Original subtitles

♪♪

♪♪

Film reel narrator: You are in Hollywood,

motion picture capital of the world.

These are some of the thousands of girls

who have come to Hollywood every year,

girls who share the same dream.

Woman: I don't want to be just anyone walking down the street.

I want to be somebody special.

It's like having a disease.

I wish I could get rid of it, but I really can't.

And maybe I really don't want to.

♪♪

Film reel narrator: This is the Studio Club in Hollywood.

These are a few of the 94 girls who room and board here,

94 of the thousands of girls who come to Hollywood each year

from every state of the union.

My folks thought I was crazy to come out here.

A lot of people close to me think acting is a sin,

but I feel it's like being a missionary.

Woman #2: My big opportunity hasn't come yet, but it will.

Of course, I'm a realist. I know I'm expendable.

Woman #3: I don't think I'm gonna be a real big star

for a while yet, but I don't mind waiting.

I've had the training and the experience that I need.

I'm ready.

Film reel narrator: Every girl is different,

and yet every girl is the same.

What brings them here is the dream of becoming a star.

♪♪

Well, Joanne, a little while ago we talked to

some of the thousands of girls who would do anything to be you.

Could you tell us why it happened to you

and how it happened to you?

♪♪

Do you think if people adopt a baby,

they can love him just as much as if he was theirs?

Of course.

Come on, Mike. I mean --

I don't mean if he's an orphan. I mean...

Jackson: If this theatrical thing finds you,

and it really is in you,

there's nothing that anyone or anything can do to kill it.

Mr. Quick, I am a human being.

Do you know what that means?

It means I set a price on myself.

A high, high price.

You may be surprised to know it,

but I've got quite a lot to give.

I've got things I have been saving up my whole life,

things like love and understanding and...

I can look at her work and say, "Damn.

How the hell did she do that?"

I never see her directing herself

or telling herself to pick up the cut,

pick up the cut this way.

She just did it.

I'm a grown woman, Jason, and I need

what any grown woman needs.

And that's respect and affection,

in case you don't know.

You know that when you're acting,

the best part of it is when you can release it,

just be that, and do it.

She just was seemed like she just m--

Ooh, I love watching her.

♪♪

♪♪

Sherman: "From the very beginning,

I understood the private nature of Paul,

the unwillingness to commit,

which would then make the commitment extraordinary.

You know, emotions cannot be willed.

You cannot say, 'I want to feel this way.

I want to fall in love with this woman,' whatever.

It -- It has to --

The whole trick of acting

is that the object has to be so real to you

that it opens everything up.

If the object is real,

it will open everything up."

♪♪

♪♪

Morning, ladies.

Fine, warm day, isn't it?

Isn't he as pretty as a picture?

My, now, you all look like two butterflies

lit out on the grass.

Hello again, Miss Clara.

If it's work you're looking for,

you can see the foreman at the gym.

If it's food, they'll take care of you around the back door.

Well, now, you hadn't hit on it yet, lady. What...

Sherman: "I met Paul through Joanne.

Joanne and I were friends.

We'd done a film called 'No Down Payment' together,

which fell on its ass, but she wanted me

to do everything she was doing.

She was becoming a big star then.

And then we were casting 'The Long, Hot Summer,'

and she introduced me to Paul.

It was a very shrewd choice.

The part was written to exploit

that cool, almost negative sexuality."

Where did you find him?

"I just felt the very withholding

was gonna to make him a movie star."

You're not much of a prospect, Miss Clara.

You don't need my money, Mr. Quick.

You got everybody else's.

Yeah, but it's the hold-out that challenges me.

Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Quick, the last time I parted

with that money to a pitchman, I was 12 years old.

And nobody's ever taken you since?

Nope. Nobody ever will.

Woodward: All during the picture, that's all we do --

We laugh at each other.

We're at each other's throats in every scene.

Of course, there's something nice, I think,

about being able to fight with your husband

and get paid for it.

Wouldn't you say?

Well, like Stanislavski said, art is never accidental.

Oh, thank you.

Interviewer: Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Newman,

in person and on film

in a scene from "Long, Hot Summer."

Never say never.

I don't know what arrangement

you think you have with my father,

but you'll find you have no bargain with me.

Now, we gonna be married, Miss Clara, haven't you heard?

You have been hoodwinked, Mr. Quick.

For once in your crafty life, you have been had.

Oh, you mean you're turning me down?

Refusing my hand and my heart?

You're too much like my father to suit me,

and I'm an authority on him.

He's a wonderful old man.

One wolf recognizes another.

Tame us. Make pets out of us. You could.

I'm not interested.

I gave up on him when I was 9 years old.

And I gave up on you the first time I ever

looked into those cold, blue eyes.

You got the color right. I've got everything right.

Clooney: "It was just wonderful to be able to go out

and do with Joanne in public

what we'd longed to do in public for years,

to put on the screen what had already been discovered

privately between us."

You're mighty pretty with them reading glasses on.

You look pretty with them off.

You look mighty young there, Miss Clara,

all curled up in your bed,

like you just washed your hands and brushed your teeth

and said your prayers like a little girl.

