elvircorhodzic HUD is a drama film with elements of a western about an arrogant and irresponsible son of a rancher, whose life is very messy. This is a story about relationships and conflicts within a family. It is based on Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel, "Horseman, Pass By".Hud is an amoral and unemotional rancher. He, very often, comes into a conflict with his father, which has a negative impact on his young nephew. His father holds Hud responsible for the death of his other son. He tries to imbue his grandson with a sense of decency and responsibility to others. When their cattle fall ill, the conflict between father and son begins to escalate...The Texas cow country is represented through a discord in a family. It's nothing new, but a realistic approach is enriched with dose of a sick materialism and immorality, which is probably the biggest asset of this film. This is a cold review of one human mind, which rejects any kind of traditional values. Characters is placed on the scale several times, but it is clear that there is no winner. One thing is certain, this is not a conflict between traditional and modern ways of thinking.The scenery is a kind of combination between a poor ranch and cheap city. The atmosphere is grim and tense. Characterization is very good.Paul Newman as Hud Bannon is a restless, arrogant and ambitious rancher. He is a man, who has fallen into a trap of modern understanding of life around him. He, at the same time, understands and despises the people around him. Mr. Newman is a charming monster in this film.Melvyn Douglas as Homer Bannon is a traditional farmer who loves his ranch and cattle more than his own son. He is an old man who sees his own disappointment and shame in actions and behavior of his son. Mr. Douglas has offered a very touching performance.Brandon deWilde as Lonnie Bannon is a young man who is torn with relationship between his venerable grandfather and his harsh and greedy uncle. He is naive, sensitive and, perhaps, sexually depressed. Patricia Neal as Alma Brown is a lonely housewife with a broken heart and a strong dignity. Ms. Neal has almost stole this show.

LeonLouisRicci Minimalist Movie with Maximum Performances from All Four Major Players. It is a Widescreen Landscape of Wide Open Spaces Perfected by Legendary Lenser James Wong Howe. The Ranch Owned by Melvin Douglas, Papa Bannon, is One Disease Away from Disaster. The No-Account, Ungrateful Paul Newman, Hud Bannon, is the Tornado that the Story Swirls. Hud's, Nephew and Pappa's Grandchild Brandon De Wilde, Lonnie Bannon, is a Straight and Considerate Teenager who Looks Up to His Uncle Hud as Hero. The Hardworking, Easy Going Middle-Aged but Still Pretty Housekeeper to the Bannon Clan is Patricia Neal, Alma.That's the Quartet of Dusty Downwards that Populate this Gritty Story and it is Interesting but Not Altogether Fascinating to Watch these Folks as Fate Deals a Deathly Hand in this Poker Game of Life. The Film is on One Wavelength and Rarely Wavers. It is a Straightforward Telling of Real People Dealing with Real Life. One of the Movie's Strength, besides the Great Acting, is its Ability to Not Look Dated, in All Respects. The Ranch, the People, the Story, the Dialog, the Score, the Look, is Timeless and Makes the Film just as Powerful Today as 50 Years Ago.But ironically, Considering the Setting, there is Little Breadth or Scope and the Film is a Confinement of Principals in a Very Large Space. The Tone is Singular and the Story is Familiar. The Film is a Fine Hollywood Production with Superb Technical Accomplishments. It's got a Soap-Opera Feel and it Wears a Somewhat Trashy Novel Approach on its Sleeve. Powerful at Times and a Bit Flat at Others. The Greased Pigs and the Juke Joint seem Stuck In for No Apparent Reason Except to Give Lonnie a Chance to get Drunk with Hud. The Scene, and a Few Others, are so Unremarkable and Ho Hum They Seem Out of Place and don't Belong in a Movie that is So Good Otherwise. Not a Masterpiece but a Very Good Production with Outstanding Acting, a Good Look, and Overall Overrated.

