FAQ

After he got caught second time he says he had nothing. He also says he wandered around in couple of towns (where he probably took the picture), and he laughed out once and he turned me in. It may be that someone recognized him at that party or at another place and turned him in.

The prison guard gave him way too much food and said that if Luke isn't able to finish all of it, he'll spend a night in the box. Knowing how hard it would be for Luke to finish all of the food by himself, the other prisoners dispose of their food and take from Luke's plate to help him out.

Cool Hand Luke is also a 1965 novel by former Florida inmate and American author, Donn Pearce. Along with American screenwriter Frank Pierson, Pearce adapted the novel for the screenplay.

Luke is just a guy who doesn't want to conform. He explains that it was to settle an old score, symbolizing his resentment of a society that forces him to conform to its rules. He doesn't want to play nice just so he can get the wife/kids/house trifecta. In his conversation with his mom, she says that he always did things the hard way. Clearly Luke lives by his own rules, so cutting the tops off parking meters probably seemed like just another thing to do.

Fifty.

When the guards torment Luke and break his spirit, the guards even say "If you try and escape again, we'll kill you." Of course Luke winds up escaping again. At the end, Luke is shot in the neck, while in shock he is hauled into the ambulance and taken away. The guards deliberately take him to the prison hospital (which is much farther away than the local hospital), knowing very well that this delay will kill Luke. One of them says "he'll never make it". Later, Dragline is sitting with the other inmates and reminiscing about Luke. This is because he died and they were remembering the good times.