AUBURN – A local movie theater wants to return Paul Newman’s classy cool to the big screen, if only for a week.

Beginning Friday, the Flagship Cinemas in Auburn and Waterville will be setting aside a matinee and evening show to share one of the late actor’s best-known films, “The Sting.”

“I was personally saddened to hear of his death,” said Andrew Poore, the cinema chain’s director of operations. Poore was traveling in his car Saturday when he heard that Newman, 83, succumbed to lung cancer.

Poore had been a teenager working as a movie theater projectionist when Newman starred in the 1986 film, “The Color of Money.” The sequel won Newman his only best actor Oscar.

“I never got to meet the man,” Poore said. “But he was perhaps the most influential actor who has died in my lifetime.”

The idea to unearth the 35-year-old film came from Poore, who met his staff on Monday to discuss which film to choose.

There were plenty.

During his five-decades-long career, Newman made more than 50 movies. They included “Hud,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Verdict.” He also made two of his later films in Maine. They were “Message in a Bottle,” co-starring Kevin Costner in 1999, and “Empire Falls,” released in 2005. The later story, an adaptation of Richard Russo’s Pulitzer-winning novel, marked Newman’s last on-screen appearance.

Poore settled on “The Sting” because it was one of Newman’s best, winning the 1973 Oscar for best picture.

“I don’t think it’s on TV very much anymore,” Poore said. “A whole generation doesn’t know what it is.”

“The Sting” is scheduled to begin showing at 1:15 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. for one week, beginning on Friday. Admission is $5.50.