"People may see me as a sexual object

when I'm up there on the screen,

but if they meet me while they're excited at the prospect,

their level of sexual interest

declines with each passing moment.

Newman as a sexual object was simply invented.

It was never organic to the person."

♪ Cla-a-a-ra ♪

"The sexuality was never there.

How did I invent it from film to film?

I didn't."

You've got a thin skin, is what you got.

But the world belongs to the meat eaters, Miss Clara,

and if you have to take it raw, take it raw.

"There should be a parade in Joanne's honor

as the creator of the symbol."

Quick: Put them things down, Miss Clara,

'cause I'm gonna kiss you.

"I came back from work one day

and found a large collection of junk

piled up in the driveway by the garage --

old bicycle pumps, the outdoor brooms.

She was wearing a bandana and a paint-covered smock.

And I said, 'What are you doing?'

'Painting,' she said.

She'd picked up a double bed from some thrift shop somewhere

and a new Sealy mattress.

And the room was painted some incredibly raucous color.

She giggled shyly and said,

[whispering] 'It's called the fuck hut.'

[ Normal voice ] And that's where we'd go."

♪♪

Announcer: The world premiere at Baton Rouge, Louisiana,

of "The Long, Hot Summer,"

William Faulkner's violent study of Southern love and hate,

is attended by Joanne Woodward,

a bouquet for the young lady being hailed

as the greatest dramatic actress on the American screen today.

TV host: The way the returns have been coming in,

20 million people will see this film in the country.

Sherman: "The picture did big, big business.

As I said, it was very entertaining.

The picture went to Cannes.

Paul won Best Actor.

And, of course, that was the same year

as 'Three Faces of Eve.'

I mean, that was a big year for Joanne."

Linney: "Dearest Mother, I'm writing you in the midst

of being photographed for a magazine story.

In fact, they're taking a picture of me right now.

It's been going on for a couple of days now.

I don't know how much longer it's gonna take,

but I hope they hurry up."

Linney: "Paul has a saying -- I don't think it's his own --

'Luck is an art.' And I lucked out."

Woman #4: "Did you always think that you would be lucky?"

"I had infinite belief that it would all happen.

I didn't --" "What would happen?"

"That I would grow up and become a movie star..."

"You did!" "...and marry a wonderful, handsome man."

"You imagined all that?"

♪♪

Film reel narrator #2: On the southernmost border

of the state of Georgia rests one of the South's

most beautiful and gracious communities --

Thomasville.

Linney: "When I was a little girl,

the thing that I did most and loved most

and was more influenced by than anything else

was the movies.

My mother used to put us in the movie theater and say,

'Now, I'm depositing Wadie and Joanne here,

and I'll be back to pick them up in a couple hours

'cause I'm going out to play bridge.'"

[ Up-tempo song playing, radio tuning ]

♪♪

Man: "Tell me -- Tell me about Elinor,

Joanne's mother."

Jackson: "She was a kinda fun-loving person,

and she liked to socialize a lot.

Elinor kind of got involved with someone,

a nice-looking man. who had a wife in Greenville.

And he was working at Bill [indistinct],

and Elinor rented him a room..."

Hawke: Her mom -- she liked partying, she liked dating.

And her father was a hard worker,

and he was often traveling.

And so she had an affair with a guy in town

and let him rent a room in their house.

[ Laughter ]

You know, and so they have a terrible divorce.

Linney: "We left Georgia.

My mother felt she could not live there

as an unmarried woman in those days.

It was shocking.

So we moved to Greenville, South Carolina."

[ Indistinct singing ]

[ Birds chirping ]

This here's the end of the line, lady.

♪♪

Linney: "I was 16 and decided to invite, like a silly girl,

the biggest football star in the school to the big dance.

And he said yes.

To help things along,

my mother agreed to make my gown.

Now, this was just about the time strapless evening gowns

had become stylish, and nothing would do for me except that.

Mom agreed again. She made the dress --

well, because we didn't have much money,

and really it was a gorgeous gown.

It was very loose in the bodice.

Somehow, neither Mom nor I gave this particular defect

the attention it deserved.

The orchestra started the music,

and in complete, absolute girl-gushing pride,

I stepped out onto the floor with my king-sized hero.

I put my arms up to reach around those shoulders,

and, yes, it happened.

I walked to the corner of the dance floor

and sat quietly, hoping I would die very soon."

[ Mid-tempo music plays ]

"Yet, this was the night I learned that men

are still the most wonderful people in the world."

♪ I once knew a man who told me a tale of the greatest... ♪

Linney: "An older boy came over and asked me to dance.

He danced with me the rest of the night and the dress behaved.

He didn't know it, but he made the most wonderful rescue

since St. George slew the Dragon."

♪♪

"And what happened when you danced with her?

Do you remember?"

"We started going what -- what you call going steady..."

Hawke: I read this interview, and I was really moved by it

because you actually learn a lot about Joanne's childhood

by talking to her high school sweetheart.

Zahn: "We dated all the way through high school.

