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Amid a wealth of choices, 5 favorite Paul Newman films

By Joe Neumaier
Daily News film critic

Saturday, September 27th 2008, 9:54 AM

There are almost too many terrific Paul Newman performances to whittle them down to five great ones. There are the early rough-hewn haymakers (1956's "Somebody Up There Likes Me," 1958's "The Left-Handed Gun" and "The Long, Hot Summer"), the charming '60s and '70s performances that defined him as a movie star and the great character turns from the '80s through 2005 ("Blaze," "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge," "Road to Perdition," "Empire Falls").

Then there are the films that seemed decidedly un-Newman ("Exodus," "Torn Curtain," "Slap Shot"), the Tennessee Williams adaptations ("Cat on A Hot Tin Roof," "Sweet Bird of Youth"), the tough-guy films ("Harper," "The Drowning Pool," "Fort Apache: The Bronx') the big, weird things that seemed to appeal to his private joker ("Buffalo Bill and the Indians," "The Hudsucker Proxy"). And that's not mentioning "The Towering Inferno" or "Quintet."

There was, in fact, enough Paul Newman to go around for everyone. But if I had to choose five movies that defined the best of the man, these would be the winners by a razor-thin margin. (But for the record, the runners-up would be "The Sting," "Absence of Malice," and "Blaze.")

"The Hustler" (1962) Robert Rossen's stark drama is a look at grabby-grubby people from the view of the grime-covered floor, as Newman's "Fast Eddie" Felson - a role he replayed memorably in 1986's "The Color of Money," his Best Actor win - plays pool for bucks as well as breath. Pier Laurie is the damaged woman who falls for him, George C. Scott is the ice-cold demon who holds the cash, and Jackie Gleason is Minnesota Fats, the imovable object to Eddie's unstoppable Force. One of the great films.

"Cool Hand Luke" (1967) It's almost too iconic in some ways, and it's style is corn-prone Christ allegory, but Newman is such a snake-smiled life-force that it's the easist thing in the world to believe he'd develop an apostle following in a Southern prison. A lot of movies reflect the 1960s; this one embodies it.

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) Imagine Newman and Robert Redford as a president/vice-presidential ticket - who wouldn't have voted for them? Politics aside, these two actors in this film should run everything - Newman's the brains, Redford's the gun, and the whole film spins off their easygoing manner and fun-for-Hell's-sake approach to life. When the film's melancholy creeps up, Newman's blue eyes show it most.

"The Verdict" (1982) "There is no other case, this is is the case." Watch as Newman reads that David Mamet-scripted line a half-dozen ways in Sidney Lumet's burgundy-brown- colored masterpiece, and marvel as he finds 50 meanings inside it. As a lawyer who finds his soul, the man is down-and-out until he realizes even a shred of conscience is all he needs to save himself.

"Nobody's Fool" (1994) If most guys at some point in their live wants to be Paul Newman, then every guy wants to be Newman's Sully in Robert Benton's adaptation of Richard Russo's novel. Irascible, confident, cranky-but-twinkling and disgusted by life's cheats and shortcuts, Sully shambles about his upstate New York burg having seen it all but still hungry for more, as long as it doesn't test his patience or make him miss a beer. Actors have to try hard to achieve this kind of live-in quality; Newman made it all look easy.