Chicago Tribune

‘The Last Movie Stars’ review: HBO’s portrait of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward plays out as some of the most irresistible hours of TV this year

Long before the line “Who are those guys?” became a running gag in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the public wondered the same thing about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Millions knew them, especially him, without knowing anything about the inner workings of their partnership. Defined by the 15 films they made together, several with Newman directing his wife, they became the industry ...
Actor Paul Newman with his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, on Feb. 3, 1958.

Long before the line “Who are those guys?” became a running gag in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the public wondered the same thing about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Millions knew them, especially him, without knowing anything about the inner workings of their partnership. Defined by the 15 films they made together, several with Newman directing his wife, they became the industry bench mark for relationship success. Other famous couples fell apart. They stayed coupled. “But it hasn’t been easy,” Woodward once told an interviewer. “I don’t think any valid relationship is.”

“The Last Movie Stars,” which premiered Thursday on HBO Max, does an extraordinary job of revealing the other side of the facade,

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