Evies Blog

Welcome to the last Western. HUD is a fable of what killed the western ethos - it was done in by a man with a “barbed wire soul” driving a pink cadillac. Before HUD men raised cattle or plowed the earth, after HUD men ceded the land to the oil drillers.

The movie opens with 17-year-old, wide-eyed Lonnie looking for Hud. The bolt leads him past a busted up saloon and ends when he finds a married woman’s high heel shoe carelessly flung on her front porch. Hud seems to have a taste for married women and a procedure with the bottle that the intriguing Lonnie finds gorgeous.

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When they bag home Homer drives them out to a freshly tiring, heifer. There are no bullet wounds or other signs of injury and Homer decides to call the authorities. Hud disagrees. If the heifer died of a disease it could jeopardize everything, and Hud is too terminate to inheriting the ranch for that. Homer has more at stake, but burying the cow without an investigation would simply be despicable. The drama proceeds from there as deliberately, and inevitably, as a Greek tragedy.

Like other epics, and HUD deals with story themes, there are immense battles. Hud Bannon battles with his father, Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) for the heart and mind of his nephew Lonnie (Brandon de Wilde.) Hud and Lonnie battle over their “half-wild” maid Alma (Patricia Neal.)

Hud, a man of tiny patience, is brutally scream in his advance to Alma. The inexperienced Lonnie admires her from a gentler distance. Director Martin Ritt includes two scenes that highlight this contrast. One night Hud tomcats his plot into Alma’s room asking for a cigarette. The experienced and wary Alma gives - Hud lights the handout and blows out the match unprejudiced as Alma asks for a light. With his abet to her Hud drops the burnt out match into her hands and waits a beat before dropping the matchbook. It’s a short throwaway that highlights Hud’s loutish behavior. It gains relevance a microscopic later when Lonnie takes a blow to the head and has to grasp to his bed. Alma brings him a glass of `fresh squeezed lemonade.’ Lonnie takes the drink and a timid recognize beetles his brow. Alma puts her hand under his mouth and urges him to spit. `C’mon, honey,’ she says, `they’re fair lemon pits.’

Lonnie spits his seeds into her hand, Hud a useless, burnt out stick, and Dr. Freud has fair left the building. Maybe Ritt do those scenes in to delight louts like me four decades on. HUD is filled with distinguished, multi-layered scenes. Another memorable one occurs when Homer Bannon’s herd is driven into an enclosure. It is very long, maybe four minutes, and deliberately edited. I don’t know if we’d witness its like today, but its length and deliberation gives it awesome power.

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Melvyn Douglas won an Oscar in this movie, and he portrays Homer Bannon as a man about as played out as his over grazed land and about as old-fashioned as the two longhorn he keeps solely for sentimental reasons. Neal also won an Oscar in this one, and her character is almost as obsolete out as the elder Bannon. Life has traditional her hard. Paul Newman was nominated as the title character, and in my plan would not have made an embarrassing winner. One of the most charming and charismatic actors in movie history, Newman manages to play a man of hollow charm. When he flirts, we spy the snake lurking late his smile. HUD won a third Oscar for photography, and James Wong Howe presents a parched and arid black-and-white landscape.
This is an trustworthy movie, and well worth the investment of anyone’s time.

This review refers to the widescreen DVD edition(Paramount) of “HUD”….

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Hud Bannon…he’s a self centered, chilly, bitter,womanizing lout. But hey..what’s not to like..I mean after all, Hud is Paul Newman in top build.Newman has given us so many attractive performances over the years and this is one his his best.

Martin Ritt directs this lively legend and 40 years later it has not lost it’s appeal.It’s a current western/drama that will have you hanging on every word.Hud does everything he can to get life dejected for all those around him. His father(Melvyn Douglas) can’t seem to advance him, and years of resentment have built a deep rift between them.There seems to be no plot to heal the wounds they carry inside themselves.The cattle ranch that Hud plans to steal over from his aging father is facing slay, adding to the tension of the epic.The movie will captivate and preserve you till the destroy, and it’s one you’ll want to witness many times.

Newman and Ritt always work brillantly together and were both nominated for Oscars for their first-rate work. Newman’s protrayal of this brooding rebel is stirring, and Ritt’s direction valid. Melvyn Douglas took home a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting as did the incredible Patricia Neal(Best Actress), for her vivid work as the overworked and under appreciated housekeepper, who’s subtle beauty keeps Hud and his nephew(Brandon de Wilde) longing for her. The fabulous Sad and White cinematography garnered a statue for James Wong Howe as well.Elmer Bernstein also contributes his talents with a intelligent musical gain.So many wonderfully talented names attached to this film and it shows!

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I waited a long time for this film to finally be released to DVD, and the wait was worth it. I found that overall the transfer was crisp and definite, the sound enhanced in 5.1 was a welcome addition(It may also be viewed in in the unique mono which has been restored), and the widescreen captured all the huge photography. There were a few scenes which did not seem to be as definite and shimmering as the rest, but there was nothing about it that would pick away from the enjoyment of this film.
There are no special features, but may be viewed in French(mono) and has subtitles in English for anyone who may need them.

Thanks Paramount for adding another of Newman’s tall ‘H’ films to my collection(”Hombre”/”The Hustler”), and we are mild waiting for “Harper” and another sizable Newman/Ritt collaboration “The Outrage” to be released.

Settle in for a Newman classic and indulge in….Laurie
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