The Paul Newman Collection (2006)

Image credit: Harper: Everett Collection

NEWMAN'S OWN A new DVD boxed set collects some of the talented actor's early work

In Harper, one of the seven lesser-known titles in The Paul Newman Collection, a beautiful woman (Pamela Tiffin) tries to bait PI Lew Harper with the accusation ''You probably still think a woman's place is in the home.'' His icy reply? ''Not in my home.'' It was the first of two times Newman would tackle the role of Ross Macdonald's hard-boiled sleuth — 1975's Drowning Pool is also included here. Newman's chiseled, mischievous good looks and hilarious coldhearted one-liners make even the mediocre films, like 1972's Pocket Money costarring Lee Marvin, watchable. But when it comes to his more idiosyncratic, chip-on-the-shoulder roles, such as humble boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and a neurotic Billy the Kid in The Left Handed Gun (1958), he's so commanding, you can't get enough of the blue-eyed boy even when he's in black and white. No matter what he's chasing — a dream, money, trouble, criminals — you want to be right alongside Paul Newman.