Hud
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Movie Reviews of Hud
Movie Review: You're an unprincipled man, Hud
Summary: 5 Stars
Welcome to the last Western. HUD is a chronicle 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 trail 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 way with the bottle that the curious Lonnie finds attractive.
When they get home Homer drives them out to a freshly dead 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 close to inheriting the ranch for that. Homer has more at stake, but burying the cow without an investigation would simply be wrong. The drama proceeds from there as deliberately, and inevitably, as a Greek tragedy.
Like other epics, and HUD deals with epic themes, there are great 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 little patience, is brutally direct in his approach to Alma. The inexperienced Lonnie admires her from a gentler distance. Director Martin Ritt includes two scenes that highlight this difference. One night Hud tomcats his way into Alma's room asking for a cigarette. The experienced and wary Alma gives - Hud lights the handout and blows out the match just as Alma asks for a light. With his back 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 little later when Lonnie takes a blow to the head and has to take to his bed. Alma brings him a glass of `fresh squeezed lemonade.' Lonnie takes the drink and a worried look beetles his brow. Alma puts her hand under his mouth and urges him to spit. `C'mon, honey,' she says, `they're just lemon pits.'
Lonnie spits his seeds into her hand, Hud a useless, burnt out stick, and Dr. Freud has just left the building. Maybe Ritt put those scenes in to delight louts like me four decades on. HUD is filled with powerful, 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 see its like today, but its length and deliberation gives it awesome power.
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 obsolete as the two longhorn he keeps solely for sentimental reasons. Neal also won an Oscar in this one, and her character is almost as worn out as the elder Bannon. Life has used her hard. Paul Newman was nominated as the title character, and in my opinion 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 see the snake lurking behind 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 excellent movie, and well worth the investment of anyone's time.
Movie Review: "Horseman, Pass By"
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie stands in a class reserved for the best of best in western theme films. Based on the book by Larry McMurtry, "Horseman, Pass By", it also features a very credible performance by Brandon DeWilde as Lonnie, grown up from the little boy he once portrayed in another legend, the unforgettable "Shane" which was filmed about 10 years before. Lonnie worships Hud, who is his father's brother, and the realization that this man of his own blood is not of good character, is a concept too deep for him to grasp until the final turn of events mature him past his youth in the course of one day . The events surrounding this relationship are at the core of the storyline, and also at the core of the conflict between Hud and his old father, Homer, played by Melvyn Dougas.
Newman's star was at it's Zenith when he made this movie. His extraordinary talent, independent of his looks, are both showcased as an integral part of the character in this role; and play off each other to his advantage for him in this, what I considered to be one of his best movies. His character assessment of Hud was something that came easy to him; he nailed the selfish, self-centered, narcissistic personality that was the man named Hud.
Melvyn Douglas as the crusty old rancher who has seen the times pass him by, gives a performance truly outstanding as he struggles for his last stand of independence, threatened not only a dread disease that is spreading through his entire herd of cattle, but by his own failing health, seized on by the least respected of his blood kin, Hud, who sees the vulnerability that had never been there open up opportunity at last, and intends to take control of the ranch. The knowledge that he is no longer the man he was in the face of disaster, takes the heart and courage from the old man, the one thing he could always count on before; he is finally at the end of his rope. The interaction between Douglas and Newman is truly remarkable, and the casting could not have been better chosen.
Patricia Neal, unarguably one of the premiere actresses of her era, is perfect in the role of the ranch cook, a "rainy day" woman making her way alone in rough country and lean times; who thinks she has at last found a home with this family and even believes for awhile she can handle the subtle advances of Hud, complicated by her own unspoken physical desire for him - and put it in the proper perspective, since she knows him for what he is; she's seen many like him, but it doesn't occur to her that he will become unmanageable.
I write this review as tribute to them all, on this, the time of Paul Newman's passing to join all the rest of the cast who went before him. Even the ending is one of a kind - the slamming of the old kitchen door.
"Horseman, Pass By"
Movie Review: A Towering Newman Performance Is One of This Modern Western Classic's Many Strengths
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Martin Ritt collaborated with his regular writing team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr., to come up with this low-key 1963 contemporary western classic, but the sun-baked Texas locations are almost subsidiary to the Shakespearean-level human drama played out here. Based on Larry McMurtry's first novel, "Horseman, Pass By", the plot focuses on the dysfunctional Bannon family, whose cattle have been infected by foot-and-mouth disease. This devastating news puts the ranch in jeopardy as patriarch Homer may have to destroy his entire herd.
Surviving son Hud wants to pass off the contaminated cattle to unsuspecting buyers to avoid economic ruin, but Homer is too honest to consider such an option. Meanwhile, teenaged grandson Lonnie idolizes his womanizing uncle Hud to the point of getting drunk with him and participating in a bar fight. Silently attracted to Hud herself, their world-weary housekeeper Alma finds she needs to keep emotionally distant just to avoid the family maelstrom about to occur. However, the inevitable collisions among the four characters play themselves out in unexpected ways.
