VIDEO : Newman’s Own: Recipe for Fun and Retrospection

Paul Newman’s movie life did not begin gloriously. His coming out party, in 1954, was “The Silver Chalice,” one of those overly pious, ploddingly executed religious flicks so popular at the time.

Newman, who looked great in burlap and sandals but was otherwise undistinguished, later realized how lousy the experience had been, for him and the audience. He took out an ad in a Hollywood trade magazine just to apologize.

Though he’s had other downs in his 40-year career, Newman hasn’t had to request forgiveness for too many films since. And lately, with his “Nobody’s Fool” hitting theaters, he’s again being massaged by critics, who say his portrayal of a huggable loser is his best in a long time.

There have been nearly 50 movies tucked between “The Silver Chalice” and “Nobody’s Fool.” Here’s an admittedly short list (some well-known, others maybe less so) of what’s available on video if you need to purge a Newman urge.

Newman, who is (amazingly) almost 70, took two years before rebounding from that first disaster. In 1956, he won raves for “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” the story of boxer Rocky Graziano. Newman’s pug-bowery accent can be distracting, but he brought his signature machismo--a manliness that finds bemused grace, even when being punched around--to the role.

Newman met his future wife, Joanne Woodward, on the set of “The Long, Hot Summer” (1958), an adaptation of a William Faulkner story. Newman is a good-for-nothing charmer who woos Woodward, the daughter of a Southern tyrant played by Orson Welles in his menacingly fat and sweaty phase.

In 1958, the trail beckoned, when Newman went cowboy for the first time with “The Left-Handed Gun.” He plays Billy the Kid, looking vaguely uneasy in Stetson and boots. Nothing villainous about his Billy; he’s a sensitive, loyal man-child who just happens to have a quick-draw and killer profile.

That same year, Newman dropped the frontier gear for a bathrobe and crutch. He starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the florid but often-mesmerizing adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” giving a near-snarling performance as the sexually ambiguous Brick.

In 1961, Newman made one of his most famous pictures, “The Hustler.” As a billiard barracuda determined to lose, he turned smoky pool halls into sexy places, especially for all the female fans who had by now succumbed to him. Fast Eddie Felson returned after a long absence in “The Color of Money,” released in 1986 and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Proving in the ‘60s that he loved movies beginning with the letter H, Newman played the title role in 1963’s “Hud.” This adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s slim novel, “Horseman, Pass Through,” is dusty and slightly demented, which suits the book well. Newman is the charismatic bad son (a cherub-faced Brandon de Wilde is the good one) to Melvyn Douglas, the patriarch of a ranching clan on the way down.

“Harper” came out in 1966, and by now Newman had firmly cemented his screen image. His Harper, a rascally private eye, seems to slip through the fairly sophisticated crime plot as if he’s been dipped in baby oil. Harper returned in “The Drowning Pool” (1976), but the results weren’t quite as smooth.

Perhaps the film Newman is most identified with is “Cool Hand Luke,” released in 1967. Many thought he should have picked up an Oscar for his portrayal as a what, me worry? prisoner, but co-star George Kennedy won instead. The egg-eating contest may be the scene most guys think of when they think of Newman.

Newman turned to directing for the first time in 1968 with “Rachel, Rachel.” He put the spotlight on Joanne Woodward in this tender movie about an old maid trying to reinvent herself and find romance. He also directed Woodward again in “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” his well-received 1972 adaptation of Paul Zindel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a callous mother and her odd daughters. Newman doesn’t appear in either film.

He does, big-time, in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969). If his most recognizable picture isn’t “Cool Hand Luke,” then it’s this one. The Western about a couple of likable bank robbers (the movie made Robert Redford a star) is ‘60s revisionism, with the crooks cast as anti-heroes. The film has gone down as a classic, an honor it really doesn’t deserve. But it’s still a good romp.

“Sometimes a Great Notion” (1971) is a mess, but a pleasant one, based on Ken Kesey’s sprawling, equally messy novel about a logging family in the Great Northwest. In a way, Newman reprises his bad son in “Hud,” with Michael Sarrazin as the good son and Henry Fonda as the irascible patriarch. Although he begins to show a little age, Newman is still robust and into mischief.

Newman put on a police uniform in 1981 for “Fort Apache, The Bronx.” The movie drew mixed reviews but its star received kudos for his performance as a grizzled cop trying to survive one of the roughest beats anywhere.

A lighter role, and one that’s a favorite with hockey fans, came a few years earlier, in 1977, with “Slap Shot.” Newman plays the manager of a minor-league hockey team that only starts winning after a couple of goons join the roster. Newman showed that comedy didn’t have to be an embarrassment for a man idolized as one of the movie’s enduring sex symbols.

Want more? These might be interesting:

“From the Terrace” (1960), “Exodus” (1960), “Hombre” (1967), “Winning” (1969), “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972), “The Sting” (1973), “Absence of Malice” (1981), “Blaze” (1989), “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” (1990) and “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994).