ferbs54 Although Paul Newman portrayed any number of drunkards, layabouts, thieves, con men, bastards and seedy, shady, unreliable cads during the course of his justly celebrated, 50+-year career, perhaps no other character was such a complete and utter, irredeemable turd as the one he played in "Hud." As a matter of fact, in an interview done years later, the film's director, Martin Ritt, revealed that most studios passed on the project, deeming the lead character and subject matter too unpleasant, and that even Newman's manager advised the actor not to participate. Newman was at this point emerging as a genuine superstar, by dint of recent portrayals in films such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Exodus," "The Hustler" and "Sweet Bird of Youth," but fortunately never let an unsavory character prevent him from taking on a meaty role. Based on Larry McMurtry's first novel, 1961's "Horseman, Pass By," and filmed largely in and about the tiny Texas town of Claude (in the panhandle), "Hud" was released in May 1963 to great acclaim and remains a most powerful experience, now 50 years later.In the film, the viewer makes the acquaintance of 34-year-old Hud Bannon (Newman, natch), a hard-drinking, inveterate womanizer in modern-day Texas. Hud lives on his father Homer's cattle ranch, along with his 17-year-old nephew Lon, who idolizes him, and housekeeper Alma, spending his days working on the ranch and his nights carousing in town and chasing after married women. Homer, an old-fashioned man of unfailing rectitude, detests Hud's wanton ways and basic immorality, telling him at one point "You're an unprincipled man, Hud." And the relationship between the two becomes strained even further when an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease forces Homer to consider the terrible prospect of exterminating his entire herd, while Hud urges him to just sell the lot to an unsuspecting buyer. And before long, a family tragedy that transpired years before is revealed, while Hud makes plans to wrest his father's empire away from him...."Hud" features any number of attributes that combine to make it a powerful achievement, but foremost are the thesping jobs turned in by its four leads. Patricia Neal, as Alma, won a Best Actress Oscar for her work here, despite the fact that her role is more of a supporting one; still, she is quite excellent, earthy and sexy and memorable. Also copping an Oscar for his work here was Melvyn Douglas, who is truly astonishing as the upright Homer. Douglas was 62 here, but looked much older, and in truth, the man looks nothing like the dapper gent who featured in such '30s comedies as "Theodora Goes Wild" and "Ninotchka"; he certainly did not age as well as Paul Newman (but then again, what human male in all of history ever did?!?!). As Lon, Brandon de Wilde, all grown up here since 1953's "Shane," also gives a wonderful performance, sensitive and likable. A good-looking kid with a healthy interest in girls, Lon is understandably attracted to Hud's loose and easygoing ways, although his attitude toward his uncle gradually changes as the film proceeds. And as for Newman, need it even be mentioned how terrific he is as the dirtbag Hud? A complete louse, Hud at one point tries to blame his nephew for an affair that he, Hud, had been having with a married woman; makes repeated crude advances on Alma; attempts to rape Alma, in one shocking sequence; uses Lon's affection to help him sway the boy against his own grandfather; and, as already mentioned, urges Homer to sell diseased cattle and conspires against his own father. Newman deservedly earned an Oscar nomination here, ultimately "losing" to Sidney Poitier's work in "Lilies of the Field." Charismatic and strangely appealing, this is a character who you will hate to admire, but one that you'll surely find hard to shake."Hud," other than those four towering performances, features some nicely sensitive direction from Ritt, who had previously worked with Newman on "The Long Hot Summer" and who would go on to direct him in "The Outrage" and "Hombre." The film has been beautifully shot in B&W wide-screen Panavision by the great James Wong Howe, features a lovely theme song, by Elmer Bernstein, on acoustic guitar (how different this theme is from Bernstein's bold and brassy score for "The Man With the Golden Arm," or his classic theme for "The Magnificent Seven," or his slinky, jazzish theme for "Walk on the Wild Side"!), and uncharacteristically unglamorous costumes by the legendary Edith Head. And the picture boasts a script--written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr.--containing so many wonderful lines that you'll feel compelled to write some of them down. I love it when Hud proclaims "Nobody gets out of life alive," and when he says of Homer's pooh-poohing the suggestion that they drill for oil on their land, "My Daddy thinks that oil is something you stick in your salad dressing." (And who knows more about salad dressing than Paul Newman, right?) The picture also spotlights the late cult actress Yvette Vickers in one of her later roles and flies in the face of the then-still-in-force Production Code with its use of the words "bitch" and "bastard." A literate, adult film with any number of wonderful scenes, "Hud" really is a complete triumph for all concerned. How interesting it would have been to revisit Hud Bannon in a sequel, a la hustler Eddie Felson in "The Color of Money," to see if he might have changed any; grown softer and more decent with the years. But if the film's superrealistic final moments are any indicator, I wouldn't count on it....

