# Coolest Mother Scratcher on the Siver Screen! Steve or Paul? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288 "2017-03-16T04:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/21 "2017-03-16T17:39:46Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > McQueen by a nose. Dying young helps. > > Newman was a better actor and seemingly a better person, but his persona can’t match McQueen. I agree with all of this. Paul Newman was pretty damned cool, too. But, McQueen gets the nod from me. It helps that McQueen and I share a birthday, as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/22 "2017-03-16T18:14:23Z")
Paul Newman kicks Steve McQueen’s ass in every category you could care to name. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/23 "2017-03-16T18:19:31Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Paul Newman kicks Steve McQueen’s ass in every category you could care to name. Not in the category of people in Bullitt and The Great Escape. If Newman was so great, why wasn’t he in those movies? Or the category of starring in the best racing films. Heck, even James Garner tops Newman there. But the category of best salad dressing? Well, ya got me there. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/24 "2017-03-16T18:26:15Z")
Steve had always been pathologically insecure about being compared to Paul, so when the two made **The Towering Inferno** together, it was Steve who made sure that not only his salary was the same, but that Paul didn’t get any more lines of dialogue than he did. That, by definition, makes Paul cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/25 "2017-03-16T19:00:09Z")
Rick Moranis ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/26 "2017-03-16T19:18:32Z")
After all, he was the ‘key master’. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/27 "2017-03-16T21:56:44Z")
\*\* goes off to Google the phrase “mother scratcher” \*\* Seriously? This is a thing? This is a functioning / understood euphemism for motherfucker?? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/28 "2017-03-16T22:22:44Z")
Paul Newman was by far the better actor, Steve McQueen was cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/29 "2017-03-16T22:28:59Z")
I am tired of these monkey-fried snakes on my Monday-Friday plane! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/30 "2017-03-16T22:44:34Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > > And yet, Sean Connery is still alive. > > _That’s what your Mother said, Trebeck!_ I regret not having phrased that as _“And yet, Sean Connery outlasted both of them.”_ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/31 "2017-03-16T22:50:56Z")
[Paul Newman even makes salad dressing look cool.](http://www.newmansown.com/food/type/dressing/) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/32 "2017-03-16T22:54:53Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Not in the category of people in Bullitt and The Great Escape. If Newman was so great, why wasn’t he in those movies? He certainly would have improved them ;). I never did get the appeal of **Bullitt** and I live in the SF Bay Area. It just isn’t that great. Now **The Great Escape** _is_ great. But I think McQueen’s shoe-horned roll was about the weakest thing in it. Not _bad_, but really transparently extraneous to the plot ( woohoo! motorcycle stunts that accomplish nothing! ). At least Garner had something worthwhile to do. Paul Newman in a cool walk. McQueen isn’t even in spitting distance IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/33 "2017-03-17T02:49:57Z")
In a certain, narrow context of movie cool that existed only during a short period of the 1960s, McQueen ruled. In every other imaginable use of the word, Newman bitchslaps McQueen so hard McQueen wears a faceprint. Consider[Steve McQueen vs. a basic bad guy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOzdhnqhxSw) Compare to [Paul Newman vs. a bigger, badder guy.](https://youtu.be/w9KBOhPXhds?t=110) For that matter, watch [James Garner take on Clint freakin Eastwood.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WBiHkAGVNQ) And Robert Mitchum could outcool all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/34 "2017-03-17T03:28:03Z")
Though of a different era, I always thought William Powell was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/35 "2017-03-17T04:53:42Z")
Mitchum, Garner, Moranis, Powell. McQueen, Newman - all of them reached the level where there cannot be a decisive answer - there can only be an acknowledgement that they all have a valid spot in the consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/36 "2017-03-19T06:06:27Z")
Well, assuming I did The Maths correctly, I tally a dead heat at 7 to 7, with 4 “others”. Totally unsatisfactory! It’s like kissing your sister… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/37 "2017-03-19T08:07:18Z")
A favorite Paul Newman [story](https://jonathancarroll.com/carried-by-paul-newman-67e18822f599#.7e9kc0jl4) by someone who only met him twice as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/38 "2017-03-19T14:11:00Z")
Jerry Seinfeld performed once at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and was doing his thing when Paul Newman came up on stage and just stood there. For minutes. Finally JS turns to him and says, “Hello, Newman.” Brought down the house. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/39 "2017-03-19T17:56:13Z")
For one thing, they never made a movie called _The Tao of Paul_. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288/40 "2017-03-20T14:43:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In a certain, narrow context of movie cool that existed only during a short period of the 1960s, McQueen ruled. In every other imaginable use of the word, Newman bitchslaps McQueen so hard McQueen wears a faceprint. > > Consider[Steve McQueen vs. a basic bad guy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOzdhnqhxSw) > > Compare to [Paul Newman vs. a bigger, badder guy.](https://youtu.be/w9KBOhPXhds?t=110) > > For that matter, watch [James Garner take on Clint freakin Eastwood.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WBiHkAGVNQ) > > And Robert Mitchum could outcool all of them. Context is everything. In the Wanted Dead or Alive, that was the first episode of the first season, and it was setting up the episode. Josh had to get beat so he could be falsely accused of the Marshall’s murder. He kicked ass many times later. And [Garner as Rockford handling bigger bad-ass William Smith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1oK5SVmRQ4)is better than Newman/Butch in the knife fight. Of course, in real life, Garner got his head handed to him in a fight over a road rage incident, so it always helps when the writers are on your side! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-mother-scratcher-on-the-siver-screen-steve-or-paul/782288.md?page=1)