Cool Hand Luke 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Warner issues Cool Hand Luke for the studio's 100th birthday and it's an appropriate celebration in this case. Gorgeous, high-resolution scanning draws out detail galore. Texture astounds in close, the sweaty faces made to show off this format. Wide shots display brilliant definition of roadsides, trees, and the prison camp itself.

Generous HDR adds appropriate pop. Sunlight falls on the men from an intensely bright skyline, that same light reflecting off the skin. This feels proper to the imagery, aggressive without being overdone. Black levels properly drop to the deepest levels, pure and dense. Encoding handles the grain without fault.

Technicolor saturation brings life to the blue uniforms, but preserves the earth tones that dominate Cool Hand Luke. Sunsets, dry grass, and rotting wood don't present a lavish palette to work with, but it's spectacle in its own uniquely flavored way.

Audio

DTS-HD mono suffices for Cool Hand Luke's purposes. There's nothing spectacular to note, dialog easily resolved with a few rough patches. Lalo Schiffrin's score nicely handles treble and a smooth, minimal bass line. The video side earned the obvious attention as this mix doesn't change from the Blu-ray.