# What is the best Paul Newman movie of all time?

> From steely-eyed antiheroes to lovable rogues, con men, prisoners, lawyers, and hockey coaches, this run spans five decades of unforgettable leading roles. Which one earns your vote for his best?

*By YPB Team · Published August 18, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-paul-newman-movie-of-all-time*

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## Current results (4 votes)

1. **Cool Hand Luke** — 25% (1 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Newman's defining 1967 role as Luke Jackson, a rebellious prisoner who refuses to break on a Southern chain gang.
2. **The Long, Hot Summer** — 25% (1 votes · score 897/1000)
   Newman starred opposite future wife Joanne Woodward in this 1958 Faulkner-inspired Southern drama.
3. **Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid** — 25% (1 votes · score 754/1000)
   Newman's iconic 1969 Western as the charming outlaw Butch, riding alongside Robert Redford's Sundance Kid.
4. **The Color of Money** — 0% (0 votes · score 728/1000)
   Newman won his only competitive Best Actor Oscar reprising Fast Eddie Felson in this 1986 Scorsese-directed sequel.
5. **Cat on a Hot Tin Roof** — 25% (1 votes · score 692/1000)
   Newman as Brick Pollitt in this 1958 adaptation of Tennessee Williams' drama of a fractured Southern family.
6. **Sometimes a Great Notion** — 0% (0 votes · score 673/1000)
   Newman directed and starred in this 1971 drama about a stubborn Oregon logging family.
7. **The Verdict** — 0% (0 votes · score 538/1000)
   Newman's Oscar-nominated 1982 turn as a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer fighting for one last case of redemption.
8. **Sweet Bird of Youth** — 0% (0 votes · score 456/1000)
   Newman's 1962 role as a drifting gigolo opposite Geraldine Page, adapted from another Tennessee Williams play.
9. **The Towering Inferno** — 0% (0 votes · score 455/1000)
   Newman played the architect of a burning skyscraper in this star-studded 1974 disaster blockbuster.
10. **Slap Shot** — 0% (0 votes · score 455/1000)
   Newman's self-professed favorite role, playing minor-league hockey player-coach Reggie Dunlop in this 1977 comedy.
11. **Harper** — 0% (0 votes · score 455/1000)
   Newman's 1966 debut as wisecracking private detective Lew Harper, based on Ross Macdonald's novels.
12. **Road to Perdition** — 0% (0 votes · score 455/1000)
   Newman played mob boss John Rooney in this 2002 crime drama alongside Tom Hanks.
13. **The Hustler** — 0% (0 votes · score 455/1000)
   Newman's 1961 breakout as pool shark Fast Eddie Felson, chasing a title match against Minnesota Fats.
14. **From the Terrace** — 0% (0 votes · score 359/1000)
   Newman starred opposite Joanne Woodward in this 1960 drama of ambition and marriage inside corporate America.
15. **Absence of Malice** — 0% (0 votes · score 359/1000)
   Newman's 1981 role as a businessman wrongly smeared by a newspaper leak, opposite Sally Field.
16. **Hud** — 0% (0 votes · score 359/1000)
   Newman's 1963 turn as Hud Bannon, an amoral, magnetic rancher's son clashing with his principled father.
17. **The Sting** — 0% (0 votes · score 245/1000)
   Newman reunited with Robert Redford for this 1973 Best Picture-winning con-artist caper set in Depression-era Chicago.
18. **The Drowning Pool** — 0% (0 votes · score 245/1000)
   Newman returned as private eye Lew Harper in this 1975 mystery sequel set in Louisiana.
19. **Exodus** — 0% (0 votes · score 245/1000)
   Newman played Ari Ben Canaan in this sweeping 1960 epic about the founding of Israel.
20. **Somebody Up There Likes Me** — 0% (0 votes · score 108/1000)
   Newman's 1956 breakout as real-life boxer Rocky Graziano, rising from a troubled youth to the middleweight title.

Tags: movies, actors, classics, paul newman