bring up a child
she has not borne
compared to the one
she has?
I mean, I have three
who aren't mine
I don't have them,
but I have been blessed
with them for many, many years,
and I have three that are
that I bore.
I could not
in any way say
that I love one
more than the other.
I mean, they're
As much as any other person
can be yours,
they're mine.
♪♪
Hawke: I guess
I wanted to ask you,
when did you get
that tattoo?
Stephanie: Oh, I got that
aboutfive years ago.
I got it facing me
on my forearm
because I wanted
to be able
to read it
all the time.
And just as
a reminder,
even though
I don't really need one,
but she
uh
Joanne was
one of the best things
that ever happened
to me.
And she gave me
my sisters,
because she
could have been
a different
kind of stepmother
that was
totally uninterested
in keeping up
with Pop's other children.
She embroidered me
pillows.
I have postcards
and letters from her
from all over
the world.
Melissa:
She worked really hard
to make sure
that we were a family,
and I don't think it necessarily
would have happened
the way it did
if it had just been my father.
She advocated to make
to make us a family,
and it was a complicated
an obviously complicated family.
Woman: I know two two of them
take dancing lessons now,
And I believe they had their
first dancing lessons this week.
And then, of course,
you have the baby.
The dancing lessons,
incidentally,
are really
quite marvelous.
The eldest one
of the second batch is 7,
and she thinks
she's a horse.
She gets in her dance class,
really.
[Laughs]
Very good!
Yes, I thought it was
a rather good horse.
♪♪
Ritt: Paul is
very demanding.
I mean, he has to be.
I mean, I made I made
a couple of pictures with him
that were flawed.
♪♪
You You know me,
do ya?
I don't think he work
wants to work with me again,
and I don't
I don't blame him for that.
From his point of view,
"Paris Blues" was flawed.
I don't think he really liked
any picture we did together,
except for "Hud."
He thought "The Long,
Hot Summer" was flawed.
He thought "Hombre" was flawed.
Woman:
plays an Apache Indian.
[Chuckles]
Get a good look at this hairdo.
Everyone was constantly ribbing
him about looking like a Beatle.
I hope this movie doesn't
make the trend any worse.
Please! Please, help me!
Paul: The theme of "Hombre"
was that ultimately,
the competent people
pick up the tab
for all the incompetent people.
The plot
has all these incompetents
screwing it up until finally,
my character arrives
to save their asses
and gets killed.
It was a good idea.
Lady, up there
in those mountains,
there's a whole people
who've lost everything.
They don't have a place left
to spread their blankets.
They've been insulted,
diseased,
made drunk and foolish.
Now, you call the men
who did that Christians,
and you trust them.
I know them as white men,
and I don't.
Ritt:
He was extremely good in it.
I mean,
it was one of the best things
he's ever done in his life.
I mean, but I think
he thought it was flawed.
Paul: When I see the image
on the screen
of that goddamn
self-conscious movie star
with blue eyes
playing an Indian
What's that?
How are you gonna
get down that hill?
[Scoffs] it doesn't
come together for me.
Now, you hold on.
I'm going down this hill
the same way I come up it.
You hear me?
Now, you just hold on.
Just you hold on there.
Ritt: But But they were not
like "Towering Inferno."
I mean, [Chuckles] they were not
overt exploitations.
That's what that film was.
Put your arms
around me,
and you tell me
what to do, okay?
I mean, I know he's had
a lot of money pressures.
You know, I get it. I get it.
He's always had enormous hits
with that George Roy Hill.
I mean,
I saw the "Sundance" Film.
It's a very entertaining film.
♪♪
♪♪
Hawke: You probably
have a martini.
You're nervous about
Paul writing a memoir
because you don't think
it's a good idea.
But you know
that your job here
is to be
as honest as possible
and still be
a great best friend.
Right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
♪♪
Hill:
When Paul came on set,
I noticed he had a large jar
of underarm deodorant,
the dryness stuff
that he puts under his arms,
and he had
three changes of shirts.
And I didn't ask him about it,
but it kind of made me curious.
And then I realized
that he was so nervous,
he had to change T-shirts
all the time.
This gave me great hope
because I don't trust an actor
who's not nervous.
♪♪
That sultry, hip-swinging,
brooding American male
that was his persona,
but it wasn't Paul.
When Paul had a chance
to shed that,
he found such joy in it.
Butch: Boy, you know, every time
I see Hole-in-the-Wall again,
it's like seeing it fresh
for the first time,
and every time
that happens
He was able to play himself
in Butch,
to finally learn to relax.