Man: "What kind of things did you used to do,

you and Joanne?"

"Well, I'm sure we went to a lot of movies, for one thing.

We had our share of parking.

We had our share of things you would do back in those days."

"I don't know what they were."

"Well, I'm gonna let her discuss whatever she wants to,

you know, in regards to our relationship.

But, uh...

...there is one thing going on in my mind right now

that -- that I'm thinking about.

And I can remember for one of the dances,

she had tried to save up money

and got her mother talked into buying her dress for the dance.

Real important.

And it was doeskin.

And it was something she really wanted.

And she couldn't wear pants under.

I guess it was so tight,

and when she got dressed, she she couldn't wear them.

It showed too much.

And she went with nothing

underneath that dress to that dance.

[ Chuckles ]

That's, you know -- that's what popped into my mind."

"Did you ever watch rehearsals?"

"Oh, I'm sure I did."

"But you don't remember about that?"

"Yeah, I wasn't into drama.

You know, that was out of my realm.

You might say I was watching Joanne,

waiting for her after rehearsals,

that kind of stuff."

Jackson: "She always said that she was gonna be a movie star.

Always.

Not an actress. A movie star."

Linney: "I developed a young and ambitious

ruthlessness of purpose

which isolated me from many of the activities

that most girls enjoy."

"You know, she knew what she wanted to do,

and she did."

She wanted the acting career, the singing.

There's no doubt about that.

But to go back to the sewing,

she learned that because she had to.

It was tough times for her and her mother.

Tough times."

Hawke: They were poor. She was just a single mom.

You know, the mom made all of Joanne's clothes,

and they slept in the same bed all through high school.

Oh!

Linney: "My mother never had any financial sense.

The lights were always being turned off

because Mother wouldn't pay the bill.

Finally, I would just do it."

I'm all right now?

You look fine.

"She was a wonderful mother for a baby.

Wonderful for things like teaching me how to sew.

She was a wonderful companion for a little girl

because she was a little girl."

Good night, Mom.

"But there comes, inevitably, a time

when you need more than that,

and she wasn't capable."

♪♪

Zahn: "And I'm sure that [sighs]

she didn't like that situation so much with her daddy,

you know, being out there.

That situation was kind of tough with her,

there with her mother all alone, you know,

and I think that hurt her a lot, that divorce."

Man: "Was there ever any time where

Joanne confessed her pain about the separation?"

"Well, we cried through sometimes."

Here's a nice little tray.

Linney: "When my parents got divorced,

I wanted to kill myself, but I couldn't figure out how.

I remember thinking if I could jump out the window...

And it's funny that I would be concerned about it

because the last few years of their marriage

was just sheer horror."

Man: "Do you remember saying goodbye to her?

Do you remember her leaving?"

Zahn: "Eh. I'm sure it was a situation,

but I don't remember it."

"What was it like for you after --

after she made that move?"

"We felt that there were no other two people

in the world and...

Now, maybe we were too young, puppy love,

whatever you want to call it, but I never had anything...

Really, we were very much in love,

as anybody could have been at that time.

And I know that I felt that way.

And I know that she felt that way, too."

♪♪

Announcer: Hollywood's Academy Award night,

sent to 50 million viewers by the film industry,

is a bonanza of...

Linney: "It was the most ex--

You know what was the best thing about it?"

Man #2: "What?"

"Is that it was on television,

and I had made my dress."

While Joanne Woodward attends with Paul Newman, her husband.

"All I remember doing was sewing industriously

on that damn dress,

and that's all I could think about.

I had to finish the dress."

The nominations for the Best Performance by an Actress

are Deborah Kerr in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison,"

Anna Magnani in "Wild is the Wind,"

Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County,"

Lana Turner, "Peyton Place,"

and Joanne Woodward in "Three Faces of Eve."

The winner is...

...Joanne Woodward...

[ Cheers and applause ]

..."Three Faces of Eve."

"When I realized that I had won,

what I did was fling off my coat."

[ Laughter ]

"But it was a strapless dress.

And as I began to run, and I had those things --

staves that went up to hold it up,

but I kept thinking, 'My dress is gonna fall down.'"

[ Laughter ]

"But I wanted my mother to see my dress.

Oh. Funny what goes on in your head, huh?"

[ Applause ]

I can only say I -- I've been daydreaming about this

since I was 9 years old.

Hawke: It was -- that movie was bigger than "The King and I."

I mean, it was a huge movie. She won --

She didn't just win the Oscar. She won every award.

She was heralded at that moment

as this country's greatest rising star.

Dave: Joanne, in the history of movies,

only 30 actresses have won the Best Actress Academy Award.

What does it feel like to be one of them?

I don't think I really know, Dave.

You know, sometimes you want something so desperately

that you think you're just gonna die

if you don't get it.

And I remember when I was a kid

in Greenville High School in Greenville, South Carolina,

the thing I wanted most was to be elected school sweetheart.

I thought my whole life was gonna be different,

that everything would change.

So I got elected,

and nothing was different and nothing changed.

