"Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire... You're just going to have to make up your own mind one day about what's right and wrong."
— Homer Bannon
Hud is a 1963 American drama film, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, and Melvyn Douglas. It was adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel Horseman, Pass By.
It's a story about a family of cattle ranchers in the Texas Panhandle. Homer Bannon (Douglas) is the aging, widowed patriarch, running things with his headstrong, rebellious son Hud (Newman) and his guileless teenage grandson Lonnie (Brandon deWilde, who yelled "Come back, Shane!" in Shane), who's the son of Hud's deceased brother. Also present is the Bannons' world-weary live-in housekeeper, Alma (Neal).
Hud is arrogant, self-centered, and dishonest, taking advantage of his family and friends. When one of the cows on the ranch dies, Homer sends for a state veterinarian, against the advice of his son, who wants to sell off the cattle before anyone realizes they're sick. The veterinarian diagnoses foot-and-mouth disease, lethal to cattle, which threatens to drive the ranch into bankruptcy and pits Hud against his father.
Hud earned seven Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Actress (Neal), Supporting Actor (Douglas), and Black-and-White Cinematography (James Wong Howe).
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: Jewel, Homer's second wife and Hud's mother in the novel, is omitted from the film.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Though Alma makes it clear to Hud that she wants nothing more to do with bad men after her first husband fleeced her, she tells him after the attempted rape that it was unnecessary, because she would have had sex with him due to her strong attraction to him despite his obvious flaws.
- Anti-Hero: Hud is a pretty terrible person; he lies, cheats, is disloyal to his father, and oh yeah, is a would-be rapist. But Newman is so magnetic in the role that Hud remains an attractive figure.
- Attempted Rape: Hud tries to force himself on Alma, but Lonnie stops him.
- Bar Brawl: A diner brawl, but the dynamic is the same—Hud and Lonnie get into a fight after another diner patron takes exception to Lonnie eyeing his girl.
- Betty and Veronica: A platonic variant. Lonnie is tugged between the elderly, old-fashioned Homer with hard-working, honest, and wholesome — but increasingly outdated and unsustainable — values, and the younger, more exciting Hud, who is amoral, cynical, and destructive, but more realistic and alluring. In the end, he regrets ever giving Hud a chance and falls firmly on Homer's side of the aisle.
- The Casanova: Hud is one, with a special interest in married women.Hud: The only question I ever ask any woman is, "What time is your husband coming home?"
- Character Title
- Chiaroscuro: A drunk Hud enters Alma's cottage and tries to rape her. After he turns the light out, the whole scene is in shadow, with the only light coming from the side bathroom.
- Cool Car: Hud's 1958 Cadillac Series 62 convertible.
- Cowboy: Two are present, working for Homer. They are none too happy when the vet diagnoses foot-and-mouth disease.
- Crapsack World: Hud's final words to Lonnie is that the world is full of shit and no man can escape getting corrupted by the circumstances.
- Creepy Crows: Well, they're buzzards, not crows. But they're creepy black birds, and the buzzards that the Bannons find waiting in the trees as they inspect the dead cow certainly set a mood.
- Death by Despair: When Homer dies, Hud insists that there was nothing he could do, while Lonnie argues that Homer could have pulled through if he wanted, but his malaise at having Hud as a son made him prefer to just give up the ghost.
- Door-Closes Ending: After watching Lonnie walk off, Hud, now alone, gives a dismissive wave and then closes the screen door to the kitchen. The End.
- Downer Ending: Homer dies in ignominy after having to massacre his beloved cattle, leaving him and his family destitute. Lonnie is fully disillusioned with Hud and leaves to work elsewhere, promising never to return.
- Driving a Desk: Very obvious in some scenes where Lonnie and Hud are driving around.
- Dub Name Change: In the dubbed French version of this film, Hud is referred to throughout as "Ted" - an easier name for a French speaker to utter.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: After punching out a guy at the diner, Hud picks up his flask and takes a swig.
- Follow the Bouncing Ball: Seen when Lonnie and Homer go out to catch a movie, and the show starts with an animated short leading the audience in a sing-a-long of "My Darling Clementine".
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: "I feel kinda cold", says Homer right before he croaks.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Homer's land can be drilled for oil, which would save them from their financial crisis, as Hud points out. However, Homer detects that it's just a ploy for Hud to recover his eroding inheritance, and rejects the plot on the basis of having no pride in oil — even though he ends up having to let go of all of his staff because there's no money or work left.
- Love Triangle: A mild one. Lonnie has a crush on Alma, and though she finds him kind and considerate, he's too young for her. Hud is also attracted to Alma, but is incapable of showing it except in ruthless ways. She's attracted to him as well, but refuses to act on it due to his attitude.
- New Old West: They're cowboys, out in the Texas plains, battling for control of a ranch, but the film is set in the modern day. The Old West's traditional values being overwhelmed by the amorality and ruthlessness of the modern West are represented by conflict between Homer and Hud.
- Pet the Dog: While Hud is actively trying to steal Homer's business from underneath him and constantly spars with him, he is shown to sincerely care about his father, helping him when he's weakened, looking troubled when he's on death's door and advocating for him to be able to put down the last of his beloved cattle because he gave his word.
- Race Lift: In the novel the Bannons' housekeeper is a black woman named Halmea. In the film, she's a white woman named Alma.
- Rancher: Homer. His ranch is put in dire peril when the specter of foot-and-mouth disease raises the possibility that the whole herd will have to be put down.
- Related in the Adaptation: Hud was Homer's stepson in the novel. In the film, he's his biological son.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Homer gives a harsh one to Hud.Homer: You don't care about people, Hud. You don't give a damn about 'em. Oh, you got all that charm goin' for ya. And it makes the youngsters want to be like ya. That's the shame of it, 'cause you don't value nothin'. You don't respect nothin'. You keep no check on your appetites at all. You live just for yourself. And that makes you not fit to live with.
- Survivor Guilt: While Hud had always been a troublemaker, his downward spiral occurred when he accidentally killed his brother in a car crash, turning him to alcoholism and more cynical, unscrupulous behaviors.
- The Unfavorite: Hud feels he's this to his father when compared to his deceased brother.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: The tension between Alma and Hud is obvious, until it's resolved in a very negative way. Later, as Alma is making her melancholy departure, she admits to Hud that if he hadn't tried to rape her, she probably would have had willing sex with him eventually.
- Villain Protagonist: Hud is the poster boy for stories focused around the villain. Supposedly Paul Newman was shocked when audiences claimed they loved him as the hero of this movie. Newman thought the man was despicable and a good example of how not to live one's life.