oldgoldtop A sad film portraying unintentional emotional destruction through misunderstanding and lack of compassion.In the opening sequence Lonnie's radio, carried in his chest pocket, plays the sad lyrics defining the film:___"I'm just driftwood floating down the tide ___I don't care where this old river carries me ___I'll keep drifting just because my heart is broken inside ___And I'm tired of wishing for what cannot be"Paul Newman gives a compelling performance as Hud Bannon, the tragically misunderstood son of Homer, an aging and principled cattleman who has never provided the parental love and nurturing his son so craved and needed. Hud has grown into a self centered womanizer hiding his inner pain with boozing and carousing, mistakenly believing Homer has never gotten over Huds role in his older brothers death in a car accident when Hud was a teenager. The reality, when revealed is much more painful for Hud and leads him to want to hurt back by planning to get control of the ranch! Newman brings to life a broken and tormented soul hiding behind a mask of self-centered indulgence speeding down life's highway in his pink Cadillac. Hud's concern for his father goes unnoticed while his father reaches out to grandson Lonnie. Hud has become cynical and is never able to obtain any fulfilling relationship with his father, Lonnie or their housekeeper Alma (another hurt and damaged soul afraid to love again). Hud's flings with married women illustrate his fear of being hurt in a real relationship and are more of a show...like the greased pig contest (where he gets some admiration without emotional risk). Homers hard heart is reflected in his hardening arteries and the hard baron Texas landscape. His crippling love of the ranch ultimately leads to the destruction of the family and is symbolically played out when Hud speeds up behind Lonnie in the pickup truck as they drive towards home and Homer is crawling on the dirt road. Lonnie (mistakenly) blames Hud for the old mans unwillingness to live, and blind to Hud's concern for Homer, becomes as hard as his grandfather. Lonnie's ultimate transformation is mirrored in a wide shot as he stands alone in the empty corals with the family's empty house in the background. Hud is hurt and left alone, donning a mask of indifference to repress his anguish, he closes the door and retreats inside the empty home. All are left damaged.I wondered why Hud would drive a pink Cadillac seemingly out of place, and wanted to see how it might provide a clue to Hud's character. Pink "...represents compassion, nurturing and relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing". There are occasions when Hud shows compassion which can go unnoticed. Hud grew up without the nurturing love a child needs (and craves) from a parent. The Cadillac symbolizes Huds continued need for unattained desire and the inadequate substitution of an expensive impersonal luxury status symbol ("object" of desire). It might also reflect the loss of his mother who had provided the unconditional love missing from his father. Perhaps it reflects Homers love of the land (empty Texas" dirt") to Hud's love of his car (empty inanimate object). "wishing for what cannot be".Homer describes his love of his land and cattle. He states "It don't take long t' kill…not like it takes to grow". The irony is that he did not take the time with his son Hud and killed their relationship and Hud's outlook when Hud was a boy As Homer was dying, Lonnie says "…you never gave up on anything in your life!" Homer turns towards Hud I expected him to say "I gave up on Hud and I am sorry" and provide reconciliation and a happy ending. But with his dying breath he drives the nail into Hud and turns Lonnie.Homer sees the world in black and white yet what we call black and white on film is in reality shades of gray, a more accurate representation of reality which Homer could not comprehend.Homer explains "slowly the look of the land changes because of the men we admire". Imagine how biases and prejudices can be passed on. In the end Homer does pass on his flawed perception of Hud to Lonnie, killing any chance to redeem their relationship. The 1962 film likely reflects the periods growing movement to bring about positive changes with regards to race, gender and generational differences. The film opens with Lonnie looking to bring Hud home and ends sadly with Hud alone. The message I take away is that we need to look deeper into ourselves to find compassion and understanding to avoid passing on negative perceptions.Symbols?… Hanging lights often in the frame suggest a device to show a harsh light or perhaps unrealized "enlightening". Alma bumps her head on the light before turning it off and leaving. The railroad sign shown in the opening scene as Lonnie rides into town reads "4 TRACKS" which reminds me that the four main characters lives never connect (in the dry Texas land). "REST ROOM INSIDE" signs at bus stop suggest retreating inside oneself. Hud and Lonnie at the well is perhaps the films most heartwarming scene as they bond. Water is the life-giving force needed to exist in the dry Texas landscape. They drink from the well and embrace laughing and singing a camp song about the Titanic "it was sad, so sad…" The scene reinforces the value of relationships vital to our lives.Many see Homer's uncompromising principles as positive and noble, yet if as humans we are unable to live up to those expectations, are we to be thrown away as he did with Hud? Is our perception of perfection even correct? The shades of gray are where we exist and they are forever changing. Life is not always as clear as we (and Homer) might believe.