Cool Hand Luke (1967)

directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Jael R. Bakari

Any research on the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke will yield you similar results: a story of one man’s triumph over the system through death. The story opens simple enough: a bright red violation sign, followed by the image of a smiling and fairly drunken Luke cutting the heads off of parking meters—his reason for doing so relatively unclear. When asked as to why he did it by the captain of the prison he is sentenced to, he gives a straightforward answer:

“I guess you could say I wasn’t thinking.”

And most of the film reflects Luke’s gift for improvisation with a smile as he manages to do the impossible several times. First, getting his ass handed to him by Dragline in one of the most hilarious boxing scenes ever. Dragline demolishes him, but somehow loses the fight when Luke simply refuses to stay down, no matter how hard he gets hit. Next he bluffs his way into winning a card game with “a hand full of nothing.” Later he eats 50 eggs because “it was a nice round number” and it would give him something to do. And it is here we see the theme of Luke trying on a thing or two just to get by.

Now because of its prison setting and heavy anti-establishment symbolism, it’s extremely easy to deem this film as one of protest and sticking it to the corrupt systems that seek to beat us all into submission one way or the other. But I believe that message is only one of the layers this movie seeks to communicate. In fact, the opening, coupled with Luke’s back story and a heart-filled moment with his mama Arletta, manages to sink deeper beyond the Jesus imagery and anti-establishment themes the film kind of beats you over the head with. Luke is a decorated soldier who comes out of the army after years of brave service as nothing more than a low ranking officer. And he tells his mother Arletta straight out that he tried to do the normal thing and fit in, but he couldn’t find any “elbow room” inside of that role society had carved for him. To which she responds that he bored them (Arletta and his brother John) whenever he was trying to be respectable and fit it.

And it is here I’d like to make a case for Luke doing all the things he did not as a way of “sticking it to the man,” but rather to find out who he was and exactly what it is he was made of. I can say this because that “cool Luke smile” of his is one I often find myself wearing when I look at the news—especially in the year of our Lord 2020, when everything seems to be going further and further to shit. But I also find myself wearing that smile when I hear the rationalizations for why this world is the way it is and why these rules we have are supposed to be followed the way they are. It’s almost as though no one ever stopped to ask who came up with this shit and why.

Throughout the movie, it feels as though Luke’s smile is really just a man trying to make sense of the irony of a world that takes itself far too seriously and punishes those who don’t follow suit. So how does this tie into his quest for self-comprehension and actualization? Because Luke’s struggle to fit in stems largely from the fact that he does not get the world he was placed into, as evidenced by his prayers. Especially his last, where he basically asks God where he should go from here because he can’t take all the nonsensical rules, regulations, and bosses that pull him further and further from who he is. To which God “answers” by having Dragline bust into the church where he is praying and plead for Luke to come back and be a good boy.

As I watch the world burn, all around me I see requests for me to be “a good girl”: don’t call out racism, don’t protest, don’t riot, don’t complain, vote not for who I want but for who has been chosen for me, think like this, not that, be like this, not that. And like Dragline, the people around me look at me like I’m crazy when I say I want no part of this insanity because I can’t find no elbow room inside of that tiny ass box.

And I can see how some would say that Luke (like myself) isn’t a fan of rules, to which I say, that’s not the case at all. Luke abided by the rules, so long as they made sense. He stayed in prison and did his time, until the Captain put him in “the box”—a makeshift wooden outhouse—because he thought Luke was going to try to escape to go to his mother’s funeral. It was that act of taking Luke’s agency from him that finally made him say “fuck it, I quit.” And that’s the same with me. I was fine with going along with what the system had planned, biding my time and energy until I could find a way to accomplish my own personal goals. But when the system threatens to remove my agency as a human being by supporting cops who kill people who look like me, fucked up legislation that places children in cages, idiotic premature moves that put millions of immunocompromised individuals at risk, and an electoral system that forces me to choose between anthrax and bubonic plague; well, at that point what we have is a failure to communicate because I refuse to sit by and let that shit happen. I’m not built like that and neither was Luke.

All throughout the movie Luke is tested, pushed to his limits and even broken by the bosses when they force him to dig and fill a hole repeatedly in the name of “getting his mind right” so he won’t try to escape anymore. A crucial factor, considering Luke’s coolness had garnered him fame amongst the other downtrodden prisoners trying to pass the time while they served their sentences. Breaking him breaks them; their hopes and dreams for a brighter tomorrow can become a felled bird as long as Luke remains broken from the bosses’ malicious efforts. But all the torture ends up doing is pushing Luke further and further away from being willing and able to abide in the system, until finally he accepts who he is and delivers the smart ass quip that gets his cool ass shot and killed.

And honestly, the further this world devolves into chaos with justifications for it being so, the more I feel Luke on his decision to honor himself and choose to be free in the end.

Now the question is, how does one make this choice and simultaneously move away from the tendency toward martyrdom that befalls the bold and rebellious? Are the free doomed to die sacrificially like Neo in The Matrix, John in A Brave New World, Jesus or Luke?

The naiveté in me says no: it’s possible to avoid martyrdom if many others become willing to stand up for themselves, not in the name of tearing down the establishment, but rather in the name of being true to who they were born to be. But the rational side of me accepts that humans are social creatures and oppositional traits tend to be signs of some kind of mental disorder for the most part. It takes a couple of screws being loose to have the courage to laugh at reality, and you don’t get that way without going through some drama and trauma. As is the case, everybody choosing to be 100% themselves may not be the answer because it is a least likely occurrence in large populations.

Which brings me back to Luke’s question to his heavenly old man: what now? He offers a brilliant solution by suggesting “a man’s gotta carve his own path,” and he does so in the end by verbally flipping off the bosses. For me, carving my own path looks an awful lot like writing my poor little heart and soul out, sharing my mind, views, and beliefs with the world in hopes that maybe one day, someone will read my work and start to smile the way me and Luke do. On that day, I hope they won’t be afraid of life and all its systems seemingly being set up for them to lose because they have a handful of nothing to work with. As my boy Luke put it, “sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.”

Jael R. Bakari creates thought-provoking content for people crazy enough to believe they can change the world. If you found her work, you're probably one of 'em. When she’s not ruminating over her cool hand, she can be found sprinkling the results of her think sessions all over social media (@jaelrbakari on all platforms) or on Medium (medium.com/@jaelrbakari). If you want to keep up with her feel free to shoot her a DM (nothing you wouldn't send your parentals) or visit jaelrbakari.com #fortheblacksheep