Hud

Hud (1963)

Directed by Martin Ritt

Screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr.

Based on the novel, "Horseman, Pass By" by Larry McMurtry

Stars: Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon De Wilde, Whit Bissell, John Ashley, and Val Avery

After watching The Last Movie Stars, I wanted to see more Paul Newman movies. This has been billed as the first anti-hero movie. I don't understand the comparison there. There was nothing good in him to make anyone like him.

Homer Bannon (Douglas) is trying to keep his Texas ranch afloat when he sees that one of his cows dead in the field. He has to deal with a lot with his selfish, alcoholic, womanizing son, Hud (Newman) not making life easier for him.

Looking at the film, I can see that much thought was taken with crafting the tone, mood and the performances from the cast. Hud was supposed to be a bastard. Newman played that well, but the whole "anti-hero" comparison muddles everything. He is an awful person. You don't feel sorry for his character. You wanted him to get comeuppance.

The star of the movie was Melvyn Douglas. During the later parts of the movie, I understood why he won the Oscar for Supporting Actor. Homer is a broken man trying to make sense with everything around him.

The most baffling thing about this movie is Patricia Neal's Best Actress win. She's in the movie for twenty minutes and wins Best Actress. Douglas had more screen time won for Supporting. Odd. I liked her performance, but she should have gone into Supporting.

The movie was a character study through and through. I felt the rest of the movie failed to keep me engaged.

Rating: 7/10