♪♪

[ Slide projector clicking ]

♪♪

♪♪

Now, John, you ought to ask them about their baby. [ Laughs ]

She ate a cigarette yesterday.

[ Laughter ]

John: I trust the baby's all right?

Oh, she's fine, just fine, yeah.

[ Applause ]

Clooney: "I can't remember ever crying about anything.

The first time I remember crying for another person

was when I saw Joanne in the hospital giving birth to Nell.

Just remember her lying on the gurney,

ashen, dry mouth."

[ Film reel clicking ]

"And as she went down the elevator,

I just stood by the shaft and wept.

That's the first time I can remember ever weeping,

including my father's death."

[ Applause ]

Linney: "Mother, I'm kind of glad you all decided

not to move into the big house.

It didn't sound like a wise move to me,

but I didn't feel like I should say so.

And for heaven's sake, what do you mean,

'doing me proud'?"

Nell: Being the first born of the second litter,

I don't think she was a natural mom.

She had a very inattentive mother.

So she -- she was trying her best.

Linney: "...big house, little house,

or no house at all.

And I promise you, if it is at all possible,

I will be down for at least a couple of days

when I finish this picture."

Nell: So I just don't think it was something that came to her.

She didn't have a great role model.

[ Up-tempo music playing ]

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

♪♪

Hawke: Paul was really close with Sidney Poitier.

Poitier and he did a movie called "Paris Blues" together.

Do you ever see "Paris Blues"?

-No. -Fucking hell, man.

This movie has Louis Armstrong in it.

You know, Duke Ellington does the score.

It has Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier

jamming with Louis Armstrong.

I mean, it's a 15-minute scene, and it's fucking amazing.

♪♪

So I have this great interview

where Poitier is talking about --

like, he's equating method acting with great jazz musician.

It's immense practice and immense dedication,

a commitment to the lines, and then you let go.

[ Trombone playing ]

♪♪

Right. So which do you think Paul was?

♪♪

Hawke: If I had to guess,

I think that if Poitier thought

that Paul had that power of hypnosis,

he would have said so.

What do you think?

You know I'm gonna score this part for oboe

and play it against your horn.

Well, how 'bout it?

Gonna lighten up the melody and give it a nice...

Hey, now, what do you think?

It's good, man.

Just good, huh?

That's better than bad.

Clooney: "I'd had a struggle with confidence all my life.

People I knew, you know, they'd shake their heads and say,

'But couldn't you tell that people thought

you were really something?' And I'd say,

'No, but if you want me to invent that, I will.'

I cannot convince anybody."

[ Crowd clamoring ]

Sherman: "This feeling of being second banana, I mean,

well, look, we had both Sidney and Joanne,

and he really felt like, you know, the third banana."

Eddie: Somebody comes along, scoops him up,

and pours him out at his house.

Such a crazy life. Yeah, well, that's because

you're one of the day people. We are the night people,

and it's a whole different world.

You don't think they can mix?

Well, I don't mind them going to public places together,

but I certainly wouldn't want one of them to marry my sister.

[ Both laugh ]

Sherman: "You know, and I certainly understood that.

I understood that that's the way he felt.

I mean, he said it to me about Joanne all the time."

And I'm a day person. Mm-hmm.

But you know something? I think you are.

No. Well, you're not like him.

Well, I'm taller than him. [ Chuckles ] No.

"Talent.

Talent is a genetic accident.

You're lucky if you're talented, that's all.

And one of the reasons I respect Paul so much

is because of what I think he's done with his equipment.

I mean, his equipment emotionally,

it was average, or less than average.

Whoever it is that bequeaths these gifts upon people,

whether it's God or, as I suspect,

a certain specific of matter...

...I don't know what it is.

[ Chuckling ] I don't know what matter is.

But what I do know is that when something emotional comes out,

that it's specific of matter."

You want me to get you a cab?

No, I'd rather walk.

I don't know what to say.

Well, you know, you just picked the wrong guy for what you want.

Did I?

Yeah. I'm not on the market.

I wasn't shopping.

♪♪

-Say something in here? -Yeah.

They just want to make sure that the recorder is on.

I think it is. -This is such a find.

Melissa: There was a lot of passion.

First of all, I always wondered why they had two doors

closing their bedroom.

So there was an inner door and then a big outer door.

And I used to think, why -- why would anyone need

two doors on their bedroom?

And there's was, like, a bolt [laughs] on one of them.

Stephanie: They were so hot for each other and I was little,

and I would, like, come into a room,

and they'd be making out behind the door.

♪♪

Clea: This is Nellie's birthday party,

something which she really didn't like,

hated the whole idea.

And Susan -- Susan doing The Twist.

Stephanie: There's Marty -- Marty Ritt in a funny hat.

Melissa: Stewart.

Clea: And Lissy did not like to wear clothes.

And I thought it was a very -- I was very freethinking.

So I thought this was a wonderful idea.

Stephanie: My stepchildren weren't like that.

I used to say, "Go ahead. Take -- Take everything off."

Oh, they wouldn't do it.

Melissa: She -- I think she felt really guilty.

And I think she loved all of her children --

the ones she shared and the ones, you know,

that she had with my dad.