He didn't have to push,
and I think that role
may have helped him
into what he later became.
What's your idea
this time?
Bolivia.
What's Bolivia?
Bolivia.
That's a country, stupid.
Man: Was it you who, in effect,
gave Redford's career
that nudge upwards,
as it were?
Paul:
That was Joanne's idea.
Ah.
Tell me about it.
I think she read the script
and she said, "It's marvelous,
and the only guy that can
play it is Bob Redford."
Redford: The studio
didn't want me for the film.
They wanted somebody
as well-known as Paul,
and he stood up for me.
I don't know how many people
would have done that
and they would listen to their
agents or the studio powers.
Hill: Actors can sometimes
be a terrible pain in the ass
with their jealousy
of each other,
but on this one, even though
they didn't know each other
before they started,
Bob and Paul
consciously established
a relationship
that was excellent
that included Redford's
having to laugh
at all of Newman's
god-awful jokes.
And Newman had to put up
with Redford showing up
anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes
late all the time.
And he kept telling Paul
to not try to be funny.
"You have to trust
that you are funny."
You're one of the funniest guys
I have ever hung out with,
but never because never when
you're trying to be funny.
Hamilton:
Right, right, right.
Bet on Logan.
I would,
but who'd bet on you?
Sundance
when we're done, if he's dead,
you're welcome to stay.
[Clears throat]
Listen, I don't mean
to be a sore loser,
but when it's done,
if I'm dead
kill him.
Love to.
Redford: Both of us were
fundamentally American actors
with the qualities and virtues
that characterize
American actors irreverence.
No, no, not yet.
Not until me and Harvey get
the rules straightened out.
Rules?
In a knife fight?
No rules.
Well, if there ain't
gonna be any rules,
let's get the fight started.
Someone count
one, two, three, go.
One, two, three, go.
I was really rooting
for you, Butch.
[Chuckles] Well, thank you,
Flat Nose.
That's what sustained me
in my time of trouble.
Redford: We played on
each other's flaws for fun.
One-upsmanship, but always
with an underlying affection.
I figure we can either fight
or give.
If we give,
we go to jail.
No, we'll jump.
I'll jump first.
No.
Then you jump first.
No, I said.
What's the matter
with you?
I can't swim!
[Laughs]
Why,
are you crazy?
The fall
will probably kill you.
Oh!
♪♪
♪♪
Hill: The final scene between
Paul and Bob
was a tremendous
acting challenge.
In the dialog itself,
there is no reference
to the fact that
they had been terribly wounded.
Now, Paul and Bob's
playing of that scene
and finding the right balance
of pain and humor
and and hope is, I think,
one of the best
acting achievements
I've ever seen in my experience.
Butch: Australia.
That's your great idea?
Oh, it's the latest
in a long line.
Australia is no better
than here.
Oh,
that's all you know.
Name me one thing.
Name me one thing.
They speak English
in Australia.
They do?
That's right,
smart guy,
so we wouldn't
be foreigners.
Got horses
in Australia.
They got thousands of miles
we can hide out in.
Good climate,
nice beaches.
You can learn
to swim.
No, swimming
isn't important.
What about the banks?
They're easy.
Easy, ripe,
and luscious.
[Chuckles]
The banks or the women?
Well, once you got one,
you got the other.
It's a long way, though,
isn't it?
Ah, everything's got to be
perfect with you.
I just don't want to get there
and find out who stinks.
That's all.
At least
think about it.
Alright.
I'll think about it.
Hey
if we get outside
and we get to the horses,
just remember
one thing.
Hey,
wait a minute.
What?
You didn't see Lefors
out there, did you?
Lefors?
No.
Oh, good.
For a moment there,
I thought we were in trouble.
Oh, the streets of Rome ♪
Are filled with rubble ♪
Ancient footprints ♪
Are everywhere ♪
♪♪
She promised
she'd be there with me ♪
When I paint my masterpiece ♪
♪♪
Redford: I love Paul,
and I think he's a rare,
rare human being.
Oh, the hours we'd spent ♪
And when you come across
someone like that,
you don't let go.
Inside the Coliseum ♪
He would never do anything
to hurt you.
He would never do anything that
would in any way denigrate you.
If you are a friend of Paul's,
you are safe.
You could go out and rob a bank
and Paul would disapprove,
but it would not affect
his friendship.
When Paul commits,
he is committed for life.
