Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958
First Oscar nomination and his first Tennessee Williams on film, the repressed heartthrob as Brick. The tenth and clinching induction.
The Big Picture · Hall of Fame · Discussion
The Paul Newman Hall of Fame
May 9, 2025/ 134 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
For what would have been Newman's 100th birthday, Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins walk his entire 57-film career, film by film, to settle on the 10 that belong in the Hall of Fame, plus four blues: their picks worth seeking out.
60 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Paul Newman Hall of Famethe 10 inductees
The Hustler 1961
Fast Eddie Felson, beautiful and pathetic at once, in Robert Rossen's hyper-real black and white. The first green of the day.
Hud 1963
The amoral antihero audiences rooted for anyway. Paul Schrader calls it maybe the most important performance in film history.
Cool Hand Luke 1967
The 50 eggs, the Lalo Schifrin score, 'what we've got here is a failure to communicate.' For Amanda, the first thing you picture when you hear his name.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
First film with George Roy Hill and his first real old-guy part, opposite Redford. Still slaps.
The Sting 1973
Henry Gondorf, wiping his tie across his face at the poker table. The only Newman film to win Best Picture.
Slap Shot 1977
Reggie Dunlop and the Hanson brothers, his ideas smuggled into a foul-mouthed hockey comedy written by Nancy Dowd.
The Verdict 1982
Frank Galvin, Sean's pick for the performance of his career. Mamet script, Lumet directing; lost the Oscar to Ben Kingsley.
The Color of Money 1986
Fast Eddie again, opposite Tom Cruise. Won the Oscar at long last and didn't show up to collect it.
Nobody's Fool 1994
Sully Sullivan, the signature old-guy role and the one that got a generation to Newman. His first Richard Russo adaptation.
The bluesbeyond the Hall: two picks each, worth seeking out
Paris Blues 1961
Sean's blue. Newman and Sidney Poitier faking jazz in black-and-white Paris, Duke Ellington scoring. 'This is cinema to me.'
Harper 1966
Amanda's blue. William Goldman's private-eye script from a Ross Macdonald novel, and the ice-cube-bowl morning ritual Newman actually did.
Sometimes a Great Notion 1971
Sean's second blue, which he also directed. Ken Kesey's Oregon logging family, with a death scene among the most upsetting ever filmed.
The Drowning Pool 1975
Amanda's blue, and she won't trade it. The Harper sequel, shot by Gordon Willis, with a very young Melanie Griffith.
The rest of the filmographyeverything else they walked through, in order
The Silver Chalice 1954
The Roman-epic debut and a bomb; he spent years apologizing for it.
Somebody Up There Likes Me 1956
The star-making Rocky Graziano biopic, though nobody buys his boxing.
The Rack 1956
A Rod Serling courtroom drama; worth it for completists.
The Helen Morgan Story 1957
Forced on him by Jack Warner; he's the sleazy love interest, not the center.
Until They Sail 1957
A modest part in a New Zealand-sisters war romance; he did it for Robert Wise.
The Long, Hot Summer 1958
Yellow. The Faulkner mash-up where he and Woodward first throw heat; won him Best Actor at Cannes.
The Left Handed Gun 1958
Arthur Penn's debut, a Billy the Kid Western that doesn't work: Newman was 33 playing 18.
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! 1958
A Newman-Woodward domestic comedy with no fizz.
The Young Philadelphians 1959
Black-and-white melodrama of speeches in drawing rooms; he didn't want to make it.
From the Terrace 1960
Another Paul-and-Joanne love triangle; would-be Sirk in less skilled hands.
Exodus 1960
Preminger's three-and-a-half-hour Israel epic; a slog now read as propaganda. Neither host finished it.
Sweet Bird of Youth 1962
Tennessee Williams sanitized again: the castration cut to a beating. Thinner than Cat.
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man 1962
A small, strange turn as the punch-drunk Battler.
A New Kind of Love 1963
The one Woodward talked him into; a bad rom-com with a great makeover scene.
The Prize 1963
A Nobel-laureate-turned-detective thriller-comedy; enjoyable, not essential.