Nell: And Mom really did.

She did everything to --

to heal the divide.

Hawke: A lot of kids would be very angry

at their father and stepmother.

But you don't seem to be furious with them about that.

And how do you -- how do you think that came to be?

Um, I think I could --

You know, my dad and stepmom did not do this

as an intentional hurt to my mother.

That's, you know, obviously a given.

And I can be disgusted with my dad, um,

when I think of my mom, you know.

That is -- that's a true feeling for me.

It isn't the only feeling.

I didn't grow up with a sense of anger, myself.

Did your -- did your older siblings?

Man #3: "Are you willing to talk about Scott?"

Kazan: "Sure."

"Love to know what your experience was of him

as a baby, as a little boy."

"Well... I think that Scott...

was an incredibly sensitive child.

Incredibly sensitive.

And I think he was very upset

by his father leaving the household.

I think that I was certainly not equipped

to deal with that or handle that.

We didn't have the faintest idea in the world

about how to deal with those things.

So I suppose the answer to that

is that you don't really deal with them.

I was concerned about Scott's relationship with his sisters,

because if ever -- if I ever went out for an hour

and left him there, I'd come home.

They would say that they hated him

and they never wanted him to stay with them again."

"What had he been doing?"

"Oh, [chuckles] beating them up."

"Physically?" "Yeah."

"And what would happen

when you reported these things to Paul?"

"Well, we all know that Paul's not very good

at handling that kind of stuff."

♪♪

Stephanie: Pop was a complicated guy.

And I'm not sure I ever met anybody

that comes close to...

his personality.

And I don't know even how I can define that.

He was very preoccupied, especially when he was working.

[ Brakes squeak ]

[ Man speaks indistinctly ]

Clooney: "I was shooting a film in France,

and Rob Rossen sent me the script."

Yes, sir. I think I got a little grease in this lining here.

Oh, yeah? Well, it'll take about 30 minutes to check it.

You want me to fill her up, too?

Yeah.

You better check the oil, too.

"So I start reading this thing and I was halfway through it,

and I called my agent and I said,

'Look, I'm halfway through,

but it doesn't make any difference.

Make it happen.'"

♪♪

♪♪

I have to say, "The Hustler" is one of my favorites.

Oh, my God.

Nivola: That movie plays to his strengths so well.

It allows him to be, like, relentlessly charming...

Two ball, side pocket.

...and for there to be, like, a cross current

while he's doing it.

Very good shot.

You know, I got a hunch, fat man.

I got a hunch it's me from here on in.

One ball, corner pocket.

I mean, that ever happen to you?

All of a sudden, you feel like you can't miss?

I dreamed about this game, fat man.

I dreamed about this game every night on the road.

Five ball.

Clooney: "It was the best thing I'd ever had in front of me."

You know, this is my table, man. I own this.

"Eddie Felson was a guy trying to find himself,

to express himself,

to burst into the world and to be something,

to realize his true self.

I spent the first 30 years of my life

looking for a way to explode.

For Eddie, it was pool."

Eddie: I'm -- I'm the best you ever seen, Fats.

I'm the best there is.

Now, even if you beat me, I'm still the best.

Clooney: "For me, acting was the way."

Stay with this kid.

He's a loser.

Hawke: It's almost every scene --

he's playing two different things.

He's hustling people and he wants to be liked, you know?

And it's, like, so -- so I always think

that's what makes a great performance,

you know, when there's just two electric...

Scorsese: Yep.

There is something about him that you like,

because he wants to be liked, you know?

We got no use for pool sharks around here.

But he is in a -- he's in a miserable

form of life, the way he's working, what he does.

This guy is his own worst enemy.

[ Eddie screams ]

And it happens, and you watch it happen to him.

And he hurts the people around him.

Sarah, you think I'm a loser?

A loser?

Yeah.

I met this guy, Gordon -- Bert Gordon.

He said I was, a born loser.

When he says, "You think I'm a loser?"

it's something that's so haunting.

Because what's a loser, you know?

So there are people. who, uh -- who want to lose,

who are always looking for an excuse to lose.

Is he a winner?

Well, he owns things.

Is that what makes a winner?

Well, what else does?

Does it bother you, what he said?

Yeah.

Yeah, it bothers me a lot, 'cause, you see, twice...

Clooney: "I told Rossen,

'You got to somehow liken what Eddie does

to anyone performing something sensational, you know?

I mean, a ballplayer,

some guy who lays 477 bricks a day, anything.'"

That guy -- I could have beat him cold.

He never would have known.

But I just had to show him.

Just had a show those creeps and those punks

what the game is like when it's great,

when it's really great.

Anything can be great. Anything can be great.

I don't care. Bricklaying can be great if a guy knows.

Where I'm going, where I'm really going,

I feel like a -- like a jockey must feel

when he's sitting on his horse,

he's got all that speed and that power underneath him.

He's coming into this stretch, the pressure's on him,

and he knows.

Just feels when to let it go and how much.

Hope: Well, there have been some great pictures this year.

There was "The Hustler."