I hope you say that
about me someday.
You know,
I was thinking about you.
[Laughs]
That's okay.
Yeah.
The back of my memory ♪
When I ran on the hilltop ♪
Man: Does it seem funny
the man you know at home
as just
an ordinary human being
that other people
become giddy over him?
Woodward: To see someone that
you've known as that nice boy
from
Shaker Heights, Ohio,
who happened to be in the same
play with you, you know,
and you thought, "Well,
he isn't really very talented,
but he's got a pretty face,
so maybe he'll make it."
But then to some,
they see him, you know, emerge,
I think,
by the roles that he plays,
because when I go
and see him in films,
I mean, I get a whole thing
about him, too.
I mean, not that I
[Laughter]
I don't mean to say
I don't anyway, but, you know
Stephanie:
It was very weird.
I remember being at a very nice
hotel with Nelly
and having some women
come up to us,
and one of them said,
"Can you get anything
from his room that's his?
I'll take a bristle
from his toothbrush."
Masterpiece ♪
♪♪
♪♪
Rachel: Hello?
Are you there?
Anybody home?
Yeah, I'm here.
Well,
what are you doing?
When? Now?
Yeah, now.
Just sitting
in my room.
And?
Just sitting.
I can't think
of anything to say.
Well,
maybe I can help you.
I'm just sitting here
stark naked
as the day I was born.
[Chuckles]
That open any interesting
lines of conversation?
Well
[Telephone rings]
♪♪
Are you, uh
really naked?
I thought
you'd never ask.
I want you here,
but it just doesn't
Clea: He He needed her in
a way that she didn't need him.
I mean, she was constantly
learning new things
and pushing herself
and doing things
that she was afraid of.
Melissa: She really was
kind of the
truly herself, free flowing,
and I think he wanted
he wanted some of that.
And so he married it.
I'm gonna see if I can
get some sleep, okay?
Linney: There was always a sense
that there was a lot going on.
You know, she was a big knitter.
She knit.
What are you doing?
Can I see what you're making?
Oh, yes, this.
Well, actually,
I'm really doing this,
and I'm doing it
for a birthday present.
What's gonna be
in the squares?
A picture of one daughter
and a picture of the other.
Allen: I love the fact
people used to make fun of her,
but she would go on
to talk shows,
bring her knitting.
She'd be sitting there knitting
while she was talking to them,
and she didn't really care,
like, what anybody thought
about it or not.
She was just kind of very
uniquely her own self, you know?
Linney: But there's something
about knitting in that
each little stitch, like,
leads up to something else,
and then you have
a beautiful sweater.
Man:
When was it dissolved?
Woodward: I don't think
there's a moment when, do you?
I think it's
a gradual progression of things.
I think they say that
one changes every seven years,
every cell
in your body.
Maybe when I was 35
and decided
to take up ballet,
thereby making myself
the oldest
oldest beginning ballerina
in the world.
36, I went on pointe,
you know.
How to let a work evolve,
how to let your family evolve,
how to let your marriage evolve.
Like, how do you keep evolving?
I think that's why "Rachel,
Rachel" meant so much to me
because it
you should do things.
You shouldn't say,
"No, it's too late for that."
It's never too late.
♪♪
[Clock ticking]
Every time we've ever gone
for an ice-cream cone,
you've ordered vanilla.
That's not
the only kind, Rachel.
There are
30 other flavors,
plus
a flavor of the month,
and there are more people
on this earth
than just you.
Parsons: "Rachel, Rachel"
had just been
a very important experience
in my life progression
as an artist.
I mean, it's an experience
that's so much more refined
and artistic than most.
I mean, it's no good
to break the mold
if you haven't got
anything worth doing.
Woodward:
I had sort of been semi-retired
for a few years
raising children,
and I said, "There's no way
you're gonna get anybody to,
you know, they're not gonna
put this film together for me."
And Paul said,
"No, you really ought to do it.
Let's Let's figure out
how to do it."
Reporter:
In 1968, Paul Newman,
famous in front
of the motion-picture cameras,
undertook his first assignment
behind them as director.
Joanne Woodward,
Mrs. Newman in private life,
agreed to star for it.
Paul Newman tells it.
Paul:
She's sitting on a set,
and she appears to do
absolutely nothing.
But there's some
strange motor going on.
♪♪
Parsons: I went to see Paul at
some apartment on the east side.
I'd never met him before, and I
remember thinking, "Oh, my."
[Chuckles]
I mean, he was like a Greek god.