A quartet of fine actors exhibits their skills beautifully in the movie. In what has to be the most unsympathetic role he has played in his career, Paul Newman gives a brutally uncompromising performance as Hud. At this point of his career, he could have played it safe since he has the looks and charisma to make his character's popularity understandable. However, he takes risks in getting to the essence of the amoral lout behind the bravado. Melvyn Douglas lends an epic gravity to Homer by infusing dramatic economy to his penetrating performance. As Alma, Patricia Neal superbly etches a realistic portrait of a lonely woman on the verge with just a few scenes, and she makes every moment of her screen time count.
A decade after making a vivid impression as little Joey Starrett in George Stevens' masterpiece, "Shane", Brandon De Wilde intriguingly plays almost a post-adolescent variation as Lonnie, but this time, he plays it with even greater depth as his character begins to realize the type of man his uncle really is. Along with 1972's "Sounder", this is likely the apex of Ritt's work as a director as he gets to the heart of McMurtry's story with a minimum of flourish, for example, his sharply effective handling of the movie's searing climactic scenes both in the open pit and in Alma's room. Elmer Bernstein's evocative music and James Wong Howe's striking black-and-white cinematography contribute immeasurably to the film's success. A winner albeit a downbeat one. Unfortunately the 2003 DVD has no extras.
Movie Review: Hud, The Real Boot Heel!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Hud" is a black and white "western" classic, a noir Texas Panhandle ranch power play between a father and son in a world transitioning from quarter horses to convertible Cadillacs!..Hud Bannon, played irresistably by Paul Newman is the glib town hunk, alpha elder son, that oozes reckless rebel charm, and has an uncanny knack to run between raindrops without getting a spot of water on himself..The father, played stoically by Melvyn Douglas, prefers to ignore Hud's peccadilloes with the two-timing wives of the local oil field trash, except that it sets in his eyes, an unforgivable example for the baby brother Lon, played by Brandon Dewilde, the young boy from "Shane" fame..Lon hero-worships Hud, because Hud can handle himself with the ladies, the town bullies, and can rapid-fire zesty zingers on command to defuse a crisis, and when chooses to be is a most capable cowman..The plot revolves around a possible infestation of bangs, a communicable disease of cattle, that the father suspects has likely hit their herd..The father believes the right thing to do is call in the local G-man to test the cattle..However, Hud disagrees vehemently because there simply is no insurance for such a calamity, and would likely result in the quarantine and total loss of their herd..The familial clash pivots around the old world values of the father, who worries how it might affect the neigbors if undetected, and Hud's nihilistic belief that what the G-man don't know won't hurt him, but will ruin them..The father prevails and the net effect is, the herd must be slaughtered by rifle fire by the government..Hud then plots to have the father removed as executor of the family estate because he surmises the old man has gone totally soft in the head, weak-kneed..Jennifer Neal plays Alma, the family housekeeper that undeniably has a sweet thing for Hud, and there is a cattle-car of sexual tension smoldering just below the surface between she and Hud, as evidenced by their feisty flirtations..Alma is the protypical head-strong pioneer woman, that is paradoxically vulnerable to the "Peck's Bad Boy Ways" and charisma of Hud..See "Hud", a movie borne out of the fertile imagination of Larry McMurtry, scripted from his novella "Horseman Pass By"..The movie far exceeds the little read book, and is in many ways as an effective character study as anything Newman ever portrayed, including Tennessee William's "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof"..Cowboy hats off to Martin Ritt, the director of this 60's Western oater, that captures without parallel the sense of time, place, and ethos of this stark period, to a West Texas T.Movie Review: Hard Hitting Drama......"Newman's Own" Brand
Summary: 5 Stars
This review refers to the widescreen DVD edition(Paramount) of "HUD"....Hud Bannon...he's a self centered, cold, bitter,womanizing lout. But hey..what's not to like..I mean after all, Hud is Paul Newman in top form.Newman has given us so many fine performances over the years and this is one his his best.
Martin Ritt directs this moving story and 40 years later it has not lost it's appeal.It's a modern western/drama that will have you hanging on every word.Hud does everything he can to make life miserable for all those around him. His father(Melvyn Douglas)can't seem to reach him, and years of resentment have built a deep rift between them.There seems to be no way to heal the wounds they carry inside themselves.The cattle ranch that Hud plans to take over from his aging father is facing ruin, adding to the tension of the story.The movie will captivate and keep you till the end, and it's one you'll want to watch many times.
Newman and Ritt always work brillantly together and were both nominated for Oscars for their marvelous work. Newman's protrayal of this brooding rebel is stirring, and Ritt's direction superb. Melvyn Douglas took home a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting as did the wonderful Patricia Neal(Best Actress), for her shining work as the overworked and under appreciated housekeepper, who's subtle beauty keeps Hud and his nephew(Brandon de Wilde) longing for her. The wonderful Black and White cinematography garnered a statue for James Wong Howe as well.Elmer Bernstein also contributes his talents with a moving musical score.So many wonderfully talented names attached to this film and it shows!
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 clear, the sound enhanced in 5.1 was a welcome addition(It may also be viewed in in the original mono which has been restored), and the widescreen captured all the great photography. There were a few scenes which did not seem to be as clear and bright as the rest, but there was nothing about it that would take 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 great 'H' films to my collection("Hombre"/"The Hustler"), and we are still waiting for "Harper" and another great Newman/Ritt collaboration "The Outrage" to be released.
Settle in for a Newman classic and enjoy....Laurie