That's about Bing's obstetrician.

[ Laughter ]

Jackie Gleason in "The Hustler."

"The Hustler..."

Because he's got everything working for him --

timing, touch.

...in "The Hustler."

It's a great feeling...

...for "The Hustler."

...real great feeling when you're right

and you know you're right.

It's like all of a sudden, I got oil in my arm.

Woman: Paul Newman in "The Hustler."

Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen,

"The Hustler."

Stephanie: Pop used to get 10 scripts a day.

We had stacks of scripts waiting for him to read.

He would sit up after dinner till 1:00, 2:00 in the morning,

making notes with a pencil.

Every person on the planet recognized his name

and recognized him.

That's how it was.

Sherman: "Any fat man who is graceful

is immediately a theatrical entity

because of the unity of opposites,

which was really why Paul was so right for 'Hud.'"

Hud: You don't find me in control of myself?

Hate to see you walk a straight line.

That's easy.

"Hud is a man so committed to his appetite

at the expense of everything else in his life."

I don't like setting passes.

We'll ease into it, then.

There's another one coming up on your right.

Don't you ever ask?

Well, the only question I ever ask any woman is,

"What time is your husband coming home?"

"He doesn't give a shit. He wants to win.

He wants to get what he wants."

Let's get our shoelaces untied, what do you say?

I'd say I've been asked with a little more finesse

in my time.

"I had to get an actor who was so attractive

that I could hook the audience into it."

I've done my time with one cold-blooded bastard.

I'm not looking for another.

It's too late, honey. You already found him.

Hawke: Did you ever work with him?

No, I-I had dinner with him

with Marty and Tom Cruise were working --

and I was working in Chicago at the same time.

And I think Newman

gives probably...

...the most important performance

in the history of cinema.

I think "Hud" is a landmark.

It's the first time

that American bad guy

had been presented without excuse or remorse,

and no attempt was ever made to make him likeable.

What are you pulling on Granddad now?

Something pretty raw, kid.

And he does have no apology

or change of heart at the end.

What'd you do to make him take to the hills?

You wear your curlers to bed or something?

And you can't take your eyes off him.

You think he's the coolest thing you've ever, ever seen.

♪♪

Scorsese: There was somebody had control of the frame

and he wasn't afraid of anything.

You don't care about people, Hud.

You don't give a damn about them.

Granddad. Oh, you got all that charm going for you,

and that makes the youngsters want to be like you.

That's the shame of it, 'cause you don't value nothing.

You don't respect nothing.

You keep no check on your appetites at all.

You live just for yourself.

And that makes you not fit to live with.

My mama loved me, but she died.

Hawke: I don't think you get "Raging Bull"

or a lot of our favorite modern performances

without "Hud."

I mean, he's just a malevolent soul,

and you identify with him completely.

Interviewer #2: You know, you seem to have been going along

in these type of roles recently.

"Sweet Bird of Youth" caused a great deal

of comment and controversy.

And of course, it was a tremendous hit.

But you like these sort of roles, don't you?

Newman: Well, I'm much more interested in the examination

of corruption than I am...

those parts attract me.

That's quite a phrase -- examination of corruption.

Well, this is the first totally corrupt person

I've ever played.

I mean, there was a shred of decency

in "Sweet Bird of Youth" and in "The Hustler."

There was always still that feeling that...

there could be some kind of redemption for the person.

But this guy is... [laughs]

you know, without any kind of moral sense at all.

♪♪

[ Door slams ]

♪♪

[ Frogs croaking, insects chirping ]

And he took it down to the end.

There was no redemption.

No, just took it down to the end.

Schrader: And they said afterward, "If we had known

he would be so loved and likable and identifiable,

we would have written him differently.

We thought we were criticizing him."

♪♪

Sherman: "I'm a very political animal.

And when I got all the letters saying, 'Hud was a great man,

the old man was an old fart and the kid was gay,'

I mean, [scoffs] now I understand what was going on

with the youth in America in that day,

like I understand what's going on with the youth in America

in this day,

which is why Reagan got elected."

What is past is prologue because the past serves

to set some scenes, to establish the mood

and the pace of whatever follows.

Consider the newspaper of 10 years ago --

precisely 10 years ago tonight, October 7th, 1959.

Troubles with the Russians in Berlin.

Southeast Asia was described as a place

of "important new problems for the United States."

But there was more talk about Laos and about Vietnam.

A new Doris Day movie opened.

And down at the bottom,

at the very bottom of the entertainment page,

there was this.

It reported a world of troubles and pain,

slightly more innocent, a little slower-moving,

but surely a past that is a prologue.

♪♪

♪♪

Man #4: "Paul, you often talk about being lucky.

What does it mean when you talk about

Newman's luck?"

Clooney: "Well, Newman's luck first starts

being born white in America in 1925.

That's the beginning of the luck.

The appearance -- that's the second luck."

[ Camera shutter clicking ]

Reporter: Celebrities literally dropped whatever they were doing

to be there in person -- Sidney Poitier,

Burt Lancaster, Sammy Davis Jr.,

Paul Newman,

James Garner,

Marlon Brando.

