He put in plenty of excellent performances as an actor, but as a movie star he was at his all-time best as Butch Cassidy, IMHO.
A couple of cool things about Robert Redford:
In 1975, he led a team (which included Ed Abbey) on an trip that followed the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and The Hole In The Wall Gang. The subsequent book, The Outlaw Trail: A Journey Through Time is well worth checking out.
Redford used to be the narrator of the Arches National Park’s “tune your radio to 1610 for more information” AM broadcast. I remember thinking how cool it was, driving up the road from the visitor center and hearing him admonishing us to keep our eyes on the road.
Dean Martin’s catalogue isn’t nearly as important musically as Frank’s. He wasn’t near the musician Frank was. Sinatra Saturdays, a great radio show in NYC for years… now there’s Siriously Sinatra. There aren’t going to be whole radio shows or stations studying and discussing Dean’s work.
He was fun, but he was a lesser artist. Sinatra could interpret lyrics much better and sing more incredibly long phrases, plus he just had more depth. His sad songs are truly heartbreaking. Dino is fun though.
I’ve met several female friends that like Dean a lot and think he’s handsome… I find his face to be very asymmetrical. His son was the perfect beauty though! That was so sad. .
Thanks for the welcome. 
I thought I was replying to you before. I’m not quite sure how this all works yet.
Anyway thanks for the warm welcome. 
He had a twinkle in his eye because he wasn’t a very serious musician. Frank was.
I just enjoy listening to him more. Sinatra never appealed to me, no matter how great his musicianship. De gustibus …
Straight guy here: I have to go with Redford, who could own the screen in films when he was young. Newman was more versatile, but also more “actorish”, especially early on. I personally find Redford a more likeable guy on screen. Newman played a lot of jerks and punks when he was young. He maybe convinced me too much. Redford had a heroic aura.
I would rather wake up next to Redford. Compared to him, Newman is just dead to me.
For me, as a straight woman, it’s Newman. Especially in The Sting.
Straight, white, male here.
They are both great actors. They are both incredibly handsome. The handsomist. But judging on looks alone, it’s Redford. I mean, come on.
As far as cool goes, it’s Dean Martin by miles. And frankly, I feel he’s the better singer. I just never got what people saw in Sinatra. His voice sounds flat to me.
ETA; I think The Hustler is one of the greatest movies ever made.
After Paul Newman died, I was walking near the registers at WalMart with my 16-year-old daughter when she stopped, grabbed my arm, and whispered, “Who…is…that?” A bunch of magazines had a young Newman on the cover. She was gobsmacked and in love or lust, not sure which. I realized she’d only seen him on salad dressing bottles.
As for who was better-looking, I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with a couple of friends. We were 13. After it was over, one friend asked who was better-looking, and the other one answered, “Who cares? I want 'em both!” My feelings exactly.
I was in Michigan in the late 80’s when the state was celebrating it’s 150th anniversary. There was a series of commericials featuring relatives of celebrities who came from the state originally.
Let me tell you Newman’s brother was a hunk in his own right, and he also had those blue eyes.
True story:
Jerry Seinfeld was invited out to perform at Hole in the Wall Ranch and somewhere in the middle of his set Paul was walking by and went and stood next to Jerry. And stood. And stood some more. Seinfeld eventually turns to Paul and says, “Hello… Newman.” Big laffs.
I guess there’s probably humor somewhere in that story. Whooshed the heck out of clueless me.
That was a catch line from the Seinfeld TV show that referred to Seinfeld’s neighbor Newman with whom he had a mutual loathing. It’s funny only if you’ve seen the show (I didn’t laugh, but I did smile 
).
Straight white male here, but on my mother’s behalf, I voted Newman. Even in the godawful plaid pants he wore in Slapshot, she wanted to have his children.
As a straight guy, i see both as good looking guys. But if Paul were to show up and bring a package of Newman-Os with him, game over. Newman by a landslide.
I think Redford has the edge in looks, and he appears to have a more sincere nature. Newman always has a bit of a sneer and condescending attitude – like he just expects to be adored. I met him at the Long Beach Grand Prix 20 years (?) ago, and he’s really short.
Well, I’m sure he’s not over six feet, but he’s quite likely to be six feet under.
Ahem.
Another straight married male, but I’d have slept with either one of them in their prime – mostly just to say that I had.
Mostly.
Yeah, he was really short. Now, he’s even shorter, i.e. flat.