num_pages: 250
description: Reveals the author's extraordinary gift for rhythmic prose, tragic drama, and realism made larger than life. - Publishers WeeklyWritten using Pearce's own experiences of working on a Florida chain gang (he was convicted for safe-cracking), Cool Hand Luke is the tale of a quiet hero whose outsized feats range from bizarre acts of gluttony and gambling - he bets a fellow inmate he can eat 50 eggs - to harrowing escape attempts. Luke's acts of defiance and refusal to 'git his mind right' soon make him a legend among his fellow convicts - a symbol of hope in a cruel regime designed to break a man's body and spirit.Cool Hand Luke was filmed in 1967, the year after its initial publication, staring Paul Newman. The screenplay, scripted by Donn Pearce himself, was nominated for an Academy Award. Pearce subsequently wrote two other novels and now works as a private investigator.Cover shows scenes from Cool Hand Luke directed by Robert Rosenberg.
language: English
title: Cool Hand Luke
titlecomplete: Cool Hand Luke
genres: Fiction, Classics, Media Tie In, Historical, Drama, Adult, Historical Fiction, Literature, Film, Novels
ratings_count: 1387
places: Florida
publisher: Prion Books Limited