In what will go down in history

as the greatest demonstration for freedom

in the history of our nation.

[ Crowd cheering ]

Interviewer #3: At the same time, you were home a lot,

and there's this guy you're married to,

this bigger-than-life figure out there

getting bigger and bigger year by year,

movie by movie by movie.

Did you resent that?

[ Laughs ] Sure.

[ Both laugh ]

♪♪

Interviewer #4: Have you ever thought of going into politics yourself?

[ Laughs ] No, no.

Paul has.

He very seriously has considered it.

He campaigned a lot last year, didn't he?

Yes. While you stayed at home

and looked after things, you said.

Well, yeah. Well, we couldn't have both gone.

I'm not -- I can't make speeches and things.

And he's very good at that.

I've opened, you know, booths

and had my picture taken...

Melissa: There's that one picture of my parents

with Martin Luther King.

My dad looks like he has a horrible hangover.

His face is all puffy.

And my mom looks like they just had the biggest fucking fight.

And I'm so sad because I'm like,

"Oh, there's a picture of my parents with Martin Luther King.

Wouldn't that be fun to have on the wall?"

I can't even look at that picture.

[ Camera shutter clicking ]

Linney: Paul's fame was -- it was potent.

And he was...

such a, you know, an icon.

And for women, particularly, he was everyone's dream.

So she also was dealing with that.

♪ Love to me ♪

Linney: "And there is me pregnant in my fur coat.

Ooh, my fur coat.

Can you believe that I would be showing off a fur coat?

Somebody once asked me, 'What was it like to be home

and raising your children and having a career and everything?'

And I said it was horror.

You were guilty if you were on set

because you should be home with the children.

If you were home with the children,

you thought, 'Why am I not on the set?

Why is Shirley MacLaine getting all those parts?'"

And you know, and she even gave up some of her career

to take care of us.

Melissa: She put everything on hold for him.

Her career would have been really, really different.

I don't think there was ever some Tuesday when she said,

"You know, I'm gonna give up my career to raise the kids."

It's like she decides to take the summer off,

but then in the fall, her husband has getting offered

$3 million to do another movie, and she's not offered a job

that makes that kind of money, and she was --

she was not Shirley MacLaine.

You know, she spent a lot of her life

[chuckles] feeling envious of her.

You American?

Nah, lady, I'm a Russian spy for the CIA.

Announcer: If you've ever wondered how to make a movie,

take one script, one top director,

season well, with leading men

such as Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum...

Interviewer #5: You probably have a choice of any role

that you want right now, right, as one of the top stars?

Newman: Well, I get an awful lot of scripts, yeah.

I would imagine so.

...and heroine worthy of their attention,

Shirley MacLaine.

Rather choice position to be in. I can't complain.

...described as pure animal...

♪ You brought a new kind of love ♪

♪ You brought a new... ♪

Lissy: For some reason, I love "A New Kind of Love."

It's the cheesiest, stupidest, Technicolor,

ridiculous movie.

And you will make your wish

for a husband.

Hey, hey, hey!

Suppose a girl doesn't want a husband?

Or a romance or anything?

This is a day of love, mademoiselle.

It's where she goes from being, like,

a boyish, independent woman

to, like, a simpering with the beautiful hair

and the whole thing.

It's like ass-backwards from where it was --

from what it should be, and it's stupid.

And it my dad -- he just plays, like, a silly idiot

in the movie and whatever.

Trunk.

[ Laughs ] He's cute.

I, um -- I'm really awfully sorry.

Miss?

So my mother brought the script to my dad and said,

"I really want to do this script."

And my dad read it and said,

"This is a horrible, horrible script.

And my mother evidently just went off on him and said,

"I raised our children.

I helped to raise your children.

I've taken care of you all, done all these things for you.

And now you don't want to do this movie

where I get to do beautiful costume changes

and have beautiful hair and makeup,

and you don't want to do it."

And my dad said, "I take it back.

It's the best script I've ever read,

and I can't wait to start."

♪♪

[ Applause ]

Steve: To each his own.

♪♪

Linney: "In Hollywood, everyone must be a type.

One director tells me, 'Put your hair up.'

When I do, he looks around at the other people and says,

'See, she's a Grace Kelly type.'

Another director will say, 'Put your hair down.

Oh, you're a Jean Arthur type.'"

[ Steve whistles ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Steve speaking indistinctly ]

Linney: "What they don't seem to realize

is that no one is a type.

Steve: Take us straight to jail. It'll save time.

[ Women laughing ]

Interviewer #6: Shirley MacLaine said you didn't have an image.

Woodward: Well, Shirl-- What did she mean?

I don't know. We -- This was --

In this -- In this lifetime?

We were very, very young. Yes.

I was the one who said,

"Oh, Shirley, I don't know how you do it.

You just look, you know, so wonderful and everything."

And she said, "Well, you just have to have an image."

And Shirley had such a wonderful image

with her short haircut and everything,

and she was so marvelous, and I would go home

and look at myself in the mirror and think,

what -- what does that mean? I'm not sure.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Hawke: You know, when they first married,

she'd just won the Oscar.

