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, without fawning or tidy summaries of judgment. It’s six of the most irresistible hours of TV I’ve seen this year.