Paul: As it became more and more
difficult for me to find parts
that I wanted to do as an actor,
if I read a good script,
I should like to be connected
with it in one form or another.
That's why I directed
the first film.
I'm exactly
in the middle of my life.
This is my last
♪♪
ascending summer.
The same year
that he's Butch Cassidy
and, like,
America's Marlboro Man,
they spend their own money
and their own time
on a movie about
a 35-year-old woman
having a midlife crisis.
You know, Joanne
both Joanne and Paul,
they absolutely loved
this craft
of storytelling.
♪♪
Man: Did you have any
misgivings at all about being
to be directed
by your husband,
somebody you're
so very close to?
Did you have
any misgivings at all?
Woodward: I didn't have
any misgivings about it
because
I've never understood
why people always think
that that's so strange.
I mean,
who could direct you better?
I made
a fool of myself!
We're all fools.
You can't be part
of the human race and not be
Parsons: I don't know where
that kissing scene came from.
I just I found it
I found it very easy to do,
and I remember just before
we shot,
I had an idea that was
very effective, and I
I just kissed her all over,
and then I kind of
found her mouth and
♪♪
Oh, Rachel!
Oh!
Oh, I didn't
I didn't mean that.
I'm sorry!
Oh, please,
now I'm a fool!
Scorsese:
It was a big risk
to make a picture
like "Rachel, Rachel."
People were not the
independent films were not as
you had to really
put yourself on the line,
and in a way,
I think he took this journey.
And it's a long trip to
"Rachel, Rachel,"
and it must be because of her.
She kept Paul on that tightrope
walking and growing
and growing and growing.
Maybe if they hadn't
been together,
maybe if it was a different
kind of situation,
he would not have taken
those those risks.
You're a loving person,
Nick Kazlik.
Babe, we've only had two dates.
You don't know me at all.
I know enough.
I know enough
to say that
I love you.
I want a child.
I
Woodward: Sandy Meisner,
whom I quote ad infinitum,
said that for an actor,
it takes it takes 20 years
to, like a violinist,
not wonder where you have to
put your fingers on the strings,
and Rachel was
a real breakthrough for me
in that respect.
Hold on to me.
♪♪
I think you want to.
Be willing, please.
Please allow
what you're feeling.
♪♪
D'Onofrio: Every day
when you're young,
you have to
keep reminding yourself,
"I'm an artist,
I'm an artist, I'm an artist,"
and then 20 years later,
you're a fucking artist.
If you've applied yourself
all that long,
you're a fucking artist,
man.
♪♪
Melissa:
She knew that her husband,
who was really famous,
deeply believed that she was
a way better actor than he was,
and he did a lot to prove it.
I mean, he worshiped her
as an artist.
Parsons: I do think the film
was terribly taxing for Paul.
He was in a state of shock
the whole time.
But it wasn't hard for me
because I was working
with Joanne Woodward!
Woman: The winner of this year's
Golden Globe goes to
Joanne Woodward
for "Rachel, Rachel."
Announcer: Joanne received her
second Academy Award nomination
for her portrayal of the title
role in the movie.
Paul:
One thing that I admire,
the thing that I recognize,
is excellence.
Woman: By any reckoning,
it is her best performance.
Paul: I recognize it
in almost anything
plumbers, museum guides,
limousine drivers, concierges,
waitresses, bank tellers.
I delight in seeing excellence.
"Rachel, Rachel,"
Estelle Parsons.
Stewart Stern for
"Rachel, Rachel."
Woman: Joanne Woodward
for "Rachel, Rachel."
Paul: And unless I have it
for myself,
I'm not gonna be satisfied.
Man:
was moving up in the field.
♪♪
Acting, that whole real feeling,
eh, I have my moments.
Single scenes, maybe.
I've had maybe a dozen inspired
races in 16 years of racing.
I've won a lot that weren't
necessarily inspired.
It's kind of the way I feel
about my acting.
[Indistinct announcement]
Acting, racing,
you're constantly aware
of your own inadequacies,
and I just try to get out there
and do the best I can.
Anything can happen.
But as in all things, you can do
anything you want to
if you're willing
to pay the price.
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
[Singing indistinctly]
Don't forgive me anymore ♪
Find me sleeping ♪
[Singing indistinctly]
♪♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
Don't trust the moonbeams ♪
Moonbeams are off the record ♪
Don't count your heartbeats ♪
You heart won't beat forever ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
One day, I'll stop to listen ♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