She's the star.

And then the trajectory just changed, you know?

It really changed with "The Hustler," "Hud."

I mean, after "Hud," it was over.

Sherman: "He also had this image

of Joanne being this great actress

and he being this unworthy second banana

who'd become a star while she was, you know...

Well, that was not quite happening with her."

I almost become a part of the wheel.

I can feel myself going around and around and around.

Everything else shuts out,

and it's just me and the wheel.

Linney: "Paul and I were walking down the street one day,

and we passed these two girls,

both of whom gave Paul the usual response.

Then one looked at me and said,' 'Is that her?

I just felt like running down the street shouting,

'Yes! It's me, it's me!

I don't know what my name is, but it's me.'"

♪♪

Dave: Would you say, Dan, that the discovery of Joanne Woodward

is representative of what is going on

in Hollywood today?

Dan: Yes, Dave. There will always be new stars.

There will always be a Joanne Woodward.

Hawke: Have you ever seen "The Stripper"?

It's an adaptation of "A Loss of Roses."

I did, like, a --

a deep Wikipedia on Joanne Woodward,

[laughs] and I don't think I've ever seen

a performance of hers.

At all.

I don't think that's uncommon, you know?

Kazan: It's like, it seems tragic,

but it is true.

♪♪

Driver: And now, in case you didn't realize it,

we are approaching the world-famous Sunset Strip.

Here you may see in the flesh the great names of show business

that you've only watched on the screen before.

Passenger: Look. There's Jayne Mansfield.

No, it isn't. It's Kim Novak.

No, it isn't, lady.

Then who is it?

It's nobody.

♪♪

Woodward: It was a sad story because Frank was --

it was Frank's first film, and we had a lovely script.

And during the course of the film,

our wonderful, wonderful producer, Jerry Wald,

who had produced several films that I'd made, died.

And Darryl Zanuck came in,

and he looked at the rough cut.

And he turned to the editor and said,

"Where are the outtakes?"

♪♪

[ Drum roll ]

And Zanuck himself recut the film,

cut out whole elements of the film that made it make sense

and cut it into some kind of sleazy, ridiculous thing

and then renamed it "The Stripper." [ Screams ]

So I always have mixed feelings about it.

I loved the film and I did --

I felt it was some of my best work.

Oh, I haven't walked through here since

the night before I left for Hollywood.

Hmm. Just imagine.

Mother said that you won some sort of

a Miss Look-Alike contest.

Oh, honey, I won three, one of them right here.

Here I was Miss Look-Alike Betty Grable.

And then in San Bernardino,

I was Miss Look-Alike Rita Hayworth.

And in Pomona, I was Joan Crawford's spitting image.

Hawke: Many of us lose our dreams, but most of us

don't have a partner who has the exact same dream,

and his comes true over and over.

When they married, she was the star.

Slowly, she began to find herself changing diapers,

making baby food.

[ Crowd whooping ]

Not getting what you want is hard,

but getting what you want

and then slowly watching it be taken away from you --

that's a different problem.

♪ Something's gotta give, something's gotta give ♪

♪ Something's gotta give ♪

[ Laughter ]

Woodward: And it just broke my heart.

And if I could have, you know, shot Darryl Zanuck,

I probably would have. [ Laughs ]

I hope he's not resting peacefully.

♪♪

Listen, I -- I've been thinking things over.

And maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea,

us getting married, you know? We --

Would you forget you ever knew me?

No. Why not?

You're a man, aren't you? Men can forget anything.

It's a fact. [ Chuckles ]

It's not pretty, but it's true, like most facts are.

From now on, I accept things as they come,

and I take things as they are, which is hard and ugly.

So why don't you just run along home?

You've got a long way to go,

and I gotta get ready for the next round.

♪♪

♪♪

Linney: "When I was young, I wanted to act.

And I'll admit it.

I didn't permit anything to stand in my way,

until I had children.

I hope the children understand

that although they were each and every one of them adored,

if I had it to do all over again,

I might not have had children.

♪♪

Actors don't make good parents.

♪♪

♪♪

♪ I was a fool ♪

♪ I was blind ♪

♪ I kept my eyes shut half the time ♪

♪ All the lights, one by one ♪

♪ Here they come ♪

♪ On a sparking subway train ♪

♪ Breaking through a tunnel underneath Broadway ♪

♪ With one arm waving wild ♪

♪ At some kids on the other side ♪

♪ And one arm on my shoulder ♪

♪ Wrapped around my shoulder, oh ♪

♪ I was a fool ♪

♪ I was blind ♪

♪ I kept my eyes shut half the time ♪

♪ All the lights, one by one ♪

♪ Here they come ♪

♪ Take the hand that's reaching towards you ♪

♪ Where the shadow stands before you ♪

♪ Arm and arm with a uniform ♪

♪ Gonna swing you right through the front door ♪

♪ I was a fool ♪

♪ I was blind ♪

♪ I kept my eyes shut half the time ♪

♪ All the lights, one by one ♪

♪ Here they come ♪