What a Way to Go! 1964
One of Shirley MacLaine's dead husbands, a bohemian killed by his own paint machine.
The Outrage 1964
A Rashomon remake with Newman as a blue-eyed Mexican bandit. Dreadful.
Lady L 1965
Period costume drama opposite Sophia Loren; capes are not where you want Newman.
Torn Curtain 1966
His one Hitchcock, and it's boring. They didn't like each other.
Hombre 1967
A modernist Western he later had regrets about.
The Secret War of Harry Frigg 1968
A rare, bad stab at pure comedy that nobody remembers, made right after Cool Hand Luke.
Winning 1969
The race-car drama that got him into racing; important to his life, a slog on screen.
WUSA 1970
His politics swallowing the movie; pretentious and preachy.
Pocket Money 1972
Basically a dumb-cowboy retread of Hud, with Lee Marvin.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean 1972
The bear movie. First with John Huston; the closest thing to a yellow in this stretch.
The Mackintosh Man 1973
A dense Huston spy thriller carrying the worst Australian accent Sean has ever heard.
The Towering Inferno 1974
Irwin Allen disaster spectacle; he's the architect. Perfectly adequate.
Silent Movie 1976
A cameo in the Mel Brooks comedy.
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson 1976
First with Altman, an ahead-of-its-time takedown of Western myth-making.
Quintet 1979
Altman's post-apocalyptic board-game disaster. Undefendable, per Sean.
When Time Ran Out... 1980
A contractual volcano disaster movie; badly reviewed.
Fort Apache, the Bronx 1981
A New York cop drama that visibly inspired Hill Street Blues.
Absence of Malice 1981
Pollack's murky journalism drama with Sally Field; an Oscar nom and an icky romance.
Harry & Son 1984
Directed and starred; another difficult-dad film, made after his son's death.
Fat Man and Little Boy 1989
'Oppenheimer, but bad.' He took the general's role so the bomb story could get made.
Blaze 1989
Ron Shelton's Earl Long comedy: a horny Colonel Sanders, and not bad.
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge 1990
The last Newman-Woodward feature; a sensitive James Ivory drama. Just fine.
The Hudsucker Proxy 1994
Yellow. The Coens' fast-talking farce; he's the grouchy boss.
Twilight 1998
A would-be blue: old-guy detective noir with Sarandon, Hackman, and a young Reese Witherspoon.
Message in a Bottle 1999
Costner's dad, who encourages the romance and then dies because he's old.
Where the Money Is 2000
A small late indie neither host has seen.
Road to Perdition 2002
Mendes crime drama opposite Tom Hanks; an Oscar-nommed elder-statesman turn.
Cars 2006
Yellow, out of respect. Doc Hudson, the wizened racer.
Behind the camerathe ones he directed but didn't star in
Rachel, Rachel 1968
His directorial debut, starring Joanne Woodward; nominated for Best Picture.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds 1972
Directed Woodward to Best Actress at Cannes in a role she hated playing.
The Glass Menagerie 1987
Late-career Tennessee Williams, released to little fanfare.
Also mentioned raised along the way
His Oscar competition Separate TablesJudgment at NurembergLilies of the FieldIn the Heat of the NightOn Golden PondGandhi
Brought up along the way East of EdenGiantThe RobeThe Ten CommandmentsRashomonBonnie and ClydeNight MovesNashvillePopeyeA WeddingA Perfect CoupleHealtHOppenheimerBilly BathgateA Complete UnknownIdaTrain DreamsDances with WolvesThe Poseidon AdventureTwisterIndependence DayTop Gun: MaverickA Streetcar Named DesireRaging BullMalcolm XMission: Impossible - Fallout27 DressesConclaveA Minecraft MovieBull DurhamWhite Men Can't JumpF1
Pixar, for the kids Toy StoryFinding NemoRatatouilleWALL·E
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV / documentary The Last Movie StarsEmpire FallsThe Shadow BoxHill Street BluesThe Sopranos
Stage PicnicOur TownTrumbo
Podcasts / ad reads The Zach Lowe ShowSmartlessScience VsAmerican ExpressStarbucks FrappuccinoChosen Foods